Ask Sympraxis

“Ask Sympraxis” is a bi-weekly webinar series, where we discuss an array of topics and answer your submitted questions. Join us by downloading our recurring calendar event. You can also join us directly in the meeting without downloading the event.

Use our handy form to submit your questions and subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date about upcoming webinars and announcements. Not a fan of newsletters? Follow @SympraxisC on Twitter for bi-weekly #AskSympraxis webinar topic announcements.

After each session, we post the recorded sessions and resources below along with a summary. You can also browse our YouTube channel to see all previous Ask Sympraxis sessions.

Topic of the Week

Wednesday, September 20th at 12:30 PM ET: Community resources for intranet owners

We welcome you to submit your questions to be answered in the session.

Archive of Previous Sessions

After each session, we post a short recap with a link resources including the full recording. Browse our archives to see all previous Ask Sympraxis sessions:

  • Managing permissions in modern SharePoint
    Have you ever been confused by permissions in SharePoint? Join the Ask Sympraxis team and we dive into a comprehensive exploration of permission management including M365 Groups, content management, and best practices. Gain insights into dynamic groups and learn how to navigate common challenges.
  • Using Copilot & ChatGPT to write PowerShell
    In this week’s Ask Sympraxis session, we’ll delve into the world of PowerShell with Copilot & ChatGPT. Discover the realm of artificial intelligence, explore its practical application, essential tools, and much more.
  • Tips & Tricks for customizing PnP Modern Search
    Join the Sympraxis team as we delve into the realm of customization with a collection of valuable tips and tricks that will elevate your PnP Modern Search implementation!
  • Changes to home and start experiences in Microsoft 365
    Wondering about the latest updates to SharePoint Start page and Viva Connections Home Experience? Look no further than Ask Sympraxis for expert guidance! Check out this engaging session as we explore these changes, covering everything from overlapping content and adaptive card extensions to multiple home sites and beyond!
  • Managing Company News
    Join this session of Ask Sympraxis as we delve into effective SharePoint news management, providing practical strategies and techniques to filter, customize, and brand news. Gain insights and maximize the impact of your SharePoint news!
  • Ask Sympraxis Anything
    Join this Ask Sympraxis session packed with valuable insights and expert answers to your burning questions. Explore the limitless possibilities of Microsoft 365 and gain a deeper understanding of its powerful features.
  • Microsoft 365 Conference Announcements Recap – Spring 2023
    The Microsoft 365 Conference took place in Las Vegas early May 2023. Join the Sympraxis team as we discuss our thoughts on the announcements of Microsoft Copilot, SharePoint Brand Center, and so much more.
  • Building a sustainable information architecture
    What is information architecture (IA)? What is an information architecture example? Join the Ask Sympraxis team as they explain through a benefits documents use case example and SharePoint best practices.
  • When Out of the Box isn’t enough
    This week Derek and Julie are accompanied by two exceptional guests, Andrew Connell (developer and SPFx expert) and Stefan Bauer (developer and designer). Join as they discuss when to extend from out of the box in Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Teams extensibility, and design considerations.
  • Empowering users while you implement Microsoft 365
    Ever wondered how to make your implementation of Microsoft 365 even more successful? Empower your users! Join the Sympraxis team as they discuss how to do this while simultaneously building.
  • Customizing and extending search
    Search is a highly customizable and extendable necessity. Join the Sympraxis team as we dive into different search options and their benefits.
  • Employee Directory
    Another week, another great Ask Sympraxis episode. In this session we discuss employee directories. Join as we explore user stories, the Maturity Model approach, people profile cards, and much more!
  • Search Optimization
    Join us as we discuss the important topic of search optimization! Compare search to the Maturity Model and learn the differences between SharePoint Search and Microsoft Search.
  • Notifications and approvals in lists and libraries
    This session of Ask Sympraxis focuses on notifications and approvals in SharePoint lists and libraries. Join as the team discusses UX better practices and how these intersect with the Maturity Model approach.
  • Managing your organization’s Quick Links in your intranet
    Another week, another great session of Ask Sympraxis! This week we focus on Quick Links in your intranet and how they’re managed. Join us now!
  • New(s) Years Resolution: SharePoint News to improve your communication
    We are back for our first Ask Sympraxis of the year! 2023 is the year we focus on improving communication. Join us as we discuss SharePoint News and how it can increase communication at your organization.
