If you have used or are still kicking the tires of the Office 365 Preview and Project Online you may have noticed that you can have up to 3 PWA instances.  The first one is provisioned for you as the …/Sites/PWA instance, and you can then either use the New > Private Site Collection with Project Web App option to add a new site collection with PWA, or you can use the Project Web App > Add option to add the feature to an existing site collection.  Once you have used all three your SharePoint admin center may look something like this: The red bar in top right signifying that you have used all your available PWA instances.  In the preview we have seen that customers wanting to start afresh with a clean PWA have deleted the site collections and then still not been able to re-use this apparently deleted PWA instance.  The reason behind this is that the instance isn’t gone – it is in the recycle bin – and you could actually recover it if you needed to.  So how should you remove a PWA instance if you want to recover the quota to re-use somewhere else?  We have this documented over on the Office site (thanks Sonia! – and if the link isn’t live it soon will be…) and the key take-away is that you should use the Project Web App > Remove option.  This removes the feature from the selected site collection and gives you back one of your quota instances.  But what if I have already deleted the site collection?  The answer to that question is covered on the link given too – but I’m also going to cover the steps here as well as introducing the concept of administering your SharePoint Online instance via PowerShell. So my scenario is that I have deleted two of my site collections that had PWA instances – so still see that I have used my quota of 3 – what do I do next?  For the first recovery I will use the option to restore my PWA and then remove properly.  So looking in my Recycle Bin from the ribbon I can see my two sites (if I had deleted more than 30 days ago they would be gone anyway – and my quota would have been returned) – and I select the first one and click Restore Deleted Items – and then click Restore on the next dialog..   In my testing the restore took just a few minutes – but my PWA was pretty empty.  Once it was back I could select the site collection and use the option Project Web App > Remove, and then click Disable in the next dialog to disable this feature (and we really are sorry to see you remove PWA…). After this completes, which again for me was just a minute or two, I can see that I now have 1 PWA instance available to re-use – and I still have the …/Sites/PWS site collection.  This is important to note – I have disabled PWA which deleted all Project Web App data, including project plans, timesheets and resources – but I still have any pure SharePoint content that may have also existed in that site collection. For my remaining PWA instance that is still in the recycle bin I am going to take a different approach – and thanks to my colleague Stefan Schwarz for coming up with this workaround.  PowerShell is a tool that can be used across many and probably nearly all current Microsoft products.  For current Office 365 there is a good article at https://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/hh124998.aspx and for the commands we are interested in you will also need the SharePoint Online Management Shell from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35588 You will also need to install the Microsoft Online Services Sign-in Assistant as noted in the first article. I prefer using the ISE for PowerShell – so I start this up and then load the SharePoint Online cmdlets using import-module Microsoft.Online.SharePoint.PowerShell (installed from the link above) then connect to my SharePoint Online instance using Connect-SPOService and entering my Tenant admin url and then my credentials.  This isn’t just your tenant url but your tenant admin url – for example mine is https://BlogFodder-admin.sharepoint.com . I can then use the command Get-SPODeletedSite to see what is in my recycle bin: and to completely remove it I can use another PowerShell command – Remove-SPODeletedSite, along with the Url of the site I wish to remove – and to be extra cautious I can use the –Confirm parameter to give me that last chance to change my mind – and I then even get another last chance with the Permanently removing site dialog… Once this completes then I did notice it took a couple of minutes and a refresh or two before I could see my available PWA instances count go up to 2. Remember, the Remove-SPODeletedSite  isn’t just removing the Project stuff – but will completely delete everything to do with that site collection.  But hey – it was in your recycle bin so I guess you thought you could do without it.  Again, the link to the Office site gives a good breakdown of the options to use and what the consequences of your actions will be. The SharePoint Online Management Shell isn’t a total replacement for the SharePoint admin center UI – for example you can’t administer PWA instances and features – but it may offer some useful features such as user administration.  Another good reference to help understand the differences between the Office 365 and SharePoint Online PowerShell commands is https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fp161388.aspx .  I can see that the PowerShell stuff for Project and SharePoint online will be generating a few more blog posts. Thanks to Jean Donati and Sonia Atchison for feedback on this article – and Doug Welsby for running into the problem and getting us thinking about documenting the issue – and Stefan Schwarz for the PowerShell commands.

