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Welcome to the Service Updates wiki for Office 365 for enterprises. Here you will find information about the latest features and improvements to Office 365.
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Shared mailboxes can now be created and configured using a new GUI-based Office 365 Shared Mailbox Tool by downloading the Office 365 Mailbox Tool, creating a security group and adding members, and running the tool to create and configure a shared mailbox. PowerShell was previously required to create and configure shared mailboxes.
Additional Information: To learn more and download the tool, please read the article Create Shared Mailboxes with GUI-based Tool
The Exchange Server Deployment Assistant (ExDeploy) has been updated to include support for configuring hybrid deployments with the Exchange 2010 SP2 Hybrid Configuration Wizard. This first scenario addition focuses on Exchange 2003 organizations deploying hybrid and includes new documentation, diagrams, checklists, and around 50 fewer manual steps. *Complete Exchange Server Deployment Assistant updates for Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 are expected by the end of June 2012.
Additional Information: To learn more, please read the blog Exchange Server Deployment Assistant Update for Exchange 2010 SP2 and Office 365 Hybrid Deployments
Customers can now download free multi-language packs for their Office Subscription, making it easier for users to switch to their preferred languages for Office Subscription. They also reduce network overhead and user installation time. Look for the “Download Language Packs” link under Resources section on the Downloads page.
Office 365 now supports POP and IMAP connections to Outlook 2003. However, please note that customers connecting to Outlook 2003 via POP or IMAP will experience the following limitations: no calendar support, no free/busy information, no Global Address List, no push email and when connecting via POP, all messages will be downloaded to the client, and there will be no synchronization between multiple computers or devices (such as between a laptop and a phone).
Additional Information: For more information, please read the blog Office 365 will now support POP and IMAP Connections to Outlook 2003
Exchange Online Kiosk users can now use any smartphone that supports Exchange ActiveSync, including Windows Phone, iPhone, Android phones, and Nokia phones (Symbian). However, users who want Exchange ActiveSync support on tablet devices, such as iPad or Android tablets, will need to upgrade to a SKU that includes Exchange Plan 1 or Exchange Plan 2. The price for Exchange Online Kiosk will remain unchanged. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: For more information, please read the blog Office 365: New Capabilities for Kiosk Workers Compare Exchange ActiveSync clients here
Due to lower storage costs, we have increased the mailbox limit for Exchange Online Kiosk plan users from 500 MB to 1 GB. The price for Exchange Online Kiosk will remain unchanged. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: For more information, please read the blog Office 365: New Capabilities for Kiosk Workers
Customers with more than 10,500 seats are now able to consume up to 25 TBs of data as opposed to the previous 5TB cap. This increase is equivalent to a tenancy with 55,000 seats.
Administrators can now submit a service ticket to have transport rules per tenant limits and recipients that can be added via transport rules limits increased beyond 100 for their organization.
Enterprise customers now have the ability to restore full site collections with just a few clicks. This improvement to the SharePoint Online Administration Center is significant because it means accidental deletions can be easily restored.
Additional Information: To learn more, please read the SharePoint blog SharePoint Online: Service Update For details on how to restore site collections, please read the article Restore a deleted site collection
Microsoft has raised the directory synchronization limit in Office 365 to accommodate customers of any size, which means that large customers with many users can now provision the SharePoint Online service.
Additional Information: To learn more, please read the SharePoint blog SharePoint Online: Service Update
PDF files can now be opened directly into Adobe Reader without first being downloaded to your PC. The PDF file remains connected and stored in your SharePoint Online document library as you view and edit the file.
Additional Information: To learn more, please read the SharePoint blog SharePoint Online: Service Update Reader version (10.1.2) is required for SharePoint Online PDF support. To download, please go to the Adobe Reader download page
External users can now use their business email address to authenticate when invited into a site collection. The Windows LiveID allows external users to associate their business email address (ex: user@contoso.com) to the LiveID system. Office 365 customers can invite their partners and clients to external sharing sites using their primary email account. If this email has been associated to the LiveID system, then the external user can sign in with their primary user name and password. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by May 2012.
Additional Information: To learn more, please read the SharePoint blog SharePoint Online: Service Update To learn more about how to use external sharing, go here for Office 365 for enterprises or here for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses To associate a business email user name to the Live ID system, start at https://idsignup.live.com/, select "Use existing email address" and fill in the easy creation steps
Configuring rolling legal hold is now a self-service feature that can be configured through PowerShell. Previously, IT admins needed to submit a service ticket.
