Cloud Services you can trust: Security, Compliance and Privacy in Office 365

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AppId is over the quota

 When you make a decision to place your trust in a cloud services provider for productivity services, security, compliance, and privacy are top of mind. With over a billion customers on Office and decades of experience running online services, we understand what it takes to earn and continue to maintain your trust and confidence in Office 365.

Our construct for security, compliance and privacy in Office 365 has two equally important dimensions - Built-in capabilities that include service-wide, technical capabilities, operational procedures and policies that are enabled by default for customers using the service and Customer controls that include features that enable you to customize the Office 365 environment based on the specific needs of your organization.

We will look at Built-in capabilities and Customer controls for each of the key pillars of trust - Security, Privacy and Compliance - in more detail below.

Security

Security of our customers' information is a key trust principle. We implement policies and controls to safeguard customer data in the cloud and provide unique customer controls that you can use to customize your organizational environment in Office 365.  

As an Office 365 customer, you will benefit directly from in-depth security features that we have built into the service as a result of experience gained from years of building enterprise-grade software, managing a number of online services and billions of dollars in security investments. We have implemented technologies and processes that are independently verified to ensure high security of customer data.

Some key aspects of our built-in security capabilities are:

Physical security - We monitor our data centers 24/7 and we have technologies and processes to protect our data centers from unauthorized access or natural disastersSecurity best practices -We use best practices in design like Secure Development Lifecycle and operations like defense-in-depth to keep your data secure in our data centersData encryption - Every customers' email content is encrypted at rest using BitLocker Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryptionSecure network layer - Our networks are segmented, providing physical separation of critical back-end servers from the public-facing interfaces at the same time our Edge router security detects intrusions and signs of vulnerabilityAutomated operations like Lock Box processes - Access to the IT systems that store customer data is strictly controlled via lock box processes. This access control mechanism is similar to a system where two people have to turn the key for an action to be allowed.

As a result of Office 365 offering productivity services to a wide range of industries, we have built both features and choices that you can control to enhance the security of data based on the needs of your organization. 

Some key aspects of our customer controls for security are:

Exchange Hosted Encryption - Enables delivery of confidential business communications safely, letting users send and receive encrypted email directly from their desktops as easily as regular email.S/MIME - Enables encryption of an email messages and allows for the originator to digitally sign the message to protect the integrity and origin of the message. As part of our continued investment in security technologies that Government and Security conscious customers care about, we are adding support for S/MIME for Office 365 in the first quarter of Calendar Year 2014.Rights Management Services - Enables a user to encrypt information using 128-bit AES and use policies on email or documents so that the content is appropriately used by specified people.Role based access control - Allows administrators to enable access to authorized users based on role assignment, role authorization and permission authorization.Exchange Online Protection - Allows administrators to manage your company's Anti-virus and Anti-spam settings from within the Office 365 administration console.Identity Management - Provides organizations with various options for identity management such as cloud based identity, identities mastered on-premises with secure token based authentication or hashed passwords to integrate into the Office 365 identity management system based on the security needs of your organization.Two factor Authentication - Enhances security in a multi-device, mobile, and cloud-centric world by using a second factor, such as a PIN, in addition to the primary factor which is identity.

Another key principle of Office 365 trust is Compliance.  It is expected that commercial organizations have regulations and policies that they must comply with to operate businesses in various industries. These policies can be a mix of external regulatory requirements that vary depending on industry and geographical location of the organization and internal company-based policies.  Office 365 provides built-in capabilities and customer controls to help customers meet both various industry regulations and internal compliance requirements.

Office 365 stays up-to-date with many of today's ever-evolving standards and regulations, giving customers greater confidence.  To bolster this and to continue earning your confidence, we undergo third-party audits by internationally recognized auditors as an independent validation that we comply with our policies and procedures for security, compliance and privacy.

Some key aspects of built-in compliance capabilities are:

Independently Verified - Third party audits verify that Office 365 meets many key world-class industry standards and certificationsControl framework - We follow a strategic approach of implementing extensive standard controls that in turn satisfy various industry regulations. Office 365 supports over 600 controls that enable us to meet complex standards and offer contracts to customers in regulated industries or geographies, like ISO 27001, the EU Model Clauses, HIPAA Business Associate Agreements, FISMA/FedRAMP Comprehensive Data Processing Agreement - Our Data Processing Agreement comprehensively addresses privacy and security of customer data, helping customers comply with local regulations

We provide Compliance controls within the service to help our customers comply based on the policy needs of their organization. 

