I wanted to explore just how good Microsoft’s AI services really are, so I set up Azure Cognitive Services to detect celebrities from Twitter photos and gauge their emotions. Here’s what happened when I pointed Face and Computer Vision APIs at #breakingnews tweets — and how I shaved 12 months off Bill Gates’ age. Microsoft gives you a 12 month Azure free trial and so I thought I would have a play with some of their Cognitive Services API’s. ...
Ever needed to quickly pull a list of members from your Microsoft 365 Groups and export them? In this quick post, I’ll share a simple PowerShell script using the Get-UnifiedGroup cmdlet that does exactly that — filters your groups and dumps all members into a tidy CSV file. The PowerShell Script Use the Get-UnifiedGroup CMDLet and if your sites are prefixed like mine, filter on the DisplayName. $CSVPath = "C:\Temp\AllGroupMembers.csv" Connect-ExchangeOnline $list=Get-UnifiedGroup -Filter "DisplayName -like 'SitePrefix*'" foreach ($Group in $list) { #Get Group Members and export to CSV Get-UnifiedGroupLinks –Identity $Group.Id –LinkType Members | Select-Object @{Name="Group Name";Expression={$Group.DisplayName}},` @{Name="User Name";Expression={$_.DisplayName}}, PrimarySmtpAddress | Export-CSV $CSVPath -NoTypeInformation -Append } Output The above script will return a CSV. ...
What if you could run PowerShell scripts directly from Power Automate? After attending the Global Automation Bootcamp and seeing demos by Ben Stegink and Jaap Brasser, I was inspired to build a PowerShell Azure Runbook called from Power Automate using the Azure Automation Create Job step. Here’s how I did it. The Problem — SharePoint External Sharing My employer has a policy where all new SharePoint sites are setup with external sharing disabled and the only way to change this setting (as of today) is via the Admin GUI or PowerShell. We have a requirement to change the default setting to existing guests if manager approval has been granted, PowerAutomate has Approvals built in. This is the perfect opportunity for PowerShell to meet PowerAutomate. ...
Ever wanted to generate a PDF from a Microsoft Forms response without paying for premium connectors? In this post, I’ll show you how to populate a Word template dynamically using data from Microsoft Forms — all without the Premium Word Template action — using a clever SharePoint document library trick in Power Automate. The Build Demonstration Does your line of work require you to populate the same template over and over again? Maybe it’s invoices, certificates or receipts? What if you could complete a microsoft form and receive the completed file in return in under 60 seconds? Direct to you or your customer’s email or your document library in Teams? ...
Tired of wasting time on repetitive helpdesk admin? In this post, I’ll show you how I used Power Automate Desktop to automate ServiceNow call management — saving valuable time every week. When a user contacts you direct with a query, if it’s a quick fix, it’s often tempting to resolve there and then, albeit I have to request that the end user logs me a call so that I can record my time, the outcome and then close the call for KPI’s. ...
Power Apps isn’t just for business workflows — it can be a brilliant tool for teaching kids to build their own mobile apps. In this post, I’ll share how my son and I built a sign language spelling app in Power Apps, inspired by a fantastic presentation from the PowerApps 4 Kids team. The PowerApps 4 Kids Workshop My kids and I attended a presentation by Rory Neary and Pieter Veenstra of www.powerapps4kids.com where Pieter’s son Leo did a demo of his Planet PowerApp live on Zoom. Rory then went on to demo a 5-minute PowerApp that kids could build using sign language gifs available on their GitHub. The solution used a text input field that was then split across a Gallery using a dynamic reference to the animated gifs held on GitHub. ...
Still getting emails from colleagues when they could just message you on Teams? I built a simple Power Automate flow that lets you flag an email in Outlook and instantly transfer the conversation to a Teams chat — no more messy reply-all threads. How It Works The simplest way for me, to transfer the conversation from Outlook and trigger a flow, was to use “When an email is flagged” trigger. Therefore I can simply flag an email in Outlook and take the conversation onto Teams. ...