Question 1

Outlook crashes or freezes on large attachments

Accepted Answer

1. Fully quit Outlook, wait a minute, and reopen. Not just minimise, force-close via Task Manager.
2. Check if the attachment is larger than ~30 MB. Exchange Online defaults to 35 MB, admins can raise it up to 150 MB, and many receiving mail servers cap lower. Send via a OneDrive link instead.
3. Shrink your OST cache: File > Account Settings > set "Cached Exchange Mode" to 1 year instead of "All".
4. Start Outlook in Safe Mode (Windows key+R, "outlook.exe /safe"). Does it open fine? Then an add-in is the problem.

When to bring us in: 
If Outlook also crashes in Safe Mode, or several colleagues are hitting it simultaneously, it is not a local issue. That is when we should look at it.

Question 2

Teams: they cannot hear me, or I hear nothing

Accepted Answer

1. In Teams click the three dots next to your profile picture > Device settings. Confirm "Speaker" and "Microphone" are set to the right headset.
2. Run "Make a test call" on the same screen. It plays your recording back so you know whether the mic actually works.
3. If the test call captures nothing: Windows Settings > Sound > Input device properties > volume 75-100%, and confirm "Mute" is not on.
4. Bluetooth headset? Unpair and re-pair. Bluetooth and Teams hate each other after a sleep cycle.

When to bring us in: 
Does it work in Zoom or Google Meet with the same headset? Then it is Teams-specific: a policy or admin setting may be blocking access.

Question 3

OneDrive has stopped syncing

Accepted Answer

1. Click the OneDrive cloud in the system tray. Is there an error or a file flagged as conflicting? Click and follow the prompt.
2. No cloud icon? Restart OneDrive: Windows key > "OneDrive" > open.
3. On "sign in again": Settings > Account > "Unlink this PC", then sign back in with your work account.
4. Check free disk space. Under ~1 GB OneDrive stops syncing. Free space, or set files to "Online only".
5. A file with a quirky name (& or \ or #)? Rename it. OneDrive fails silently on illegal characters.

When to bring us in: 
Getting error codes like 0x8004... or 0x80070005? Send them to us; we will look them up.

Question 4

A SharePoint file is held by someone for hours

Accepted Answer

1. Ask the named colleague to close the file and quit their Office app fully; the lock often lingers on a background Word process.
2. Work in the browser version. SharePoint > click the file > "Edit in browser". The lock does not apply there.
3. Wait 30 minutes. A stale lock expires automatically after roughly half an hour.
4. As a last resort: open file properties in SharePoint and click "Check in" on behalf of the other user (if you have the permission).

When to bring us in: 
If this keeps happening with the same colleague or folder, there is a sync or permission issue underneath; happy to take a look.

Question 5

My Outlook mail rules suddenly stopped working

Accepted Answer

1. Outlook > File > Manage Rules & Alerts. Any rule unchecked or marked "client-only"? Classic suspects.
2. Server-side rules run on every device and when Outlook is closed; client-only rules only while a session is active. Switch to server-side for hands-off processing.
3. Compare against Outlook Web (outlook.office.com) > Settings > Rules. Differences between client and web suggest sync or policy issues.
4. Remove duplicates. Rules pile up over old installs; one per goal beats five fighting each other.

When to bring us in: 
If rules misfire across multiple mailboxes or one rule sweeps whole folders without cause, we can dig in M365 Compliance.

Question 6

A shared mailbox or calendar disappeared from Outlook

Accepted Answer

1. Fully close Outlook and reopen. A new session re-fetches shared mailboxes (can take up to an hour).
2. Outlook Web (outlook.office.com): is the shared mailbox there? Then the local Outlook cache is the issue.
3. Ask IT whether the assignment in Microsoft 365 is still active; accidental removal happens more than you would think.
4. If manual add works (File > Account Settings > More Settings > Advanced > Add) but the automatic does not, it is cache. Rebuilding the Outlook profile fixes it.

