A canvas or a list
Join steps on a canvas, from the start at the top to End, or edit the same steps as an indented list.
Workflows
Automate Routine Microsoft 365 Administration
Build reusable workflows, test run them to see each change without making it, and run them manually or on a schedule.
What you get
Test run first
A test run reads the tenant for real and shows each change the workflow would make, without making it.
Sample workflows
Start from a sample such as Offboard a Leaver or Lock Down Stale User Accounts, then adapt a copy.
Run on a schedule
Run a workflow in Altivane, or from Windows Task Scheduler without a window.
How it works
Build, test, then run
Build or pick a sample
Add steps and fill in their settings.
Test run it
See each change before it's made.
Run or schedule it
Every change goes in the change log.
Steps on a canvas, or as a list
Each step does 1 thing, such as getting data, making a bulk change or exporting a file. The lines set the order, not where a step sits.
- On the canvas, each step is a box joined to the next by a line, numbered in running order. An If step has a Yes line and a No line, a loop's steps sit in a box under it, and every path ends at End.
- The List shows the same steps as an indented list, with a line down from each If and loop to its last step.
- Snap aligns a step with the grid and the steps around it, and Spacing keeps steps from landing too close. Tidy up aligns the whole workflow on a grid, keeping your arrangement.
- Properties shows the settings of the step you select. A required setting left empty is marked in red, and a step that changes the tenant says so.
- Each step has a title, a note and what to do on an error: stop the workflow, or go on to the next step. A step that's turned off is skipped.
- Undo and Redo cover every change, moves on the canvas included.
- Start a workflow empty, or from a change: it reads a CSV file, makes the change for each row and exports the results. Workflows import and export as .json files, and sit in folders of your own.
The steps
Choose a step, then fill in its settings. Steps pass what they find to later steps through variables.
Steps that reach the tenant
- Get data
- Run command
- Bulk change
- Run report
- Back up policies
- Apply a blueprint
Get data runs a read-only Exchange Online cmdlet, such as Get-Mailbox, and saves the results. Run command runs an Exchange Online cmdlet. Bulk change makes any of the changes the Explore pages offer, such as Block sign-in, on a list of targets. Run report saves 1 of a report's tables, and Back up policies saves the tenant's Entra ID and Intune policies as JSON files. Apply a blueprint adds and updates what a blueprint declares, and never removes anything.
Flow
- If
- For each
- Repeat while
- Wait
- Stop
For each runs its steps once for each item in a list, and chooses whether a failed item stops the loop. Stop ends the workflow as succeeded or failed, with a message.
Variables
- Set variable
- Add to list
- Add row
Set a value or the result of an expression, add to a list, or build a table a row at a time.
Data
- Filter list
- Transform list
- Sort list
- Read CSV file
Keep the items that meet a condition, work out a new value from each, sort them, or read a CSV file into rows.
Output
- Write to output
- Export to file
Export to file writes a list to an Excel workbook or a CSV file in the tenant's output folder.
Values from step to step
Parameters ask for values when the workflow starts. Variables carry what a step found to the steps after it.
- A parameter is a value the workflow asks for each time it runs, such as the leaver's name. Its kind is Text, Number, Yes or no, Choice or List, and it can have a default and be required.
- A step that finds something saves it in a variable. A later step uses it in a setting as
{{ shared }}, or a property of 1 item as{{ mb..PrimarySmtpAddress }} - Conditions are written like PowerShell, such as
shared.. Insert, beside a setting, lists the variables you can use, and functions for text, numbers, lists and dates.Count -gt 0 - A run sets variables of its own too, such as
tenant,testRun(true in a test run) andlastStatus(the status of the step that ran last).
Test run, then run
A test run makes no change and records nothing in the change log. A run makes the changes, and the change log records each one.
- Select Test run, or press Ctrl+Enter, and enter the parameters if it asks. Files the workflow exports are still written.
- The Run view shows each step's result on the workflow, and a step that would change something shows what it would run. The message bar sums up the changes the run would make.
- Beside the workflow, Variables shows what each step saved, Log sums up the run step by step, and Trace lists every step with its status, item and time.
- Run asks first, naming the steps that make changes and the tenant: always for a step that blocks or removes something, and for other changes when your settings say so.
- Each change goes in the tenant's change log, and exported files go to the Workflows folder in the tenant's output folder.
- Stop, or Shift+F5, ends a run, and the step that's running ends as stopped.
- Without a window,
--workflow "Name"test runs a workflow unless you add--apply, and--set Name=Valuesets a parameter. See scheduled runs.
Sample workflows
Many find what needs attention and export it to Excel, and some make a change only when a parameter asks for it. Duplicate a sample to keep the original.
Leavers and starters
- Offboard a Leaver
- Leaver Lockdown Across Platforms
- Set Up New Starters from a CSV File
- Add Group Members from a CSV File
Accounts and licences
- Lock Down Stale User Accounts
- Review Guests Needing Review
- Reclaim Licences from Disabled Accounts
Mailboxes
- Find and Clear External Forwarding
- Grant Full Access to Shared Mailboxes
- Hide Shared Mailboxes from Address Lists
- Shared Mailboxes Near the Size Limit
- Standardise Room Booking Settings
Devices and security
- Report Stale Managed Devices
- Sync Non-Compliant Devices
- Scan Devices Needing Antivirus Attention
- Resolve Old Informational Incidents
- Back Up Policies
SharePoint and Teams
- Review Inactive SharePoint Sites
- Review Sites Allowing Anyone Links
- OneDrive Storage Watch
- Archive Inactive Teams
- Add a Backup Owner to Teams with 1 or No Owner
- Assign a Teams Policy from a CSV File
Azure
- Close Azure Management Ports Open to the Internet
- Require HTTPS on Azure Web Apps
- Monthly Azure Review