18 months ago, I created “Mark’s Office 365 Resource Centre” using the public site from my Office 365 subscription. Over the last few months it’s fallen by the wayside as my focus has recently moved towards Azure (and Office 365 public websites are a deprecated feature) so I decided to move it here.  This content is no longer maintained, but may still contain some useful links.

New functionality

See also Office 365 Updates on the Office Blogs.

• 2/12/2015: Remove Sway from the App Launcher (see also KB3075256).
• 10/11/2015: UK datacentres for Azure and Office 365.
• 2/11/2015: OneDrive storage limits decreased (FAQ).
• 29/9/2015: Express Route for Office 365 GA.
• 22/9/2015: Introducing Office 365 Planner (launching to First Release customers in Q4 2015).
• 8/7/2015: New activity logging and reporting capabilities.
• 4/6/2015: Granular administrative roles in Office 365 (described by Tony Redmond).
• 3/6/2015: Auto-expanding archives for Office 365 email (no need to raise a service request for more storage).
• 11/5/2015: Microsoft invests in sub-sea datacentre connectivity.
• 7/5/2015: Office 365 Import service for uploading bulk data (e.g. PSTs) –
  more information on TechNet.
• 30/4/2015: No more IE9 support for Yammer (IE8 support ended 31/12/2014).
• 29/4/2015: New OneDrive API.
• 22/4/2015: Yammer moving into Microsoft datacentres 16 May 2015 (from AWS, I understand, although I can’t find a link for that…).
• 21/4/2015: Enhancing Office 365 security and control – new management activity API (e.g. for SIEM) with private preview summer 2015, Customer Lockbox (in Exchange Online by end of 2015, SharePoint Online Q1 2016), and content-level encryption (by end of 2015).
• 16/4/2015: Office 365 Video begins rollout with new mobile app (for iOS) and HTML5 player.
• 16/4/2015: SharePoint Server 2016 announcement (public beta in Q4 2014 and GA in Q2 2016).
• 14/4/2015: Skype for Business general availability (client update as part of the April Office update, server updates for Lync Online during April and May 2015).
• 8/4/2015: Exchange Online Advanced Threat Protection (extends EOP for an additional charge).
• 1/4/2015: Exchange Online onboarding limit (per message) increased to 150MB (via Nuno Mota at MSExchange.org).
• 17/3/2015: Extension of Azure ExpressRoute to allow direct connectivity to Office 365.
• 25/2/2015: Upgrade of Lync Online to Skype for Business (no mention of release timeframes GA will be 14 April 2015).
• 20/2/2015: Extended email retention for deleted items in Exchange Online (watch out for mailbox growth).
• 17/2/2015: Office 365 partner admin mobile app available for Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
• 2/2/2015: Evolution of SharePoint in the cloud.
• 18/2/2015: Updates to Office 365 encryption options.
• 17/2/2015: Sign in page branding and cloud user self-service password reset (previously required an Azure AD subscription – self-service password reset still does for non-cloud users).
• 20/1/2015: Enhanced email protection in Office 365 with DKIM and DMARC.
• 8/1/2015: Roadmap for unifying OneDrive functionality (from Ed Bott).
• 17/12/2014: Salesforce and OneDrive for Business integration for file sharing (see
  Salesforce Files Connect announcement).
• 16/12/2014: Yammer is now included in K1 plans (so it’s now in all Office 365 for Business plans).
• 15/12/2014: Office 365 availability from Japanese datacentres.
• 8/12/2014: Office 365 availability from Australian datacentres.
• 5/12/2014: Video calling between Lync and Skype.
• 2/12/2014: Office ProPlus available at no extra cost to students and educational staff worldwide.
• 18/11/2014: New Office 365 Video functionality (rolling out through to early 2015) on Enterprise plans.
• 12/11/2014: Use Office 365 credentials to log on to Yammer (rolling out from December 2014 to March 2015).
• 12/11/2014: Updated authentication for Office 2013 (MFA and SAML ID providers), coming later in November 2014 (Office client passive authentication).
• 11/11/2014: Lync to become Skype for Business (in H1 2015).
• 11/11/2014: New Clutter feature for Inbox management.
• 9/11/2014: Office on Demand withdrawn.
• 7/11/2014: Office mobile apps freed from the need for an Office 365 subscription (for consumers).
• 31/10/2014: New version of Outlook for Mac released to Office 365 subscribers (as long as they have an Office license).
• 29/10/2014: .NET Client library for Office 365 reporting.
• 28/10/2014: Exchange data loss prevention (DLP) technology being made available to other Office 365 workloads.
• 28/10/2014: Mobile device management from Intune rolled into Office 365 subscriptions.
• 27/10/2014: Unlimited OneDrive for Business storage (together with an FAQ).
• 8/10/2014: Sharing files in Outlook Web App using OneDrive for Business.
• 25/9/2014: Groups bring some Yammer functionality into Outlook Web App and OneDrive for Business, rolling out to all on eligible plans by end of 2014.
• 16/9/2014: Azure Active Directory Sync is now GA.
• 8/9/2014: Office Delve rolling out to all by early 2015.
• 21/8/2014: Changes to Office ProPlus, including removal of Office on Demand.
• 5/2014: DirSync backup for federated sign-in.
• 6/5/2014: Alternative sign-in ID (reducing dependence on UPN).
• 21/4/2014: Azure Active Directory Sync Preview (with password write-back and multi-forest support).
• 3/4/2014: Azure Active Directory Premium is GA (including self-service password reset).
• 6/3/2014: Support for SAML 2.0 for Office 365 federation.
• 10/2/2014: Multi-factor authentication for Office 365.
• 11/2013: DirSync supported on Domain Controllers.
• 6/11/2013: Yammer made available to Office 365 enterprise customers.
• 26/7/2013: Password hash added to DirSync.
• 13/5/2013: Lync Hybrid Offers Simplified (deprecation of Lync Online hybrid voice).

