70-346: Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements
Exam 70-346 validated administrative knowledge for Office 365 identity, tenant, licensing, connectivity, and synchronization work. It was aimed at IT professionals who evaluated, planned, deployed, and operated Office 365 services and their dependencies. The key decision is straightforward: do not build a certification plan around sitting 70-346, because Microsoft retired it; use its published objectives only to assess legacy Office 365 knowledge and to identify a current Microsoft learning path to investigate.
Can you still take 70-346?
No. Microsoft stated that 70-346 and 70-347 retired on March 31, 2019, and its retirement policy says retired exams cannot be taken or used to earn the associated credential after retirement. A booking, delivery, price, language, score, question count, or current test-center option for 70-346 should therefore not be assumed.
This is the most important planning point for anyone arriving from an older job description, training catalogue, résumé requirement, or archived study resource. Do not spend time comparing providers, purchasing a voucher, or building a revision calendar around an attempt that cannot be scheduled. Microsoft’s general guidance for an exam approaching retirement is to take it before the retirement date; that window has passed for 70-346.
A retired exam can still be professionally relevant as a description of past responsibilities. An organization with long-running Office 365 deployments may have procedures, scripts, or records shaped by the technologies in the outline. That makes the objective list useful for diagnosing a skills gap, onboarding into a legacy environment, or understanding a credential already shown on a colleague’s transcript. It does not make 70-346 an available target.
Candidates who earned the associated certification before retirement should distinguish the credential record from exam availability. Microsoft says a certification earned before retirement remains on a learner’s transcript subject to its normal expiration status. That is a transcript and recordkeeping matter, not a route to take the retired exam now.
What to do instead of trying to schedule it
Start by writing down the job outcome you need: broad Microsoft 365 administration, identity administration, security administration, messaging administration, or a legacy Office 365 knowledge refresh. Then consult Microsoft’s current technical certification offerings and current exam pages before committing to any course or assessment.
Avoid a common but costly mistake: treating an old exam code as proof that an old course still leads to an available credential. Dates, requirements, and role-based pathways change. Only a current official certification page can establish what can be earned, what assessments are available, and which requirements apply at the time you plan to pursue them.
What did 70-346 validate?
70-346 was titled “Managing Office 365 Identities and Requirements.” Its published scope centered on preparing and administering an Office 365 environment: provisioning, identity management, connectivity and security planning, and directory synchronization.
Microsoft described intended candidates as IT professionals involved in evaluating, planning, deploying, and operating Office 365 services and their dependencies. The emphasis was broader than creating user accounts. Candidates needed to connect tenant choices, domains, licensing, client access, security controls, and identity lifecycle tasks into workable administrative decisions.
The supplied outline also expected experience with the Office 365 Admin Center and understanding of Exchange Online, Skype for Business Online, SharePoint Online, Office 365 ProPlus, and Microsoft Azure Active Directory. Treat those product names as the historical context of the exam rather than a current syllabus. The products, names, interfaces, and service boundaries may have changed since the exam retired.
A useful way to interpret the exam’s purpose is to follow a deployment sequence. An administrator first establishes the tenant and subscriptions, prepares domains and user access, makes connectivity and security choices, manages identities, and then connects on-premises identity where required. The objective areas reflected those operational dependencies.
Who would have been a strong fit
The best fit was an Office 365 administrator or implementation-focused IT professional with hands-on responsibility for planning and operating services, rather than a person looking only for an end-user productivity credential. Familiarity with administrative choices mattered because the outline crossed multiple services and identity controls.
A person whose work involved tenant setup, subscriptions, user administration, domain configuration, network access troubleshooting, or directory synchronization would have encountered the subject matter directly. By contrast, a candidate who only used Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, or Office desktop applications as an end user would have needed foundational administration practice before the objectives could make sense.
How it fit the former MCSA path
Microsoft stated that 70-346 and 70-347 were required for the former MCSA: Office 365 certification. The two exams belonged to a historical credential path, so passing 70-346 by itself was not presented as the complete MCSA outcome.
This context matters when reading old CVs and study discussions. Someone may list MCSA: Office 365 rather than 70-346 because the exam was one component of that former certification. Conversely, an older listing of 70-346 identifies a particular identity-and-requirements exam, not necessarily completion of the entire MCSA path.
Which skills were measured?
The published outline assigned 15–20% to provisioning Office 365, 15–20% to planning and implementing networking and security in Office 365, and 15–20% to managing cloud identities. Directory synchronization was also explicitly covered in the available outline material.
Use these domains to organize a legacy knowledge review, not as a prediction of a current Microsoft assessment. The supplied historical material provides ranges for the three named areas, but it does not support claims about a present blueprint, a complete question distribution, or an exam format.
