Get your M365 questions answered via email

Yes, it is true, you can now gain access to my Microsoft Cloud knowledge simply by sending an email. I have achieved this by creating an agent in Copilot Studio that will respond to the query you place in the body of the email.

1. Send your questions to robert.agent@ciaops365.com. The questions need to be in the body of the email. For now the subject line is ignored.

2. After a few minutes you should receive a reply back with an AI generated answer across all my information sources, both public and private.

Some points to remember:

A. Each query is unique. The system current does not have ‘memory’. This means it does not keep track of any previous email or questions that you sent it. Each email is taken as unique.

B. The system is focused on answering questions around Microsoft 365 and the Microsoft Cloud. It has specific instructions to ignore other stuff, so if you ask it something silly at best you should get a polite reply declining to help and at worst no reply at all.

C. The more detailed the question, the better the answer. Simply asking for an answer will not return as comprehensive an answer if you asked for a detailed response, or step by step process.

D. The system is far from perfect. Firstly, it is AI, which means that answers should always be verified. Secondly, part of the reason that I am making this available publicly is to test how well it works at scale.

Hopefully, what you get out of this agent are answers to your question around M365, simply by sending an email. What I get out of this is to test the agent and also see what questions people are asking about M365 so I can create better responses and content.

I will continue to develop and improve the agent as Microsoft makes more capabilities available. For now, I’d really appreciate you asking a question about M365 in the body of the email sent to robert.agent@ciaops365.com.

You can of course reach out to me directly if you have any questions or other feedback for my agent that you’d like to see incorporated.

As an FYI, here is a report I generated based on what teh agents has already received:

Common Questions About Microsoft Cloud

Common Questions About Microsoft Cloud – A Summary and Insights

Introduction
Over the past few months, we’ve received numerous questions about utilizing the Microsoft cloud for business needs. These queries came through our support channels and covered a range of topics – from device management with Intune to security and compliance features in Microsoft 365. We’ve noticed some clear themes in what people are asking. In this blog post, we’ll summarize the most common Microsoft cloud questions, group them into key topic areas, and share brief answers and insights for each. Our goal is to highlight frequent concerns, reveal patterns in cloud adoption challenges, and offer recommendations to help everyone make the most of Microsoft’s cloud services.

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1. Managing Devices and Updates with Intune

One of the most common questions is how to use Microsoft Intune (part of Endpoint Manager) to manage devices and deploy software updates across an organization. IT admins want to ensure all laptops and mobile devices are up-to-date without manual intervention.

What was asked: “How can I use Microsoft Intune to update software on devices in my organization?”

What we answered: Intune is a powerful cloud-based endpoint management tool that can centrally push OS and application updates to enrolled devices. We explained that the process involves a few key steps:

• Prerequisites: First, make sure you have an active Intune subscription and that all target devices are enrolled in Intune under your tenant. Devices should be managed (Intune allows management of Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices) and you need the proper admin permissions to configure Intune policies.
• Create an Update Policy: In the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center, you can create update rings (under Devices > Windows > Update rings for Windows 10 and later for Windows updates). This policy defines how and when updates are installed – for example, you can schedule update installation times, set deadlines, and configure user experience (like allowing user deferral or auto-restart behavior).
• Deploy the Policy to Devices: Once the update ring (or any software update policy) is configured, assign it to the groups of devices or users that need those updates. Intune will then push the update settings to those devices. For app updates (such as line-of-business apps), you can use Apps section in Intune to assign newer app versions to devices/users.
• Monitor and Troubleshoot: Intune provides reporting tools to monitor update compliance and installation status. We emphasized checking the Reports (for update compliance) to ensure devices are getting patches successfully. If some devices fail to update, Intune logs and error reports can help pinpoint issues (like connectivity problems or insufficient disk space). From there, admins can troubleshoot using the error codes or by ensuring the devices meet prerequisites (e.g. device must be powered on and online to receive updates).