​Wondering about the new feature you see at the top of your new SharePoint Online, Office 365 site, or SharePoint 2013? Here’s a hint – think about a library when you can store all your work-related documents and files, a bit like SkyDrive but for your business content…   Start here: What is SkyDrive Pro?   Note: This post was previously published on the Get the Point blog for SharePoint end users, which will be retired in January 2012. https://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Blogs/GetThePoint/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=684    

Alex Burton, a Project MVP, has published a series of posts titled Building your first Project Server app on the EPMSource blog. The app is named Publish All; it publishes all enterprise projects for the PWA instance where the app is installed. The Publish All app is developed by using the Project Server JavaScript object model (JSOM) with “Napa” Office 365 Development Tools, and can be deployed to Project Online and to an on-premises installation of Project Server 2013. The blog series includes the following parts: Part Zero–The introduction Part 1 – Getting Started – Setting up a development environment Part 2 – Getting the basic app up and running Part 3 – Taking the app to the next level Part 4 – Submitting to the app store Alex has even gone so far as to add a support page for the Publish All app, at https://epmsource.com/2013-apps/ . It looks to be a very useful series. For more information about the Napa tools, see How to: Create a basic app for SharePoint by using Office 365 Development Tools on MSDN. For information about using Visual Studio 2012 with the JSOM for Project Server, see Getting started with the Project Server 2013 JavaScript object model .

Applies to: Administrators of Office 365 for enterprises and Office 365 for professionals and small businesses Author: Suzanne Girardot, Office 365 writer   If you’re an Office 365 admin, you can now reset your own password without having to submit a service request. You can ask another admin to reset your password, but when you’re the only admin in your organization, or no other admin is available, you can reset your own password. On the Office 365 sign-in page, click Forgot your password? and follow the instructions.   To reset your own password, you must have already provided an alternate email address and mobile phone number that can receive text messages. For instructions on how to add this information to your user account, see Create or edit users . Note : You need a mobile phone that can receive text messages for password reset only if one or both of the following applies to you: Your organization has a custom domain that you’ve set up to use with Office 365. Your Office 365 account is synchronized through directory synchronization. You can get more information about resetting your admin password in Reset your administrator password . If this doesn’t work to reset your password, submit a password reset request via our New Service Request wizard .  

Microsoft Support will be presenting a series of webcasts called the  Office 365 Expert Discussion Series ,  to showcase our tools and content that can be used to help make your Office 365 experience better and help solve common issues more quickly.  During our latest Expert Discussions Series, we will demonstrate some new diagnostic capabilities that are available for troubleshooting Office 365. The areas that will be covered by the diagnostics are related to DNS, ADFS, and DirSync troubleshooting. We will also b e demonstrating how to use Fix IT Center Pro to diagnose a broad range of issues using the automated diagnostics from Microsoft Support. Join us  on Thursday, November 29th at 8:00 AM Pacific Time  for this webcast. The duration of the meeting is planned for 1 hour. After the meeting concludes a recording of the session will be published to this blog post and the  Office 365 YouTube channel . Microsoft Support will be monitoring the Office 365 Expert Discussion  Forum  and  Wiki  as well as the Community closely for this topic for a week after the event to answer any questions about the live session. Be sure to view our past Expert Discussions  here .  To sign up for this webcast please  download and save the calendar invite below  where you will find the Lync invite and all other Office 365 Expert Discussion information.  We are excited to see you there!  —————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Presenter : Steve Justice , Principle Escalation Engineer from Microsoft CSS and other Microsoft Support Team members. Date/Time:  Thursday November 29th , at 8:00 AM Pacific Time . (1 Hour presentation) Online Meeting Information: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Join online meeting https://join.microsoft.com/meet/v-joshto/F00T8BQY Join by Phone +14257063500     +18883203585       Find a local number Conference ID: 27579341     Forgot your dial-in PIN? |   First online meeting?     [!OC([1033])!] ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Audience: Office 365 MVP and  Grid Members  and open to anyone who is interested in Office 365 Expert Discussions. 

