Microsoft Teams: Collaborate Effectively In 365

How to Configure Container Sensitivity Labels in Microsoft Purview (Step-by-Step)

Posted on 15 May 2026Updated on 16 May 2026by Nikki Chapple

Microsoft Purview container sensitivity labels allow organisations to apply consistent, risk-based collaboration and access controls across Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 Groups, and SharePoint sites without relying on manual decisions at the point of creation.

Instead of users or administrators deciding security settings each time a workspace is created, container sensitivity labels enforce governance automatically based on collaboration risk.

This is one of the most effective ways to reduce Microsoft 365 Copilot oversharing risk because Copilot surfaces only what users already have access to.

If access controls are overly broad, AI exposure becomes overly broad.

This guide focuses specifically on implementation:

✅ How to configure Microsoft Purview container sensitivity labels
✅ How to apply risk-based collaboration controls
✅ How to govern guest access and sharing consistently
✅ How to integrate with Microsoft Entra Conditional Access
✅ How to operationalise secure-by-default collaboration governance

Teams Private Channel Messages: Compliance Action Required by Sept 20, 2025

Posted on 3 September 2025Updated on 16 May 2026by Nikki Chapple

Teams private channel messages are moving to group mailboxes, and compliance managers must act before September 20, 2025, to avoid data loss and compliance gaps.

Microsoft is reengineering private channels to improve scalability and simplify governance. This change impacts Microsoft Purview eDiscovery, retention, and DLP policies.

This update was announced in the Microsoft Teams Blog and flagged in the Microsoft 365 Message Center (MC1134737).

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How to search for Teams messages: A Guide for Admins

Posted on 7 May 2024Updated on 16 May 2026by Nikki Chapple

Microsoft Teams is a powerful collaboration tool. As an admin, you need to know how to search for chat and channel messages. In this guide, we will cover various search options. Firstly, the standard user search option, secondly, the Content search and eDiscovery standard options for admins and finally, eDiscovery premium for complex needs. We’ll explain each option’s benefits and limitations to help you choose the best option for your needs.

How to allow auto-forwarding to Teams channels

Posted on 31 October 2022Updated on 1 November 2022by Nikki Chapple

Email forwarding can be useful, but poses a security risk due to the potential disclosure of information. Therefore the Anti-spam outbound policy blocks the auto-forwarding at the tenant level by default. Although this minimises the security risks, it hampers productivity since there are valid reasons to allow auto-forwarding to an external domain.

There are valid use cases for external email forwarding such as:

To support the adoption of Microsoft Teams and the concept of working in Teams rather than sending email. However, users cannot auto-forward emails to a Teams channel, because the Teams channel email addresses are external email addresses, for example (uniqueid@emea.teams.ms or uniqueid@uk.teams.ms).
Auto-forwarding emails to a third-party system, such as CRM or ticketing system for processing.

Read on to learn how to allow auto-forwarding to Teams channels and other authorised external domains to increase productivity and reduce security risks.

How to manage guest access reviews in Microsoft 365

Posted on 26 June 2022Updated on 16 May 2026by Nikki Chapple

With guest access switched on for Microsoft Teams, do you have a process to manage guest access reviews?

It is easy for Team owners to invite external guests into their Team. However, how do you proactively review guest accounts to ensure people only have access as long as they need it?

With internal users, there are joiners, movers and leavers processes to manage access and reviews, but these processes typically exclude guest users.

Read on to see how you create a regular review of external guest access to ensure they only have access as long as necessary.

How to use Power Automate to manage Ownerless Teams (& Groups)

Posted on 28 January 2022Updated on 25 October 2022by Nikki Chapple

A Microsoft Team or Group without an owner is ungoverned and unmanaged. It is like a school classroom full of children without a teacher. You know it will end up in chaos.

So do you have an effective process for managing your ownerless Teams?

Microsoft recently added a process for managing ownerless Microsoft 365 groups and teams however this process just asks the members of the group of they wanted to become the owner.

Read on to find out how you can mitigate the issue by using Power Automate to automatically transfer ownership to another user.

Create a simple Teams creation workflow using Power Automate

Posted on 11 December 2021Updated on 8 July 2023by Nikki Chapple

Why do I need to build a Teams creation process using Power Automate? What’s wrong with the standard Team creation process?

When you create Microsoft Teams out of the box, there are only limited governance capabilities. For example:

Limited Teams naming convention
Duplicate Teams names
Only one owner required
No justification or approval process

This blog describes how to create Teams using Power Automate plus add governance steps to the workflow to include:

Apply a tailored Teams naming convention
Add an approval step
Stop duplicate Team names
Add multiple owners
Add sensitivity label to allow or block guests and external sharing
Capture additional metadata such as justification, Team type, or Team duration

Read on for my step-by-step guide on creating a Power Automate Flow for your Teams creation process.

How can I join my Microsoft Teams meeting from my mobile?

Posted on 23 November 2021Updated on 16 May 2026by Nikki Chapple

You don’t need to sit at your desk to join a Microsoft Teams meeting. The Teams mobile app allow you to join your Microsoft Teams meeting from wherever you are.

Whether this is going for a walk, just wanting to get away from your desk or needing to find a quiet place. Its so easy to join your Microsoft Teams meeting using the Teams mobile app on either your iOS or Android mobile device.

Here are my four top tips for joining a Microsoft Teams meetings from the Teams mobile app.

Implementing Microsoft Teams governance to stop Teams sprawl

Posted on 31 October 2021Updated on 1 December 2021by Nikki Chapple

How to stop Microsoft Teams sprawl is one of the most common concerns from both end users and IT administrators. Questions such as:

We have too many Teams?
When do we create a new Team?
Why do we have duplicate Teams names?
When should we delete Teams?
Which Teams are inactive?
Why do we have ownerless Teams?

Do too many Teams really equate to Teams sprawl? No, not necessarily; active Teams are not sprawl. What you need to identify is your inactive teams that are just cluttering up the Teams menu and taking up storage space.

Inactive teams can be a result of limited or no training, limited user adoption, no user accountability and/ or no governance rules in place.

My blog addresses these questions and looks at both technical and business solutions for implementing Microsoft Teams governance to stop Teams sprawl.

Microsoft Teams governance is not a project, it’s a lifestyle

Posted on 18 October 2021Updated on 23 November 2021by Nikki Chapple

There is no doubt that Teams communications and collaboration is here to stay, with the home now the new branch office.

Now is the time to take a strategic look at Teams and implement the governance and controls required to answer the key question: ‘How can I optimize and secure my Teams environment while still empowering our end users to work effectively, with the fewest possible constraints?’.