By following these steps, our users learned that they could effectively manage software updates via the cloud, ensuring all endpoints are secure and up-to-date. This question falls under a broader theme: cloud-powered device management. Many organizations are moving away from manual or on-prem update servers, and are leveraging Intune and Windows Update for Business for a more hands-off, scalable approach. The pattern we see is a strong interest in using Microsoft cloud tools to automate device administration tasks.

Insight: If you’re not already using Intune for updates, it’s a good time to consider it. Start by enrolling a pilot group of devices and creating a basic update ring. You’ll gain insight into how smoothly updates roll out in your environment. In addition, ensure you communicate with your end-users about update timing (to avoid surprises). The key recommendation here is to take advantage of Intune’s cloud management capabilities – it saves time and keeps your fleet secure.

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2. Securing Endpoints and Protecting Data

Another category of frequent queries revolves around security in the Microsoft cloud, particularly using Intune’s endpoint security features and related Microsoft 365 security tools. Administrators often ask what built-in options exist to protect devices and data beyond just deploying updates.

What was asked: “What does Microsoft Intune provide for endpoint security, and how can I use it to protect our organization’s devices and data?”

What we answered: We clarified that Microsoft Intune isn’t just for pushing apps or updates – it also has robust endpoint security and policy management capabilities. In fact, Microsoft’s cloud offers an integrated suite of security measures that work together. Our summary answer covered several facets:

• Device Compliance Policies: Intune lets you define compliance requirements – for example, requiring devices to have a PIN/password of a certain complexity, encryption enabled, not jailbroken/rooted, etc. If a device falls out of compliance, Intune can flag it or even block it from corporate resources. We told users to set up compliance policies as a first layer of defense to ensure every device meets basic security hygiene.
• Configuration Profiles for Security Settings: Through Intune, admins can deploy configuration profiles to enforce security settings on devices. This includes things like enabling BitLocker encryption on Windows, turning on firewall and antivirus (like ensuring Microsoft Defender is active), and configuring automatic screen lock timers. These settings help harden each device according to company security standards.
• Integration with Defender for Endpoint: Many asked how to get “advanced threat protection” on cloud-managed devices. Intune integrates with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, a cloud-based enterprise endpoint security platform. This means if you have the proper licensing, you can onboard devices to Defender for Endpoint for continuous monitoring, malware protection, and even threat response (EDR). Alerts from Defender can surface in Intune, creating a unified security dashboard. We recommended taking advantage of this integration to detect and respond to sophisticated threats like ransomware or suspicious behavior on endpoints.
• App Protection Policies: Some questions went beyond device settings, into protecting the data within apps (especially on mobile devices or BYOD scenarios). Intune’s app protection policies (also known as MAM – Mobile Application Management) can restrict how corporate data is used in apps. For instance, you can prevent users from copying content from a work app into a personal app, or require an app-level PIN to open Outlook on a phone. This way, even if the device isn’t fully managed, the sensitive data is still containerized and secure.
• Conditional Access (with Azure AD): We often reminded folks that Azure Active Directory Conditional Access works hand-in-glove with Intune compliance. A popular approach is to set Conditional Access policies that say: only allow sign-in to cloud resources (like Exchange Online or SharePoint) from devices that are Intune-compliant or from apps that are protected. This essentially turns away risky devices or sessions. For example, if a device falls out of compliance (as per Intune policy) or is unrecognized, it can be denied access or forced to re-authenticate. This dynamic duo of Intune + Conditional Access greatly reduces the chance of a breach if a device is lost, stolen, or compromised.

By outlining these points, we provided a brief overview of Intune’s security toolkit. The trend behind this question is that businesses are looking to the Microsoft cloud to not only manage devices but also to secure them comprehensively – without needing separate third-party solutions if possible. Microsoft has been expanding these capabilities (like adding more Endpoint Protection and even an Endpoint Privilege Management feature in Intune), and people are eager to utilize them.

