Category: Office

Microsoft updates Office 365 apps for Apple

Microsoft recently updated Office 365 for iOS and Mac to enhance user experience. Office apps are now better integrated into the Apple ecosystem, which means iPhone, iPad, and Mac users can expect a more seamless experience when creating, accessing, or storing Office documents.

Co-authoring in Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Apple users can now co-edit documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. This new feature for Apple products allows several users to work, edit, or view changes in a document at once, whether from a PC, Mac, or mobile device. This feature also allows co-authors to track and identify other users who are making changes in real time.

Autosave documents in the cloud

The latest updates also come with an autosave feature for Apple users. This functionality not only automatically saves files, but also lets users view and restore previous versions of their content, similar to the autosave function in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

OneDrive support for iOS’s Files app

iOS’s Files app, which was introduced in the iOS 11 update, made searching and organizing documents more convenient for iPhone and iPad users. However, it’s only now that Microsoft has integrated its own cloud storage platform with the Apple app. OneDrive for iOS now supports the Files app, which means users can access and edit all their files in OneDrive or Sharepoint, and easily classify them via a new tagging feature.

File type preview enhancements

The improved list view in OneDrive for iOS makes viewing file names and relevant details and sorting files much easier. This view option includes thumbnails on file previews and support for 130 file types that can be opened, viewed, or shared within OneDrive.

Drag-and-drop functionality

A drag-and-drop capability is nothing new in iOS, but it was previously limited to moving around files from non-Office sources and apps. With the latest update, Apple users can drag and drop files from various sources that now includes OneDrive, Office, and other Microsoft sources. This capability saves users’ time when adding photos, graphs, and other files into documents or presentations on their iPad, iPhone or Mac.

Better search function in Outlook

Microsoft has also improved searching in Outlook for iOS because the search function now has its own tab in the navigation bar. The search feature is now more intuitive; tapping on the tab gives you instant access to top contacts, upcoming travel itineraries and deliveries, and recently accessed attachments.

These recent updates to Microsoft’s productivity tools aim to make users’ life much easier regardless of the device they use. But there’s way more Office 365 apps and programs to help you work more efficiently, and we have Microsoft consultants who can help you maximize all of them. Just give us a call.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Understanding Office collaboration tools

Office 365 is chock full of so many apps that it’s sometimes difficult to keep track of them all. Sure, you have the most popular tools like Word and Skype for Business, but there are three tools in the lineup that seem like they could be used the same way: Outlook Groups, Yammer, and Microsoft Teams. Read on to find out what makes these collaboration tools different from each other and when each of them should be used.

Outlook Groups
With Outlook Groups, every member gets a shared inbox, calendar, project planner, notebook, and document library. You also get the ability to connect to third-party apps — like Twitter, Trello, and Mailchimp — so notifications are sent directly to your shared inbox.

This means all relevant messages and information are contained in one place, so if a majority of your conversations occur via email then, Outlook Groups is the perfect choice. What’s more, HR and Sales departments that communicate with external parties will also find plenty of uses for its email features.

One drawback with Outlook Groups, however, is email overload. Because all messages and notifications are sent to one inbox, users may be overwhelmed by the number of emails they have to sort through every day.

Microsoft Teams
Then there’s Microsoft Teams, a chat-based collaboration platform similar to Slack. It works with Skype for Business so you can text, call, video chat, and share files with colleagues. And thanks to its seamless integrations with other Office 365 programs, you can even work on shared files without having to leave the app.

Unlike Groups, Microsoft Teams is designed for high-velocity collaboration, making it the best of the three for completing projects with tight deadlines or other tasks where employees need immediate feedback.

Yammer
Much like Groups and Teams, Yammer works well with other Office 365 tools like Outlook and OneDrive. But the big difference is Yammer is a social media app designed to foster open communication and break down barriers between teams.

With Yammer, important files and announcements can be shared with the entire company like an office bulletin board. What’s more, users can see the most popular post on their feeds, follow it, and even provide their input by leaving a comment.

Yammer also takes design elements and features from popular social media apps like Facebook, making it a popular choice for companies with a significant number of millennials in their workforce.

Although we’ve discussed the fundamental differences between Groups, Teams, and Yammer, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what each app can do. To figure out which apps you need, you must understand how your employees work, how they prefer to collaborate, and what you want to achieve.

But there’s another way to find the right app for your business. Contact us today for an IT assessment!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Office 365 Update: New Tools You Need To Know

Yet again, Microsoft has released new AI-based features for Microsoft Excel, Word, Outlook, and more — a continuing trend since 2016’s launch of the Microsoft AI and Research Group. If your business is subscribed to Office 365, this article will acquaint you with the newest features!

Automatically Uncover Trends in Excel Data

Finding useful information lurking in massive tables of jumbled numbers and data can be quite a headache. Not with Insights Preview! This feature uses machine learning to analyze Excel data, highlight patterns, and create visualizations to make information easier to locate and digest.

Search Text Within Images

Thanks to Office 365’s Intelligent Search feature, any printed words in images uploaded to SharePoint and OneDrive are now automatically detected, extracted, and made searchable. This makes it possible to find screenshots, receipts, and business cards based on the text they contain.