When to bring us in: 
If multiple colleagues lose it at once, or a shared calendar vanishes everywhere, it is a tenant setting. Five minutes of work in Exchange admin.

Question 7

OneDrive is full, what to do?

Accepted Answer

1. OneDrive online > gear > Storage. Sort by size. Top 10 files usually account for 80% of volume.
2. Empty the OneDrive online recycle bin. Quota counts deleted files: 30 days on OneDrive Personal, 93 days on OneDrive for Business (work portal).
3. Version history: one big PowerPoint can carry 50 versions. Right-click the file > Version history > delete older versions.
4. Expecting structural growth? Ask IT to upgrade to a plan with more OneDrive storage (Business Basic, Standard and Apps for Business all sit at 1 TB; more typically means an Enterprise or add-on license).

When to bring us in: 
For our clients we handle quota extensions or archive policies in the tenant. One line to info@vectel.nl is enough.

Question 8

Teams meeting link does not work

Accepted Answer

1. Try the link in a private/incognito window. Works there? An extension or cookie is blocking.
2. Open the Teams desktop app instead: in the email invite, three dots > "Open in Teams app".
3. Update Teams: three dots next to your profile > "Check for updates". On classic? Install "new Teams".
4. The host may have moved or replaced the meeting. Ask for a fresh link.

When to bring us in: 
If multiple colleagues cannot join the same meeting it is on Microsoft's or our side. Call us; we check service-health.

Question 9

Outlook search returns nothing or stale results

Accepted Answer

1. (In classic Outlook with the File menu. If new Outlook is in the way, toggle it off top-right.) Click in the search bar and pick 'All Mailboxes' at the bottom instead of 'Current Folder'; the scope often quietly narrows.
2. Outlook > File > Options > Search > Indexing Options. Check that Outlook is listed and the index is not still 'building'.
3. Rebuild the index: Indexing Options > Advanced > Rebuild. Expect about an hour during which search is unreliable.
4. Does search work on outlook.office.com? Then it is the local index, not your mailbox.

When to bring us in: 
If the index is still empty after an overnight rebuild, or several colleagues hit it at once, we want to take a look.

Question 10

My signature keeps disappearing or switching

Accepted Answer

1. (In classic Outlook with the File menu. If new Outlook is in the way, toggle it off top-right.) New message > Message tab > Signature > Signatures. Set, per mail account, which signature is default for 'New messages' and 'Replies'.
2. Work across devices? outlook.office.com has its own signature; put the same text there so web and mobile match.
3. Do not paste from Word; type into the signature window directly. Word formatting often introduces odd line breaks.
4. On a new PC: copy the 'Signatures' folder from %APPDATA%\Microsoft to the same path on the new machine.

When to bring us in: 
If a central signature tool (Exclaimer, CodeTwo, or M365 itself) is in use, the user should not see drift; mail us when it does.

Question 11

Appointments on my phone and in Outlook do not line up

Accepted Answer

1. Create a test event in Outlook on the PC and wait a minute. Does it land on the phone? Then sync is fine and the issue is the phone -> PC direction.
2. On your phone: open the appointment and check which calendar it belongs to (Exchange, iCloud, Google). Only Exchange syncs with Outlook.
3. iPhone > Settings > Calendar > Default Calendar > set to your work calendar. Otherwise 'new event' lands in iCloud.
4. Outlook mobile app: remove and re-add the account. Outlook Mobile caches aggressively and sometimes drifts.

When to bring us in: 
If multiple colleagues see the same drift, a tenant policy or MDM rule may be involved; we are happy to take a look.

Question 12

My contacts are missing or not in the address book

Accepted Answer

1. Outlook > bottom-left click the People icon. Are your contacts still there? Then nothing is lost; just not exposed as an address book.
2. Right-click the 'Contacts' folder > Properties > Outlook Address Book tab > tick 'Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book'.
3. Close Outlook fully, reopen, and test: new message > click 'To' > choose your contacts folder from the list at the top.
4. Use outlook.office.com? Open People there to confirm contacts are in the cloud and not only local.