Some key customer controls for compliance are:

Data Loss Prevention - Helps customers to identify, monitor and protect sensitive data through content analysisArchiving - Allows organizations to preserve electronically stored information retaining e-mail messages, calendar items, tasks, and other mailbox itemsE-Discovery - Permits customers to retrieve content from across Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online, and even file shares

Privacy is our third trust principle.  As more and more customers are relying on online service providers to keep their data safe from loss, theft, or misuse by third parties, other customers, or even the provider's employees, we recognize that cloud services raise unique privacy questions for businesses.   

To meet your needs, we are continually developing technologies to enhance privacy in our services. We call this privacy by design - which is our commitment to use best practices to help protect and manage customer data. 

Key built-in capabilities and principles of Privacy in Office 365 are:

No Advertising - We do not scan email, documents, build analytics or data mine to build advertising products. In fact, we do not use your information for anything other than providing you services you have subscribed for.Data Portability - As an Office 365 customer, your data belongs to you, and you can export your data at any time with no restrictions. We act only as a data processor and provider of productivity services, not as a data owner Notice and Consent - When we act upon your data, we let you know why and we ask for permission in advance or redirect any enquiries to our customers unless legally prevented to do so.Breach Response - We have strong, tested and audited processes to inform you if there is a breach and remediate issues if they occur.Data Minimization - We strive to minimize the actual amount of customer data that our internal teams have access to.

In addition to built-in capabilities, Office 365 enables you to collaborate through the use of transparent policies and strong tools while providing the distinct ability to control information sharing.

Some examples of customer controls for privacy are:

Rights Management in Office 365 - Allows individuals and administrators to specify access permissions to documents, workbooks, and presentations. This helps you prevent sensitive information from being printed, forwarded, or copied by unauthorized people by applying intelligent policiesPrivacy controls for sites, libraries and folders- SharePoint Online, a key component service of Office 365 that provides collaboration functionality has a number of privacy controls. One example is that SharePoint Online sites are set to "private" by default. A second example is that a document uploaded to a SkyDrive Pro is not shared until the user provides explicit permissions and identifies who to share with.Privacy controls for communications - In Lync Online, another key component service that provides real time communications in Office 365, there are various administrator level controls as well as user level controls to enable or block communication with external users and organizations. One example is blocking access to federation in Lync. Similarly there are controls throughout the service for the admins and users to ensure privacy of their content and communications.

At Microsoft, we have been building Enterprise software for over two decades and we run over 200 online services. We bring all of this experience to Office 365 to give you industry leading capabilities in security, compliance and privacy. In addition, we take the advantage of scale and continuous feedback from providing services to a diverse customer base across industry and geography to constantly learn and improve the Office 365 services. Security, Compliance and Privacy are the key pillars of the Office 365 Trust Center (the other two pillars being Transparency and Service Continuity). Customers can have confidence that Microsoft is a thought leader and will continue to make deep investments to protect customers in the cloud.

Learn more about security, compliance, and trust in this weeks Garage Series: Explaining data security and your control in Office 365.

Learn more about recent compliance agreements with the announcement for the state of California and Microsoft signing the CJIS security policy agreement.

-- Vijay Kumar

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Project available as 3 flexible cloud services through Office 365

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AppId is over the quota

We're proud to announce the availability of Microsoft Project as a flexible cloud service, delivered by Office 365. For the first time, customers can sign up for flexible plans, get started quickly and use the full capabilities of project and portfolio management without adding IT complexity.

There are 3 Project cloud services to choose from:

Project Online is a flexible online solution for project portfolio management (PPM) and everyday work. With a convenient subscription and delivery through Office 365, Project Online enables organizations to get started, prioritize project portfolio investments and deliver the intended business value—from virtually anywhere on nearly any device.

Project Pro for Office 365 delivers the latest version of Project Professional as a subscription through Office 365. Your software is automatically kept up to date (with options for customizable policies) and users on the go can work from the computer of their choice by streaming the complete desktop client with Project on Demand. Keep deployments simple, benefit from flexible options, and enjoy integration with other Office 365 services like Lync and SharePoint.

Project Online with Project Pro for Office 365 is an all-in-one subscription which delivers the full spectrum of project management capabilities – from task management for teams to project management to project portfolio planning. Now you can have the best of our suite of project management solutions in a single cloud service, without IT overhead and the ability to easily scale from just a few users to your entire organization.

Now that you can get Project virtually anywhere, through Office 365 cloud services, team members can manage their tasks as easily as pressing a check box on their smartphone browser and managers can check reports on the go with just a swipe on their wirelessly connected tablet device.