Understand Company Jargon with Acronyms

Microsoft Word’s new Acronyms feature will help users understand workplace-specific acronyms. This feature uses machine learning to analyze your employees’ vernacular and automatically create a useful glossary of terms.

Improve collaboration with the Whiteboard Preview App

This real-time digital canvas makes interactions between team members easier, whether they’re working on a conference room screen or across different devices and locations. The app is equipped with freehand drawing tools, geometry recognition, data illustration tools, and more to improve both business and creative projects.

As Microsoft gears itself toward making AI accessible to every user and organization, we are excited to see more smart features rolling out in Office 365 products in the near future.

But how can these upgrades transform your business? Can it save time and cut costs? There’s no better way to understand these updates than to chat with our team of IT professionals. Give us a call to learn more or to set up the new Office 365 in your workplace today!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

6 Microsoft Teams tips

Despite being late to the group chat scene, Microsoft Teams is equipped with a handful of features and impressive integration that set it apart from its competitors. So if you’re already subscribed to Office 365, here’s how you can take Teams to the next level.

Use SharePoint to store and share files

You might already be using SharePoint to store files and collaborate with your teammates. But did you know that in every Teams channel, you can click the Files tab to share files from SharePoint with team members? You can also access SharePoint files that are already shared in the channel and use Office Online or Office Desktop to collaborate on those files, too.

Forward emails into a channel

You get countless emails every day, some of which might be lost in your inboxes. Fortunately, Microsoft makes it easy to forward any email message from Outlook to a channel in Teams so that messages show up in both places. Just click the ellipsis next to any channel name and select “Get email address”. This generates an email address for the channel which you can copy and use to forward files, documents, and messages.

Stick with a few groups

While you can create as many groups within your organization as you like, going overboard can result in a cluttered messaging interface that overwhelms team members. We recommend you create groups based on the number of projects and each members involved; you can always add more if necessary.

Set up audio conferencing

Teams lets you host voice meetings in groups or with just one team member. This is particularly useful when communicating with remote workers or clients, in which case you can give them guest access to your Teams channel. This ensures they’re able to communicate with you but not see history of other confidential information.

Test communication strategies

Just because some of the features in Teams overlap with Yammer and Skype for Business doesn’t mean they’re all redundant. Think of it as a chance to test different communication strategies to find out what works best for you. For instance, if most of your clients have a Skype ID, you can use Skype for client calls and Teams for internal calls.

Share conversations with new team members

Teams makes onboarding easy. Rather than forwarding numerous emails and documents to new employees, you can use Teams to share conversations from a thread or project with them. This enables everyone to catch up easily without having to deal with cumbersome documents.

Microsoft Teams and other Office solutions are equipped with plenty of useful features that can take some time to master. But by taking advantage of these tools, you’ll be able to save time and maximize efficiency, all without having to spend a dime. If you have any questions about Microsoft Office and how it can benefit your business, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

How to master Microsoft Office!

Despite Microsoft Office’s easy-to-use interface, mastering all the features in this suite of productivity tools requires time. But fret not, the following training videos will help you become a Microsoft Office expert fast.

Office Basics is a series of free Office training videos from Microsoft which cover different features and functionality.

Intro to Office Basics

This training video will help you use templates to create professional documents, learn the ins and outs of SmartArt and Charts to express complex data and ideas, and collaborate in shared documents whether you’re working online, offline, or simultaneously with others.

What is Office 365?

Discover the features and upgrades within Office 365 that aren’t available anywhere else, and learn how cloud versions of applications like Word, Excel, and Outlook differ from their desktop counterparts.

Word Training

These training videos will show you how to create and edit documents as well as create and format tables in just a few clicks. They also cover document makeovers, how to organize documents, creating mailing lists, and how to translate text instantly.

Excel Training

Creating, organizing, and analyzing data from charts and tables can be quite complicated, which is why these training videos are perfect for anyone looking to design workbooks, add text and data, format and analyze charts, and create pivot tables and formulas. Other tips include how to slice data and locate them using VLOOKUP.

PowerPoint Training

There’s more to PowerPoint than adding text to slides. These training videos will show you how to create presentations, add and format text, design presentations, add audio, video, and animations, and format images. You’ll also learn about nifty features such as how to match slide colors using the Eyedropper and how to export slides to videos.

Outlook Training

Organize your Outlook inbox with ease and learn how to add and format text and images, manage contacts, calendars, meetings, and to-do lists, as well as other tips such as how to spice up your email signature, keep your inbox clean, and hold meetings using Skype and OneNote.

Microsoft’s new training videos might not be jaw-dropping, but they will surely help users do more with Office. If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of Microsoft Office for small businesses, just give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Outlook on Mac and Windows gets redesigned

Microsoft is redesigning Outlook for Mac and Windows to reduce clutter and improve user experience. The design changes will be patterned after the iOS version of the app, which is much easier to use and more modern-looking than its desktop counterpart. If you use Outlook on a desktop, check out these new changes.