Each domain should be studied through an administrative decision and its consequences. Memorizing a feature label is weaker than being able to explain why an organization would choose a configuration, what prerequisite it depends on, what it changes for users, and what evidence would verify that it worked.
Provision Office 365
Provisioning Office 365 received 15–20% in the published skills outline. The named topics were configuring tenants and subscriptions, managing licensing, adding custom domains, and planning a pilot.
For a practical review, begin with the relationship between these activities. A tenant and its subscriptions define the service foundation. Licensing affects what users can receive. A custom domain affects identity and service configuration. A pilot is a controlled way to test deployment assumptions before broader adoption. The point is not to memorize an isolated sequence; it is to reason about dependencies.
Build a simple planning worksheet. For every provisioning task, record the purpose, the responsible role, the information required before the change, the users affected, and a validation step. For example, a domain task should lead you to identify the DNS work that must be coordinated, while a licensing task should lead you to identify the intended recipient population and how the assignment outcome will be checked.
One recurring mistake is treating pilot planning as an afterthought. A pilot should test an assumption that matters to rollout, such as whether selected users can access the intended services under the chosen configuration. A vague pilot with no population, success condition, or feedback route produces little useful evidence.
Plan networking and security
Planning and implementing networking and security in Office 365 received 15–20% in the published skills outline. The listed areas included DNS records, proxy and firewall configuration, client connectivity, Azure Rights Management, and Office 365 administrator roles.
These topics are connected by access and control. DNS supports service location and domain use; proxies and firewalls can affect whether clients reach services; client connectivity is the observed user outcome; administrator roles constrain who can make changes; and rights management addresses protection requirements. A sound study approach asks how a design choice affects both service operation and administrative risk.
Practice scenario analysis on paper if you do not have an appropriate lab. Create a short case: a new domain is being introduced, a client population cannot reach a service, or a team needs a defined administrative responsibility. Identify the likely configuration area, the stakeholders who need to be involved, the evidence to collect before changing anything, and the validation needed afterward. This develops operational reasoning without claiming access to live exam scenarios.
Do not collapse networking and security into a product-name flashcard list. The exam outline named DNS, proxies, firewalls, connectivity, rights management, and administrator roles because an administrator needed to understand their purpose in a service deployment. Study the relationship between the control and the practical problem it solves.
Manage cloud identities
Managing cloud identities received 15–20% in the published skills outline. Its topics included password policies, user and security groups, bulk user operations, multifactor authentication, and Windows PowerShell administration.
Identity work becomes clearer when organized around lifecycle operations: create or import users, group them appropriately, assign the needed access or licensing, apply policy, make changes at scale when required, and verify the intended state. The outline’s inclusion of both bulk operations and Windows PowerShell administration signals that repeatable administration mattered alongside portal-based tasks.
For each identity topic, prepare a small decision record. State the object being managed, the desired state, the policy or security implication, the method that would be appropriate for one object versus many objects, and the verification you would perform. This makes bulk operations a governance question rather than merely a faster clicking technique.
A frequent study error is to view multifactor authentication only as a checkbox. Better preparation asks which accounts or populations need stronger verification, who may be affected by the rollout, what support or communication may be necessary, and how the administrative team confirms that the intended control is applied. Those are practical planning questions, even when reviewing a historical objective.
Understand Azure AD synchronization
The skills outline included implementing and managing identities through Azure Active Directory synchronization. It specifically named Azure AD Connect preparation and installation, filtering, password synchronization, and synchronization scheduling.
Treat synchronization as an identity architecture topic. Before considering installation, establish the source of identity data, the intended population, the attributes or objects that should be included, and the authentication or password approach. Filtering and scheduling are not decorative settings; they influence which information is synchronized and when changes are reflected.
A productive study exercise is to draw a before-and-after map for a hypothetical organization. Mark the on-premises identity source, the cloud directory, the user populations in scope, the population excluded by filtering, and the points at which a change might need validation. Then write a rollback or escalation question for each major change. The exercise does not require a real tenant to reveal gaps in your reasoning.
Do not start with installation steps and assume the plan is complete. Preparation, scope, filtering, password synchronization, and scheduling all need a defined business and operational rationale. In an actual environment, changes affecting identity should follow the organization’s change-control, security, and support processes.
How should you study a retired blueprint?
Use the 70-346 outline as a structured legacy skills audit, then move from concepts to controlled administrative practice. Because the exam is retired, the goal is demonstrable understanding of the work rather than a score on an unavailable assessment.
First, separate verified historical objectives from current product behavior. Keep a two-column notebook: one column for the 70-346 topic and another for the current official documentation or training you will later consult. This prevents an old exam document from becoming an accidental source of current configuration guidance.
