(Updated 17 March 2023 with further details about Microsoft Entra settings and B2B Direct connect, see below). By default, external sharing and access is (mostly) enabled by default in Microsoft 365. Unless the settings have been changed in the various locations described below, end users can usually: Click the 'share' icon next to a folder … Continue reading The complex world of external sharing and access in Microsoft 365
Category: Office 365 Groups
Ten tips for records managers to monitor records in Microsoft 365
With the large-scale adoption of Microsoft 365 (M365), many records managers have had to find ways to manage the records that have been (and continue to be) captured and stored across the ecosystem, including via Teams, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Exchange Online. The M365 ecosystem is more complicated than a single server-based Electronic … Continue reading Ten tips for records managers to monitor records in Microsoft 365
Why records managers and IT need to understand Microsoft 365 groups better
Office (later Microsoft) 365 (M365) Groups were introduced to Office 365 in 2014. Although Microsoft Teams was introduced in March 2017, there has been a general lack of understanding about the relationship between Teams and M365 Groups on the part of both records managers and IT. This post explains what both records managers and IT … Continue reading Why records managers and IT need to understand Microsoft 365 groups better
What is stored in an Exchange Online mailbox?
Email mailboxes have long been the primary repository for work-related emails (and attachments) and calendaring information. Some of these emails may have been copied to electronic document and records management (EDRM) systems or saved to network drives. Very often some form of mailbox archiving was introduced to help reduce storage by moving inactive content to … Continue reading What is stored in an Exchange Online mailbox?
Understanding permission groups in Teams and SharePoint
One of the most confusing aspects of Teams and SharePoint in Microsoft 365 is the relationship between permission groups used to control access to both of these resources. This is especially the case as every Team in MS Teams has an associated SharePoint site (the 'Files' tab). This post explains how permission groups work between … Continue reading Understanding permission groups in Teams and SharePoint
Different ways to access content stored in SharePoint
SharePoint Online (SPO) is the primary location to store digital objects and documents in Microsoft 365. In this sense, it replaces on premise network file shares and drives as a location to store information although a bit ironically, it can also be accessed from File Explorer. In Microsoft Teams channels, SPO sits behind the scenes … Continue reading Different ways to access content stored in SharePoint
Managing MS Teams chat as records
(The image above was part of collector’s album issued in 1930 by Echte Wagner, a German margarine company. Source - https://flashbak.com/wonderful-futuristic-visions-of-germany-by-artists-in-1930-381451/) On 19 May 2020, Tony Redmond published a very helpful article on the Office 365 for IT Pros website titled 'Using Teams Compliance Data for eDiscovery'. In the article, Tony describes where and how … Continue reading Managing MS Teams chat as records
Planning for records retention in Office 365
Office 365 is sometimes referred to as an 'ecosystem'. In theory this means that records could be stored anywhere across that ecosystem. Unlike the 'old' on-premise world of standalone servers for each Microsoft application (Exchange, SharePoint, Skype) - and where specific retention policies could apply (including the Exchange Messaging Records Management MRM policy), the various … Continue reading Planning for records retention in Office 365
What happens when you create a Team in MS Teams
On 27 March 2020 I asked, via Twitter, whether organisations that rolled out MS Teams will wonder in the future who created all the random (and randomly-named) SharePoint sites. The reason for this question was because many organisations, scrambling to establish ways for staff to work from home, decided to make use of MS Teams … Continue reading What happens when you create a Team in MS Teams
Managing emails as records in Office 365
Records managers have been struggling with managing emails as records ever since they first appeared in the workplace. For a long time the accepted practice, as with other digital records, was to print them out and put them on the appropriate file. With the introduction of electronic document and records management (EDRM) systems, end users … Continue reading Managing emails as records in Office 365