mash. guides and tipsPractical write-ups on IT, automation and using AI tools at work, by Michael Shreeves.https://mashreeves.com/2026-10-14T00:00:00ZMichael Shreeveshttps://mashreeves.com/aboutIf a mailbox script or signature tool stopped working this month, check EWS firsthttps://mashreeves.com/tips/m365-ews-off-signature-scripts2026-10-14T00:00:00Z2026-10-14T00:00:00ZMicrosoft began switching off EWS in Exchange Online in October 2026 and blocks it for good in April 2027. How to find what used it, and what next.Central email signatures in Microsoft 365: there's no API for it, so here are the routes that workhttps://mashreeves.com/guides/m365-central-email-signatures-no-graph-api2026-10-13T00:00:00Z2026-10-13T00:00:00ZGraph can't set an Outlook signature. The three routes that can, what each one can't do, and why I designed for an add-in and a mail-flow connector.Let AI draft the social post, then run five checks before you hit posthttps://mashreeves.com/tips/ai-social-posts-five-checks2026-10-12T00:00:00Z2026-10-12T00:00:00ZAI is quick at a first draft of a LinkedIn or Instagram post. Five checks before it goes out: claims, faces, disclosure, voice, and links and tags.AI Max, Performance Max and Advantage+ on a small budget: what to check before you let the machine drivehttps://mashreeves.com/guides/ai-max-advantage-plus-small-budget2026-10-11T00:00:00Z2026-10-11T00:00:00ZGoogle and Meta now switch their AI features on by default. On a small budget, check tracking first, then the settings that decide where the money goes.Using AI for SEO without writing for a robothttps://mashreeves.com/guides/ai-for-seo-without-writing-for-robots2026-10-10T00:00:00Z2026-10-10T00:00:00ZWhere AI earns its keep in SEO (research, briefs, titles, links) and where it gets you in trouble. Plus what Google says AI search needs: nothing special.Building your own social media scheduler: the code is the easy parthttps://mashreeves.com/guides/social-scheduler-build-app-review2026-10-09T00:00:00Z2026-10-09T00:00:00ZA scheduler is a queue and a cron job. The hard part is each platform's app review, paid API and token rules. What to plan for before writing any code.IT due diligence on a small acquisition: what to check before completion, and the first 90 days afterhttps://mashreeves.com/guides/m365-acquisition-due-diligence2026-10-08T00:00:00Z2026-10-08T00:00:00ZBuying a clinic or small business? What to check in its IT and Microsoft 365 before completion, and how to bring people, mail and data across afterwards.The DSPT for a small organisation: where the evidence already is, and where people get stuckhttps://mashreeves.com/guides/dspt-small-organisation2026-10-08T00:00:00Z2026-10-08T00:00:00ZThe Data Security and Protection Toolkit for a small clinic, practice or care provider: find the evidence you already have, then fix the gaps.ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot: a taste of each, from basic to advancedhttps://mashreeves.com/guides/chatgpt-claude-copilot-a-first-taste2026-10-07T00:00:00Z2026-10-07T00:00:00ZA taste of ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot at three levels, with prompts to try, what each one can see, and what to keep out of any of them.APIs and webhooks: why most integrations need bothhttps://mashreeves.com/guides/api-and-webhooks-why-you-need-both2026-10-06T00:00:00Z2026-10-06T00:00:00ZA webhook tells you something happened. An API lets you check. Why most integrations need both, and how to wire them so a missed event doesn't hurt.AI prompts for real work: a map of the tips and guideshttps://mashreeves.com/guides/ai-prompts-real-world-examples2026-10-06T00:00:00Z2026-10-14T00:00:00ZCopilot, Claude and ChatGPT prompts for HR, finance, admin and IT, grouped by job, each with the check to run before you trust the answer.Asking for help in a new job without wasting anyone's timehttps://mashreeves.com/guides/nw-asking-for-help-without-waste2026-10-03T00:00:00Z2026-10-03T00:00:00ZA simple way to ask good questions at work: what to try first, how to phrase it, and when to stop struggling alone and ask.Running a small project without the paperworkhttps://mashreeves.com/guides/nw-small-project-no-ceremony2026-10-01T00:00:00Z2026-10-01T00:00:00ZA