Collaboration is smooth and effective with Project Team Sites on SharePoint, where colleagues can share documents, comment in newsfeeds, and keep up to date on team tasks and deliverables with the Team Timeline. Real-time communication comes via Lync integration, making it simple to see a team member's status, open a chat dialog, or even initiate a phone call or video conference. Reports are more clean, clear, and easy to create right out of the box than ever before.

Ease your IT management headaches with Project delivered through Office 365. Microsoft offers excellent security, guaranteed uptime, and additional benefits so that businesses can gain efficiency and scale without losing focus on core competencies.

We invite you to visit our new website to learn more about Project, and hope that you’ll contact your nearest Project partner to make arrangements for a live demonstration. It’s our pleasure to share our new products with you and we look forward to maintaining innovative and robust services to meet your project management and project portfolio management needs.

--Mark Sargeant, Product Marketing Manager

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Use Web services to automatically update Excel spreadsheets with online data

This post on the research of Web service functions is brought to you by Lee Bizek, Program Manager on the Excel team.

Have you ever wish, data from online resources in your Excel spreadsheets, or even Twitter RSS feeds such as such as stock quotes, weather, Bing search results include? With new Web Services features, now you can.

I used to coordinate anonymous editing in Excel Web , which some people outdoors to sleep in tents required collaboration with a group, a 20-person camping trip. Aware online weather updates being helped to prepare for the elements and also make predictions because we crabbing as part of adventure wanted to go high and low tides.

With Excel-2013 for the desktop, we moved weather and tide information from the Internet to Excel using the =WEBSERVICE(url)--function and the most beautiful is automatically updated information!

Learn how to use the WebService function, we will do 2 things:

A =WEBSERVICE(url)-Funktion that use to get the DataUse = FILTERXML (XML, XPath) function to extract a piece of data from the XML string

First, find a Web service. In this example with weather updates, go to http://www.wunderground.com/weather/api to create your free account. Fill the form, and click sign up for an API key.

To set up your API key, follow these steps:

Select either the Cumulus to plan or the anvil plan, depending on what you prefer. Choose which option you prefer for the addon history. Works in this example since we no historical information use either option.Select Developer. Note: The other options also work for this example, but there is a fee, the associated with them.Click on Refresh plan.Click on the top of the page, documentation.Found on the left navigation bar, titled API table of contents of data features heading, then click under the heading conditions.(You can go also http://www.wunderground.com/weather/api/d/docs?d=data/conditions)Scroll to the bottom of the page, then copy the URL in the box shown examples. (The URL format will look like this: http://api.wunderground.com/api/[APIKey]/conditions/q/CA/San_Francisco.json). The example URL will contain your unique API key.

Now have a unique API key, open your Excel spreadsheet file and follow these steps create the =WEBSERVICE(url)-Funktion for the current weather conditions:

In cell B5, type = WebService(URL). Then, replace the URL with the unique URL, including your API key, which you have just copied. Both sides of the URL add quotation marks. The format will look like this: to replace, then at the end of the URL "http://api.wunderground.com/api/[APIKey]/conditions/q/CA/San_Francisco.json" country and the city in the URL with a zip code .xml to. The formula in cell B5 should look like this: =WEBSERVICE("http://api.wunderground.com/api/[APIKey]/conditions/[ZipCode].xml") [apischluessel] your will be unique API key, and the [ZIP code] for the desired location weather updates. Press enter or return. The formula returns an XML string from the Web service.

You can use also the cell references in the Web service function to URL parameter, such as your zip code, for example, to update.  Here's how to set it up:

Add your API key in cell B1. Enter in the name fieldapischluessel to the cell to name a few.  In cell B2, type the zip code. Type in the name ZipCode field to mention the cell. Create your WEB SERVICE function with cell references. ("The formula should be in this format: = WEBSERVICE("http://api.wunderground.com/api/ "& APIkey &"/ conditions/q/ZipCode & ".xml") copy and paste the entire formula in cell B5. Update your zip code and then you will see the update of your WEB SERVICE function URL.

Now we have the information from the Web service in the Excel spreadsheet, we need to extract the data, what, who want we from the XML, including the name of the city and current temperature and current weather. To extract the data, follow these steps:

1. The =FILTERXML(B5,"//full")-Funktion type cell B8. This will give you the city name is associated with the zip code.

 

2. Enter cell C8, = FILTERXML (B5, "//temp_f"), to extract the current temperature in Fahrenheit.

 

3. In cell D8, type = FILTERXML (B5, "/ / weather") to see the current weather conditions, such as light rain.

Our camping trip planning collaboration table looks now with the online weather updates:

Please keep in mind that WEB services are "non-volatile", which means that they only have to update:

A referenced cell is updated EditedThe entire workbook (CTRL + ALT + F9)

Remember that you can use this functionality for many different Web services over the Internet, which you can then analyze by using Excel.