Additional Information: To learn more about litigation hold, please read Put a Mailbox on Litigation Hold
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Tenant admins can now enable or disable client recording. When enabled, users can record Microsoft Lync 2010 conversations or meetings, and capture the audio, video, instant messaging (IM), application sharing, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, whiteboard, and polling portions of Lync 2010 sessions. Recordings can be saved in Windows Media Format, and played back just as they were experienced during the Lync conversation or meeting.
The Lync Online Control Panel now provides administrators with additional control over their Lync Online environment, including presence privacy mode, mobile phone notifications, and dial-in conferencing settings.
Additional Information: To learn more, refer to the Help article Lync Online administration - what's new in this release For more information, please read the blog Update to Lync Online Control Panel
AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants) has replaced SAS70 with SSAE16.
Additional Information: Visit the Trust Center now to learn more Sign up for Compliance Notifications and receive email updates to help you to meet changing requirements
PST Capture now helps users discover Outlook Personal Folder (.pst) File Format files and then import them into Exchange Server and Exchange Online. PST Capture helps an organization gain more control over their email data repositories by placing them into Exchange. With the option to install PST Capture Agents on target machines, administrators can now determine where .pst files are located and who their file owner is via the PST Capture Console. Then, they can be directly imported into the primary mailbox or associated archive mailbox.
Additional Information: To learn more, read the blog post .PST, Time to Walk the Plank To download Microsoft Exchange PST Capture, visit the Microsoft Download Center For implementation details, read the TechNet article
Research In Motion (RIM) is now hosting BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365, which extends Microsoft Exchange Online to BlackBerry smartphones and allows self-managed BlackBerry deployments in the cloud. RIM BBCS offers powerful and flexible self-service administrative features to support an organization’s BlackBerry management strategy. It’s available at no additional charge to current medium-sized or enterprise subscribers of the Office 365 suite or standalone Exchange Online and works with BlackBerry smartphones on business or consumer data plans.
Additional Information: To learn more, please visit RIM’s site Blackberry Business Cloud Services To learn more, please read the RIM press release RIM Launches BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 To learn more, read the blog post Update on BlackBerry Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 For RIM BBCS-related questions, use the RIM Customer and Partner alias cloudservices@rim.com
The new Service Health Dashboard RSS feed provides Office 365 administrators real-time access to information about service incidents and planned maintenance events. The RSS feed is updated anytime a new event is added or an existing event is updated. To subscribe to the RSS feed, go to the Admin page. Then in the left pane under Support, click Service Health. Next, click the RSS subscription link on the Service Health Dashboard.
Additional Information: For information on how to access and use the Service Health Dashboard, please read the blog Keep an eye on everything with Service Health
The accuracy of the data provided through the Service Health Dashboard has been improved. Information about Lync Online and Exchange Online published to the Service Health Dashboard now targets specific customers directly impacted by service incidents or events.
Additional Information: To learn more, read the blog post The Office 365 Service Health Dashboard Now Supports Per-Tenant Service Status For information on how to access and use the Service Health Dashboard, please read the blog Keep an eye on everything with Service Health
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service is now live on the OSDP platform in current Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online markets. As a result, customers and partners can now manage their Cloud users and Cloud billing within a single platform.
Additional Information: To learn more, read the blog post CRM Integration with Office 365, Benefits and Installation To learn more, watch the video CRM Online & Office 365 Hear from a joint customer on the value they received by using both solutions here To purchase Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, please go here for new customers or here for existing customers
Microsoft has added Lync support for some mobile clients that deliver instant messaging, presence, single-touch audio conferencing and calling features across Windows Phone, iOS, Android and Nokia Symbian. Lync 2010 for Windows Phone is now available in the
Windows Phone Marketplace, and Lync 2010 for Android is available now in the Android Market. Lync mobile clients for other platforms have been submitted to their respective mobile application marketplaces and should be available soon.
Additional Information: Administrators can learn more about setup by reading the article Set up Lync mobile devices (for administrators) Read the blog announcement Introducing Lync Mobile Clients View the video announcement Lync 2010 Mobile Clients To learn more about availability on your device please visit Mobile Clients for Microsoft Lync Visit the Windows Phone Marketplace Visit the Android Market
A new browser-based tool for scheduling online meetings with proper access rights and roles is now available.
Additional Information: Users can access the Lync Online Web Scheduler at https://sched.lync.com/ To learn more about using web scheduler please read the article Lync Online Web Scheduler
Based on customer feedback, we have simplified the language of the Trust Center to make it easier to find in-depth information about our privacy and security practices and understand our practices for handling and securing data on Microsoft Online Services.
