Troubleshooting Outlook in Office 365

One of the most common frustrations I see with people configuring Office 365 is setting up mailboxes. The frustration generally occurs when the autodiscover process fails.

The above video give you a good background on the autodiscover and Outlook set up process as well as the tools you can implement to resolve these frustrating issue. Normally, the solution is quite straight forward but you need to understand the process that Outlook uses when connecting to Office 365. This video will show you that and more.

Need to Know podcast–Episode 68

Here I speak with SharePoint MVP John Liu about SharePoint workflows. John’s shares what workflows are, how to create them and what business uses these could provide. He discusses with me how workflows are an intelligent method of automating business process and boosting productivity by removing reparative tasks. The great thing is that you can use workflows with SharePoint on premise or via Office 365.

You can listen to the episode at:

http://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-68-john-liu/

or subscribe to this and all episodes in iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

The podcast is also available on Stitcher at:

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr

Episode Resources

SharePoint Designer 2013
http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=35491

Visual Studio 2013 Community Edition (with Update 4)
http://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/download-visual-studio-vs

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepointdesigner/

@johnnliu
http://johnliu.net

http://sharepoint-videos.com/video-categories/sharepoint-2013-training-courses/sp13-304-sharepoint-designer-2013-workflow-course/

http://www.lynda.com/search?q=workflow&f=producttypeid%3a2%094%092015%3bmeta_software_facet%3aSharePoint
http://www.pluralsight.com/search/?searchTerm=sharepoint%20workflow

Custom Activities – these can all be used on Office 365 or SP2013 OnPrem

Office Dev Patterns and Practices samples
https://github.com/OfficeDev/PnP/tree/master/Samples/Workflow.Activities

Codeplex
http://sp2013workflowactivities.codeplex.com/

Paul Culmsee has a 12-part multi series that’s very fun to follow
http://www.cleverworkarounds.com/2013/12/21/trials-or-tribulation-inside-sharepoint-2013-workflowspart-1/

Plumsail has a pack of custom activities that can be purchased (~$500) and more importantly, support.
http://plumsail.com/workflow-actions-pack/

Sydney Office 365 Certification / Azure bootcamp

I have just opened up a kick starter project to run an Office 365 Certification and Azure bootcamp over 2 days. The proposed details are:

The special kick starter price is $275 ex GST ( $375 ex GST normally). Day 1 is round Office 365 Exam Cram and Day 2 around Azure. You can register your interest and book at:

http://www.ciaops.com/bootcamp/

*** Note – for this training to proceed a minimum of 15 attendees is required for each day ***

Proposed details are:

North Ryde RSL Club
Magdala Rd North Ryde
Friday February 20th [8.30am arrive for 9am start – 5 pm]
Saturday February 21st [8.30am arrive for 9am start – 5 pm]

If any of the attendances fails to reach 15 I will refund any contributions less credit card processing fees if applicable.

Here are some testimonials from the last bootcamp I conducted:

As a previous CIAOPS SharePoint and Office 365 bootcamp attendee… the information that you receive on this very honest, up front and personal training day is far more than you can possibly discover in a week of your own time. The practical experience and wealth of Knowledge that Robert delivers on the day tailored to SMB users and techs is in my opinion much better than the Microsoft marketing based training that is out there. – Rod Arthur, Lan Creation

The training was excellent and focused on what we need as SMB as well as identifying the bigger enterprise picture. From knowing really nothing about Azure, we have now done practical tasks and know how to move forward. – George Nade, BCSPL

I am so much more aware of where O365 and Azure, fit into the big picture. And, whilst there were times where I dropped behind in the practical exercises, the takeaway was massive. – Tony Albans A.A.Networks

I hope to see you at the event.

Sway me down under

The good news today for us here in Australia is that the Office Sway preview has been extended with the release of the iPhone app here in Australia. Simply visit the iTunes store or go here:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/office-sway/id929856545

to download the version for you phone.

You can read the whole update release, including the new features here:

http://blogs.office.com/2014/12/15/sway-preview-expands-delivers-feature-improvements/

If you don’t know what Sway is take a look at this video;

Now I do and see a lot of presentations using PowerPoint. I work really hard to make my presentations as engaging as possible and of late I have tried to really cut down the amount of information, especially bullet points, that I use.

The issue largely isn’t that a presenter can’t use PowerPoint, the issue that PowerPoint may not be the best tool for the job. Most are also not graphic designers and need help making something that is eye catching. You need to think of Sway as something that doesn’t replace PowerPoint but is another tool in your arsenal that can be used for a wide variety of tasks quickly and easily as the video shows.

This is where I think Sway will work for me. It is going to allow me to create a very engaging presentation very quickly and easily. Combine that with the fact that Sway is a web app and allows you to quickly share it on any device is another reason I think it will work well for presentations. It means I can share my Sway presentation with those in the room on their devices as I give the presentation, which again makes it far more engaging I believe.

If you haven’t already go and sign up for the free Sway preview at:

www.sway.com

and download the app and start Sway-ing away. You’ll be surprised at what you create and how quickly you do it.

I’ll share more experiences of Sway soon.