--Lee Bizek, Excel program manager

Learn more about the WEB SERVICE function

Learn more about the FILTERXML function

Learn more about XPATH

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Review: IFTTT connects social media, photo and other Web services

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AppId is over the quota

Think of social media—and the Web in general, really—as a game of dominoes: One action creates an entire range of reactions. That's what makes it so powerful...and so time-consuming, especially for those people who are trying to update a constant stream of information on multiple social media accounts. But IFTTT tries to make this easier by allowing you to link Web services, so doing something on one triggers the rest. It is a free service that's a lot like its name: a little bit confusing until you understand just how simple and useful it is.

IFTTT (it's pronounced like "gift" without the "g") stands for If This Then That. And that basically describes what IFTTT does: when one thing happens, IFTTT lets you create an automatic reaction. You could, for example, use IFTTT so that you'll receive a text message whenever someone posts a picture of you on Facebook. Or to receive an email if the weather forecast calls for rain. Or automatically save a copy of a photo to Dropbox whenever one is posted to Instagram.

IFTTT's neat, clean interface makes the service easy to use.

To use IFTTT, you simply create a free account with your email address. Then, you can get started building IFTTT recipes. IFTTT works on the basis of channels, which are what it calls the basic building blocks of its recipes. Channels are things like Facebook, Evernote, Email, Weather, Buffer, Craigslist, and more—there are 59 channels currently available.

To create a recipe, you select the first channel and then the trigger (the "this" part of IFTTT). Once the channel is selected, IFTTT displays applicable triggers. When I selected Etsy as my channel, available triggers were things like "new purchased item" or "new item in shop."

After selecting the trigger, you select the channel and the action (the "that"). The same 59 channels are available as the action channels; once you select one, you activate (if it's not already active) and then choose the action from the available choices.

Once you select the channel and the action, you can customize it using what IFTTT calls Ingredients. These ingredients are pieces of data from the trigger. For Etsy, the ingredients could be the Etsy URL and the price. For Facebook, the ingredients could be a photo caption and the image source. You use these ingredients to customize the resulting action, such as sending a text message or email, or posting a status update to Facebook.

IFTTT lets you customize any messages it sends or posts by adding "ingredients," which can be a bit confusing.

Once all the pieces are in place, you can save your recipe by giving it a name. Recipes can be kept private or shared with the entire IFTTT community—and IFTTT does have plenty of shared recipes to give you ideas or the building blocks for creating your own. (When you share a recipe, you're not sharing access to your personal data; anyone who accesses the recipe only gets the basic steps, and then fills in their own personal data to make it work for them.) When you select a channel, you'll have to give IFTTT access to your account, which usually involves either linking accounts or granting certain permissions. This process was simple and painless with all of the channels I tested.

Using IFTTT is actually a lot easier than explaining it, though the service is definitely not perfect. I was, for example, slightly disappointed with the result of one of my recipes. I set up a recipe where I would get a text message whenever a photo of me was tagged on Facebook. I set the action channel—the text message I'd receive—to include ingredients like caption, image source, upload date, and uploaded by. I was hoping to receive a detailed message with the photo and all of the data I'd requested. Instead, I got a link to view the photo online (not on Facebook)—and only the photo, not any of the other info I'd requested. The message format makes sense (given that it was an SMS, not MMS), but that SMS still could have included the additional details about the photo that I'd requested.

I was more impressed with my other IFTTT recipes, though, and I was definitely amused by some of the shared recipes available on the site. One user created a recipe that will alert him via SMS if the CDC reports a zombie outbreak, while another user created one that automatically uploads any photo he posts to Facebook to Picasa, too.  These two recipes sum up the appeal of IFTTT: it's fun and pretty darn useful, too.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can use this Web-based software.

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Syncing Google services with Windows 8 and Windows RT

After January 30th, 2013 – Google will no longer support new Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) connections from Windows PCs and tablets to sync your email, calendar and contacts from Gmail. If you've already connected your Google account to your PC running Windows 8 and Windows RT using the Mail, People or Calendar apps, you don't have to do anything. Existing EAS connections to Google accounts will continue to function.