Following the recent worldwide Project Ignite tour my colleague Jan Kalis organized as well as presentations at events like SharePoint Conference 2012 last week, please find below a summary of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about Microsoft Project Online I have been asked by customers and partners. Before I start please note that this is a journey and I’m sure you have plenty more questions and yes we will have plenty more answers and content to help you understand the value of Project Online and how it can bring value to your organization. Also please note that the 8 questions below are not sorted in any specific order, and yes if you have additional questions please leverage the Project Online forum on TechNet . Delivers full Project Portfolio Management (PPM) in the cloud Yes Microsoft Project Online delivers full project portfolio management capabilities in the Office 365 cloud. Project Online delivers all key scenarios/functionality expected from a PPM solution such as demand management , resource management, financial management, time management, collaboration & social, etc. As mentioned during the Ignite tour the product team only built and shipped one product called Project Server 2013 which gets delivered in different channels like online in Office 365 or on-premise like TechNet & MSDN subscribers. So yes there is full PPM functional feature parity in Online and on-premise whether you want to be firing on all 12 cylinders with a maturity level 3 or if you are just starting with a PPM system. We are also working on document that will be published on TechNet that describes some of the technical differences. Achieve on-premise to Online migration A very common request from many customers, how can I move to Project Online from my existing PPM system whether it’s an older version of Project Server or whether it’s from a online competitor? Again we will provide guidance, but at a high level you can either do it manually once depending on the amount of data, or you can automate the process using third party tools such as: FluentPro Cloud Migrator Pro ( Want to test-drive Project Online? How to migrate data from on-premises to Online? ); please also remember that you will also have to migrate the SharePoint content to SharePoint Online (plenty of tools available today to help you achieve this, BING them!). Connect Online to on-premise Line Of Business Apps Moving to Project Online does not isolate you from your mission critical on-premise line of business applications such as an ERP, CRM, ticketing, etc. SharePoint Online and Project Online provide a very rich extensibility model to help you connect the two world regardless of your needs. It could as simple as leveraging existing API such as OData or CSOM, or you could leverage Business Connectivity Services for instance. We are working on whitepaper that will get published early next year that will demonstrate the integration (how to push data from on-premise to Online and how to retrieve data on-premise from Online) and provide starting points to enable it. Track using ODATA and customize using CSOM In an Online world we cannot give you direct database access for obvious security reasons! and hence the protocol/mechanism to access all your beloved PPM data (yes including timephased data) is via the OData protocol. To build apps and do any custom code the API of choice is CSOM, please check the Project & SharePoint Software Development Kit (SDK) on MSDN to learn about each. Preview is for temporary use only (see Preview FAQ ) The preview has been available since July 16th 2012, when Steve Ballmer disclosed the new version of Microsoft Office (which Project desktop, Project Server and Project Online is part of!). The Preview is free but it’s for temporary use only until the commercial service is available, you read the Preview FAQ and navigate to the very end which says: “the Preview will expire approximately 60 days after the next version of Office becomes available in your market. As the date approaches, you will receive notifications in the Office applications alerting you to the pending expiration. Once the Preview has expired, the applications enter read-only mode, which means that you can view or print documents only, it isn’t possible to create new documents, edit, or save them. You must uninstall the Preview version of Office before installing a newer version of Office.” So yes, please kick the tires, try it out, check out some some of the cool new scenario and features (I love this one …: Microsoft Project Online on Xbox ) but please remember that at the end of the Preview all the data will be lost unless you save it locally. With that in mind and specially with a PPM system, a lot of learning and processes needs to be put in place before a production rollout, so treat this as a free proof of concepts environment! Office 365 is an evergreen service. Customers need to stay current What started with a Preview in