Blog

Using the Office Configuration Service

Richard Green on 12th June 2020

Hands up if you’ve just wanted to get Office deployed or updated on a bunch of machines but struggled with writing the configuration XML file for it? What about remembering to add all the required properties or what the attributes available for each one are? Difficult right? Sounds like the Office Configuration Service is just for you then.

At Arcible, we’ve talked about the Office Configuration Service in passing before and we really like it not only because it simplifies the creation of the XML files for us but also because it saves all the files generated through the service within the Tenant making them available to access again-and-again and acts as part of our documentation.

The Problem with using Documents as Templates

Richard Green on 5th June 2020

We could make this the shortest blog post ever and simply say that you should not be using documents as templates but that wouldn’t make for a very engaging post or explain what we’re talking about or why.

If you’ve worked in the business for any amount of time you will have come across templates that people share. They could have come from HR, from Marketing, or from someone in your team trying to help everyone standardise. The trouble is, these templates helpfully shared often aren’t templates and they lead to unforeseen problems down the line.

Security Key Login with Hybrid Windows 10 Devices

Richard Green on 1st June 2020

Technically speaking, this feature has been available for some time if you were prepared to use machines joined to the Windows Insider Programme, as it required a minimum build of Windows 10. Because that build, Build 18945, was exclusive to the Insider Programme, it meant that this feature wasn’t viable for production users because who wants to use preview builds with real users?

With the release of the May 2020 update for Windows 10, however, all the parts are now all there in production form to enable the use of a security key for Windows 10 login on hybrid devices.

Setting the Default Presenter Permission in Microsoft Teams

Richard Green on 22nd May 2020

Last week, we posted the second of our Microsoft Teams Tips videos on our YouTube channel where we discussed setting the presenter permission for your meetings. If you haven’t seen this then please, take a look and let us know what you’d like to see us discussing.

Since we posted that video, Microsoft has now, silently as far as we can tell from the blog and tweet spheres, made a change in Microsoft Teams that allows you to configure the default presenter permission for your organisation.

Deploying Win32 Apps with Microsoft Intune

Richard Green on 20th May 2020

Microsoft Intune is typically thought of as being all about device management and mobile devices but it’s much more than that. Using Microsoft Intune we can deploy applications to Windows and macOS devices including traditional line of business executables or MSI installer packages.

In this post, we look through how you can configure Microsoft Intune to deploy applications to Windows and macOS devices, how you get started, and how users can access apps that are available to them.

Limiting Access to Large Distribution Lists

Richard Green on 18th May 2020

Email reply to all storms aren’t a new thing and they’ve happened to the biggest and best of organisations. Microsoft had an incident in 1997 referred to as the Bedlam DL3 incident. In 2018, the NHS in the UK had a similar issue.

Microsoft recently introduced a new feature into Exchange Online discussed in their blog post at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/exchange-team-blog/reply-all-storm-protection-in-exchange-online/ba-p/1369811 and it’s great that feature is now there, however, has the solution to reply to all storms been there the whole time?

Update Channels Change to Microsoft 365 Apps

Richard Green on 13th May 2020

In the ever changing landscape of Microsoft 365, there’s more news and this time it’s a change regarding the names of the Microsoft 365 Apps Update Channels and cadence. Two weeks ago, we posted about the formal product name change from Office 365 ProPlus to Microsoft 365 Apps. Following this change, we now have another change and that is in the Update Channels mechanism for the products.

Previously there were three Update Channels: Monthly, Semi-annual Channel Targeted, and Semi-annual. Monthly meant you got the latest features every month. Semi-annual Channel (SAC) meant you got updates every six months. Semi-annual Channel Targeted (SAC-T) meant you got updates every six months but that you were in the first wave to get the SAC update slightly ahead of everyone else but that all changes now.

Understand the People in my Organisation Group in Microsoft Teams

Richard Green on 1st May 2020

In Microsoft Teams there are a number of pre-defined permission groups that are offered for us to use. The People in my organisation setting is one that you may be immediately drawn to when you are looking to, for example, restrict who is a presenter in a meeting by setting the user roles, however, this group includes more people than you realise.

User Roles within a Microsoft Teams Meeting

Richard Green on 1st May 2020

So you’re attending a meeting and want to know what you can do with the user role permissions that you have? Maybe you are setting up a meeting of your own and are worried about other people being able to steal the stage or take over your meeting; especially important for teachers using Microsoft Teams to present to classes.

Microsoft 365 Apps Name Change and What it Means for You

Richard Green on 30th April 2020

The change from Office 365 ProPlus to Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise was announced and published as part of a Microsoft Docs article on April 21st at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/name-change.

On face value you might be inclined to think that the change is superficial and that it’s only going to impact the user experience of a few dialog boxes that end-users will see, however, the change goes deeper.