  • Business Cases for Viva Connections
    Simplify employees’ day through an integrated and personalized dashboard. Keep them connected with targeted news and info. Sounds pretty great right? This is exactly what you can do with Viva Connections! Join this session as we discuss the app.
  • Migrating from Stream Classic
    Are you still saving videos in Stream Classic? Are you aware that Stream is retiring and you need to transition those videos over to SharePoint so you don’t lose them? Follow along as we share common scenarios, how this works, caveats, tips, and much more on the process of this migration!
  • User Research
    What is user research? How do I conduct it? At what stage of my project is this important? Have you ever wondered any one of these questions? Then join this session of Ask Sympraxis where we dive into user research!
  • Offboarding
    Eventually the time comes when an employee offboards, often resulting in complications within the organization. Thankfully this session of Ask Sympraxis will help you navigate through these transitions as we go through what is needed and our recommendations to smooth the process as best as possible.
  • Microsoft IGNITE Recap Fall 2022
    October 12-14th proved to be an exciting few days for the Microsoft community! Follow along as we recap the Microsoft updates available and those soon to come.
  • Create a Policy Center
    What is a Policy Center you might ask? Tune into this informative session of Ask Sympraxis to learn the about, why, and how to of building and automating one.
  • Intro to Microsoft Forms
    Interested in learning more about the various uses and best practices of Microsoft Forms? Ask Sympraxis is here to help! Give this session of Ask Sympraxis a watch today.
  • OneDrive and sync
    Another insightful episode of Ask Sympraxis! This week focuses on OneDrive’s various manifestations, syncing, and adding shortcuts. Learn more here!
  • Making Your Intranet Multilingual
    This week of Ask Sympraxis focuses on making your intranet multilingual, an ever so important topic in our changing business world! We cover the topic thoroughly from uses cases to potential pitfalls. Learn more today!
  • Ask Sympraxis Anything
    Join us for this session of Ask Sympraxis Anything! We cover a range of topics including organization structure to support SharePoint/M365​, task tracking, SharePoint/OneDrive sync, migration recommendations, and more!
  • Forming an Intranet Steering Committee
    Today’s Ask Sympraxis is all about forming an intranet steering committee. Take a listen to learn more about this crucial process!
  • How to be a Good Content Owner
    Interested in learning to be a good content owner? We have the info for you. Listen to our newest Ask Sympraxis to learn more!
  • Content! Content! Content! Nudging along reluctant content owners
    Join us as we discuss content! Learn how to get content, the typical site timeline, and how to nudge along your content owners.
  • The Intersection of Collaboration & Communication: Managing Your Content Lifecycle
    Want to learn about managing your content lifecycle? Join us as we discuss various tools to use, tips and best practices, and permission inheritance.
  • Microsoft Loop
    Microsoft has begun the initial roll out of a new solution called Loop. Join us as we discuss this new solution including observations and use cases.
  • Working Across Tenant & Identities in Microsoft 365
    Microsoft has recently announced a new account switcher feature for Microsoft 365 web apps. Join us as we discuss benefits and limitations.
  • Microsoft 365 April Conference Recap
    We attended the Microsoft 365 Conference in Vegas. Here are our top takeaways.
  • Modern Content Types
    The Sympraxis team discusses content types from our different perspectives including updates to the content type gallery.
  • Ask Sympraxis Anything
    It is your turn to ask all the questions! The Sympraxis team answers your questions from the mail bag and takes additional live questions.
  • The Value of APIs
    Join us as we explore the value of APIs when working with Microsoft 365.
  • Help me to help you! How to engage with support
    We’ve all had to deal with support at one point or another. As members of the M365 community we are often on the giving end of some of that support. In this session we provide some things to think about before you engage support as well as where to find the support you might need.
  • Recent Changes We Love
    Join us as we discussed recent changes in Microsoft 365 that we love.
  • Building Accessible Solutions
    Accessibility is essential for organizations that want to create/provide high-quality tools, and not exclude people from using their products and services.
  • Business Solutions Using SharePoint Lists
    When is good good enough? Join us as we explore our CRM-ish story using SharePoint Lists as a solution.
  • The Island of (Microsoft) Misfit Toys
    In this special holiday episode of Ask Sympraxis we will be exploring the Island of (Microsoft) Misfit toys. This can be products that never panned out, died too early, or weren’t that great of an idea to start with.
  • SharePoint & Teams: What To Use When Part 3