Second, prioritize hands-on reasoning over recall. A useful answer to an administrative problem identifies the goal, prerequisites, change boundaries, security implications, validation evidence, and fallback path. This approach is applicable to tenant, domain, licensing, connectivity, identity, and synchronization work.
Third, keep a list of terms that have changed or need verification. The outline uses historical service names, including Skype for Business Online, Office 365 ProPlus, and Microsoft Azure Active Directory. Do not infer current naming, availability, or configuration steps from the historical terminology alone.
Choose trustworthy study materials
For current learning, favor official Microsoft materials that identify the present product, role, and assessment status. For 70-346 itself, use the supplied outline only as historical evidence of what it measured and use the Microsoft retirement information to confirm that it is no longer available.
Avoid materials that advertise recalled or leaked exam content, “guaranteed” outcomes, or an exact current test experience for 70-346. Apart from the integrity concern, such materials are especially unreliable for a retired assessment and do not build transferable administrative judgement. A study resource should explain why a configuration is chosen and how it is validated.
When evaluating a course or question bank, ask whether it clearly labels content as historical, states its source, separates practice questions from official assessment items, and gives explanations that point back to administrative concepts. If those basics are absent, the material is unlikely to be a dependable foundation for either legacy support work or current certification planning.
Turn objectives into working notes
Convert each objective into a one-page operational note rather than a long set of copied definitions. A strong note has five fields: the administrative goal, prerequisites, decision points, verification method, and likely failure or risk.
For example, a custom-domain note can cover the intended domain, the DNS coordination needed, the services and identities affected, how successful configuration would be confirmed, and what could go wrong if records or ownership details are incorrect. A synchronization note can cover scope, filtering intent, password synchronization choice, scheduling considerations, and how the team would identify an unexpected result.
This method exposes shallow understanding quickly. If you cannot name a prerequisite or a verification step, return to authoritative technical learning material before assuming you know the topic. It also creates a durable reference for work discussions, rather than a stack of answers memorized for an exam that cannot be taken.
A practical six-stage roadmap
A six-stage roadmap gives legacy 70-346 study a clear endpoint: identify what the old exam covered, practice the administrative reasoning, document gaps, and then select a current path. Move forward only when you can explain decisions and verification steps without relying on copied notes.
The stages below are practical recommendations, not an official Microsoft study plan. Adjust the pace to your existing Office 365 or Microsoft 365 administration background, access to safe learning environments, and the specific role you are targeting. Do not interpret the stages as evidence of exam duration, question count, or a current scheduling sequence.
Stage 1: establish the historical baseline
List the four subject areas evidenced by the outline: provisioning, networking and security, cloud identities, and Azure Active Directory synchronization. Under each, copy only the named topic areas into your own checklist and mark each as familiar, partially familiar, or unknown.
Also capture the expected platform awareness: Office 365 Admin Center, Exchange Online, Skype for Business Online, SharePoint Online, Office 365 ProPlus, and Microsoft Azure Active Directory. The purpose is not to master discontinued terminology by rote. It is to identify where an older environment or résumé language may differ from the modern services you intend to learn.
Stage 2: map the deployment sequence
Arrange the subjects in a plausible operational order: tenant and subscription decisions, licensing and domain work, connectivity and administrative control, cloud identity management, then directory synchronization design and operation. This sequence helps you see prerequisites rather than treating the blueprint as disconnected bullet points.
For every transition, ask one question. What must already be true for the next activity to work safely? A domain configuration depends on DNS coordination; user access depends on the identity model and relevant assignments; synchronization requires preparation and an intentional scope. Write your answers in plain language.
Stage 3: practice provisioning decisions
Work through tenant, subscription, licensing, custom-domain, and pilot scenarios. Keep the scenarios small and concrete: a defined set of users, a stated service goal, and a method for confirming the result.
Do not make a licensing plan a generic statement that everyone receives the same entitlement. The historical outline establishes that managing licensing was in scope, but good administration requires matching assignments to a defined user need and checking the outcome. Record any item that requires current official verification before it could be used in a live environment.
Stage 4: connect access to controls
Study DNS records, proxy and firewall configuration, client connectivity, Azure Rights Management, and administrator roles as a single access-and-governance chain. Describe what users need to reach, what intermediary controls could affect that access, and which administrative authority is appropriate for each change.
A useful self-check is to explain a connectivity issue without immediately proposing a setting change. First identify the symptom, the affected population, the service path, the relevant records or network controls, and the evidence you would seek. This reduces the habit of changing settings before the problem is understood.
