Author: Jim Smith (Page 2 of 11)

Explaining to clients account deletion options

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

There are a few options for when email accounts are deleted- feel free to let me know which you’d like:

We delete the email fully. Emails in the users inbox go away, and people emailing this address later get a “no such user” error. (not recommended). We don’t often recommend this option, but it is an option.
We delete the user, but make the email a forwarding address- this removes all emails that were in the current inbox, but makes any future emails to that address go to whatever current staffer is taking over that role. So the perk is future emails to the address are seen by whoever you assign them to, the downside is that former emails no longer exist.
We turn the user into a shared mailbox. This retains all former emails of that user, but then turns it into a shared mailbox that can be accessed by other users. In this case, emails sent in the future to this address will go into that shared mailbox, so it’s best practice to set an autoreply that you like, so that anyone emailing in the future gets the notification of who they should contact instead. If you ever need to get into the shared mailbox to retrieve a former staffers email, we would help you do that.

All three of these are cost you nothing and don’t need any license. The only downside of the shared mailbox option is that the emails retained in that box count against the 50 or 100 gig limit of whatever user then “owns” that shared mailbox. So after a long enough time of that person being gone, we then recommend having us remove even the shared mailbox (depending on company size, usually after 1-2 years if more than enough).

Thoughts? Whichever you like, we’ll do that. 🙂 And if you write a little auto-reply, we’ll use whatever you send each time. Otherwise, the default reply from MS365 when it’s been turned into a shared mailbox is:

“Thank you for contacting ‎”Company Name”‎. We regret to inform you that “Staffer Name” is no longer employed here. Please direct any future correspondence to ‎”Whatever staff you tell me to give their email to”‎ at “That staffers email address”‎.

This is an automated reply. “

Hope all this helps, feel free to call with any questions if you have them- I live to serve :)Explaining to clients account deletion options

How to send as an alias or shared mailbox in outlook.com

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

How to send as an alias or shared mailbox in outlook.com

Before being able to send as, two settings must be changed on the admin portal:

To enable Send as Alias in the Microsoft 365 Admin Portal, follow these two steps:

Step 1: Enable “Send from Alias” in Exchange Online

Go to Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
Navigate to Settings → Org Settings.
Click on Email.
Look for “Send email from alias”, check the box, and click Save.

Step 2: Assign “Send As” Permission for the Alias

In the Exchange Admin Center (https://admin.exchange.microsoft.com):
- Go to Recipients → Mailboxes.
- Select the mailbox where you want to send as an alias.
- Click Mailbox Delegation (left panel).
- Under Send As, click Add and select the user.
- Click Save.

✅ Now, users can send emails using the alias in Outlook or OWA. It may take some time for changes to take effect.

Once that is done (sometimes as much as 10-15 minutes to wait for the delegation to take effect), then you can show the user how to send as that email:

If you need to send emails that do not require a response, you can set up a no-reply email account. Follow these steps to configure and use a no-reply email address:

Ensure you are using Outlook.com for sending emails.
Go to Settings.
Select Mail.
Click on Compose and reply.
Check the box that says Always show from.

To send an email from the no-reply address:

On the compose mail page, look for the From field above the To field.
Type in the no-reply email address (e.g., no-reply@Canyonview.us) in the From field.
Compose your email and send it.

Note: If recipients reply to the no-reply email, you will not see their responses, and neither will anyone else. Once you have sent an email from the no-reply account, you can easily select it in the From field for future emails without needing to type it in again.

For further assistance or training, consider scheduling a session with your IT team.How to send as an alias or shared mailbox in outlook.com

How to track down who deleted a SharePoint site in Microsoft 365

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

How to track down who deleted a SharePoint site in Microsoft 365

Raised from ticket #2838

If you need to find out who deleted a SharePoint site in Microsoft 365, follow these steps:

Step-by-Step Instructions

Sign in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center: Go to admin.microsoft.com.
Access the Compliance Section: In the left navigation pane, go to Compliance > Audit.
Search the Audit Logs:
- Click on Search to open the audit log search.
- Specify the date range when the deletion occurred.
- Select activities related to Deleted site collection or simply search for delete.
Review the Results: Click on Search and wait for the results to populate. Look for the following details:
- Timestamp: When the deletion occurred.
- User: Who performed the deletion.
- Activity: Confirm it was a Deleted site collection.
- Item: The URL of the deleted site.
Download Results (Optional): If needed, download the results as a CSV for further analysis.