    This session is part 3 of a multi-part conversation about how to leverage SharePoint and Teams and when to use each.
  • Microsoft Ignite Recap
    This session is a highlight of the top announcements from Microsoft Ignite Fall 2021.
  • SharePoint & Teams: What To Use When Part 2
    This session is part 2 of a multi-part conversation about how to leverage SharePoint and Teams and when to use each.
  • SharePoint & Teams; What to use when Part 1
    This session is part 1 of a multi-part conversation about how to leverage SharePoint and Teams and when to use each.
  • Hosting multiple subsidiaries or business units in Microsoft 365
    In this session we talked about how organizational complexity and Microsoft 365. At some point, managing all the different subsidiaries or business units in Microsoft 365 becomes difficult. We talked about our approaches to make all this work.
  • The Intranet is Dead. Long Live Microsoft Teams!
    We’ve been asked: Are SharePoint-based intranets dead, to be replaced by apps in Microsoft Teams? We think the answer is no, and we’ll talk about why, and how they are better together.
  • How to Protect Your Time, Your Attention and Your Sanity
    This has been a challenging year and a half. The lines between work and home have never been more blurred, and the hybrid workplace has created both new efficiencies and demands. As a 100% virtual organization (even before COVID) we will talk about what we’re doing to protect our time, focus and well-being, and we’d love to hear what’s working for you.
  • Migration Scenarios for Mergers and Acquisitions
    We get asked a lot about splitting content across tenants or moving content from one tenant to another. Usually these are a result of a merger, split, or acquisitions. In this edition of Ask Sympraxis we look at some of the common scenarios and pitfalls we have encountered.
  • Ask Sympraxis Anything
    We opened the mic up to you for this Ask Sympraxis Anything. There were some great questions around themes and branding as well as some other question.
  • Viva Topics: What We’ve Learned So Far
    In this installment to Ask Sympraxis we took a deeper dive into Viva Topics. Check out the recap for the TLDR.
  • Viva Desktop and your Intranet
    Viva Connections is a marketing term that is being used as a collection of functionality. It isn’t a SKU that you can purchase like some of the other Viva components like Topics. Viva Desktop is one of those pieces of functionality that is available for you to enable in your tenant. In this episode of Ask Sympraxis we talk about Viva Desktop and Viva Connections.
  • Ask Sympraxis Anything
    This week we opened things up to you and had a lively conversation running the gambit. Q: Have you encountered any privacy-related issues with public or private content delivery networks (CDNs) in SharePoint? I’m concerned about content being accidentally shared outside of our tenant. A public CDN is exactly what it sounds like, a public endpoint to content. When you enable this you define … Read more
  • External Sharing in Microsoft 365: The Rest
    While we were working on our other sessions on external sharing we realized that there were lots of other miscellaneous things to share about parts of Microsoft 365 that we hadn’t already talked about. So, in this session of Ask Sympraxis we are covering all the rest. OneDrive  OneDrive Tenant Level Settings Tenant administrators can set different external sharing policies for both OneDrive and SharePoint. … Read more
  • External Sharing in Microsoft Teams
    Tenant-Level Settings  Teams Admin Center  There are many layers of security which acts like a filter or funnel. When it comes to things like guests or external sharing, it’s important to know that at the tenant level, the tenant admin or teams admin has to turn a couple of switches on or off. The most common factor is differentiating between external users and guest users.  External Users  … Read more
  • External Sharing in SharePoint Online
    Team Site vs Communication Site External Sharing  For Team Sites, the external sharing is on by default when you set up your tenant. This is usually where people are doing most of their external sharing and collaboration on documents.   With Communication Sites you can share externally, however, you can’t do it from the site itself until you turn on the external sharing in the Admin Center. There are 3 … Read more
  • External Sharing in Microsoft 365
    Use Cases/Scenarios  There are a few common scenarios we see across external collaboration needs:  One-Way Sharing of Content – A document needs to be reviewed by someone, for example, a contract, which will be attached to an email or a document workspace.   Temporary Collaboration Needs – A short term need which can be composed of internal and external people. These may be project-based transient needs.   External Partnership Collaboration Needs – A long-term more … Read more
  • SharePoint App Bar
    Intro to the SharePoint App Bar What is it? The SharePoint App Bar will appear along the left navigation on all SharePoint sites. There are 4 different components: Global Navigation Frequent and Followed Sites Recommended News Recent Files Global Navigation is being talked about the most. There are multiple types of navigation within Microsoft 365 for a Communications Site. These include the Global Nav, … Read more