Stage 5: make identity operations repeatable
Review password policies, user and security groups, bulk user operations, multifactor authentication, and Windows PowerShell administration by designing repeatable procedures. For each procedure, define the trigger, approval or ownership, input data, action, validation, and exception path.
This stage is where candidates often overvalue command recall. Commands can be useful in administration, but the durable skill is knowing when a bulk operation is appropriate, how group membership should be governed, and how to verify the resulting state. Keep any current syntax research separate from the historical 70-346 checklist.
Stage 6: finish with synchronization and a current-path decision
Close the review with Azure AD Connect preparation, installation, filtering, password synchronization, and synchronization scheduling. Draw the intended identity flow and explain why each population is included or excluded before focusing on mechanics.
Then decide whether your next goal is legacy operational literacy or a current Microsoft credential. Microsoft mapped 70-346 to the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator certification path requiring MS-100 and MS-101 at the time of that mapping, and Microsoft also stated there was no transition exam from 70-346 or 70-347. Treat that mapping as historical orientation, not a statement that those are available or sufficient today. Verify current options on Microsoft Learn before enrolling or scheduling anything.
What preparation mistakes should you avoid?
The largest mistake is confusing an archived skills outline with an active certification opportunity. 70-346 is useful for historical scope, but Microsoft’s retirement policy means it is not an exam you can now take to earn its associated credential.
Another mistake is studying only identity because it appears in the exam title. The published outline also included provisioning and networking-and-security responsibilities, while synchronization tied cloud identity to on-premises identity planning. A balanced review follows the actual domains rather than the shortest interpretation of the title.
Do not claim current expertise based solely on knowledge of historical product names. Current role requirements should be checked against current official learning and certification pages. An honest skills profile can say that you understand the historical 70-346 areas while continuing to develop current platform knowledge.
Finally, do not use dumps or alleged live questions as a shortcut. They cannot establish whether you understand a tenant decision, an access issue, an identity scope, or a validation process. Build notes, scenarios, and controlled practice that make your reasoning visible and reusable.
A final readiness check for legacy knowledge
You have a credible 70-346 knowledge baseline when you can explain how tenant, subscription, licensing, and custom-domain decisions fit together; describe the role of DNS, network controls, client connectivity, rights management, and administrator roles; and reason through cloud identity and synchronization choices.
Test yourself with explanation prompts rather than score targets. Can you state why a pilot exists and what it should validate? Can you distinguish a one-user task from a bulk operation? Can you explain the impact of filtering in a synchronization design? Can you name the evidence you would collect before and after an administrative change?
If any answer depends on uncertain current behavior, label it for verification rather than guessing. That discipline is more valuable than forcing an outdated answer into a modern environment.
Where should your certification plan go next?
Move from the retired 70-346 code to a current role and a current official offering. Microsoft’s historical mapping and replacement information can help explain the direction of the program, but only current Microsoft Learn pages can confirm a path that is available now.
Microsoft said that MS-100 and MS-101 replaced 70-346 and 70-347, and its mapping article associated 70-346 with the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator path. It also stated that there was no transition exam from 70-346 or 70-347 to the Microsoft 365 Enterprise Administrator Expert certification. Those statements explain why an old 70-346 pass was not automatically converted into a newer expert credential.
Your next action should be specific. If your work centers on identity, document the identity and synchronization skills you need in the role and locate the current official credential or training aligned to them. If your work is broad Microsoft 365 administration, identify the current administrator pathway and read its active requirements. If you support an older deployment, use this guide’s checklist to prioritize safe, current documentation review.
Keep the retired exam on your learning record only where it is accurate: as a historical credential or historical knowledge reference. For future scheduling and professional development, use the current official Microsoft certification catalogue rather than archived exam-prep listings.
How to describe 70-346 on a résumé or skills inventory
If you passed 70-346 before retirement, list the exact credential or exam accurately and avoid implying it is an active assessment. Microsoft’s policy indicates that an earned certification can remain on the learner transcript subject to expiration status, so verify your own transcript before choosing the wording.
If you did not pass it, do not present study of 70-346 as a certification. Instead, describe the relevant experience plainly, such as legacy Office 365 tenant provisioning, identity administration, DNS coordination, licensing operations, or directory synchronization work, when you can substantiate that experience. Then pair that history with current learning you are actively pursuing.
Conclusion
70-346 remains a useful historical map of Office 365 administrative foundations, especially tenant provisioning, connectivity, cloud identity, and directory synchronization. It is not an available exam: Microsoft retired it on March 31, 2019. Use the published objectives to audit legacy knowledge, avoid dumps and stale scheduling claims, and verify a current Microsoft role-based option before investing in training or an assessment.