Insight: If your organization uses Microsoft 365, make sure you’re leveraging the security features you already have access to. A recommendation is to audit your current setup: Are you using compliance policies? Do you enforce MFA and Conditional Access? Have you enabled Defender for Endpoint if licensed? We encourage users to start with baseline security configurations – Microsoft even provides security baseline templates in Intune that you can deploy for Windows, which is a great starting point. The big takeaway is that cloud-based security can significantly strengthen your defense. It’s easier to enforce uniform policies and to adjust them quickly if new threats emerge. Given the pattern of questions, it’s clear that investing time in Intune’s security configuration pays off in a safer environment.

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3. Compliance and Data Retention (Archiving vs. Holding Data)

The third major category of questions centers on Microsoft 365’s compliance and data retention features. As companies move email and content to the cloud, they want to make sure they can retain data for legal purposes and manage mailbox sizes effectively. A representative question we received involves the relationship between mailbox litigation holds and the expanding archive feature in Exchange Online.

What was asked: “Can I enable an auto-expanding archive for a mailbox that’s already on litigation hold, and if so, how?”

What we answered: This question was about Exchange Online Archiving – a Microsoft cloud feature that provides additional storage for users’ mailboxes (commonly used when mailboxes reach capacity or to store older messages) – in conjunction with Litigation Hold (which is a compliance measure to preserve all mailbox content for legal/eDiscovery). The user’s worry was whether turning on an archive would conflict with the litigation hold. Here’s the summary of our guidance:

• Yes, You Can Do Both: We confirmed that having a mailbox on Litigation Hold does not prevent you from enabling the archive mailbox (including the auto-expanding archive). The systems are designed to work together. The litigation hold ensures all original and deleted mailbox data is retained for legal review, and the archive mailbox simply provides more space to offload emails from the primary mailbox.
• Steps to Enable Auto-Expanding Archive: In the Microsoft 365 compliance or Exchange admin center, an admin can enable the archive for a user’s mailbox. Once the standard archive is enabled, you can turn on the auto-expanding archive feature. This feature automatically adds additional storage chunks to the archive mailbox as the user’s archive grows (useful for very large or active mailboxes so you never run out of space). We walked through the interface where an admin would click “Enable Archive” for the mailbox, and noted that auto-expanding archive might require the organization to have it turned on globally (in newer versions, it can be enabled per tenant and it expands as needed without further admin intervention).
• Verify Litigation Hold Status: We advised the user to double-check that the mailbox in question is indeed on hold (which it was) and to understand the hold settings (e.g., indefinite hold or time-based hold). The litigation hold means all items (including those moved to the archive) are preserved for discovery, even if the user deletes them. Enabling the archive doesn’t break that – in fact, any item in the archive mailbox is also held.
• What to Expect After Enabling: With both litigation hold and an archive, users can continue to use their mailbox normally. New emails will go to their primary mailbox; older emails or auto-archiving policies can move items to the archive mailbox. The hold ensures copies are retained behind the scenes. We noted that admins can monitor archive usage in the Exchange admin center (there are usage reports that show mailbox and archive sizes). Also, if needed, during an eDiscovery process, content from both the primary and archive mailboxes will be available since the hold captures everything.

This answer addressed the practical “how-to” and reassured that compliance would be maintained. It highlighted Microsoft 365’s capability to handle both storage management and legal obligations simultaneously – a key advantage of the cloud platform.

The pattern here is questions about data governance: admins want to manage storage (like huge mailboxes) but must also meet legal retention requirements. We’ve seen queries about retention policies, eDiscovery, and archive mailboxes pop up frequently. It underscores that as companies embrace cloud email and documents, they’re also planning for compliance, regulation, and efficient data management.