lightweight way to run a small project: a one-page brief, a weekly update and a clear finish line, without a PMO or a Gantt chart.A first-week plan for a new starter, from both sideshttps://mashreeves.com/guides/nw-new-starter-first-week-guide2026-10-01T00:00:00Z2026-10-01T00:00:00ZWhat a new starter and their manager should each do in week one, day by day, so nobody spends Wednesday waiting for a laptop login.Meetings that earn their slothttps://mashreeves.com/guides/nw-meetings-that-earn-their-slot2026-09-28T00:00:00Z2026-09-28T00:00:00ZA short test for whether a meeting should exist, and a simple structure that keeps it to the point and leaves a record of what was decided.Build an interview scorecard from the role, so every candidate gets the same testhttps://mashreeves.com/tips/hr-interview-scorecard-from-the-role2026-09-25T00:00:00Z2026-09-25T00:00:00ZSame questions, same criteria, scored the same way. Ask the AI to build the scorecard from the job description, then cut it down to what you'll really use.Write a one-page 'how we work' for your teamhttps://mashreeves.com/guides/nw-how-we-work-page2026-09-24T00:00:00Z2026-09-24T00:00:00ZA short page that tells new and existing people how your team works: where things live, how to ask for things, and what 'done' means.Write alt text for what the image is for, not what it looks likehttps://mashreeves.com/tips/mkt-alt-text-for-the-purpose2026-09-24T00:00:00Z2026-09-24T00:00:00ZAI tools describe pictures well and write alt text badly. Tell them what the image is doing on the page and they get closer, but a person still checks.Check you can measure the result before you write the campaignhttps://mashreeves.com/tips/mkt-decide-how-youll-measure-first2026-09-22T00:00:00Z2026-09-22T00:00:00ZA campaign brief that says 'raise awareness' can't fail, which is the problem. Ask the AI to find every goal you couldn't measure with the data you've got.Documentation your team will read and trusthttps://mashreeves.com/guides/nw-docs-people-will-read2026-09-20T00:00:00Z2026-09-20T00:00:00ZWhy most internal documents go unread, and a few habits that fix it: one home, one owner, a review date, and writing for the person in a hurry.Check your delegation brief for gaps before you hand the task overhttps://mashreeves.com/tips/lead-delegation-readiness-check2026-09-18T00:00:00Z2026-09-18T00:00:00ZMost delegation fails on missing detail, not a missing person. Write the handover in two minutes and let the AI find what you left in your head.Turn a job description into a realistic first-month planhttps://mashreeves.com/tips/nw-first-month-plan-from-the-job-description2026-09-14T00:00:00Z2026-09-14T00:00:00ZThe week-one plan gets someone started. This gets them to something finished by month end. Draft it from the job description, then fix it together.Questions to ask a new supplier, sized to what they'll actually have access tohttps://mashreeves.com/tips/proc-new-supplier-questions2026-09-12T00:00:00Z2026-09-12T00:00:00ZA supplier who sees your data needs more questions than one who delivers sandwiches. Ask the AI to size the list to the risk, and ask for evidence.Find the clauses in a supplier contract that are worth a lawyer's timehttps://mashreeves.com/tips/proc-contract-clauses-worth-a-lawyer2026-09-12T00:00:00Z2026-09-12T00:00:00ZAn AI can't give you legal advice. It can read forty pages and point at the six clauses you should have a lawyer look at first.Build a new starter's glossary from the jargon your team really useshttps://mashreeves.com/tips/nw-starter-glossary-from-the-jargon2026-09-09T00:00:00Z2026-09-09T00:00:00ZEvery team has its own acronyms and shorthand. Paste a few real documents and chats and get a draft glossary, with unexplained terms flagged, not guessed.Get three supplier quotes into one table you can compare like for likehttps://mashreeves.com/tips/proc-quotes-like-for-like2026-09-08T00:00:00Z2026-09-08T00:00:00ZThree quotes in three formats are rarely comparable. Ask the AI to line up what's included, what's left out and what's assumed, then do the sums yourself.For a bank rec, ask for the exceptions list, not the