Office 365 - preliminary questions

[HCC]

Hi,

 

Just looking into implementing Office 356 to replace our exchange 2007 server. There a few things I've found out, I just wanted to check how others managed, so I have all the info before starting.

 

We have over 1000 mailboxes, so I'm looking at a staged migration, using dirsync with passwords.

 

• Outlook temporary mailbox issue. - We have approx 100 staff that use outlook, this message will confuse them, I'm surprised there is no automated way to fix this and users will need to delete their profile.
   
  
• Logon site needs domain. - I have modified the 2007 iis logon page so it fills in the long "@hailshamcc.e-sussex.sch.uk" domain automatically. Users only need to type their username and password. My understanding is that the full username would need to be typed to mail.office365.com. Is there a way to store the domain in the url so users only need to type in their short username, like they do now?
   
  
• Convert users to mail enabled users - I can see why this has to be done after a batch has been migrated, but what happens when I add a new user that needs a mailbox. I was planning to decommission the onsite exchange server. Do I need to keep it to mail enable new user objects?
  

 

Thanks,

[HCC]

OK, so it looks like there are no answers to my initial issues.

 

I've now set up a trial.Mail and Calendar and People look good, Sharepoint concerns me. I don't really want students making their own sites or using the newsfeed, all I want is skydrive. Is there a way to remove the newsfeeds and sites menus or change the permissions to prevent their use?

[Edu-IT]

What do you mean by temporary mailbox?

 

OK, so it looks like there are no answers to my initial issues.

 

I've now set up a trial.Mail and Calendar and People look goodDo I need to keep it to mail enable new user objects? Sharepoint concerns me. I don't really want students making their own sites or using the newsfeed, all I want is skydrive. Is there a way to remove the newsfeeds and sites menus or change the permissions to prevent their use?

Good question and something I have been wondering to.

 

Do I need to keep it to mail enable new user objects?

No. If you have DirSync then this will create the accounts in Office365 for you. You can then just assign them the relevant licenses.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Edu-IT

[HCC]

by temporary mailbox I meant existing Outlook users need to delete their profile during migration. I found this that might help Staged Migration - Outlook 2007 prompting to Use Temporary mailbox - Email and calendar - Office 365 - Microsoft Office 365 Community I have yet to experience this but found out about it when looking for migration instructions.

 

I can't find a way to disable the top links. I can just imagine what havoc this will cause if it has to stay enabled. How can their use be monitored?

[Edu-IT]

by temporary mailbox I meant existing Outlook users need to delete their profile during migration. I found this that might help Staged Migration - Outlook 2007 prompting to Use Temporary mailbox - Email and calendar - Office 365 - Microsoft Office 365 Community I have yet to experience this but found out about it when looking for migration instructions.

 

I can't find a way to disable the top links. I can just imagine what havoc this will cause if it has to stay enabled. How can their use be monitored?

Do the students need access to Sharepoint? If so, preventing their access to this could potentially stop them.

 

As for deleting profile, I found following advice on here that using a blank PRF file will delete any existing Outlook profiles and easily allow then to set up a new one.

 

@EduTech might know how to disable Newsfeeds and Site menu's.

[Edu-IT]

It seems you can disable Newsfeed for all, but not just specific. Not sure if this has any effect?

 

If you would not like your users to use Newsfeed, you can directly disable its activities for your organization.

1. Click Admin > SharePoint in the header, and then on the SharePoint admin center page, click user profiles.

2. Under My Site Settings, click Setup My Sites.

3. In the Newsfeed section, clear the Enable activities in My Site newsfeeds check box.

4. Click OK.

 

 

This might help too?

http://blogs.perficient.com/microsoft/2011/06/office-365-sharepoint-online-disabling-the-my-site-feature/

Edited June 17, 2013 by Edu-IT

[HCC]

I found this link Disable Lync Online, SharePoint Online, or both - Manage Office 365 - Office 365 - Microsoft Office 365 Community but I'm not sure if this will disable skydrive. I suspect it will, annoyingly.

I'm also starting to look at google apps because their admin seems far simpler with on/off options for all separate services on a per user basis.

 

So far I'm disappointed with my 365 trial. I've tried finding out how to turn off sites and newsfeeds and all I can find is robotic microsoft forum replies about requesting the feature. Is it just me or is this an obviously missing option?

[HCC]

Has anyone found a way to kill sites and newsfeeds but keep skydrive pro?

 

Also the 'shared with everyone link' worries me, is there a way to disable this for students?

[Michael]

Has anyone found a way to kill sites and newsfeeds but keep skydrive pro?

 

Also the 'shared with everyone link' worries me, is there a way to disable this for students?

 

I asked the same question recently and unfortunately you can't. Microsoft seem more interested in pushing SharePoint online rather than asking themselves how good it actually is. It's an unfinished product in my opinion which is unfortunate.

[HCC]

I am considering just using the exchange part, and killing the rest if thats possible. It's a shame since skydrive would have been useful.

Maybe they will reconsider in the future since, like their other recent u-turns.

[Michael]

I am considering just using the exchange part, and killing the rest if thats possible. It's a shame since skydrive would have been useful.