our Office 365 worldwide data centers (aka a beta/pre-released version of Project Server 2013), and since the RTM announcement last month and the availability of the products on TechNet/MSDN/Volume Licensing/Trials, the online service has been updated with the RTM products during the past month. So yes it’s a Preview offer but with the latest version of the product! Yes we are still all learning and we are continuously updating the services until it’s ready for general availability (GA). So back to my point earlier, please try it out because it contains the latest fit and polish not to mention the latest bug fixes. In the end, one of the key value of online is that it will always have the latest and greatest version of Microsoft’s PPM, and that includes Exchange, Lync, SharePoint, Office, hence think of the “evergreen PPM”! Azure VM (IaaS) vs. Project Online (SaaS) Azure Virtual Machine (VM) which a preview was disclosed last May, is an upcoming offer from the Windows Azure team which will give you the ability to purchase CPU, memory, and storage in the cloud to run your application in a virtualized environment such as  SharePoint and Project Server for instance. As announced last may, SharePoint 2010 is supported on Azure VM (see SharePoint Deployment on Windows Azure Virtual Machines ), and yes Project Server 2010 will also be supported initially and later 2013 will be. The question one need to think about is whether to go with Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) or other options such as software as a service (SaaS) or partner hosted or on-premise. Bottom line, Microsoft PPM is about choice and we will provide plenty of options to deploy and use it! Again we are working on a white paper and guidance on these options and how they can fulfill your needs today and tomorrow. Use the Project Online Forum and Wiki for Questions & Answers As mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’ve only covered a few question above and I’m sure you have a few more based on some the answers provided above and also based on other Project Online questions you might have so from this point forward I want you to start leveraging the following resources to get answers: Project Online forum , yes it’s monitored by Microsoft product experts, by Microsoft support personnel, by Microsoft Project MVPs and many others so don’t be shy, it’s free! Project Online Preview Wiki Portal , going forward our wiki will get richer and richer with key service information. Other valuable Microsoft Online resources : Steve Ballmer’s letter on October 9, 2012:  TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS, CUSTOMERS, PARTNERS AND EMPLOYEES Global Foundation Services (and their blog ) Office 365 Trust Center (check out the industry standards for instance) Service Updates for Office 365 for enterprises (check out monthly updates)

Audience: Office 365 for professionals and small businesses Office 365 for enterprises   Lync and Learn is an online session led by Office 365 Product Managers and Community  Grid members .  Lync and Learn sessions address different Office 365 subjects and scenarios and is beneficial to anyone who wants to learn more and expand their knowledge of the Office 365 suite. View past Lync and Learn sessions  here .        Many users move to Office 365 for its convenience and reliability of email. But Office 365 comes packaged with other products that can help greatly increase anyone’s productivity and collaboration.  One of the most powerful Office 365 tools is SharePoint Online. Some users may not  be aware of the potential of SharePoint Online, or may want to brush up on some SharePoint best practices. If this sounds like you, then be sure to join our next  Lync and Learn Session . Join  John Ventry  for an informative session detailing what SharePoint Online is and how it can instantly improve productivity and collaboration for you and your organization.   John Ventry  is a 17 year technology professional, currently working as an Office 365 and SharePoint consultant for St. Charles Consulting Group. John works with clients on developing SharePoint solutions, creating mobility strategies around SharePoint and Office 365, SharePoint migration strategies and Office 365 administration.   To join this webcast please join us on  Thursday November 15 th , at 10:00 AM Pacific Time  and  see the Lync information below.  Download and save the calendar invite  on this blog post. We are excited to see you there!  Interested in being our next Lync and Learn presenter?  Learn how to join the Office 365 Grid  and become an Office 365 Lync and Learn presenter. ——————————————————————————————————————————————————— Presenter:  John Ventry , Office365/SharePoint Consultant for St. Charles Consulting Group, and  Office 365 Grid member . Date/Time: Thursday May 15 th , at 10:00 AM Pacific Time . (1 Hour presentation) Live Meeting Information: ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Join online meeting https://join.microsoft.com/meet/v-joshto/F00T8BQY Join by Phone  +14257063500         +18883203585           Find a local number   Conference ID: 27579341     Forgot your dial-in PIN?   |    First online meeting?      [1033])!] ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Audience: Live@edu; Office 365 for education Editor’s Note: Please be sure that the contact information for your institution is up to date to be alerted to key Live@edu to Office 365 upgrade information. Sign in to the Service Management Portal (SMP)  and update the critical notification field with all updated contacts for your institution.  The upgrade to Office 365 for education is happening! By September 2013, all Live@edu customers will need to complete the upgrade to Office 365 for education. Microsoft will start scheduling more academic institutions for the upgrade soon, but you don’t have to wait. Sign in to SMP  and see if your institution is ready to upgrade, or contact Live@edu  support to initiate the upgrade.   Get started today. Download the upgrade planning worksheet and start planning. The Office 365 upgrade builds on your existing Live@edu deployment, and we provide the tools and guidance at each stage—including the new upgrade planning worksheet . You can use this tool to track the tasks required before, during, and after the upgrade.   To get started Download the upgrade planning worksheet and start by selecting the scenarios that apply to your Live@edu deployment. Prepare for the upgrade. Visit the upgrade center to better understand each step in the upgrade process. Start the upgrade to Office 365. Remember, after the upgrade your domain will be subscribed to Exchange Online Plan 1 automatically – which is free. You can then change your subscription to any of the Office 365 academic plans to give your students, faculty, and staff access to more services. Check out all the Office 365 academic plans .   Live@edu administrative changes coming December 2012 While Live@edu accounts are being prepared for the upgrade to Office 365, a few administrative features will not be available beginning December 3, 2012 until your institution’s upgrade to Office 365 for education is complete:  Add or remove accepted domains to your institution subscription. Change your institution mailing address and phone number within the SMP. Modify co-branding. Note Co-branding is not supported in Office 365 for Exchange Online. If you need to take any of these actions, consider doing so prior to December 3 . Once your institution completes the upgrade, you’ll be able to make these changes on Office 365.   Regards, The Live@edu to Office 365 team

Using Lync and OneNote, an Office 365 user can take notes during a Lync Meeting. In addition, other meeting participants can see and add to these notes during the meeting. Users can also take private notes and, if the user also has Outlook, he or she can include notes in the meeting request, allowing users to preview them, add their own notes, and prepare for the meeting accordingly.   Author : Alexandra Lise Publication date : November 6, 2012 Product version : Lync Online   Lync’s sharing feature gives Office 365 users with OneNote a way to share notes with colleagues in different locations during an ad hoc (IM, audio, and/or video) conversation or a scheduled Lync Meeting. Collaboration features allow others to contribute to the notes. And, with Outlook and OneNote, Lync Online users can send out notes in a meeting request for attendees to preview. Guidance First, help Lync Online users set up a sharing session , by pointing them to the following topics: Set up a Lync Meeting Explains how to schedule an online meeting by using Outlook or Lync Web Scheduler. Start an impromptu Lync Meeting Explains how to invite one person or a group of people into a Lync IM conversation and add audio and/or video. Next, teach users to add notes to a meeting request and/or Lync Meeting by following the steps at Use shared and private notes in a Lync Meeting . Finally, make sure users know how to let others edit the notes and also how to save notes from Lync. Edit notes together To give control to another person, on the sharing bar at the top of your meeting window, click Give Control , and then either click an individual attendee or click Give Control Automatically to grant control to anyone who requests it during the sharing session. Take back control at any time by clicking Give Control again, and then clicking the either the name of the person who has control or Give Control Automatically if it’s selected. Save notes To save notes during a Lync sharing session, pause on the presentation (monitor) icon, click the Manage Presentable Content button, click More , and then select the saving option. Lync’s sharing and collaboration tools combine with OneNote’s ability to keep track of information by giving Office 365 users with both programs a way to share notes during sharing sessions with large and small audiences, remote users, and in scheduled or impromptu settings and to work with colleagues to capture evolving ideas and to collect information from different experts. Additional Resources To learn more, check out the following articles: Download the Lync 2013 for Office 365 Sharing and Collaboration Quick Reference Introduction to the Lync Meeting Window Check the Lync 2013 for Office 365 Help at office.com for related training and videos, coming soon. Keywords: Lync Meeting, OneNote, notes, sharing

