Outlook Error: Unable to convert a generic Outlook meeting to a Teams meeting (online meeting)

Article Updated: This issue is now resolved

Due to the popular demand, Microsoft has re-deployed this feature on 14th September 2020. If you restart the Outlook, Teams clients and try to convert a occurrence now, you should be able to do so.

“This is one appointment in a series, To make it an online meeting, open the meeting series and try again”

Did you get this error just out of the blue in Outlook as well ? – If so, this is an ongoing issue with Outlook clients and you are not the only one impacted, and, not everyone impacted either. Recurring meeting in Outlook had the ability to edit one occurrence out of the series and we could convert these generic meetings in to Teams meetings (online meeting) until last week 14-08-2020). However this has somehow changed for some customers probably due to an Outlook/Teams update (not yet confirmed).

In my case, the following version of Outlook 2016 had the issue (and it’s not the only version impacted)

This may not be one of those common features used by majority but, it is indeed an important feature for those who are having busy calendars to manage.

Usually when you try to edit an single occurrence in a series.

It prompts you to choose a one or the entire series. The following steps are captured from my device as it seems not impacted.

The problem starts when you click on “Teams Meeting” icon to convert the meeting to a Teams meeting.

This is how it supposed to look like when it converted. You can simply send the update and the generic meeting will become a “Teams Meeting” and the meeting details will be inserted to the bottom of the screen.

So far I have tried the following but nothing made any difference.

1. Clear Outlook cache and restart Outlook and PC
2. Clear teams cache and restart
3. Disable and enable Teams Add-in for Outlook

Workaround: (this is verified to be working): There is an alternative way of changing meetings using OWA for now. I truly understand this is frustrating but until Microsoft come back to us, perhaps Mary can use this workaround from Outlook Online ? (Web version from https://www.office.com )

Workaround: Outlook on the web is the only workaround as of now. It works well on OWA but if you have shared calendars it may not be the best option. To test it out follow these steps:

From outlook web, go to Calendar tab à from the desired series of events, double click on one of the occurrence in the series

And Edit “This Event”

Go to “More options”

And toggle the “Teams Meeting” switch next to room location

Then Save it. You should be able to see this occurrence has now set to a Teams Meeting.

There are many who impacted as per this forum post and keeps growing. If you are facing the issue as well, just post a comment there  – https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_outlook-mso_win10-mso_o365b/cannot-add-teams-meeting-to-a-single-occurrence-of/fbf2db7e-e8b3-443f-bed9-ec1f9dd6ce31?messageId=517049e8-c2c4-4ff9-ae55-1a3e778999a2

I am currently working with a Microsoft support engineer to engage the backend team and will keep this post updated as soon as I have an update. If you have faced it too or have found a fix, please reach out to me on manojviduranga@hotmail.com and share the ideas !!

Update: Due to the popular demand, Microsoft has re-deployed this feature on 14th September 2020. If you restart the Outlook, Teams clients and try to convert a occurrence now, you should be able to do so.

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Allow all users to see everyone’s calendar in an Office 365 environment

Yes you are right!. Setting this access right organization-wide is surely raises a major privacy concern specially when it comes to personal details (such as HR and Operation related events) in employee’s calendars.

However, there can be exceptional scenarios where business decides what they need, such as the pandemic situation the whole world face right now (COVID-19) as every organization prepares to work from home and allow people to interact online in more efficient and effective ways. In my case, one of our top level client badly needed to enable everyone’s calendar visible to everyone in the company to allow people to efficiently get in touch.

This is possible and exchange online has the capability to do it, but, make sure you do it for an absolute purpose. In Exchange online, you can set the default internal sharing policy for Office 365 user’s calendars using PowerShell. You may decide to set the default for all current users to Limited Details, then add exceptions for users whose calendar is to be kept to Availability (Free/Busy) only. There are various roles to define as per your need.

The AccessRights parameter in the PS command below specifies the permissions that you want to modify for the user on the mailbox folder. The values that you specify replace the existing permissions for the user on the folder.

You can specify individual folder permissions or roles, which are combinations of permissions. You can specify multiple permissions and roles separated by commas.

I am emphasizing again, DO NOT DO THIS Unless there is an absolute necessity.