When to bring us in: 
If contacts are genuinely gone (not on web, not on phone), we can roll the mailbox back a few days via M365 recovery. Tell us early.

Question 13

Outlook keeps asking for the password or refuses to load my profile

Accepted Answer

1. (In classic Outlook with the File menu. If new Outlook is in the way, toggle it off top-right.) Close Outlook fully. Open Control Panel > Mail > Show Profiles.
2. Click 'Add', create a profile with your work mail, and set startup to 'Prompt for a profile to be used'. That way the old one survives.
3. Start Outlook, pick the new profile, and wait while the mailbox downloads (an hour for large mailboxes is normal).
4. Once everything works, switch Outlook back to 'Always use this profile' with the new one selected.

When to bring us in: 
If the fresh profile hits the same error immediately, it is not the PC; call us before you keep tweaking.

Question 14

I cannot open a colleague's calendar even though they shared it

Accepted Answer

1. Ask the colleague to go to Outlook > Calendar > right-click their calendar > Properties > Permissions. Confirm your name is listed with at least 'Reviewer'.
2. On your side: Calendar > Open Calendar > From Address Book > type the colleague's name.
3. Still no luck? Have them use 'Share Calendar' (ribbon button) instead, which sends you an invitation you accept.
4. Test on outlook.office.com first; the delegate flow is simpler there and rules out local cache.

When to bring us in: 
For exec or PA delegate setups, a mailbox delegate setting is usually involved; let us configure it.

Question 15

My old archive (PST) is gone after a new laptop

Accepted Answer

1. (In classic Outlook with the File menu. If new Outlook is in the way, toggle it off top-right.) On the old PC or in your backup, look for files with the .pst extension (commonly in Documents\Outlook Files).
2. Copy the PST to a fixed folder on your new laptop, not into a synced folder like OneDrive (PST and sync do not mix).
3. Outlook > File > Open & Export > Open Outlook Data File > pick the PST. The archive appears in the left pane as a separate folder.
4. Immediately copy the PST to another location as a backup; one corrupt file otherwise loses everything.

When to bring us in: 
PSTs larger than ~10 GB or showing corruption errors should be repaired with scanpst before mounting; we will do it.

Question 16

Images in emails show as red crosses or empty frames

Accepted Answer

1. (In classic Outlook with the File menu. If new Outlook is in the way, toggle it off top-right.) Click 'Click here to download pictures' at the top of the message. That is per-mail.
2. Always trust the sender? Outlook > File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Automatic Download. Uncheck 'Don't download pictures automatically' only if you are sure.
3. Empty frames in your own sent mail? Close Outlook and clear the reading-pane cache at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook (older versions).
4. Open the same message on outlook.office.com; if pictures load there, the message itself is fine.

When to bring us in: 
If a whole organisation sees no images, or messages that show images on web never in Outlook, a tenant or GPO setting may be at fault.

Question 17

My folder is full of '... - Jan's copy' files

Accepted Answer

1. Open both files side by side and decide which is the right version. The difference is often a few lines.
2. Merge by hand into one file, save with the original name, and delete the conflict copy.
3. Ask why this happened: did you edit via File Explorer instead of Word/Excel? Co-authoring works only from the Office app or in the browser.
4. For Word and Excel: use 'Share' from the top right and edit via the link, not through a shared File Explorer folder.

When to bring us in: 
If conflict copies keep appearing even with correct usage, a sync or permission issue is underneath; we should look.

Question 18

Some files show a cloud, others a green tick: what does that mean?

Accepted Answer

1. Cloud = file lives in the cloud only. Opening it downloads it automatically.
2. Green tick = locally available (downloaded because you opened it), but Windows may free the space if disk gets tight.
3. Solid green circle with white tick = 'Always keep on this device'. Right-click > 'Always keep on this device' to toggle.
4. Low on disk space? Right-click a big folder > 'Free up space'. The files remain available but turn back into clouds.