Planning and Deployment resources

• Office 365 Deployment Center:
  • Getting started with FastTrack.
  • FastTrack Office 365 Deployment Step by Step (including links to template end user communications).
  • Office Deployment Tool for Click-to-Run.
• Hybrid Exchange Server 2010/2013:
  Exchange Server Deployment Assistant (link to the tool).
• Hybrid SharePoint Server 2013.
• Hybrid Lync Server 2013.
• Yammer activation guide.
• Yammer network architecture (including steps for management of domains).
• Office ProPlus.
• Implementing Password Synchronisation.
• How to obtain an Exchange Hybrid Edition product key for your on-premises Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2003 organization.  More info on why you might need this, from Rajith Jose Enchiparambil.
• Using BlackBerry with Office 365.
• Awareness and readiness planning for Skype for Business with Lync Online.
• Readiness materials from the Office 365 Summit.

Technical resources

• General: Office 365 Tech Center.
• Security: Office 365 Trust Center, including security and regulatory requirements, industry standards and certifications.
  • UK Government IL2 accreditation and “OFFICIAL” accreditation (see also the UK Government advice on managing risk at OFFICIAL).
• Office IT Pro Blog (deprecated).
• Office Telemetry.
• Office 365 version numbers.
• Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer.

Training and certification

• Microsoft Virtual Academy:
  • Office Guides: Introduction to Office 365.
  • Office Guides: Identity Management with Office 365.
  • Office Guides: Office 365 FastTrack Pilot.
  • Office Guides: Deploying Office as a Service.
  • Managing Office 365 Identities and Services (covers the same content as Microsoft Official Curriculum course 20346 but in less detail).
  • Office 365 Security and Compliance: Exchange Online Protection.
  • Office 365 Performance Management.
  • Office 365 Identity Management.
• Microsoft Official Curriculum:
  • Course 10968B: Designing for Office 365 Infrastructure.
  • Course 20346B: Managing Office 365 Identities and Services.
• Certification:
  • Exam 70-346: Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements.
  • Exam 70-347: Enabling Office 365 Services (Anders Eide has a good study guide).
• Other:
  • Yammer Power User Training (self-paced).

Licensing

To license Office 365, costs are provided on the Microsoft Online Services Customer Portal. These are ordered and paid for directly by customers (although trial tenants may be created by partners though the
FastTrack portal). Customers with Enterprise Agreements have additional options including not just the Office 365 plans but ‘add-on’ and ‘bridge’ licenses for on-premises Office and CAL Suites.

