Check out all the cool new features.
I can’t wait for my update.
OneDrive for Business
There is still a lot of confusion around OneDrive and OneDrive for Business. However, here is a nice video that explains much of the differences and capabilities.
It is perhaps a little long and gets a bit bogged down in some of the details but still very worthwhile if you want to better understand the differences in the OneDrive product.
Microsoft have also announced the availability of the stand alone OneDrive for Business plan:
OneDrive for Business now available as a stand alone service
It seems squarely aimed at competing with DropBox. Here is a comparison of the features available for OneDrive:
And don’t forget that the OneDrive app is available on a number of different platforms, allowing you quick access (and in some cases local syncing ability) to your OneDrive files. You can download the clients apps from:
There is still a lot of confusion out there when it comes to OneDrive and OneDrive for Business but once you appreciate they are two completely different services then you can better appreciate the roles they can play. I’m sure I’ll be post a lot more about OneDrive and even updating my SkyDrivePro book to OneDrive but with things still changing so rapidly it doesn’t make sense just yet. Best to sit back and watch all the latest developments as they happen.
Managing promoted sites in Office 365
When a standard users clicks on Sites within the Office 365 portal they will see something like the above. Across the top are a number of ‘Promoted Sites’ that provide quick access to different URLs (typically SharePoint Online sites).
An administrator can control these ‘Promoted Sites’ via a number of different methods. The first is to access the Office 365 portal as themselves and select the Sites option from the toolbar across the top.
The difference when they do this from an ordinary user is that administrators will have the link Manage the promoted sites below as noted above.
Selecting that link will place the bar into edit mode as shown above. All you need to do to edit an existing entry or add a new ‘Promoted Site’ is select the appropriate tile.
Doing so will pop up a dialog box like shown above where you can makes changes including setting the Title, Description, URL (which can be any valid URL including one outside Office 365 if desired) and even the background image. You can also remove the link if you don’t want it to appear.
Once you have finished editing you can select the click here to stop editing option to save and update the changes for all users.
The other way that you can manage these promoted sites is via the SharePoint Admin center. To access this select the Admin option from the options across the top of the page and then select SharePoint.
In the SharePoint Admin center select user profiles form the menu that appears on the left.
Then select Manage Promoted Sites from under the My Site Settings in the middle of the page.
You’ll now see a list of the ‘Promoted Sites’ as shown above. Press the edit icon (the small icon with the pen, just under the check box at the left) to make changes.
You can now again make any changes you require to the entry. However, using this method you will see that you have an additional option available to you, that being Target Audiences. This allows you to show certain promoted site only to a certain set of SharePoint users determined by the audience feature. To learn more about this feature have a look at the following article:
You can of course add and remove ‘Promoted Sites’ using the option on the menu bar at the top.
So there you go, two easy ways to manage the ‘Promoted Sites’ that users see when they select Sites in Office 365.
Disable New Site option in SharePoint Online
When your users press the Sites button in Office 365 they will be taken to a list of SharePoint sites they can access. However, as you can see from the above they also, by default, have the option to create a New Site.
You may not want all users to have this option since it can result in many, many unwanted and unused SharePoint site in your environment. To remove this option, login as a global administrator to the Office 365 Administration Portal.
Select Admin then SharePoint from the menu that appears.
From the bottom of the list on the left select Settings.
Scroll down the left hand side until you find the heading Start a Site. Then select Hide the Link on the right. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select OK to apply the changes.
Now when users view that same initial page they will no longer see the option New Site.
Great Azure intro demo
I’ve been lucky enough to have MVP Troy Hunt on a CIAOPS podcast (http://ciaops.podbean.com/2012/02/28/episode-24-troy-hunt/) as well as present on a Desktop to Cloud webinar (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxu5qYCtv1s).
Troy has now done an excellent introduction/overview video on Windows Azure. This is really great if you are wanting to know what Azure actually does and for resellers it also goes into how you can make money with the platform.
The video is about 90 minutes but well worth setting aside the time to watch as it will answer many questions you may have.
Great work Troy. If you haven’t already, head over to Troy’s blog (http://www.troyhunt.com/) and follow all the amazing stuff he blogs about and the information he provides.
Going to the Cloud with OneDrive
Here’s my presentation from todays MVP ComCamp at Microsoft in Sydney. The resources links are:
SharePoint Online blocked file types – http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/office365-sharepoint-online-small-business-help/types-of-files-that-cannot-be-added-to-a-list-or-library-HA101907868.aspx#_Toc355959797
Smart files in Windows 8.1 – http://blog.onedrive.com/have-all-your-skydrive-files-with-you-without-using-all-your-storage-or-bandwidth/
SkyDrive Pro increases storage and ease of sharing – http://blogs.office.com/2013/08/27/skydrive-pro-increases-storage-and-ease-of-sharing/
Solve Problems you are having with OneDrive for Business sync app – http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/solve-problems-youre-having-with-the-onedrive-for-business-sync-app-HA104047973.aspx
Some cool Windows Phone apps
Take a look at these cool apps on Windows Phone
Office Lens – http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/office-lens/5681f21c-f257-4d62-83f5-5341788a5077
it is basically a OneNote scanner for your pocket. This is really handy addition to your Windows Phone.
News 360 – http://www.windowsphone.com/en-au/store/app/news360/078e239f-4bdc-df11-a844-00237de2db9e
it is a personalized news reader.
Weave – http://www.windowsphone.com/en-au/store/app/weave-news-reader/25f7c2fa-ca89-49a7-9937-c7347be73fec
another personalized news reader.
OneNote now FREE On all platforms
Some BRILLIANT news from Microsoft. They have made OneNote available on all platforms for FREE! This includes for the MAC for which I have been waiting for so long. Not having OneNote on the MAC was a huge limitation for me given I use it so much.
What Microsoft said was:
We have some exciting new developments for OneNote to share with you! In short these include:
1. OneNote for Mac is available for the first time and for free! With this, OneNote is now available on all the platforms: PC, Mac, Windows tablets, Windows Phone, iPad, iPhone, Android and the Web. And they’re always in sync.
2. OneNote is now free everywhere including the Windows PC desktop and Mac version. Premium features are available to paid customers.
3. The OneNote service now provides a cloud API enabling any application to connect to it. This makes it easier than ever to capture ideas, information and inspirations from more applications and more places straight into OneNote.
So if you haven’t experienced the joy of OneNote, now there is no excuse not to be using it EVERYWHERE!
I’m installing on my MAC as we speak and will report shortly on what I find.
CIAOPS 