Maybe they will reconsider in the future since, like their other recent u-turns.

 

This is exactly what I have done You just control it via license options enabled.

[funkyfin2000]

Sorry to reraise this but is there anyway to powershell off the Newsfeed option?

 

Or make it only available to certain security groups - IE Staff only

[Michael]

Sorry to reraise this but is there anyway to powershell off the Newsfeed option?

 

Or make it only available to certain security groups - IE Staff only

 

Last I checked you can't - it's a question that's been asked numerous times. Lets hope Microsoft reads Edugeek

[funkyfin2000]

Lets hope so - just about to release out to 170 schools and this is quite a large scale issue!

 

@jamesbmarshall any information on this at all?

[jamesbmarshall]

The best thing you can do is to disable activities in the Newsfeed, but you can't turn it off completely.

 

I know this isn't perfect - feedback is heard loud and clear!

 

Lets hope Microsoft reads Edugeek

 

Believe me, it does.

[funkyfin2000]

Hi James,

 

Thanks for your prompt response! Feedback is heard, lets hope something can be done ASAP! It would also need the ability to powershell any disabling!

 

Can you describe exactly what disabling activities does as it appears not to do very much in the main Newsfeed area!

 

Cheers

 

Rich

[Diego_LaSalle]

Hi all,

 

It seems i have the same problem, i want to disable Newsfeed... any solution?

 

Regards

 

Diego.

[funkyfin2000]

No solution as far as I have researched. To be honest, the schools we have released too havn't had a major issue with - as per se - but they would still like the possibility of switching it off if they don't want to use it.

 

We have come on some way (in our area anyway) in terms of e-safety and changing minds about this type of technology but it doesn't suit everyone and therefore, the ability to disable would be most welcome :S

 

It's also been suggested that we should feedback about it via here: Microsoft Support

 

I have done this!

[lmgtfy]

Found this on a Microsoft forum regarding disabling Newsfeeds and it does work for me also.

 

Login to Office 365 go to Software and download sharepoint designer

 

log into your mysites url via sharepoint designer. url would be something like https://yourorgname-my.sharepoint.com

 

go to "All Files from navigation pane to the left

 

make a copy of "default.aspx" as a backup (do this to be safe)

 

copy contents of "Person.aspx" to clipboard

 

edit original "default.aspx", highlight all, delete, paste in contents of "Person.aspx"

 

save

 

Now when anyone clicks "Newsfeed" it will simply take them to their profile page.

 

Not perfect but it gets the desired result of keeping students from playing in the newsfeed.

[funkyfin2000]

That's great - some further info here too:

 

Re: Newsfeed Tab and managing permissions to stop students contributions - Sites and document sharing - Office 365 - Microsoft Office 365 Community

 

Rich

[sonofsanta]

(cross posting like a boss for the Google results, because this was the thread I originally followed but other threads showed up higher in Google)

 

As an alternative to the above (and thanks for the post @lmgtfy, been a great help) - instead of copying in the contents of Person.aspx into Default.aspx, copy the following code into it instead (such that it is the only code in Default.aspx):

 

Alter [tenancy] as relevant, or - easier - log in to Office 365 as any user and copy the URL from the SkyDrive shortcut up the top.

 

That then automatically bounces anyone going to the Newsfeed page over the the SkyDrive Pro page - which means that as soon as a user logs in, they are shown their SkyDrive Pro page. Result

[bondbill2k2]

Sounds great @sonofsanta but does this work still with the new SkyDrive>OneDrive change? I've seen a couple of suggestions with editing these files that caused issues creating new onedrives but as this is simply changing the link I wouldnt expect an issue...

 

Confirmation would be good before I make any changes to our tenancy

 

Thanks

[sonofsanta]

Sounds great @sonofsanta but does this work still with the new SkyDrive>OneDrive change? I've seen a couple of suggestions with editing these files that caused issues creating new onedrives but as this is simply changing the link I wouldnt expect an issue...

 

Confirmation would be good before I make any changes to our tenancy

 

Thanks

 

Point the first: that link still works for OneDrive.

 

Point the second: but not the first time you click on it - should really have updated this thread before with this info, so here goes...

 

The first time a user logs in and goes to OneDrive, it does that funky set up stuff. Until that is done, the link I posted above doesn't work, because the location it's trying to go to doesn't exist yet, because the first time set up hasn't run yet, and isn't triggered by that link but only by the existing page (there by default) or the Person.aspx page, as posted by @lmgtfy.

 

All of which means you could only ever edit Default.aspx to that code once all your users had visited OneDrive and triggered the setup. Which will never happen, so I reverted back to copying the contents of Person.aspx into Default.aspx as mentioned earlier, and that works fine.

 

The link (https://[tenancy]-my.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/MySite.aspx?MySiteRedirect=AllDocuments) still works for Intranet links and the like, though - it does succesfully redirect to a user's personal OneDrive.

 

tl:dr; ignore my advice above, it doesn't work because SharePoint needs to go through a set up stage first

[L3OUGH]

I don't suppose anyone knows if there has been any kind of update from Microsoft to actually remove the tile from the App Launcher has there?