When to bring us in: 
No escalation needed; this is by design. Only call us if pinned files vanish locally without reason.

Question 19

The shared link I received does not work or asks me to sign in

Accepted Answer

1. Read the error. 'Access required' means the link is for specific people and you are not on the list.
2. Ask the sender to re-share via 'Specific people' with your e-mail explicitly added.
3. Does the link work in a private window after signing in with your work account? Then your browser is still signed into a different Microsoft account.
4. Expired link? Ask the owner to extend the expiry or regenerate the link; the old one stays invalid.

When to bring us in: 
Getting 'Unexpected error' or a blank screen after signing in points to a tenant or file-state issue; tell us.

Question 20

My Teams chat history is empty after a restart

Accepted Answer

1. Quit Teams fully; right-click the system tray icon and pick 'Quit', do not just close the window.
2. Open File Explorer and paste %appdata%\Microsoft\Teams (classic Teams) or %localappdata%\Packages\MSTeams_8wekyb3d8bbwe (new Teams) into the address bar.
3. Rename the folder to something like 'Teams-old' instead of deleting it, just in case.
4. Restart Teams and sign in. The cache rebuilds and chats reload (a few minutes is normal).

When to bring us in: 
If chats stay empty after a fresh cache, or only desktop is missing them while web is fine, we should look at the tenant.

Question 21

I no longer get Teams notifications

Accepted Answer

1. Check your Teams status top-left. On 'Do not disturb' or 'Presenting'? Switch back to 'Available'.
2. Teams > three dots > Settings > Notifications. Confirm 'Chat', 'Mentions' and 'Meetings' are all on.
3. Windows Settings > System > Notifications. Confirm notifications are on globally and Teams is not disabled in the list.
4. Windows Settings > System > Focus. Is Focus Assist set to 'Alarms only' or 'Priority only'? Disable it or whitelist Teams.

When to bring us in: 
If the settings look right but notifications stay silent, an org policy or MDM rule may be blocking it; we can look in the tenant.

Question 22

Teams shows me as 'Away' or 'Offline' while I am clearly working

Accepted Answer

1. Check whether Teams is also signed in on your phone. A phone with the screen off marks you 'Away'. Close Teams there entirely.
2. Click your profile picture > pick 'Available' explicitly. Manually-set status stays more stable.
3. Quit and reopen Teams; after Windows sleep, status sometimes does not match reality.
4. Wait two minutes after any change. Status does not sync in real time but in short intervals.

When to bring us in: 
Only escalate if the status stays wrong after these steps; it is often cosmetic and not worth deeper digging.

Question 23

The Teams meeting recording is nowhere to be found

Accepted Answer

1. Open the meeting chat. The recording link posts there as a message once processing is done (a few minutes after the meeting ends).
2. No link? Open OneDrive > 'Recordings' folder (your own OneDrive if you started the recording).
3. Was it a channel meeting? Open the channel in Teams > Files tab > 'Recordings' folder.
4. After a long meeting, allow up to an hour. Processing takes longer for recordings over an hour.

When to bring us in: 
If the recording is gone after a day and the meeting was definitely recorded, escalate before retention purges it.

Question 24

My Teams screen share shows black or freezes

Accepted Answer

1. Stop sharing, quit Teams fully (system tray > Quit), and share again.
2. Share a single window rather than the whole screen. If that works, the issue is screen selection or monitor detection.
3. Teams > Settings > General > tick 'Disable GPU hardware acceleration' and restart Teams.
4. Update your graphics driver via Device Manager or the vendor (Intel/NVIDIA/AMD).

When to bring us in: 
If several colleagues see it at once, or sharing works in Zoom but never in Teams, it is Teams-specific; send us the logs.

Question 25

I cannot edit a SharePoint page even though I should be able to

Accepted Answer

1. Click 'Edit' top-right. Seeing 'Checked out by X'? Ask X to publish or check the page in.
2. No 'Edit' button? Ask the site owner to add you to the 'Members' group (not 'Visitors').
3. Just got rights? Sign out and back into SharePoint; permission tokens cache up to an hour per session.
4. Test in a private window to rule out browser cache.

