Monthly Update #110 Available for Download

The Office 365 for IT Pros eBook team is delighted to announce that the first monthly update (#110) is available for the Office 365 for IT Pros (2025 edition) eBook. Subscribers can download the files for the update using their Gumroad account or the link in the receipt they received via email. For more information about how to download updates, please see our FAQ. The update covers both the Office 365 for IT Pros and Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell books.

Change Log

Many of the changes made in update #110 are minor in nature because they’re grammatical or formatting updates found after the initial publication of Office 365 for IT Pros (2025 edition) in July. Alongside the fixes, we have included a bunch of information about new functionality and changes Microsoft is making within the ecosystem, like the retirement of Office Connectors in Teams. See our change log for more information.

Reviews

It’s great to see so many nice reviews for Office 365 for IT Pros (2025 Edition). If you’d like to add a review for the book, please do so by following the Gumroad guidelines.

Kindle Versions and Paperbacks

We decided not to publish Office 365 for IT Pros (2025 edition) as a Kindle eBook. However, we do publish Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell in both Kindle and paperback formats. Publishing a paperwork edition means that every hyperlink in the eBook version must be converted into a footnote. When writing an eBook, you don’t think about the number of hyperlinks because you know that readers can access the hyperlinks in both the PDF and EPUB formats. As it turns out, the 250-page PowerShell book includes 199 hyperlinks.

The reaction to the paperback version of Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell has been very interesting. People seem to really like it, so we’ll persist with the venture. Of course, you can’t update printed content, so people who buy copies of the paperback get whatever content is available at that time. We will update the printed content whenever we update the Kindle eBook, so multiple versions of the text will be in use.

Creating a print version of the main book is still beyond our means. The main challenge is that the book spans too many pages for online book publishers to handle. I guess we could split the book in half and publish two separate printed books, but that seems like a whole heap of work for an uncertain reward. Right now, I prefer to dedicate whatever time is available to making sure that the content of Office 365 for IT Pros is as up-to-date and accurate as possible.

Upgrading Office 365 for IT Pros Subscriptions

Every year, we offer subscribers the chance to extend their subscriptions to cover the new edition of Office 365 for IT Pros. The discounted price to extend subscriptions escalated over time as follows:

• Update before July 21 for $16.95.
• Update before August 5 for $19.95.
• Update after August 5 for $29.95.

The intention of the escalating cost to renew subscriptions is to reward people who have supported us over the years by renewing immediately each time a new edition appears.

People extend their subscriptions by using a special URL that we provide to subscribers. This year, I’ve noticed a bunch of people who used the special URL to take out a subscription who never subscribed before. When I asked how they obtained the code, I was told that they received the URL from a coworker or friend who thought that they’d like to benefit from the reduced price.

Although I appreciate the friendly gesture, this isn’t how the scheme is supposed to work. If you receive a special URL from us, it’s for your use only. Sharing the URL with others deprives us of revenue and undermines our ability to make discounted subscriptions available.

We haven’t yet decided what to do about those who used a discount code they weren’t entitled to. We could cancel the subscription and remove their access to book files. However, that’s a pretty hard-line attitude to take when people might have been unaware that they were abusing a subscription. So for now we’ll simply ask our loyal subscribers not to share URLs for discounts with others.

If you subscribed to Office 365 for IT Pros (2024 edition), please use the code we sent via email to extend your subscription by August 5. $19.95 isn’t a lot for the Office 365 for IT Pros and Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell eBooks, is it?

Monthly Update #108 Released to Subscribers

The team is happy to release the final update for the Office 365 for IT Pros 2024 edition. Monthly update #108 is the eleventh and last update for this edition as we will release the Office 365 for IT Pros 2025 Edition on July 1, if all our plans proceed as we hope.

Subscribers should download the latest files from their Gumroad.com account or use the link in the receipt they received after the original purchase. More information about obtaining updated files is available in our FAQ. We’ve updated the Kindle book files on Amazon.com too. Unfortunately, purchasers of the Kindle book must contain Amazon support to gain access to the updated files.

A Massive Source of Knowledge

The updated book contains a mixture of new information, changes, and deletions as we keep pace with the ongoing flood of changes for Microsoft 365 applications delivered by Microsoft. To give some idea about the effect on the book of tracking change, the July 2023 release spanned 1,352 pages (693,609 words). The current update spans 1,429 pages (733,864 words).

Since we released Office 365 for IT Pros 2024 edition, we’ve added 67 pages (net) with 40,255 words. Behind those raw statistics are a bunch of changes (which might not affect page or word count) and deletions (which create space for new material). A glance at our change log gives an insight into where the changes occurred. If anyone doubts the usefulness of a book that’s constantly updated to cater for ongoing change in a technology, they only need to look at our change log.

The New Version

A new version gives the writing team the chance to review the book end to end. We’re currently in the middle of a comprehensive technical edit process to improve material, identify outdated content that’s lingering and occupying space, address areas that need additional explanation, and even update screenshots to match current user interfaces. Microsoft developers appear to be fascinated by user interface tweaks. They change one or two words on a screen and don’t say anything, so we only find out about the need for a figure update if someone tells us or we notice the change.

The tasks listed above are the norm for us. The 2025 edition is the eleventh in a series going back to 2015. This time around, we plan to make some more fundamental changes.

No More Companion Volume after the 2024 Edition

First, we’re dropping the companion volume. This book was intended to be the place where we could move old content so that people who still needed the information could find it. However, the companion volume has become increasingly decrepit, and we doubt if many still use it. Another factor to consider is the improvement in Microsoft documentation over the years, meaning that those who need information about something like Microsoft Forms or Sway can find it online.

A New PowerShell Book

Second, as obvious from the numbers cited above, the main book is too big. We’ve thought about this a lot and concluded that the best way forward is to split off standalone books covering selected topics. At the end, we might end up with a group of six books under the Office 365 for IT Pros banner. For now, we will start with PowerShell and have created a standalone 200-page book called “Automating Microsoft 365 with PowerShell.” We plan to sell this book on its own as well as bundling it with Office 365 for IT Pros.

The main book still includes many PowerShell examples where they fit in context. However, the in-depth discussions about PowerShell, the Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK, and using Graph API requests from PowerShell have a new home. The PowerShell book includes about 40% more content than the equivalent chapter in the 2024 edition.

It’s too early to say yet what the next standalone book will be. It could cover Groups and Teams, or maybe Compliance. We’re still noodling on that topic.

What is clear is that Office 365 for IT Pros subscribers will receive both the main book and any standalone books we create. You won’t lose access to any information. In fact, you’ll have even more information at your fingertips.

Subscribing to Office 365 for IT Pros 2025 Edition

We still have one more month to run before Office 365 for IT Pros 2025 Edition is available. We understand that people are unwilling to subscribe to a book that will soon be replaced. Our offer is that anyone who subscribes to Office 365 for IT Pros 2024 edition in June 2024 will receive a free upgrade to the 2025 edition when it is available.

As to our current subscribers, we thank you for your support. Without your backing we could not afford to spend the time we do to keep the book updated. After we publish the 2025 edition, you’ll be able to upgrade your subscription for a heavily discounted price. It’s our way of saying thank you.