If you are trying to connect a Google account after January 30th, 2013 to your PC running Windows 8 and Windows RT using the Mail, People or Calendar apps – please visit this support article on Windows.com.

If you have any issues connecting your Google account to your device – please visit our Microsoft Community where folks there can assist in helping you find answers to your issues.

Of course, this could also be a good time to simply switch to Outlook.com, a new personal email service that is clean and intuitive, keeps your address book up-to-date with information from your favorite social networks, and includes powerful inbox management tools and so much more. For more details, visit the Outlook.com site.

For more information on Windows Phone, click here.

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New support for query tables on Excel Services improves the workbook, sharing in an organization

This week we are highlighted as part of the SharePoint 2013 release some improvements in Excel Services. This post is brought to you by Prash Shirolkar, Program Manager on the Excel team.

Take a last look: the error message below is now a thing of the past.

With the improvements as part of the new Office, we support in Excel Services now refresh the query table. Workbooks with query tables now can seamlessly on the go will be updated from any browser! No need to convert query table to a pivot table or download of a workbook in Excel-desktop-client, to refresh the query table. In other words, the broad sharing of workbooks in the entire organization just got easier.

Ensure the desktop Excel (2007 or 2013) a workbook that contains a query table you and that it is connected to a data source. On the table, table, click the right mouse button on external data properties. If you have virtually no, follow the steps to create here .

Once you're connected, follow these 5 steps:

Guarantee you a link for 'Name' in the external data properties dialog box.

 

Make sure that your query table updated successfully. Select " Update " on the data Ribbon tab for desktop-Excel (2007, 2010 and 2013).

Make sure is, that your Excel Services configured to 2013, refresh external data, depending on whether the query table uses embedded or external data.

Publish your workbook with the query table to a SharePoint document library in 2013, and then viewing the query table on the file. The steps here , you can publish Excel workbooks on SharePoint.

Choose to see update, all connections to the most recent data.

This is it! The query table is now updateable in the Excel Services deployment.

As always, we will continue to work to enhance Excel Services. One area that we do not yet support is refreshing a specific connection via "Update selected." That is something we are considering, but would love to you important hear in the comments, if this is something that you can find and use often.

Refreshing happy by query tables! Notify us of additional features that you would like to see in future versions.

-Prash Shirolkar, Excel program manager

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Exchange diagrams with Visio services

The new Visio offers a number of new features - the modern look of the app, new topics and forms for professional-looking charts, new ways of cooperation with several authors and lecturers. We have also much easier, these diagrams with colleagues and friends - share made even if they don't have Visio. Visio services comes in. Visio services can share stunning you diagrams by using SharePoint or Office 365 with up to the minute data.

Visio services is a part of Microsoft SharePoint and O365, which offers you a quick and easy way to consume Visio diagrams. You must have - saved no Visio client required only a Visio document in SharePoint and a browser. We present the diagram with the same fidelity of the Visio client, including your themes, and cool effects. Visio 2010 users will remember that charts in a special Web format had to be published (.)(VDW) for display. No more! Visio services works with the new native Visio file format (.)(VSDX) is so that each document in SharePoint stored displayed - no release required. (Support your existing Visio services).VDW-Dateien.)

A big reason for your diagrams with others is to share, to get you feedback. With Visio services, your reviewers can add comments to the chart - as well as all other comments. In fact you need to commented on the chart with the Visio client and the people who comment on at the same time in the browser. Collaboration blog article for more details on the new comment and find collaboration features in Visio and Visio services.

The information in Visio diagrams is not always static. You can see a chart with a variety of data sources, dynamic information in a Visual context connect. Visio services can update the data and update the shapes in the diagram that are associated with data.

You can integrate even charts in rich dashboards or larger SharePoint solutions. Below is an example of a site for a residence hall of the University. Visio diagrams will give in this website details of upcoming residence hall events and up-to-date information on the residence facilities embedded. Diagrams are also in document libraries for easy access to view in the browser or edit in Visio.

Because Visio services through your browser, you can it with a variety of devices - desktops, notebooks, mobile phones or tablets. It works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, chrome and Safari, enter on the platform of your choice to access. We have added also improvements for touch and mobile devices with smaller screens.