Additional Information: To learn more please read the blog Trust but Verify Visit the Trust Center
Office 365 is the first and only major cloud-based productivity service to contractually commit to the EU Model Clauses, a set of stringent data protection requirements for the European Union. We are also including additional requirements from individual EU member states in the Office 365 data processing agreement.
Additional Information: Visit the Microsoft Online Services portal to get this agreement added to your Office 365 contract
Office 365 meets the business associate security requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a U.S. law that requires healthcare organizations to protect individually-identifiable health information. In addition, Microsoft will sign business associate agreements with customers with Enterprise Agreements.
Additional Information: Visit the Trust Center
This new wizard helps streamline the hybrid deployment process by simplifying the configuration of Exchange Online features and services, including calendar and free/busy information sharing, mailbox moves, secure mail flow, and Exchange Online Archiving.
Additional Information: To learn more, refer to the EHLO Blog Released: Exchange Server 2010 SP2 For more detail on the Exchange Hybrid Configuration Wizard, refer to the TechNet article What’s New in Exchange 2010 SP2
Two new enhancements to migration features will bring greater efficiency to email migrations.
*This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: To learn more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update For more detail on email migrations, refer to the Help article E-Mail Migration Overview
Users can now launch a separate window to preview message hits and statistics for each query. Search performance has also been improved with reduced impact of retried query failures, as well as enhancements to scalability and availability. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: To learn more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update For more detail on multi-mailbox search, refer to the Help article Multi-Mailbox Searches
We have improved the mailbox retention settings so it is easier to manage user mailboxes in an organization. Users can now use the mail control settings in Exchange Control Panel to create and manage retention tags and policies. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: To learn more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update For more detail on retention policies, refer to the Help article Set Up and Manage Retention Policies in Exchange Online
Administrators can now standardize and manage the names of distribution groups—also known as public groups—created by users in their organization. They can require that a specific prefix and suffix be added to names for distribution groups when created, and block specific words from being used. This feature helps to minimize the use of inappropriate words in group names. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: To learn more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update For more detail on setting up a group naming policy, refer to the Help article Create a Naming Policy for Distribution Groups
We have extended the high availability architecture for Exchange Online across additional sites to provide greater resilience in the event of network failures. Administrators and end users may notice changes to server names in URLs and in protocol settings, although bookmarks for Outlook Web App should not be affected. The connection for client applications and devices, including those configured to connect directly to server addresses, will automatically redirect when the mailbox is migrated to the latest software. A very small percentage of mobile devices are not 100 percent compliant and may need to be reconfigured to connect to a changed pod address. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: Refer to the Help article Mobile Phone Setup Wizard for connection procedures To learn more, refer to the post Exchange ActiveSync changes may affect a small number of users To learn more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update
Outlook Web App can now be pinned to the task bar using Internet Explorer 9 App Mode. This feature gives users the ability to launch Outlook Web App with one click and run it with fewer distractions because it is separated from other browsing sessions. It also keeps users informed of incoming email and IM when minimized or hidden, and offers quick access to common Outlook Web App commands from the taskbar. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: To learn more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update
Users can now match faces to names in their organization with photos displayed next to sender information in emails. The display of photos is enabled by default, but administrators can modify the settings of Outlook Web App mailbox policy to disable this feature. *This update will roll out to customers over the next several months. We expect that all customers will receive the update by June 2012.
Additional Information: To learn more, refer to the EHLO Blog Exchange Online December 2011 Service Update Administrators can refer to the Help article Control Sender Photo Settings in Outlook Web App Users can refer the Help article Add or Change your Picture
Admin users now have the ability to update their own alias after adding a domain. Previously, Admins required another Admin user to make this change or they needed to create one in the case of a single-user account. To complete this task, sign in to Office 365 and go to the user management experience. Select your username and click edit. In the edit experience, you can change your username from yourname@yourcompany.onmicrosoft.com to yourname@yourcompany.com. After you have clicked save, you will need to sign out and sign back in to complete the change.
We have changed text in the product and in the sign-up pages from "Microsoft Online Services ID" (MOS ID) to "user ID" to reduce confusion around what the MOS ID is.
Office 365 trials are available in 22 new countries: Argentina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Egypt, Estonia, Iceland, Indonesia, Kuwait, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Malta, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine and UAE.
Previously only available through enterprise agreements or our syndication partners, Office 365 trials and commerce are now available directly from Microsoft in both Russia and Korea.