When to bring us in: 
If site owners themselves cannot edit, or a page stays stuck checked out, we should look at site-level permissions.

Question 26

I want a whole SharePoint library inside File Explorer

Accepted Answer

1. Open the library in SharePoint in the browser. Click 'Sync' at the top.
2. The OneDrive client takes over and asks for permission once. Confirm.
3. File Explorer now shows the library under a tile named after your organisation, next to your personal OneDrive folder.
4. Files look local but are cloud-backed. Always work through this folder, not a hand-mapped network path.

When to bring us in: 
'Add shortcut to OneDrive' is an alternative without a separate tile; we are happy to advise which setup fits you.

Question 27

A Word or PowerPoint file shows different fonts than the sender's

Accepted Answer

1. A yellow bar at the top of the document sometimes says 'A font is missing'. The name is there.
2. Ask the sender to share the font file (.ttf or .otf), or save the document with 'Embed fonts' (Word > File > Options > Save).
3. Install the font: double-click the file > 'Install'. Close Word and reopen.
4. No access to the font? Change the font in the document so it looks right; save under a different name so the original survives.

When to bring us in: 
Paid fonts (e.g. brand fonts) need a licence before we roll them out broadly. Check internally first.

Question 28

Excel says the file is locked even though we should be co-authoring

Accepted Answer

1. Check the extension. Ends in .xls (no x) or .xlsm? Save as .xlsx via File > Save As.
2. Open the file through the OneDrive or SharePoint link, not via a synced local path or a mapped drive.
3. Have everyone who has it open in the background close it. A stale Excel holds the lock.
4. Still locked? Open it in browser Excel via 'Edit in browser'; co-authoring is the default there.

When to bring us in: 
Macro workbooks (.xlsm) and protected workbooks support co-authoring poorly; tell us if you collaborate on them constantly.

Question 29

Word or Excel reports that macros are blocked

Accepted Answer

1. Think first: do you know the sender and expect macros? If unsure, do not enable, and call the sender (do not reply by mail).
2. Close the file. In File Explorer right-click the file > Properties > tick 'Unblock' at the bottom > Apply.
3. Reopen. The yellow bar now offers to enable macros for this session.
4. For recurring trusted vendors: have IT add their folder as a 'Trusted location'; safer than enabling macros globally.

When to bring us in: 
Call us before opening macros tenant-wide. Also call when in doubt; phishing via Office attachments is still common.

Question 30

Microsoft 365 keeps asking me to sign in

Accepted Answer

1. Close all Office apps and any browser tabs on office.com or outlook.office.com.
2. Open Windows Settings > Accounts > Access work or school. Is your work account listed twice or as 'connected to organisation'? Remove the extra entry.
3. Restart the PC properly (a real restart, not 'Shut down' which on Windows is a sleep variant).
4. Sign in to outlook.office.com first, before opening Office apps; the browser refreshes the token.

When to bring us in: 
Messages about conditional access, MFA policy, or 'device not registered' are tenant-level; call us.

Question 31

Office says 'no valid licence' while I am just working

Accepted Answer

1. Open Word or Excel > File > Account. 'Signed in as' should be your work mail, not hotmail/outlook.com.
2. Click 'Sign out', close Word, reopen, and sign in with your work mail.
3. In Account, click 'Update licence' (it may be hidden under 'Product information').
4. No such button and still failing? Sign in to office.com and see if Word/Excel tiles appear there; that confirms whether the licence is assigned to you.

When to bring us in: 
For new roles or starters, licence assignment in the tenant often needs a check; mail us and we will adjust it directly.