For None-MFA environment (even though MFA is a fundamental and very common security requirement, there can be exceptional cases) – Amend the AccessRights parameter accordingly

$credentials = Get-Credential -Credential elliot@gcits.com.au

Write-Output “Getting the Exchange Online cmdlets”

$Session = New-PSSession -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ `

-ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -Credential $credentials `

-Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

Import-PSSession $Session

foreach($user in Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox) {

$cal = $user.alias+”:\Calendar”

Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity $cal -User Default -AccessRights Reviewer

}

For MFA environments

Preparation:

Run this to get the current state of all user mailboxes as exported to a CSV file. This will help on the verification later in case if you need to reverse this (Pre)

Connect-EXOPSSession

foreach($user in Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox) {

$cal = $user.alias+”:\Calendar”

Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity $cal -User Default -AccessRights Reviewer

}

$file=”C:\Temp\Calendar-Post.csv”
$Usermailboxes = Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox
foreach($user in $usermailboxes) {
$cal = $user.alias+":\Calendar"
$perms = get-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity $cal -User Default
$Perms | select identity, Foldername, AccessRights | export-csv $file -append
}

Applying Access Rights:

Now let’s change the access right for all user mailboxes. Amend the AccessRights parameter according to your requirement (applied to all user mailboxes)

foreach($user in Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox) {
$cal = $user.alias+”:\Calendar”
Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity $cal -User Default -AccessRights AvailabilityOnly
}

If you wish to avoid an selected user mailbox (May be CEO’s ?), you can use the following (with the “userprincipalname” “–ne” parameters to add an exception)

foreach($user in Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox | where userprincipalname -ne “mark@mantoso.onmicrosoft.com”) {
$cal = $user.alias+”:\Calendar”
Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity $cal -User Default -AccessRights AvailabilityOnly
}

Connect-EXOPSSession

foreach($user in Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox) {

$cal = $user.alias+”:\Calendar”

Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity $cal -User Default -AccessRights Reviewer

}

$file=”C:\Temp\Calendar-Post.csv”
$Usermailboxes = Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox
foreach($user in $usermailboxes) {
$cal = $user.alias+":\Calendar"
$perms = get-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity $cal -User Default
$Perms | select identity, Foldername, AccessRights | export-csv $file -append
}

Verification:

To verify the result against a single user mailbox, you can run this line

Get-MailboxFolderPermission neil@mantoso.onmicrosoft.com:\calendar

Or run the following to get the result of all user mailboxes exported as a CSV file so it can be compared with the CSV you got before applying the change (Post)

$file=”C:\Temp\Calendar-Post.csv”
$Usermailboxes = Get-Mailbox -RecipientTypeDetails UserMailbox
foreach($user in $usermailboxes) {
$cal = $user.alias+":\Calendar"
$perms = get-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity $cal -User Default
$Perms | select identity, Foldername, AccessRights | export-csv $file -append
}

Testing:

Now let’s see how this works after changing the permissions. Details wise, this is how it shown now (looking at Chnau’s Calendar from Manoj’s Mailbox)

Private Events in Chanu’s Calendar (Only the date/time and Subject)

None Private Events in the Chanu’s Calendar (Shown Items in detail)

1. Subject
2. Location
3. Organizer
4. Attachments
5. Attendees and response status
6. Date/Time 

Item opened in full window

Here’s the full list of roles available to set. You can specify individual folder permissions or roles, which are combinations of permissions. You can specify multiple permissions and roles separated by commas.

Individual permissions:

• CreateItems: The user can create items in the specified folder.
• CreateSubfolders: The user can create subfolders in the specified folder.
• DeleteAllItems: The user can delete all items in the specified folder.
• DeleteOwnedItems: The user can only delete items that they created from the specified folder.
• EditAllItems: The user can edit all items in the specified folder.
• EditOwnedItems: The user can only edit items that they created in the specified folder.
• FolderContact: The user is the contact for the specified public folder.
• FolderOwner: The user is the owner of the specified folder. The user can view the folder, move the folder, and create subfolders. The user can’t read items, edit items, delete items, or create items.
• FolderVisible: The user can view the specified folder, but can’t read or edit items within the specified public folder.
• ReadItems: The user can read items within the specified folder.

The roles that are available, along with the permissions that they assign, are described in the following list:

• Author:CreateItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
• Contributor:CreateItems, FolderVisible
• Editor:CreateItems, DeleteAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditAllItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
• None:FolderVisible
• NonEditingAuthor:CreateItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
• Owner:CreateItems, CreateSubfolders, DeleteAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditAllItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderContact, FolderOwner, FolderVisible, ReadItems
• PublishingEditor:CreateItems, CreateSubfolders, DeleteAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditAllItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
• PublishingAuthor:CreateItems, CreateSubfolders, DeleteOwnedItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
• Reviewer:FolderVisible, ReadItems

The following roles apply specifically to calendar folders:

• AvailabilityOnly: View only availability data
• LimitedDetails: View availability data with subject and location

Reference – Set Mailbox Folder Permissions (Microsoft Docs)

Silence when Microsoft Teams queue call put on hold

Recently I noticed at one of our major client’s Teams Voice setup that on hold music never played for queues when agents put callers on hold, instead it goes silent which makes callers wondering what’s going on with the call.