Well, you know what Visio services everything turns, why you yourself not try it? Visio services is part of SharePoint and SharePoint online with Office 365. You can see 365 to get preview, fall a trial Office some Visio diagrams in a SharePoint document library, and then Visio services in action. For starters, we have added some Visio files to this article. Here is what you need to do:

Sign up for the Office 365 Enterprise previewin Office 365 preview Admin Center, you can navigate to the SharePoint sites by clicking on the button sites in the blue Header.Gehen the team Web site a Visio diagram on the Dokumentgruppe upload, by clicking "new document" > display a Visio diagram in the collection of documents in the Web browser click on "Existing file upload" (you can include the file in this zip download)

Check this Office preview getting started guidefor more information and resources about the Office 365 preview out.

Visio services is a way to share modern charts with the latest business information across the organization. It is a great addition to Visio and SharePoint.

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What's new in Word Automation Services

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AppId is over the quota

This week's post comes from Zeyad Rajabi, who helped create Word Automation Services in Office 2010 and has been driving improvements to the services in the new Office.

In Office 2010, we introduced a brand new SharePoint service called Word Automation Services. Word Automation Services allows developers to harness the capabilities of Word on the server. Word Automation Services allows developers to perform the following types of file operations:

Converting between document formats (ex. DOC to DOCX)Converting to fixed formats (ex. PDF)Updating the Table of Contents, the Table of Authorities, and index fieldsRecalculating all field typesImporting “alternate format chunks”Setting the compatibility mode of the document to the latest version or to previous versions of Word

We created this service because we wanted to help developers avoid the challenges of automating the Word client application as documented by this famous Knowledge Base article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257757.

In Office 2013, we’ve made improvements to Word Automation Services, based on some great user feedback, which we think will make the service even easier to use and allows the service to accommodate additional scenarios.

Word Automation Services was initially created to accommodate bulk file operation scenarios. The service was optimized to perform file operations on many files at a time. These file operations were performed asynchronously based on a SharePoint Timer Job, which means the service operations are only kicked off when the SharePoint Timer Job ran. This behavior means Word Automation Services could only be kicked off, at the very least, in one minute iterations. Developers who wanted the conversion operation to be kicked off synchronously were out of luck. The Timer Job-based design and behavior works well for bulk operation scenarios, but is not ideal for scenarios involving a small number of documents. 

Additionally, we heard from customers that the requirement of having files exist physically on SharePoint in order to consume, create, or edit files via Word Automation Services was limiting. This requirement means a developer must always work within the context of SharePoint when taking advantage of the service; the only way to deal with files outside of SharePoint is to first get those files on SharePoint. In addition, there were several scenarios where the output of the service was not the final output of the solution. In these particular cases, a developer is forced to manually move the intermediate files created by the service. Developers didn’t want the extra performance hit by hitting the SharePoint content database more than necessary.

As part of SharePoint 2013, you will now be able to create on demand file operation requests to Word Automation Services. These requests are processed immediately and have higher priority than traditional asynchronous Timer Job-based requests. These on demand file operation requests do not depend on the SharePoint Timer Job. Think of these on demand file operation requests as synchronous Word Automation Services requests. On demand file operation requests can only be made for one file at a time as opposed to the existing Timer Job-based requests, which can handle many files at a time.

Word Automation Services is able to handle both asynchronous and synchronous file operation requests at the same time. Word Automation Services maintains two separate queues, one for on demand (immediate) file operation requests and one queue for SharePoint Time Job-based requests. Word Automation Services will pause all Timer Job-based requests whenever there is at least one on demand request, and the Timer Job-based requests will restart once all on demand requests have been processed. This prioritization allows the service to accommodate on demand requests more quickly. Note we also ensure that we prevent the complete starvation of Timer Job-based requests by on demand requests by periodically letting those requests be processed ahead of on demand requests.

The following diagram represents the Word Automation Services 2013 architecture:

In addition to on demand file operation requests, Word Automation Services now supports streams. You are no longer limited to working on files stored in SharePoint libraries. Using streams, you will be able to leverage Word Automation Services functionalities for files stored outside of SharePoint.

You will only be able to use streams with Word Automation Services when using on demand file operation requests. In other words, streams will not work with Timer Job-based requests. 

We tried to make coding Word Automation Services solutions as easy as possible. With only a few lines of code, you’ll be able to integrate Word Automation Services into your solution. Here is some sample code of using the Timer Job-based request:

ConversionJob pdfJob = new ConversionJob("Word Automation Services");
pdfJob.UserToken = myWebsite.CurrentUser.UserToken;
pdfJob.AddFile(outputFilename, outputFilename.Replace(".docx", ".pdf"));
pdfJob.Start(); 

In the above code sample, the conversion request is triggered after the Start() method is invoked. At which point, the conversion request is added to the Timer Job queue to await for the SharePoint Timer Job to start the request.