Restoring a Recently Deleted Site

If the site was deleted within the last 93 days, you can restore it:

Go to the SharePoint Admin Center.
Select Deleted sites.
Locate the site and click Restore.

Note: Sites are permanently deleted after 93 days, so act quickly if restoration is needed.

Common Issues

If you encounter issues accessing the audit logs, ensure you have the correct role, such as Audit logs viewer, Compliance Admin, or Global Admin. Additionally, verify that audit logging is enabled in Microsoft Purview.

By following these steps, you should be able to identify who deleted the SharePoint site and take appropriate action.

Managing MS365 Email Storage Limits

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

Managing MS365 Email Storage Limits

Microsoft 365 email accounts typically have a default storage limit of 50 GB. Exceeding this limit can cause issues such as being unable to send or receive emails. Here are two solutions you can consider:

Upgrade the License: You can increase the storage capacity by purchasing a higher-tier license for the user. This will provide up to 100 GB of storage, which is the maximum available for MS365 mailboxes.
Archive Old Emails: Instead of deleting individual emails, which may not free up enough space due to the large amount, consider creating an archive of emails that are older than a certain date. This process will free up significant space in the mailbox.

Please note that these actions may require assistance from your IT support team to ensure they are carried out correctly.

Migrating Microsoft Authenticator codes to a new phone

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

NOTE: This is untested by Andrae as of 4/7/25, these are just notes from ChatGPT to try first.

Ah, got it — if you’re moving Microsoft Authenticator to a new phone (and still using Microsoft Authenticator on the new device), the process is easier than switching to a different app. Here’s how you can do it:

🔄 Option 1: Use Microsoft Account Cloud Backup & Recovery

This works only if you’re signed in with a Microsoft account and have cloud backup enabled.

✅ On Your Old Phone:

Open Microsoft Authenticator.
Tap the three dots (⋮) > Settings.
Make sure Cloud backup is enabled (Android: “Cloud backup”, iOS: “iCloud backup”).

📱 On Your New Phone:

Install Microsoft Authenticator.
Open the app and sign in with the same Microsoft account you used on your old phone.
The app will offer to restore from backup — follow the prompts.

Boom! All your accounts backed up will restore — but note:

Only Microsoft 2FA entries and accounts that support backup will restore.
Some third-party accounts (like Google, Facebook, etc.) won’t transfer unless you re-set them manually.

🔄 Option 2: Manual Transfer (if no backup)

If you didn’t enable backup, you’ll need to:

Log in to each account (Google, Facebook, GitHub, etc.).
Go to the 2FA/security settings.
Remove Microsoft Authenticator, then re-add it by scanning a QR code from your new phone’s app.

🔐 Don’t Forget:

Keep your old phone until everything is moved over.
Make sure you have backup codes for all accounts just in case.
After confirming the new phone works, delete the accounts from the old phone for security.

MS365 Admin – How to resolve email delivery issues due to account restrictions

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

How to resolve email delivery issues due to account restrictions – MS365 Admin

Raised from ticket #2163

If a user is experiencing issues with sending emails, particularly if they receive a message indicating that the delivery has failed due to their email address not being recognized as a valid sender, follow these steps:

Check for Account Restrictions: The user’s email account may have been blocked or flagged as spam. If we have control of the tenant, go to https://security.microsoft.com/restrictedusers to review the restrictions and follow mitigation steps before unblocking the user.
Wait for Restrictions to Lift: After resolving any issues, it may take some time (up to an hour) for restrictions to be lifted. Check back after this period.
Reset Their Password, Reset MFA, and Revoke All Sign in Sessions if suspicious activity is detected: If their account has been compromised or flagged, resetting their password can help. Ensure that you also set up Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for added security.
Verify DNS Records: Ensure that tenant’s DNS records are correctly configured. This can affect email delivery.
Test Sending Emails: Once the restrictions are lifted and any other necessary steps are taken, try sending an email to confirm that the issue is resolved. If problems continue, evaluate what else might be going on 🙂