Information for partners

• Jump start your cloud business (resources, licensing, demos and more – including the
  Office 365 Active Usage Partner playbook).

Tips, tricks and more from my blog

There are a few posts missing from this list, because I consider them to be out-of-date (although they are still available):

• Self-service password reset is not available for users on a trial Office 365 tenant.
• The relationship between Office 365 and Azure.
• Choosing an Office 365 identity model (when to use ADFS).
• OneDrive for Business: lots of cloud storage; terrible sync client.
• Some tools in Outlook 2013 for diagnosing Exchange connectivity issues.
• Administering Office 365 using PowerShell: updated information on the required components.
• Microsoft accounts vs. Organisational accounts.
• “Rogue” retention policies in Exchange Online after false positive junk mail is moved to the Inbox.
• Issues connecting to Office 365 using PowerShell? Check the client firewall.
• Selectively removing cookies to resolve Office 365 authentication issues.
• Office 365 administrators: make sure you have these details populated.
• Office 365 password resets… and disabling password expiry.
• Office 365 message filtering (and a horrible little bug that leaves email addresses exposed…).
• Migrating mail and contacts from Google Mail to Office 365.
• Changing the primary email address for Office 365 users.

Useful to know

(Including tips and tricks from elsewhere on the web):

• Office 365 Service Descriptions.
• Office 365 release programmes (including “First Release”). See also
  Office 365 feature rollout and disclosure process described by Mary-Jo Foley.
• -UsageLocation country codes (e.g. for New-MsolUser) uses
  ISO country code reference.
• DirSync: List of Attributes that are Synced by the Windows Azure Active Directory Sync Tool.
• (Also linked from Office 365 admin center): Office 365 service catalogue.
• How to reset the public website to its default settings.
• What you can and can’t do with the free mobile Office apps.
• Ports and protocols used by Office 365.
• Office 365 URLs and IP address ranges.
• Office 365 POP and IMAP settings (business/enterprise tenants).
• Types of files that cannot be added to a list or library.
• Steve Goodman (MVP)’s view on including signatures in Office 365 (Exchange Online).
• Changes to Internet Explorer support: from January 12, 2016, only the most current version of Internet Explorer available for a supported operating system will receive technical support and security updates.
• Google bandwidth limits that may affect IMAP migrations.
• Common Exchange Hybrid mailflow issues, described by Joe Palarchio.
• Stuart Aston discusses meeting the [UK] Government’s 14 cloud security principles (covering security, privacy, compliance and protection).
• Microsoft cloud services and UK security markings, discussed by Brian Cain at risual.
• Switching between the Skype for Business and Lync client interfaces.
• Help topics for Skype for Business.
• Useful overview of the various Azure AD sync technologies Microsoft has released (from risual).
• Reporting in Office 365 (a view from Tony Redmond).
• Janet Cloud Services for Education Agreements (“giving you peace of mind with amendments and due diligence on around 100 pages of contractual documents for Microsoft Office 365”).
• Comparison of MDM in Office 365 and Intune.
• DNS geolocation for Exchange Online.
• Details of the Microsoft Online Services Sign In Assistant (and confirmation that it is not required with Office 2013).
• Why DNS is so important to Office 365 (and making sure you select the right datacentre) – by David Dixon for TechNet UK.
• What to do after you’ve migrated your mailboxes to Office 365 – another TechNet UK blog post from David Dixon.
• Quarterly uptime metrics for Office 365.
• Office 365 Licencing with PowerShell.
• Azure AD integration technologies.
• Office 365 merchandise.
• CESG guidance for use of Office 365 at OFFICIAL.
• Using PowerShell to assign Office 365 licences based on AD attributes.
• Adam Jacobs’ (MVP) step-by-step guide to enabling split domain with Lync/Lync Online.
• New datacentre regions for Office 365.

Bits and bytes (downloads)

• DirSync (via TechNet article) – replaced by Azure AD Connect.
• Exchange PST Capture.
• Exchange client network bandwidth calculator.
• Lync 2010 and 2013 bandwidth calculator.
• OneDrive for Business network bandwidth calculator.
• Azure AD Sync Services (via blog post announcing Azure AD Sync availability).
• Office 2016 Public Preview.