Insight: For organizations, it’s important to familiarize yourself with Microsoft Purview (the new name for the compliance suite) features such as Retention Policies, Litigation Hold, and Archive Mailboxes. Our recommendation is to develop a data retention strategy: decide how long you need to keep emails, Teams messages, documents, etc., for business or legal reasons, and then configure the appropriate policies in Microsoft 365. The cloud makes this easier than old on-prem systems – you can globally apply a retention label or hold with a few clicks, and the service will automatically preserve content. Also, take advantage of auto-expanding archives if users have mailboxes over 100 GB; this ensures users don’t have to delete important emails just because of storage limits. The key takeaway is that Microsoft’s cloud provides flexible tools to both control data growth and meet compliance needs. The questions we get show that once people learn they can do both at once, they feel more confident migrating more data to the cloud.

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Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Compiling these questions and answers has revealed a couple of clear trends. First, IT professionals are eager to leverage Microsoft cloud services to their full potential – they’re not just asking simple “what does this button do” questions, but really digging into how to implement best practices for device management, security, and compliance. This is a great sign that cloud adoption is maturing. Common threads include automation (automating updates, using policies instead of manual configs) and integration (ensuring security, management, and compliance tools all work together seamlessly).

Second, many of the questions revolve around trusting the cloud to handle critical IT functions. There can be understandable caution around, say, letting Intune automatically patch all your PCs, or believing that an auto-expanding archive will really keep all your important emails safe. But as shown above, with the right configuration, the cloud can greatly simplify these tasks. The pattern of questions shows initial caution turning into confidence as users get guidance and try things out. For example, after implementing Intune update rings as we suggested, admins often report that they spend far less time worrying about who has installed what patch – compliance reports are available and issues can be addressed proactively. Similarly, once an auto-archive is enabled alongside a litigation hold, legal teams breathe easier knowing nothing will be lost, and users are happier not constantly hitting mailbox size limits.

Third, we noticed a strong interest in step-by-step guidance and best practices. It’s not enough to know a feature exists; people want to know “what is the correct or recommended way to use this?” This is a good reminder for Microsoft (and for us as solution providers) that documentation and clear examples are very valuable. Cloud features tend to have tons of flexibility, which can sometimes be daunting. The questions summarized above often boiled down to “please give me a straightforward recipe to achieve my goal.” In response, we find that breaking things into clear steps or a checklist (as we did with each answer) helps a lot.

Recommendations for Readers: If you find yourself with similar questions, know that you’re not alone! The Microsoft cloud ecosystem is broad, but the community and knowledge base is rich. Here are a few closing tips based on the patterns we’ve seen:

• Embrace cloud management: If you’re still doing things the old manual way, start exploring Intune, Endpoint Manager, and Azure AD features. Begin with a small scope (maybe pilot a set of devices or one department’s accounts) and apply some cloud policies. You’ll gain confidence as you see it in action.
• Use built-in security features: Don’t let security be an afterthought. Turn on multi-factor authentication, use Conditional Access, require device compliance – these significantly reduce risks and are included in most Microsoft 365 plans. Our summary above barely scratched the surface of security options, but even the basics go a long way.
• Plan your compliance: Work with your legal/compliance team to configure retention policies and holds before you need them. It’s easier to set the rules early than to scramble when a legal case or audit arises. Microsoft Purview compliance portal has templates and suggestions for common regulations – those can guide you.
• Keep learning and asking: The cloud updates rapidly. New features and best practices emerge every month. Stay curious – Microsoft’s documentation, tech community blogs, and forums are excellent resources. If something isn’t clear, don’t hesitate to ask experts (as those who contacted us did). Often, the answers are out there and can save you hours of trial and error.

By summarizing these frequently asked questions, we hope we’ve provided a useful reference for others facing similar challenges. The Microsoft cloud is vast, but with each question answered, it becomes a bit more manageable and beneficial to use. As always, feel free to reach out with any new questions you have about making the most of these tools – chances are, if you’re wondering about it, someone else is too. By sharing our questions and solutions, we all help each other succeed in the cloud. Here’s to smooth sailing in your Microsoft cloud journey!