Using Lync and PowerPoint, an Office 365 user can give PowerPoint presentations, record them, and work collaboratively on PowerPoint slides during a Lync Meeting with as many as 249 other people. This article describes how to use this feature.   Author : Alexandra Lise Publication date : November 6, 2012 Product version : Lync Online   Lync’s sharing feature gives Office 365 users a way to share PowerPoint presentations with colleagues in different locations. Users can present information from slides or take advantage of Lync’s collaboration features and work together on a presentation to be delivered later. Collaboration features enable users to give control to other users while the annotation tools help groups focus on certain parts of a presentation. Sharing sessions can be done ad hoc or during a scheduled Lync Meeting. Getting Started To help Lync Online users set up a sharing session , point them to the following topics:   Set up a Lync Meeting — explains how to schedule an online meeting by using Outlook or Lync Web Scheduler . TIP: To be able to set up Lync Meetings users must be enabled for dial-in conferencing. For details, see Configure Dial-in Conferencing .   Start an impromptu Lync Meeting — explains how to invite one person or a group of people to join a Lync IM conversation and add audio and/or video. Presenting and Recording To give a presentation 1. In a meeting or conversation window, pause on the presentation (monitor) icon, and then click PowerPoint . Figure 1. Selecting PowerPoint in the meeting window. 2. Options: To move the slides, use either the arrows at the bottom of the meeting window or click Thumbnails , and then click the slide you want to show To see your presenter notes, click Notes . To use the laser pointer, highlights, shapes, the eraser, pen, text changer, and other annotation tools, on the upper-right side of the slide, click the Annotations button — then click the type of annotation you want to use. Note : annotating doesn’t change the actual file, although, if you want to, you can save an annotated copy. To prevent someone from skipping ahead or using annotations, in the meeting window, click More Options , click Lync Meeting Options , and then select the permissions level for the participant(s). To record a presentation 1. In the meeting or conversation window, click More Options , and then click Start Recording Figure 2. Figure 2. Starting recording. 2. (Optional) Use the controls at the bottom of the window to pause and resume recording. 3. When finished, click the Stop Recording button. Lync automatically saves the recording in a format that plays in Windows Media Player and Zune. Figure 3. Stopped recording notification. To manage a presentation To prevent people from downloading the presentation, during a sharing session, hover over presentation (monitor) icon, click the Manage Presentable Content button, and then click the Permissions menu and the appropriate option. To prevent people from annotating or skipping ahead, in the meeting window, click Meeting Options , click Lync Meeting options , and then select the appropriate permissions. To save someone else’s presentation or an annotated copy, during a sharing session, pause on the presentation (monitor) icon, click the Manage Presentable Content button, click More , and then select the saving option. To edit a presentation together To give control to another person, click Give Control on the sharing bar at the top of your meeting window. Then either click an individual attendee or click Give Control Automatically to grant control to anyone who requests it during the sharing session. To take back control at any time click the Give Control again, then click either the name of the person who has control or Give Control Automatically if it’s selected. Lync’s sharing and collaboration tools, combined with PowerPoint’s ability to organize and feature important information, give Office 365 users an effective way to present information to remote users in large and small audiences, It also enables users to work with colleagues— in scheduled or impromptu sessions— to develop, refine and style presentation content. Additional Resources To learn more, check out the following articles: Lync 2013 for Office 365 Sharing and Collaboration Quick Reference Record and Playback a Lync Meeting Introduction to the Lync Meeting Window   Keywords : Lync Meeting, PowerPoint, present, annotations