Custom GPT Experiment: Building an M365 Email Assistant

TL;DR

• Created a custom GPT that connects directly to Microsoft 365 email via GPT Actions

• Allows managing email through natural language commands like "show me unread emails" or "draft a reply to Sarah"

• Only requires a ChatGPT Plus subscription and basic Microsoft Azure app registration

• Solves the "folder confusion" problem - when I say "check my inbox," it only shows Inbox folder messages, not all mailbox items

• Eliminates constant re-authentication prompts by using application permissions with mailbox-specific access policies

• Makes email management significantly more efficient with minimal setup

• Biggest challenge was teaching it to respect folder boundaries and correctly interpret complex commands

The Challenge: Email Overload

As a technology executive, my inbox is constantly flooded with messages. Managing emails efficiently has become a critical productivity challenge - one that I suspect many professionals can relate to. Traditional email interfaces often require multiple clicks and navigation steps to perform simple tasks, and the mental overhead of switching between different folders and views can be draining.

I wanted a solution that would allow me to interact with my email in a more natural, conversational way. Something that would understand exactly what I mean when I say "show me my emails" (and not pull messages from every folder in my account).

Enter Custom GPTs

When OpenAI introduced the ability to create custom GPTs, I immediately saw the potential to build an assistant specifically designed for email management. Custom GPTs allow you to create specialized AI assistants with specific knowledge, capabilities, and behaviors tailored to particular use cases.

Introduction

As cloud adoption accelerates, applications have become key actors in any Microsoft 365 environment — running automations, integrating services, and accessing sensitive data. But with this growth comes risk: many apps are over-permissioned, use weak authentication methods, or access more data than they need.

Traditional models of app trust no longer suffice. In response, Microsoft is introducing new controls that help enforce how apps authenticate and what resources they can reach, aligning with modern Zero Trust principles.

This blog highlights three practical updates that give admins tighter control over app behavior:

• Entra application management policies API

• Scoping access in SharePoint and OneDrive

• Limiting mailbox access for Graph apps

These capabilities are key to building a secure, least-privilege application environment in Microsoft 365.

Introduction

One of the biggest challenges in modern cloud environments isn’t just seeing threats — it’s responding to them. We’ve had the dashboards. We’ve had the alerts. But the real value kicks in when security signals turn into action.

Microsoft’s latest update to Defender for Cloud introduces a critical capability that makes this shift possible: Cloud Detection and Response (CDR).

So, what is CDR and why should you care?

Think of CDR as the cloud-native sibling of XDR — tailored for hybrid and multi-cloud environments. It’s designed to:

• Collect telemetry across cloud workloads (PaaS, IaaS, and Kubernetes),

• Correlate suspicious activity across services (e.g., suspicious downloads from Storage + suspicious key access from Key Vault),

• And automatically trigger tailored responses (e.g., block tokens, isolate workloads, notify Sentinel).

This isn’t just about detection. It’s about closing the gap between insight and action.

Microsoft SharePoint is one of the most widely used platforms for collaboration, content management, and document sharing in organizations of all sizes. To cater to various business needs, Microsoft offers multiple SharePoint plans: Plan 1, Plan 2, and a more comprehensive offering, SharePoint Premium.

In this article, we'll explore the differences between these plans, focusing on SharePoint Online Plan 1, SharePoint Online Plan 2, and SharePoint Premium, helping you determine which is best suited for your organization.

What is SharePoint Online?

SharePoint Online is a cloud-based service that helps organizations store, organize, share, and access information from any device. It is available as part of Microsoft 365, enabling employees to collaborate on documents, share knowledge, and manage projects in real-time.