  • Getting Started with the Power Platform
    Microsoft Power Platform: From then to now In the old world, we had InfoPath and SharePoint Designer workflows which centered on SharePoint. There was also SQL Server Reporting Services to report on the data that is collected from InfoPath forms and stored in SharePoint lists or other sources. InfoPath is dead and now we have a new model with the Power Platform. It is … Read more
  • 2021 Ignite Recap
    Viva Connections Viva Connections is an extension of the SharePoint Home Site concept, which will also integrate with Microsoft Teams. It includes the SharePoint app bar and the home site app in Teams. This extension is one of the four offerings of the Viva employee experience platform, and it’s free with existing Microsoft 365 licenses.    In Viva Connections, there will be a centralized location for a user to see actionable tasks and … Read more
  • Microsoft Viva Overview
    Viva is Microsoft’s new employee experience platform that brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights. Join the Sympraxis team as we discuss our take on the product and what you can expect in your environment.
  • What’s new in PowerShell?
    The PowerShell scene around Office 365 is good, and it just got better with the release of the new PnP PowerShell module. In this week’s Ask Sympraxis we’ll talk about the which PowerShell modules you should use to bend Office 365 and answer any questions you have about PowerShell projects you’ve tackled yourself.
  • Templates and Automation for Collaboration
    In this session, we will talk about the different options for using templates to create new sites and automation tasks. Bring your questions or use the link at the top of the page.
  • Our Favorite Releases From 2020
    Hub Site Improvements In 2020, Hub Sites gained the ability to sync permissions to the associated sites. The first step is to enable syncing permissions on the hub-site (located in Site Permissions under a Hub tab)  which will  add the Hub Site Site Visitors group to all associated sites. Next, in the associated site, under Site Permissions toggle Sync hub permissions to “On.” As … Read more
  • “SharePoint is Slow” – What Can We Do About It?
    In this session, we will explore some of the reasons your site may be running at a less than optimal speed, the tools you can use to identify the culprits, and some solutions to reduce the bloat. Resources and Takeaways Use the page diagnostics tool: https://symp.info/Page-Diagnostic Use the SharePoint Site performance page – Office Support (microsoft.com) Microsoft Network Diagnostic Tool: https://symp.info/NetworkDiagTool
  • Migrating Your File Shares to SharePoint Online
    We’ve done a lot of migrations and we’ve learned a lot of lessons along the way. In this session, we will explore things to consider before migrating your content and the different tools to support the migration of your content from file shares to SharePoint Online. Resources and Takeaways Recording of the session PnP PowerShell SharePoint Migration Tool ​ Mover.io Sharegate
  • Modern PnP Search Web Parts
    What are the Modern PnP Search Web Parts?​ A set of web parts like those on legacy search results pages:  search results, search filters, search verticals, search box + search pagination Resources and Takeaways Modern PnP Search Web Parts Using the PnP Modern Search Web Parts with Refiners for Site Name and Content Type​ KQL Quick Reference
  • Putting the Unity in Community – A guide to Community Resources
    The Sympraxis Team talks about something that brings us all together Community. Learn about how to avail yourself of, and contribute to, all of the tools and resources in the M365 community, the best community in tech! Resources and Takeaways Patterns and Practices (PnP) Community Microsoft Tech Community Facebook Groups
  • Branding & User Interface Customizations
    Today we will talk about what it takes to make a visually appealing and accessible intranet. We will look at some of the new functionality coming this year and what you can do today. Resources and Takeaways Theme Designer: https://aka.ms/themedesigner Panthema: https://github.com/n8design/panthema​ Flicon: https://www.flicon.io/​ SharePoint Look Book : https://lookbook.microsoft.com​ Web Accessibility Guidelines: www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility​ Top Application Design Mistakes: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/top-10-application-design-mistakes/​ Visual Design Cheat Sheet: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/visual-design-cheat-sheet
  • 2020 Microsoft Ignite Recap
    We had a lightning round session of the Sympraxis’ highlights and top takeaways from Microsoft Ignite. Resources and Takeaways Roadmap Slides compiled by Sue Hanley: https://symp.info/IgniteRecapSlides Julie’s Resources: Graph Connectors Ignite Session: aka.ms/PR205 Known limitations of graph connectors: https://symp.info/gc-limits Derek’s Resources: “Build a Beautifully Designed Intranet” Ignite Session: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/video-hub/build-a-beautifully-designed-intranet-tips-and-tricks-from-the/m-p/1696757 Theme Designer: https://aka.ms/themedesigner Todd’s Resources: Microsoft Moves On-Premises Office Servers to a Subscription Model: https://symp.info/OnPremSubscription Microsoft 365 Groups: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/office-365-blog/office-365-groups-ignite-recap/ba-p/1036796 Stream v.Next: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-stream-blog/a-new-vision-for-microsoft-stream/ba-p/1686304 Cross-tenant … Read more