Question 32

OneNote is not syncing my notebook

Accepted Answer

1. OneNote > right-click the notebook > Sync > Sync This Notebook Now. Wait 30 seconds.
2. File > Info > review status per notebook. 'Up to date' is good; 'Sync error' lets you click for detail.
3. Still no luck? Close the notebook (File > Info > Close) and reopen it from OneDrive or SharePoint via the live URL.
4. Sections refusing to sync: create a new section, drag the pages over manually, and delete the orphan.

When to bring us in: 
Notebooks on an old SharePoint location (e.g. a deleted site) need migrating; let us do it before you risk data loss.

Question 33

An ICS file with appointments will not import

Accepted Answer

1. Open the ICS file in a text editor. It should begin with BEGIN:VCALENDAR and end with END:VCALENDAR.
2. Create a test appointment in an empty calendar first; import the file there to see if it loads at all.
3. In Outlook: use the import function, do not double-click the file. Double-click opens one event, import handles the whole batch.
4. Still failing? Ask the vendor for an ICS export in standard format without their custom extensions.

When to bring us in: 
If it is hundreds of appointments or a recurring series you do not want to lose, get in touch; we can clean the file before importing.

Question 34

Invitees accept my meeting but I see no status update

Accepted Answer

1. Open the meeting in your calendar and check 'Request Responses' was on when sending. Without it, replies are not tallied.
2. Ask one invitee to resend their response via the original invite, not by accepting a new one.
3. Look in your inbox or search for 'Accepted:' to find loose response mails.
4. For future meetings: leave 'Request Responses' on and avoid editing the meeting later from another device.

When to bring us in: 
If it keeps happening for multiple colleagues, a server-side rule or sync issue may be at play. Send us an example.

Question 35

An appointment shows up one hour off in my calendar

Accepted Answer

1. Verify the system time-zone on both your laptop and your phone. Both must be right, ideally on 'set automatically'.
2. Open the meeting and check which time-zone it carries. Sometimes it shows GMT instead of Amsterdam.
3. Travel case: set your time-zone to the destination before you travel, otherwise meetings shift twice.
4. For recurring meetings, ask the organiser to create one new series after fixing their own time-zone.

When to bring us in: 
If everything checks out but the meeting still drifts, the issue lives in the invite history. Forward the invite and we will take a look.

Question 36

I want to decline an invite without notifying the organiser

Accepted Answer

1. Open the invite instead of clicking Decline directly in the list. You will see 'do not send a response'.
2. A silent decline removes the meeting from your calendar without a mail back. Their overview stays on 'no response'.
3. Better: pick 'tentative' or 'decline with comment' and add one line of context. Saves back-and-forth.
4. Do not auto-decline via a calendar rule; you will miss updates to meetings you do want.

When to bring us in: 
No escalation needed; this is preference and etiquette.

Question 37

Shared mailbox shows but folders stay empty

Accepted Answer

1. Ask IT to confirm Full Access plus Send As, not just Send on Behalf
2. Close Outlook, wait a few minutes and reopen so tokens refresh
3. Test in Outlook Web; if it works there, it is local cache
4. Remove and re-add the mailbox manually via account settings

When to bring us in: 
If permissions are confirmed but still empty, or Send As bounces.

Question 38

Outlook gets sluggish as mailbox grows

Accepted Answer

1. Check OST file size; over 50 GB you notice slowdown
2. Lower cache period in account settings to 6 or 12 months
3. Split huge folders and archive older items
4. Rebuild the search index if search is also slow

When to bring us in: 
If lowering cache and archiving does not help, or OST keeps corrupting.

Question 39

PST file errors when opening

Accepted Answer

1. Make a copy of the PST first before trying anything
2. Close Outlook fully
3. Run SCANPST.EXE on the copy and let it do multiple passes
4. Import the repaired PST into a fresh profile to be sure

When to bring us in: 
If SCANPST keeps erroring or items are missing after repair.

Question 40

Constant read-receipt requests on mail

Accepted Answer

1. Open options, go to mail settings, tracking section
2. Set choice to never respond or always ask
3. For shared mailboxes adjust per profile
4. Test with a sample mail from another account

When to bring us in: 
If setting does not save or policy resets it.