reconciliationhttps://mashreeves.com/tips/fin-bank-rec-exceptions-only2026-09-07T00:00:00Z2026-09-07T00:00:00ZMatching thousands of lines is a job for formulas. Working out why the few left over don't match is where an AI tool helps.Get it to play the sceptical finance director before the real one sees ithttps://mashreeves.com/tips/fin-play-the-sceptical-finance-director2026-09-04T00:00:00Z2026-09-04T00:00:00ZBefore a board pack or budget request goes out, ask the AI for the awkward questions you'll get. It's cheaper than finding out in the meeting.Check this month's accruals against last month'shttps://mashreeves.com/tips/fin-accruals-check-against-last-month2026-09-03T00:00:00Z2026-09-03T00:00:00ZThe accrual that vanished or doubled is the one that skews the month. Match what you can with a lookup, then ask the AI about the lines that don't match.Find the suppliers you're paying twice for the same thinghttps://mashreeves.com/tips/fin-supplier-spend-consolidation-review2026-08-31T00:00:00Z2026-08-31T00:00:00ZA year of supplier spend hides overlaps: three tools doing one job. Get the AI to label each supplier by purpose, then do the totals in a pivot table.Let the AI check your rota, don't let it build onehttps://mashreeves.com/tips/ops-rota-check-not-rota-build2026-08-29T00:00:00Z2026-08-29T00:00:00ZBuilding a rota with fixed rules is a job for a spreadsheet or a scheduling tool. Checking one you've built for broken rules is a good second pair of eyes.Ask the AI to poke holes in your cash-flow forecast, not to write ithttps://mashreeves.com/tips/fin-cash-flow-forecast-sanity-check2026-08-28T00:00:00Z2026-08-28T00:00:00ZYou built the forecast, so you can't see its blind spots. Give the AI your assumptions and ask where the timing looks hopeful.Turn what went wrong into a checklist for next timehttps://mashreeves.com/tips/ops-incident-to-preflight-checklist2026-08-25T00:00:00Z2026-08-25T00:00:00ZAfter something goes wrong, the lessons live in a report nobody rereads. Ask the AI to turn them into a short checklist you run before the next one.Run a pre-mortem on the plan before you starthttps://mashreeves.com/tips/ops-premortem-before-the-project2026-08-22T00:00:00Z2026-08-22T00:00:00ZAsk the AI to assume the project failed six months from now and tell you why. A fast way to a risk list, before everyone's too invested to be honest.Roll up five team updates into one page, and make it show its evidencehttps://mashreeves.com/tips/ops-weekly-update-roll-up-with-evidence2026-08-20T00:00:00Z2026-08-20T00:00:00ZWeekly reports from five teams in five formats. Ask the AI to merge them, and to flag anything marked green with nothing behind it.Give it a week of alerts and ask which ones nobody acts onhttps://mashreeves.com/tips/it-alert-noise-tuning-from-a-week-of-alerts2026-08-18T00:00:00Z2026-08-18T00:00:00ZAlert fatigue is how the real one gets missed. Export a week of alerts with what was done about each, and ask the AI which are worth tuning.Access review: turn a permissions export into 'who shouldn't still have this'https://mashreeves.com/tips/it-access-review-who-shouldnt-have-this2026-08-17T00:00:00Z2026-08-17T00:00:00ZA permissions export is thousands of rows nobody reads. Write your rules down, run the exact ones as formulas, and use the AI for the judgement calls.Find where a process waits, not where people workhttps://mashreeves.com/tips/ops-find-the-wait-not-the-work2026-08-15T00:00:00Z2026-08-15T00:00:00ZSlow processes are rarely slow because someone types slowly. They're slow because things sit in a queue. Get the AI to list likely queues to check.Never run an AI-written PowerShell script without a dry run firsthttps://mashreeves.com/tips/it-powershell-whatif-first2026-08-14T00:00:00Z2026-08-14T00:00:00ZAI tools write PowerShell that looks right and does something you didn't expect. Ask for read-only by default, -WhatIf and logging.Log triage: trim and redact first, then ask what's unusualhttps://mashreeves.com/tips/it-log-triage-redact-then-ask2026-08-12T00:00:00Z2026-08-12T00:00:00ZPasting a hundred thousand lines into a chat gets you a vague answer and a data leak. Cut it down, redact it, and ask for patterns rather than a diagnosis.