  • Microsoft 365 Maturity Model
    We often hear from people in the community that they know they aren’t using Microsoft 365 capabilities as fully or as efficiently as they would like. Taking a holistic view of the technology and gaining an understanding of current state vs. desired state can help organizations: Understand and compare options for solving business problems Focus time, energy and resources on the right priorities Identify … Read more
  • Microsoft 365 Learning Pathways
    Microsoft 365 learning pathways released the multilingual version 4 on June 27th with support for 9 languages. This overview discusses that release and it’s impact on governance and adoption of Microsoft 365.
  • Task Management in M365: What to Use When
    Are you struggling with tracking work across projects, cross-functional initiatives, and departmental objectives? Microsoft 365 has many options for personal and team action item tracking but which one is right for your organization? In this #AskSympraxis session we will explore the capabilities and limits of OneNote, Outlook Tasks, To Do, Planner, SharePoint Lists, and Project Online. Resources and Takeaways Connecting Task Experiences Across Microsoft … Read more
  • SharePoint 2010 Workflow Retirement – Part 2
    We had such a great discussion about this topic the last time, we’re going to cover it again! Several of us are getting deep into this topic for client projects, and we have more learnings and suggestions. Resources and Takeaways Todd’s Blog Series on Workflows (now with updates!):  https://symp.info/tkworkflow Microsoft Workflows to Power Automate:  https://aka.ms/sp-workflows-guidance John Liu’s “Ninja List” of Resources (including Power Studio for care/feeding … Read more
  • SharePoint 2010 Workflow Retirement
    We bring you a special one-hour episode of AskSympraxis due to Microsoft’s recent blog post from Chris McNulty and support article about ending support for SharePoint 2010 workflows in SharePoint Online. SharePoint 2010 workflows could be created in SharePoint Designer, as could SharePoint 2013 workflows. SharePoint 2010 workflows also underlie the out-of-the-box classic workflows. The Microsoft announcement is about both SharePoint 2010 and 2013 workflows, but the schedule … Read more
  • Classic to Modern: Classic to Modern Web Part Mapping
    Microsoft is continuously evolving and improving SharePoint Online to be more engaging, flexible, responsive, and easier to use. One of the biggest shifts has been from SharePoint’s classic to modern and Microsoft’s investments are all in modern now. At some point, you will need to move from classic to modern, and you should want to because of the much-improved capabilities.  Resources and Takeaways PnP Search Web Parts​ Classic and Modern Web Part Experiences
  • Classic to Modern: Modernization Starts & Stops
    Microsoft is continuously evolving and improving SharePoint Online to be more engaging, flexible, responsive, and easier to use. One of the biggest shifts has been from SharePoint’s classic to modern and Microsoft’s investments are all in modern now. At some point, you will need to move from classic to modern, and you should want to because of the much-improved capabilities.  The move to modern changes the capabilities available to you in navigation, branding, information architecture and site hierarchy, search, sharing … Read more
  • Microsoft 365 Community Content
    The Sympraxis Team talks about the new Microsoft 365 Community Content repo and how this relates to our work and how you can get involved. If you have any questions use the link above. Resources and Takeaways Go contribute to Microsoft 365 Community Docs!​ Follow the Microsoft 365 Community Docs on Twitter
  • Managing Your Work Across Multiple Tenants
    The Sympraxis Team talks about how we try to tame the craziness that is working with multiple tenants. Resources and Takeaways
  • Documentation Best Practices
    The Sympraxis Team talks about documentation. Who needs it, what it is important, and what is our take on the best form factor for it.
  • Managing Guest Access in Your Tenant
    In this session of Ask Sympraxis we talked about managing guest access in your Microsoft 365 tenant. We talked about the different options for enabling guest access and reasons why you should and shouldn’t enable it. We also talked about some of the pitfalls or things to look out for.
  • How to Decide When to Write Custom Code
    This session took a look at the different decision trees we use before we start to write custom code. We discussed the different out of the box options for common custom code tasks and and the different options for custom coding.

Sympraxis Consulting | 87 Haverhill Rd | East Kingston, NH 03827 | Phone: 857.322.4049 | Privacy Policy

Powered by WordPress.com.