Question 41

Send As rejected despite granted rights

Accepted Answer

1. Confirm with IT both Send As and Full Access are set
2. Wait at least an hour after granting, sometimes longer
3. Remove the sender from autocomplete and type address fresh
4. Test via Outlook Web to rule out local cache

When to bring us in: 
If bounce keeps coming despite rights and waiting.

Question 42

Rules from classic Outlook missing in new Outlook

Accepted Answer

1. Export rules from classic Outlook as backup
2. Identify which rules were client-only; those will not migrate
3. Rebuild critical rules in Outlook Web so they run server-side
4. Test with a sample mail to confirm rules run independent of client

When to bring us in: 
If specific actions from old rules are no longer available.

Question 43

Meeting shows no RSVP status from invitees

Accepted Answer

1. Open the meeting and confirm you are listed as organizer
2. Verify the invite was sent from your own calendar
3. If delegated, have the delegate resend from your mailbox
4. Compare with the same meeting in Outlook Web

When to bring us in: 
If tracking tab stays empty although you are the organizer.

Question 44

Follow-up flags missing on phone

Accepted Answer

1. Open Microsoft To Do app and sign in with the same account
2. Enable the Outlook tasks connector in To Do settings
3. Wait a minute and refresh
4. Compare flags between desktop and To Do

When to bring us in: 
If flags appear in To Do but not in Outlook mobile.

Question 45

@mentions stop triggering notifications

Accepted Answer

1. Check the Mentions filter in the inbox
2. Ask the sender to reselect your name when typing @
3. Have them clear stale wrong addresses from autocomplete
4. Test with a fresh mention from a colleague

When to bring us in: 
If filter cannot be enabled or mentions stay invisible.

Question 46

Outlook no longer warns of double bookings

Accepted Answer

1. Open calendar, go to properties of the calendar in question
2. Confirm conflict detection is enabled in options
3. For a resource mailbox, have IT check AutomateProcessing
4. Test by sending an overlapping invite

When to bring us in: 
If conflicts stay invisible even on manual check.

Question 47

Mails arrive with garbled characters in subject

Accepted Answer

1. View the raw mail headers and find Content-Type
2. Ask sender to send as UTF-8 if possible
3. Update Outlook to latest version if rendering is old
4. Forward the mail to webmail to compare

When to bring us in: 
If even UTF-8 encoded mail still renders wrong.

Question 48

External guest cannot access shared Teams team

Accepted Answer

1. Have IT confirm guest access is enabled in Teams admin
2. Ask the guest to accept the invitation mail again
3. Have them switch to your tenant via the top-left dropdown
4. Test by sharing a new channel with that guest

When to bring us in: 
If policies look correct and the guest still has no access.

Question 49

Files tab in Teams shows nothing

Accepted Answer

1. Open the SharePoint site directly via URL and check the library exists
2. Remove the Files tab in Teams and add it again
3. For a renamed site, IT needs to share the redirect or new URL
4. Close and reopen Teams to refresh cache

When to bring us in: 
If the SharePoint library itself is no longer reachable.

Question 50

Breakout rooms not available or failing

Accepted Answer

1. Confirm you are the organizer, not a co-organizer
2. Use the desktop client, not web or mobile
3. Ask IT to check Meeting Policy for AllowBreakoutRooms
4. Update Teams and restart

When to bring us in: 
If policy is enabled and you still cannot open rooms.

Question 51

Live transcription unavailable in meeting

Accepted Answer

1. Check meeting language in Teams settings
2. Ask IT if recording and transcription policy is enabled
3. Start recording; transcription often pairs with it
4. For multilingual meetings, choose dominant language up front

When to bring us in: 
If policy is enabled and transcription button stays grey.

Question 52

Polls in Teams meeting fail to load

Accepted Answer

1. Open forms.office.com and sign in to verify Forms works
2. Ask IT to confirm Forms is enabled tenant-wide
3. In the meeting, re-add the Polls app
4. Test polls in a trial meeting

When to bring us in: 
If Forms works outside Teams but not in a meeting.