This is a vital feature specially for a call queue as it gives clarity for callers to understand the status of the call. Agents mostly put callers on hold to get things done offline to meet callers requirements so the music of course make the caller relaxed while agent helping them out behind the scene.

First thing I had to check is, if the feature is enabled from the Teams Admin Centre –> Call Queues –> Choose the affected queue –> Of course it has

However, it seemed the file hasn’t recognized by Teams or probably the file is faulty which could have caused the silence during hold.  Till I locate the original file, I added a temporary classic music clip to verify if that picks by Teams. And it did ! Hold music played like charm when the agent put me on hold.

Add a button in to a SharePoint List/Library to trigger a Flow (part 01)

Part 01 (This article)

Microsoft Flow together with PowerApps undoubtedly revolutionizing the process automation in modern work places. You may have a Flow attached to a document library or list but there is no easy access to initiate that flow from the list/library itself. People have to dig in a little bit to initiate it and that’s a little bit of time consuming for constant usage.

With this article, we will find out how we can overcome this struggle using a little bit of JSON stuff (Don’t worry about that word, you don’t need to be a developer here). Using the Modern SharePoint capabilities, we can embed a button right in front of every item in a list or library so that people can trigger a Flow right there. New column formatting is a cool out of the box capability to get this done.

Now let’s get this started. First and foremost, you need to have a Flow created in place and have the GUID of it.

We’ll get a Flow created really quick in case if you don’t have one. If you have a Flow already in place, you can skip these basic steps

Open up your SharePoint Library and click on the “Flow” drop down on the ribbon as below. Then go to “Create a Flow”

You’ll see a list of available templates. You can utilize these templates if your requirement matches with them. Or simply feel free to create your own. Thankfully, there are a lot of templates published by Microsoft and the community which you can re-use on various scenarios. Unless the requirement is very specific or you are really keen on creating one your own, there is no point of designing a Flow from the scratch.

I am adding a simple “Request Manager Approval” flow here. Pretty straight forward.

Next, go ahead and check if the flow is added to “My Flows” section. If so, you are good to go.

Now go inside the created Flow by clicking on it and copy the highlighted GUID form the address bar of your browser. We need this for our new Button.

https://asia.flow.microsoft.com/manage/environments/Default-f50d518a-e13c-4359-85f6-ef76484f4c32/flows/e290feff-0013-41f2-97dd-91a37fb84ea0/details

Now to add the button but before that we need a new column for this button. From the list or library, go to the very end horizontally and add a new text column to this list/library.

It should be like below after adding. You can edit this view by dragging and dropping the desired column across the library if you wish to. I’m calling mine “Approval” so it makes scenes for a column contains buttons.

Now, go ahead and format this column. Click on the little arrow on the newly created column and go to format mode.

And paste the JSON code below. replace the GUID using the target flow which you have copied to the clip board.

Here’s the code (you will have it provisioned as you go to format mode itself).

{
  "$schema": "https://developer.microsoft.com/json-schemas/sp/column-formatting.schema.json",
  "elmType": "span",
  "style": {
    "color": "#0078d7"
  },
  "children": [
    {
      "elmType": "span",
      "attributes": {
        "iconName": "Flow"
      }
    },
    {
      "elmType": "button",
      "style": {
        "border": "none",
        "background-color": "transparent",
        "color": "#0078d7",
        "cursor": "pointer"
      },
      "txtContent": "Send to Approval",
      "customRowAction": {
        "action": "executeFlow",
        "actionParams": "{\"id\": \"e290feff-0013-41f2-97dd-91a37fb84ea0\"}"
      }
    }
  ]
}

That’s it and you will immediately notice the button applied to your column. This is how my library looks like after adding the button. It still doesn’t look like a button because of the border, background and colors of it.

Cool thing is ! you can customize the button to look like as you want it to be. Further more, you can also make it a logical button which has a condition behind it. (e.g. – show a button only when an item pending for approval).

Read the part 02 of this article series to further customize the button and apply conditions.

Detailed Microsoft article for this is here

DISCLAIMER NOTE: This is an enthusiast post and is not sponsored by Microsoft or any other vendor.