Administrators now have the ability to reset their own password through text (SMS) message and an alternate email address. For the administrator password reset to work, you must have already provided a phone number on which you can receive a text (SMS) message and an alternate email address. The email address must be different than your Office 365 email address. (If you can’t sign in to your Office 365 account, you can’t retrieve email sent to that address.) If you haven’t entered this information already, navigate to the user management area by clicking Admin, and then under Management, clicking Users. On the Settings tab, enter the email address in the Alternate email address box. On the Properties tab, enter the mobile phone number in the Mobile phone box.
Additional Information: Learn more about this feature by reading the blog post What was that password? For enterprises, see Reset your administrator password For professionals and small businesses, see Reset your administrator password
This update allows Office 365 administrators to deactivate and reactivate dirsync to switch between managing their users’ master source of information on-premises or in the cloud. Previously, when customers used the Office 365 migration wizard to activate dirsync to synchronize user data with the cloud, they could not revert to managing user data with on-premises Active Directory without calling support.
Additional Information: Learn more about changing the source of authority by reading the article Directory synchronization and source of authority
Customers who own Office for Mac 2011 Standard and have usage rights for Lync for Mac 2011 can now have the ability to download Lync for Mac from the download section of Office 365. Lync for Mac 2011 enables Mac users to see their colleagues’ online presence while working in Outlook or collaborating on Office documents. It also enables them to quickly send an instant message, start a video chat, or schedule an Online Meeting from within Outlook for Mac 2011.
Additional Information: Learn more about Lync for Mac licensing here See the blog post Mac Users: Download Lync for Mac 2011 Today
A unified downloads page is now available to give Mac users a single location to download Office for Mac desktop setup configuration software and Lync for Mac 2011. To get these downloads, log into your Office 365 account and visit the download section.
Additional Information: To learn more about how to set up your Mac for Office 365, see Set up your Mac for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses or Set up your Mac for Office 365 for enterprises
We have added to Office 365 official support for the OS X Lion operating system.
We have improved the Add a Domain user experience by clarifying the domain re-delegation process and providing in-context links to relevant Help articles.
Additional Information: To learn more about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365—Office 365 for enterprises or Add your domain to Office 365—Office 365 for professionals and small businesses
We have improved client access controls so that Office 365 administrators can block external access to Office 365 based on the IP address of the external client. This action blocks all external access to Office 365 except Exchange Active Sync; all other clients such as Outlook are blocked. It also blocks all external access to Office 365 except for passive browser based applications, such as Outlook Web Access or SharePoint Online.
Additional Information: Read the Microsoft TechNet article here Read the support help article here For more information about AD FS 2.0 RTW, see: General information about AD FS 2.0 RTW
The 64-bit version of the directory synchronization tool is now available for our enterprise customers. In addition, the 64-bit version now uses Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) 2010 as the underlying synchronization engine, which is installed silently when you run Setup. The 64-bit version of the directory synchronization tool shares the same functionality with the existing 32-bit software, the only exception being that Multi-forest Active Directory is not supported. Refer to the existing directory synchronization documentation for all other deployment and configuration information.
Additional Information: More details, including the upgrade path from the 32-bit version, can be found in the article Directory Synchronization tool 64-bit support View additional directory synchronization information here
The new Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Troubleshooting support tool is a comprehensive, self-help solution that helps customers solve questions or issues they may have with the Office 365 suite of services. The Troubleshooter pinpoints key technical support issues and provides immediate solutions so customers do not have to post questions to the community or submit a support request ticket. It features hundreds of possible help and support Office 365 assets (i.e., help topics, articles, videos, wikis, blog posts, etc.). As you move through a list of troubleshooting options, the tool dynamically displays funneled-down content to lead you towards the answers you need. This free tool is available in the "Troubleshooting" section of http://community.office365.com/.
Additional Information: Read the blog announcement Support Made Simple Use the DIY Troubleshooting Tool now
Microsoft is helping to support the many scenarios in which you work with others, particularly those who are not part of your company, such as vendors, trusted business partners, customers, and clients. Windows LiveID now adds external sharing capabilities in SharePoint Online so companies can invite external users in to view, share, and collaborate on their sites. The feature is turned off by default, but a company’s SharePoint Online Administrator can enable external sharing for the whole company. Then each individual site collection owners can decide if they wish to share externally. Every Office 365 SharePoint Online customer at the tenant level, (not per subscription) includes 50 Partner Access Licenses (PALs) that can be used for external sharing. Customers are not currently required to obtain additional PALs for external sharing beyond 50 users and can have up to a maximum of 1,000 PALs until the next major update of the Office 365 service at which time Microsoft may choose to make it available as a paid add-on. Note: Microsoft supports invited external users signing in to the service using a Microsoft Online Services ID and/or a Windows Live ID, which includes @Live.com, @Hotmail.com and @MSN.com user names, plus regional derivations of LiveID user names.