Question 53

Presence stuck on away or offline

Accepted Answer

1. Close all Teams clients including on phone
2. Wait 10 minutes and open desktop client first
3. Reset status manually to Available
4. Check calendar for wrong all-day events forcing status

When to bring us in: 
If status keeps resetting to away with no reason.

Question 54

Voice quality bad but cause unclear

Accepted Answer

1. During the call, open more options and view connection statistics
2. Note packet loss, jitter and RTT at the moment of poor audio
3. Compare with a steady colleague on the same network
4. Pass the numbers to IT for deeper analysis via CQD

When to bring us in: 
If stats are consistently poor across multiple networks.

Question 55

Background blur not on by default

Accepted Answer

1. Pick blur once via meeting pre-join settings
2. Teams will remember this for next meetings
3. Ask IT for a meeting policy that defaults to blur if needed
4. Test by signing out and back in

When to bring us in: 
If the setting does not persist between meetings.

Question 56

Old meeting recordings vanished on their own

Accepted Answer

1. Ask IT what the current retention policy is
2. Check the OneDrive recycle bin for recent deletions
3. For lasting recordings, copy them to a permanent library
4. Work with IT to set longer retention for specific teams

When to bring us in: 
If recordings disappear before the retention window suggests.

Question 57

Block or limit custom emojis in Teams

Accepted Answer

1. Ask IT to review the Teams Messaging Policy
2. Disable CustomEmojis for a user group or tenant-wide
3. Communicate this to the affected teams
4. Existing emojis will not vanish automatically

When to bring us in: 
If policy is set but new emojis can still be uploaded.

Question 58

Inbound Teams Phone call does not ring

Accepted Answer

1. Confirm the user has a Teams Phone Standard license
2. Check call routing policy and auto-attendant targets
3. Test direct ring versus via call queue
4. Check Teams admin call analytics for failed calls

When to bring us in: 
If licenses and queues look fine but calls keep missing.

Question 59

SharePoint upload fails on a full site

Accepted Answer

1. View site storage via site settings
2. Empty both first and second stage recycle bins
3. Limit version count in version settings per library
4. Ask IT to raise the quota if legitimately needed

When to bring us in: 
If freeing space does not help or quota stays mysteriously full.

Question 60

Subfolder has odd permissions and inheritance off

Accepted Answer

1. Walk through site permissions and find items with unique perms
2. Per problem item, choose to restore inheritance
3. Confirm that unique permissions will be lost
4. Document who had what before you overwrite

When to bring us in: 
If recovery becomes complex or permissions are critical.

Question 61

SharePoint search empty after index rebuild

Accepted Answer

1. Ask IT when the rebuild started and rough duration
2. Wait it out; re-triggering only slows it down
3. Meanwhile test individual libraries; they have their own index
4. After completion, test with a query you know should work

When to bring us in: 
If well past expected duration and still no results.

Question 62

Files cannot be deleted due to retention label

Accepted Answer

1. Click the file and see which label is attached
2. Check the policy in Purview for the duration
3. Ask the compliance officer if the label is appropriate
4. Changes go through policy adjustment, not per item

When to bring us in: 
If the label is wrong and compliance does not respond.

Question 63

Documents open encrypted with no access

Accepted Answer

1. View the label attached to the file
2. Ask the owner to add you to the label audience
3. External sharing can be blocked by the label
4. Test in browser; local Office can have stale cache

When to bring us in: 
If membership in the group does not unlock within reasonable time.

Question 64

Cannot associate site with hub

Accepted Answer

1. Confirm you are owner of the site you want to associate
2. Ask IT if you can perform Hub Site Association
3. If hubs are full, ask IT to clean up an existing hub
4. Test associating in incognito to bypass cache

When to bring us in: 
If rights look correct and association keeps failing.

Microsoft 365