Setting up email forwarding from an MS365 Tenant/Email

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

Documentation for how to allow email forwarding from an MS365 email account

Go to mail tab of a user profile

Click on the forwarding option

At the top where it has a warning letting you know that you won’t be able to actually send out mail click on “manage outbound anti-spam policies”

on the anti-spam policies page within defender click anti-spam outbound policy

then click edit protection settings

near the middle of the page is one labeled forwarding rules, and it’ll say automatic forwarding rules if it’s on system, default or off, it will block all forwarding

when you change it “on” you will get an error message saying that certain things must be set up, click OK

then you have to wait roughly 72 hours for these things to take affect. there is a method where you submit a ticket to Microsoft and they run a ton of power shell commands to try to accelerate the process but the most reliable methodology I have found is just waiting the time that they say.

there is not an indicator or progress bar or confirmation email once the changes have applied

here’s the key part: once the tenant update has happened that allows for external email forwarding, that rule will go back to system default. you now have to open back up that anti-spam policy and change it back to the “on” position.

then you can go to any person’s email within the users, directory page, put in forwarding and put in some address completely outside of the domain. Send it a test email from something completely outside the domain, and once you see that confirmation email come through. You are all set!

Sharepoint – Creating Permissions Group for Document Libraries within a Sharepoint Site

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

Here are the steps to check for creating a new document library and permission group for that library if creating within a singular Sharepoint Site (like Bienestar’s):

Sign into MS365 Sharepoint Admin for Cusomter
Go to Sharepoint Site
If you need a whole new document library, Under “Site Contents” click “New > Document Library” and name accordingly.
Go back to home once made.
Then in the document libraries at the top of the site (or on the side if layout is different), there’s a page called “Permission Groups”. Click into that, and create a new group for the document library.
Add whatever users are needed and change permissions
Save the group, and back out of the Permissions Group page.
Go to the new document library you created, and then this is where I get fuzzy so verify this is the case: at the top right, click “Site Access” within the document library you need to apply that permissions group to, search for the permissions group, and add them to that site.
I don’t know if you have to, but may need to click “SYNC” from there to apply the new document library to the relevant users’ OneDrives.
Please update the KB article in Atera with any steps you find to be different.

Andrae

Sharepoint email ignore letter

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

Subject: No Action Needed on SharePoint Emails – Migration in Progress

Hi [Customer’s Name],

Just a quick heads-up! As we begin your SharePoint migration, you might see some automated emails popping up. No need to worry—these can be safely ignored for now.

We’re handling everything on the backend, and there’s nothing you need to do at this stage. We’ll keep you updated along the way and will provide training and more details when the time comes.

If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to reach out—we’re happy to help!

Thanks,
[Your Name]
[Your Role]
Ultrex IT

SharePoint Migration Lessons Learned

November 10, 2025 / Jim Smith

Sharepoint Migration Lessons Learned

Revised by: Andrae 12/20/24

Validated multiple different scenarios as a dry run using the Ultrex Test MS365 Tenant.

Lessons Learned:

– If a folder / file is owned by User 1 in OneDrive and User 1 has shared contents to User 2 with edit permissions (didn’t test with view permissions), and then User 1 is unlicensed/deleted, from User 2’s OneDrive you can still move files/folders into a Sharepoint site that User 2 is a site member of w/ edit permissions as well, by using OneDrive’s “Move To” company sharepoint site function.

o The value of this is that file version history will move across with the contents to the Sharepoint site.

– Sharepoint Migration tool is the best tool to use if you have files locally synced on the computer you want to upload from. But since this is essentially creating a copy of those files (if downloading from OneDrive), then you’ll lose file version history and will be uploading a fresh copy into the sharepoint site you need.

When name files / sharepoint sites, plan how you will be syncing the files to your users’ devices. Sharepoint sites will display name in the following order: “Document Library Name – Sharepoint Site Name”. For example in MPP’s it will show as “Shared – Accounting”. Then if you’re having users look in separate spots for where files are living (i.e. OneDrive for items owned by you, and Sync to Device for Sharepoint Sites that will show up in a separate line in File Explorer outside of the OneDrive live), it needs to be clear which library is for which site since you only have so much room.

If having users “Add Shortcut to OneDrive”, make sure to just select the Document Library tab and say “Add Shortcut to OneDrive” without highlighting any of the subfolders, and this will add the Full Parent Library folder in a top level folder in OneDrive. Avoids having to select each folder and say “Add Shortcut to OneDrive” and clutter OneDrive with a million unclearly named folders.