Volume 31 Issue 2

Issue Date: January 29, 2026 « Previous Issue | Next Issue »

The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on January 29, 2026.

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Today's Highlights »

Remove Office Licenses From Windows
Migrating Email to Gmail
Report Meeting Invitation Spam as Junk Email
Outlook’s “PST in OneDrive” bug: Fixed
Gmail Ending POP and Gmailify

Remove Office Licenses From Windows

A user wanted to upgrade his Office software and mistakenly purchased Office Home, which doesn't include Outlook. Microsoft refunded the purchase and he purchased Office Home and Business. The problem? The Office apps all said “Office Home” and Outlook wouldn’t work.

We needed to remove the Office Home license to get Office Home and Business working.

The previous method to remove licenses using a vbs script no longer works. You need to use PowerShell now.

1. Start typing PowerShell on the start menu.

2. When it comes up, choose Run as Administrator

3. If this is your first time using PowerShell, run this command to allow ps1 files to run:
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Or you can use Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope Process so it will only allow you to use the script in this PowerShell session.

4. Next, you need to switch the directory to the office directory. Type or paste this line in PowerShell and click Run. cd "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\"

5. Next, type or paste this line in PowerShell: ./vnextdiag.ps1 -action list
The list action returns information about each Office license installed, including the following:
"Version": "5",
"Type": "User|Subscription",
"Product": "O365HomePremRetail",
"LicenseId": "CWW_[long GUID] "

6. Copy the LicenseId code, including the quotes.
The license ID will begin with CWW if you have a consumer license or EWW if you have a business subscription.

7. Then type or paste this line in PowerShell, pasting the licenseId GUID at the end.
./vnextdiag.ps1 -action remove -LicenseId [the GUID from the last line]

It will look like this:
./vnextdiag.ps1 -action remove -LicenseId "CWW_cd64618d-more-characters- c355df42706e5acf8"

8. A message will come up after it removes the license:
Removed license with Id CWW_cd64618d-more-characters- c355df42706e5acf8

If you have other licenses to remove, repeat the -action remove line. When you’re finished, close PowerShell.

Note: if you have both a consumer and a business subscription. Both will likely be listed when you get the license list. While you can remove the consumer license, it will be added back if you are signed in using your Microsoft account.

Migrating Email to Gmail

A user wants to move away from Yahoo and switch to Gmail and asked how to do it. (These steps will work with any account, not just Yahoo.)

1. For at least a few weeks, tell friends and family to start using the Gmail address. If you use classic Outlook, you can add both accounts to Outlook and when you reply to a yahoo message, change the From address so replies are sent using the Gmail account. If you have an older version of Outlook that does not support oAuth2, you can change the Yahoo account to use the Gmail SMTP server. Don’t forget to change the authentication on the More Settings > Outgoing tab!

2. After most of your friends have been notified, set up autoresponder to tell users to use the Gmail address but note that it will go to spammers too.

3. Once most mail is going to Gmail, you can remove the account from Outlook and use the browser to check for mail at Yahoo. (Yahoo doesn’t have an auto forward option for free accounts.)

4. Before removing the account from Outlook, export to a PST so you have a backup of the mail. If you are using POP with the account, you don't need to Export!

If you want to move some or all of your mail into the Gmail mailbox, you have two options:

1. Copy or import mail into folders in the Gmail mailbox. This works, mostly, but may cause sync errors and some messages may not sync up.

2. Use the “Google Workspace Migration for Microsoft Outlook” utility. (It works for Gmail accounts and business accounts.) It can import from a PST or import all accounts in your Outlook profile. You can either import everything or choose a date period to import. It’s not fast, but it’s better than trying to import it from Outlook. Imported mail will be in a folder (label) in Gmail using the name of the PST or account and maintain the same folder structure. If you want the messages in other folders, add and remove labels.

Outlook’s “PST in OneDrive” bug: Fixed

If you were affected by the bug last week where classic Outlook hung or crashed when you had a PST file in your profile that was stored in OneDrive and moved the PST files out of OneDrive, the bug is fixed.

You can move the PST files back into OneDrive, if you want.

If you are using the PST with a POP account, don’t forget to verify the email account is set to use the correct PST. Open File > Account Settings > Account Settings. Select the POP account and look at the Change Folder button. If the path is not correct, click the Change Folder button and select the correct Inbox. If the field is blank, you may need to select a folder in a different data file then go back in and choose the correct Inbox.

Microsoft Support article: Classic Outlook profiles with POP accounts and PSTs hang after Windows updates on January 13, 2026

Report Meeting Invitation Spam as Junk Email

Finally: you can report meeting invitation spam as Junk (or phishing).

If you have a Microsoft Office subscription and an Outlook.com or Microsoft 365 business account, you can now report meeting spam using the Report > Junk Email button.

Gmail Ending POP and Gmailify

If you are using the Gmail option to “Check mail from other accounts”, Gmail is starting to remove this from accounts. New users won’t be able to add accounts, but existing accounts will work until later in 2026.

If you want to have other email accounts in your Gmail mailbox, you’ll need Forward mail to Gmail.

For more information, see Add another email account on your computer - Gmail Help