Working with on demand file operation requests is very similar. Instead of creating a ConversionJob object, you create a SyncConverter object. The SyncConverter object allows you to operate on one file at a time and is processed immediately. Here is some sample code of using the on demand request:

SyncConverter syncConv = new SyncConverter("Word Automation Services");
syncConv.Settings.OutputFormat = SaveFormat.PDF;
ConversionItemInfo convInfo = syncConv.Convert(inStream, outStream);

Word Automation Services does not accomplish all file operation scenarios. Take for example, a scenario where a solution needs to merge and modify content within a document. The service was not created to be a replacement of the Word client object model.
Instead, the server is one half of a replacement for the existing object model – the other half being the Open XML SDK.

The Open XML SDK was designed to handle tasks that don’t require application logic and layout, such as inserting or deleting content (paragraph, tables, pictures), inserting data from other data sources, sanitizing content (removing content, accepting tracked changes), etc.
Word Automation Services was designed to handle file operations that do require application logic and layout, such as reading and laying out all Word document formats, converting to and from different file formats, recalculating dynamic fields, etc. These two pieces can be used together to enable rich, end-to-end solutions that never require automating Word client applications. Check out Brian Jones’ blog for more details and examples of using the Open XML SDK.

I hope the improvements mentioned in this post will make it even easier for you to use Word Automation Services in your solutions. Tell us what you think in the comments below the post.

The Word Automation Services feature crew, 2/3 of which is shown here, is excited to share these improvements with you.

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Connect 9 Services fail to start for server’s having time zone set to east of Japan

Connect 9 Services fail to start for server’s having time zone set to east of Japan « Adobe Connect Support Blog function clearSearch() {document.search_form.s.value = "";} .avatar {vertical-align:middle}.credit {font-size: 50%;}adobe.com      Adobe Connect Support Blog / Connect 9 Services fail to start for server’s having time zone set to east of Japanby Mohit .  

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Update on BlackBerry Business cloud services for Microsoft Office 365

Research in motion (RIM) has today on the heels of October of the open beta BlackBerry ® Business cloud services for Microsoft Office 365--a new service for enterprise Microsoft Exchange online extension on BlackBerry ® smartphones. The service makes sure that people of the industry-leading enterprise collaboration tools for on the go.

Some of the key features include:

Integration in the Administrative Office 365 portal for easy ManagementWireless synchronization with Microsoft Exchange online e-Mail, calendar and organizer data from a BlackBerry SmartphoneBlackBerry ® BalanceTM technology, unified view of the work and personal content on a BlackBerry smartphone while preserving the content separately and SecureAn presented one intuitive, Web-based console for it administrators who block access to employee self-service-Smartphone security functions, so that users easily reset a device password or remotely deploying, managing and securing BlackBerry Smartphones from AnywhereOnline or wipe a device in the loss or TheftBlackBerry security and encryption and device manageability

The service is subscriber of Office 365 suite or standalone Exchange online no additional charge to current mid-sized or Enterprise available and works with BlackBerry smartphones to enterprise or consumer data plans.

Go to www.blackberry.com/cloudservices to get started!

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Fortune 100 services for as little as $6 a month

AppId is over the quota

Von Kevin Miller, Gründer und Präsident, BlueEdge Beratung

 

Ich betreibe eine Beratung, BlueEdge Consulting, die bei der Umsetzung es Cloud-Lösungen für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen spezialisiert. Ich verbrachte mehr als 20 Jahren Einrichten von IT-Infrastrukturen für Fortune 500-Unternehmen, so verstehe ich die Arbeit in der Betreuung von Infrastruktur-Services wie e-Mail.

Viele meiner Kunden sind frustriert mit Technologie. Sie haben nicht die Zeit sich über neue Technologie oder das Geld, um ihre Technologie auf dem neuesten Stand zu halten. Wenn ich mein Geschäft im Jahr 2003 gestartet, konzentrierte ich mich auf Kunden eingerichtet und sorgen für interne Systeme. Aber wenn Wolke computing in das Bild, ich meine Bemühungen in diese Richtung verschoben.

Als ich zuerst über Microsoft Online Services zurück im Jahr 2008 erfuhr, wusste ich, dass ich dabei sein wollten. Ich war einer der ersten Händler von der Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite (BPOS), und heute bin ich ein Mitglied der Microsoft Wolke Champions Club.

