Ouss in the Cloud

Writes about Microsoft 365, Intune, Purview, SharePoint, Teams, Defender and more

Month: June 2024

Let me tell you something about solving Video Sharing Challenges

24/06/2024 /

Today’s blog addresses a common issue many users face during meetings: video sharing in Microsoft Teams. I’ll guide you through the steps to overcome this problem and ensure smooth, efficient video sharing in your virtual meetings.

Introduction

Sharing videos during meetings can be a frustrating experience. Whether you’re in a standup, demo, or any other meeting via Microsoft Teams, you’ve likely encountered issues when trying to showcase a video. The common problem with screen sharing is that video and audio streams are not synchronized properly, causing the video to stutter and the audio to lag.

This issue can impact your presentation and make it difficult to convey the message you want to share. While sharing a link to a SharePoint location can work as a workaround, it lacks the engagement of a live presentation.

Explore the different sections of this blog:

1. Introduction
2. The Challenge
3. The Solution
4. Conclusion

The Challenge

Currently, Microsoft Teams doesn’t support direct video file sharing during meetings. When you try to share a video directly this is the error you encounter:

This limitation can be quite frustrating, especially when you want to ensure a smooth and professional presentation.

The Solution: PowerPoint Live

After experimenting with various methods, I found a reliable workaround using Microsoft PowerPoint Live. This feature allows you to share videos seamlessly in high quality, even with large audiences. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you achieve this.

  1. Create a PowerPoint Presentation:
  • Start by creating a new PowerPoint presentation with just one slide. This will make it easier to manage and upload.
  • If your video file is large, consider compressing it using online tools to ensure smooth playback. Alternatively, you can download and use a YouTube video as an MP4 file.


2. Import the Video:

  • Insert the video into the slide.
  • Stretch the video to fill the entire slide, ensuring that it is easily viewable.

3. Save and Test:

  • Save your PowerPoint file.
  • Start a meeting in Microsoft Teams and click the share button.
  • Locate your PowerPoint file and double-click it to start PowerPoint Live.

4. Play the Video:

  • Once PowerPoint Live is running, simply press play to start the video.
  • Use the three dots menu to explore additional options that might enhance your presentation.

Conclusion

This method has been tested successfully in meetings with up to 250 participants, providing excellent video and audio quality, even on mobile devices!

By using PowerPoint Live, you can overcome the limitations of Microsoft Teams’ native (lack of) video sharing capabilities and deliver a smooth and a professional presentation. I hope this trick proves useful for your future meetings!

Stay tuned for more tips and tricks in future blogs.

Let me tell you something about Teams delegate scheduling errors

17/06/2024 /

I recently navigated through this process and want to share my experience with you.

To know my backstory and reasoning for starting up this journey, please see this article.

Ouss

Introduction

I recently had to configure an OAuth authentication between Exchange 2016 and Exchange Online/Microsoft Teams backend services.

We can’t use the Classic full hybrid/Exchange Online yet so this is the only option for now to make the calendar available in Microsoft Teams (and let me tell you, the people are demanding this option as it makes working with Teams on every device much easier when your meetings are in the app).

Another request was that users want to generate Microsoft Teams links in Outlook for delegated mailbox. I will explain both scenarios below and the issues we countered.

Explore the different sections of this blog:

1. Introduction
2. The challenge
3. The other challenge
4. Conclusion

The challenge

The prerequisites are not really clear for some functions (if you go through multiple sites you may find it somewhere) so I will summarize the need to knows and the potential issues you may find.

Need to know for the  Oauth connection:

  • Configure the steps mentioned here.

Need to knows for creating a MS Teams link in Outlook in a delegate mailbox:

  • Configure these steps
  • User/Shared mailbox user accounts need to have a routable UPN (mailbox1@….com instead of mailbox1.xxx.local)
  • User/Shared mailbox user account needs to be synced to the cloud
  • Users need delegate access on the mailbox
  • Permission may need to be reapplied


The steps and issues will be talked about below.

According to Microsoft, CFH (Classic full hybrid ) is needed when trying to connect Exchange (on-premise) with the MS Teams backend.
Microsoft says the following about it:

Completed configuration of your hybrid deployment using the Hybrid Deployment Wizard. For more information, see Exchange Server Hybrid Deployments.

Microsoft Learn

I had a little discussion with MS Support as I knew this was not needed and eventually they took back their statement.

So we started with going through all the steps and the networking part gave some issues as we have a complex network setup with multiple firewalls/F5’s etc.

The issues got solved with the different IT teams and we managed to get this beautiful button in Microsoft Teams:

The meetings started to show up and everything seems fine for now.

Now the other challenge, creating MS Teams meeting in a delegated mailbox.

First up, couple prerequisites are seen below and another important one is to configure the steps mentioned here.

One of the reasons to enable Exchange and MS Teams integration was the use of Teams meeting links in outlook and in delegated mailboxes.
We did intensive testing to see if everything worked as expected but we rang into one big issue (which we kind of saw coming) and that is “Delegating issues“.

This means that a shared mailbox or delegated mailbox will not get the Microsoft Teams link in Outlook and wil not work only when having a delegate permission role and sometimes you need to reapply the permission for it to work.

Because we are not using hybrid exchange we didn’t sync the user accounts associated with the shared mailboxes before. This is needed so the Teams backend api can talk with exchange and change the UPN to a routable domain name ( in the logs there are multiple steps that the Outlook MS Teams add-in needs to take before giving this MS Teams link:

But when trying to plan a Delegated mailbox you would get one of these errors:

The infrastructure is maybe causing this issue but when you open the delegated mailbox in OWA (outlook web app) and assign the delegate permission (or reassign the permission if it doesn’t work right away) it works like expected.

If you try again you will see the link in the shared/delegate mailbox:

Conclusion

In summary, navigating OAuth authentication and Microsoft Teams integration can be quite the adventure! I hope my journey has shed some light on these challenges.

This is the end of my first blog post. I hope you enjoyed reading it and maybe learned a thing or two in the process.



Let me talk to ya (introduction)

16/06/2024 /

Hi There,

I am thrilled to embark on this digital journey with you as we launch Ouss in the Cloud by Ouss Enterprises.
It’s a blog/digital space made with passion and for knowledge, good to knows and all things IT.

As a seasoned Technical Consultant deeply immersed in the world of Microsoft 365, my mission is clear: to make the intricacies of IT not only understandable but enjoyable for all. Whether you’re navigating the cloud, exploring Microsoft 365 projects, or delving into the complexities of Intune, Autopilot, PowerPlatform, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Entra – consider this hub your go-to resource.

My dedication extends beyond project engagements – I am here to share insights, provide guidance, and foster a sense of community within the ever-evolving IT landscape. Expect meaningful, fun, and great posts tailored to engage and assist professionals and enthusiasts alike.

So join me on this ride through all things IT. Together, we’ll turn challenges into opportunities and hopefully make this thing a fun and learning experience.

Cheers,
Ouss

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