Mastering Microsoft 365 is an essential skill in the marketing industry and beyond. Now that many offices work remotely, 365 allows teams to collaborate effortlessly and all your Microsoft apps are streamlined into one hub. Think of it as a virtual office space with a meeting room, office resources, and so much more. Using 365 to your advantage will enhance your workflow. Check out these helpful hacks below.
Microsoft 365 Teams
Let’s start with one of my favorite features, Microsoft Teams. Think of Teams as a collaborative meeting room with chat, video chat, and file storage.
- Use @mentions to focus your chats to key team members and subjects.
- Either blur your background or add a virtual one to protect your home’s privacy.
- Check out this short video below, for more Teams tips:
Microsoft 365 SharePoint
SharePoint serves as your team’s site. You can have a SharePoint site for every team. This is where shared resources live, for example, graphics, research, live notes, etc.
- Get your teams’ input when designing the site(s). It will be easier for your teams to embrace the new site and learn how to use
- The Alert Me function lets you know when a change has been made to the site. Perhaps you’re waiting for a teammate to add a file to the library. Alert Me lets you know!
- Use the Admin Success Center to customize your site to best fit your needs.
- Keep branding cohesive across sites by creating site templates.
- Remember, you can co-author live Office documents stored on your SharePoint sites.
Microsoft 365 Outlook
Outlook is your email hub, simply put. This used to be coined Exchange. The hub is more than just email though! It’s your calendar, contact list, and personal notebook as well.
- Ignore pesky “reply all” emails. These will be filtered to your trash can, however, you can turn off this function or check trash if you do need to see a message.
- Transfer One Note items to calendar items.
- Outlook has email templates! Use these for any emails that you send on a repetitive basis.
- Emails can be displayed as conversations so that long threads are simple to read.
- Press Ctrl + Shift + N to create a sticky note and post anywhere on your screen. It’s a great alternative for a quick reminder, rather than creating a calendar item.
Microsoft 365 OneNote
OneNote is for free form and collaborative note-taking. Its edges are features like drawing and audio commentary. Plus, it autosaves as users edit their virtual notebook.
- OneNote’s best purpose is being the ideal personal notebook. You can build a list, then share & edit with others, such as a chore list.
- Impress your colleagues at your next meeting by creating documents and meeting pamphlets that they can add their own feedback to.
- Here’s another quick video. This one shows you how to use OneNote features:
Microsoft 365 Word
If you’re into journalism, you’re probably familiar with Microsoft Word. If you want your documents to look more professional, check this out.
- You can save your file as PDF for easier sharing.
- When you copy and paste, hit Ctrl and Space to change the text to match your text font.
- If you need to move a sentence somewhere else, highlight the text then drag and drop where you want it.
- Erase a mistake by either hitting the “undo” (back) button or Ctrl + Z
- Perfect for sales: add a calculator to your Word toolbar! Read here to find out how.
Microsoft 365 Excel
This program is Excel-lent for many uses other than a number chart. I occasionally use it for planning the next two weeks.
- Did you know you can create pie charts? Input your data, then go to “Insert” then select “Charts”. You can select from variety of visual data representation if you’re more of a bar graph person.
- Add a drop-down menu. Here’s a video to walk you through the process.
- To add multiple rows and/or columns, highlight your desired amount of rows/columns then click “Insert”. For example, to add 5 rows, highlight any 5 rows then click “Insert”.
- If you want to change the rows to columns and vice-versa, you don’t have to do it manually. Instead, highlight the column/row, right-click and select “Copy”. Select the cells you would like to move it to, then right-click for “Paste Special”. Select the “Transpose” option, then OK.
- Need to merge two similar data sheets? Read here to find out how.
Microsoft 365 PowerPoint
Nearly every profession uses PowerPoint- it’s the ideal tool to showcase your ideas and research. It’s popular for making presentations for more fun and organized.
- Create custom slides. This can be found under File > Page Setup. Use this to help organize your presentation.
- Properly align your media. Hit the “Shift” button then click on the images. Select “Arrange” from the top toolbar, then choose “align” or “distribute”. No more having to manually drag and resize!
- Square/rectangle text boxes are boring. Create custom text area shapes by right-clicking the text box then select “Edit points”.
- You can do the same for images as well. Click on the image then hit “Format”, then “Crop”, then “Mask to Shape”.
- “Present Mode” allows you to have notes by your Powerpoint slide that only you can see.
Virtual networking and team meetings can be largely improved by using Microsoft 365’s features. File sharing and real-time note taking assures that everyone is on the same page. These programs are mobile-friendly, helping you stay organized on the go. Check out their tutorials to learn how to best navigate each component.
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