Microsoft Office 365 nimmt BPOS bietet einige großen Verbesserungen auf die nächste Ebene. Es bietet eine einzige Anmeldung und ein Portal für alles tun. Es kombiniert Sofortnachrichten und Konferenzen in einem Dienst: Microsoft Lync Online. Microsoft SharePoint Online hat die vertraute Microsoft Office-Benutzeroberfläche und viel mehr Speicherplatz. E-Mail-Archivierung ist mit Microsoft Exchange Online erbaut. Und mit einigen Abonnements können Kunden die vollständige Suite von Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Lizenz. Büro 365 stützt sich auf die reiche Erfahrung von Microsoft Office 2010 und erweitert ihn auf der Wolke.

Wenn ich Kunden sagen, welche Office-365 enthält — und integrierte Backup- und Business Continuity für seine Leistungen hat — eine große Glühbirne geht für sie. Alle ihre kritischen Programme sind in einem Dienst enthalten. Sie haben nicht einmal zu separaten Spam und Virus Prevention-Software-Lizenz – es ist alles da.

In mein eigenes Geschäft wird Office 365 ein Lebensretter sein. Alle meine Kundendaten werden in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online oder SharePoint Online. Ich werde in der Lage, Zugangsdaten in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Kunde über den Microsoft Outlook 2010 Messaging- und Collaboration-Client sein. Führt Kalkulationstabellen, Verträge, Preise, und alle Daten werden in SharePoint Online gespeichert werden. Und ich kann alles von meiner Windows Phone, einschließlich e-Mail, Kalender und Kontakte zugreifen.

Büro 365 wird sparen mich ein paar Stunden am Tag und mir helfen, stärker auf die Kunden werden. Wenn Kunden mich Fragen zu ihrer SharePoint-Website ändern, ich nur geben Sie einen Benutzernamen und ein Kennwort, und ich bin in. Ich benutze wahrscheinlich die Screen-sharing Funktion im Lync Online mindestens einmal pro Woche. Beim Aufruf von Kunden mit Problemen ich einladen zu Lync-Sitzung und Blick auf ihren Bildschirmen an das Problem zu sehen. Meine Kunden sind alle über Philadelphia Bereich, also diese wirklich spart Zeit reisen Kundenstandorte.

Büro 365 ist auch ein tolles Wert. Ich verstehe was es braucht, diese Dienste in zu Ort, und es ist erstaunlich, dass ich haben kann, die gleichen Dienstleistungen, die ein Fortune 100 Unternehmen und Zahlen nur weniger als $6 pro Mitarbeiter pro Monat.

Ich erwarte Office 365, mein Geschäft zu verdoppeln, und meine Kunden sind nur so darüber aufgeregt, wie ich bin.

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Deploying access applications using the Terminal Services and RemoteApp

One of the great advantages of access is the diversity of the ways in which you a group of users can deploy a database application. For example, if you use access 2010, you can publish a database to a SharePoint Server services, so that anyone with access to this server to use the database. However, if this type of deployment is not an option for you, John Litchfield and Luke Chung from FMS, have posted an article which shows Inc., such as an access application by using the Terminal Services or RemoteApp components of Microsoft Windows Server to provide. Here is an excerpt:

"Terminal Server is particularly powerful for database applications as, because you do not need to install Microsoft Access on each user, ensure Microsoft Access that the correct version of access is loaded, whether the latest front-end database application will be deployed, and the need", large amounts of data over the Internet for access to process send. "It all is on the Terminal Server computer with the local network bandwidth, and only the screen is updated as it changes."

Look at the article, and some other Papers, Tips, and videos on the FMS Web site.

Thanks to John & Luke!

--Chris downs

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Turn your listings into paid invoices with the services template (video)

The recent relaunch which contains access to Office.com product page templates that help you run your small business - and article with videos to help you get started.

In previous posts, we have the goods template and the already published Contacts template. This post shows the services template. If you provide services, you use the quotation marks create a agreement to offer you service and bills paid, once the service is provided. This is what is the services template is all about - to turn quotes into paid invoices. Here is a video to give you an idea of what it can do for you:

Download the template, enter your products, services, prices, you want to include all existing offers and invoices, and some information about your company, and you are ready to go! Providing services can help you create that deals with the list of available services and products to date, and then use the quotation marks around invoices create. You want to cut a deal for a good customer? You can adjust the prices to odds. Something needed longer or more materials than you expected? Their bills offers room for differences between what you offer and what you up to the end.

Make up to the functioning of access must? Check out The new basics page. More information on the services submission? See the article quotes in paid invoices by using the enable service Web database.

You are already using this template? Do you have a question or a suggestion for us? We would like to hear from you - leave us a comment!

--Steven Thomas

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