Additional Information: To learn more, please read Share a Site with External Users for midsize businesses and enterprises or Share the Team Site with External Users for professionals and small businesses To learn more about all the November SharePoint Online updates, read the blog post What’s New in SharePoint Online: November 2011 Update
Business Connectivity Services (BCS) in SharePoint Online enables customers to connect to external data sources via Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Web Services endpoints in both read and write modes. These datasources are often line-of-business (LoB) applications that sit behind customer firewalls, or are being transitioned to the cloud, like SQL Azure. SharePoint now supports external lists and data columns, the Business Data Catalogue (BDC) service for WCF connectors and the Secure Store Service partitioned at the customer SharePoint Online Administration Center (at the tenant level). Currently, there are some components of BCS that are not supported, including external data search, rich client integration, profile pages, and direct connectivity to SQL Azure without a WCF endpoint.
Additional Information: To learn more, read Introduction to Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint Online or What's New for BCS in SharePoint Online For all the new rich documentation on BCS within SharePoint Online, please visit the SharePoint Online Developer Resource Center To learn more about all the November SharePoint Online updates, read the blog post What’s New in SharePoint Online: November 2011 Update
Enterprise customers can now restore entire sub sites. As a result, they no longer need to contact Office 365 support to request restoration.
Additional Information: To learn more about all the November SharePoint Online updates, read the blog post What’s New in SharePoint Online: November 2011 Update
In addition to earlier versions of Internet Explorer and Firefox, SharePoint Online now officially supports Internet Explorer 9 and Chrome. Just launch your favorite browser and then visit your favorite SharePoint Online team site or intranet company site, use work with the Office Web Apps, and more.
Office 365 trials and commerce are available in Brazil as of November 8, 2011.
We have added new language support for Portuguese-Portuguese.
RIM has recently announced an open beta of
BlackBerry® Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365. Available at no additional charge to Microsoft Office 365 Enterprise Plan subscribers, this secure service is hosted by Research In Motion® (RIM), and directly links Microsoft® Exchange® Online with BlackBerry smartphones to offer reliable, mobile access to synchronized email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and memo pads. The intuitive, web-based interface provides the tools administrators need to perform common tasks, reset passwords, or to find, lock, or wipe lost or misplaced devices. In addition, an integrated single sign-on between Office 365 and BlackBerry Business Cloud Services gives end users online self-service options that help make managing devices more efficient than ever.
Additional Information: Read the announcement RIM announced an open beta of BlackBerry® Business Cloud Services for Microsoft Office 365 Further information can be found in the BlackBerry Business Cloud Services–Feature and Technical Overview Learn more about the open beta program requirements and logistical details by visiting the RIM BlackBerry Beta Zone at https://www.blackberry.com/beta/businesscloud More information is available at www.blackberry.com/cloudservices Read Documentation for Administrators
Users with Connected Accounts can currently synchronize their mailboxes in Outlook Web App (OWA) by simply clicking the refresh button. During an active OWA session, the frequency with which a mailbox syncs has been increased. Additionally, user mailboxes will automatically sync when they log into OWA.
Additional Information: To learn more please read the blog announcement New Sync Capabilities for Connected Accounts
We are pleased to share with you many improvements to Microsoft’s popular Office Web Apps, including:
Additional Information: To learn more, read the post Setting the pace in cloud productivity
Outlook Web App now integrates Office Web Apps into the attachment previewing experience for Microsoft Word documents, Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets, and Microsoft PowerPoint® presentations. When Office Web App attachment preview is enabled, users see an Open in Browser link next to the Office Web App document type in Outlook Web App. By clicking on the link, the user can open the attached document using the Office Web Apps to get a high-fidelity preview of the Office document in a browser window.
Additional Information: Read the blog posting Office Web Apps Read more about this feature on EHLO (The Exchange Team Blog)
Windows Phone 7.5, codenamed “Mango,” now enables both small business and enterprise Office 365 customers to access SharePoint Online lists and document libraries from their Windows Phone.
Additional Information: View this video to see how easy it is to connect your WP7.5 to your Office 365 services
Office 365 trials and commerce are available in Chile as of September, 7 2011.
Office 365 is initially available in 38 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, United States, and UK.
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