How Outlook will be simplified

The most notable feature of the new Outlook will be a simplified navigation bar along the top of the screen, which means less of the screen will be reserved for formatting and organizational options. However, you can still add more buttons to accommodate your common tasks and preferences. With a smaller number of commands, you can benefit from an uncluttered interface that lets you use email more efficiently.

Changes will also be made to the left panel to provide users with quicker access to folders across multiple accounts. Moreover, a slide-to-delete function using Apple’s trackpad — like in the iOS version — will be integrated into the redesigned app.

Other design changes for Outlook in Mac

Mac users can also expect faster and more reliable search and calendar features in the enhanced Outlook. The search function will get a performance boost and will be moved to the top right corner of the app for easier access. The calendar function’s interface, on the other hand, will be reworked to eliminate tedious steps currently required to manage appointments.

These and other upcoming changes are aimed at increasing users’ satisfaction ‘by providing a cleaner, more modern way to email.’ The design changes will also benefit those who access their account on different devices because, in the updated desktop version, they will be able to enjoy the same uncluttered app that they use on their mobile devices.

Although the changes are for Windows and Mac, Microsoft is implementing most of the design changes primarily for Mac. Microsoft recognizes Outlook’s popularity among “key influencers and decision makers,” whom it wishes to win over before a wider release. The new version will most likely become available to Office 365 subscribers first and eventually roll out with Office 2019, which is expected to arrive in mid-2018.

An easy-to-use email interface is a boon to your business’s productivity. And with Outlook’s new look and improved functionality, you can read, send, and organize emails more conveniently and with minimal distraction. Our experts are on-hand to answer all your questions about Outlook and other Microsoft Office apps — get in touch with us today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Hackers exploit vulnerable Office feature

As the world’s most popular productivity suite, Microsoft Office tends to receive much attention from cybercriminals. Generally, hackers embed malware in authentic Office files to trick users into unleashing it onto their machines. However, the most recent exploit proves to be much more dangerous than any Office hack we’ve seen.

What’s the new Office threat?
The Office exploit takes advantage of Microsoft’s Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), a protocol that sends messages and data between applications. For example, DDE can be used to automatically update a table in a Word document with data collected in an Excel spreadsheet.

The problem with this is hackers can create DDE-enabled documents that link to malicious sources rather than to other Office apps. Theoretically, this allows hackers to launch scripts that download Trojan viruses from the internet and execute it before the user is even aware of the attack.

And unlike most malware-embedded Office files, which are usually blocked by security protocols from Microsoft, DDE exploits are instant. Once a compromised Word file is opened, it automatically executes the hack.

Outlook at risk
What’s even more alarming are the DDE vulnerabilities in Outlook. Recent reports found that hackers can embed malicious code in the body of an email or calendar invite, allowing them to perform phishing scams without a file attachment.

Fortunately, Outlook DDE attacks are not as automated as Word or Excel DDE attacks. Two dialog boxes will usually appear when you open the email asking if you want to update a document with data from linked files and start a specific application. Simply clicking ‘No’ on either of these boxes will stop the attack from executing.

Defending against DDE attacks
Beyond saying no, you can protect yourself by following these security best practices:

  • Evaluate the authenticity of unsolicited emails before interacting with them and don’t open attachments from unfamiliar contacts.
  • View emails in plain text format to completely stop DDE attacks embedded directly in emails from running. Note that this will also disable all original formatting, colors, images, and buttons.
  • Use a strong email security system that prevents phishing emails, spam, and other unwanted messages from reaching your inbox.
  • Get in the habit of checking for Microsoft updates, as they’re usually quick to release patches after vulnerabilities have been discovered.

Last but not least, consider working with our team. We’re Microsoft Office experts who can keep you safe from the latest threats. Call us today to get started!

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Office 2019 is on its way

As a convenient cloud solution, Office 365 boasts nearly 30 million users. But that’s nothing compared to licensed versions of Microsoft’s productivity suite, which have more than one billion users. Office 2019 was announced in September and it will mean big changes for businesses that want simpler versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and more.

Microsoft Office 2019: release and features

For the past ten years, Microsoft has updated its suite of productivity software every three years. The current version is Office 2016, and in sticking with the schedule Office 2019 will be available for purchase at the end of next year. However, previews of the next version will become available several months before the final release.

According to Microsoft, the newest version of Office will include:

  • The usual Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
  • Office server programs (Exchange, SharePoint and Skype for Business)
  • Security and IT management enhancements
  • Improved “inking” features for touchscreen usability
  • Streamlined data analysis features in Excel
  • New PowerPoint presentation features like Morph and Zoom

Office 2019 vs. Office 365

The biggest difference between Office 2019 and Office 365 will be price. For the former, users pay a one-time fee to acquire a software license. Once users have a license, they own that version of Office forever (although Microsoft will stop providing support 10 years after the product is released).

With Office 365, users pay a monthly subscription fee and can use applications as long as they don’t fall behind on the bill. Programs included in the Office suite can be accessed online or installed locally (as long as you connect to the internet at least once per month).

Thanks to cloud technology, Office 365 can be updated much more easily than other versions of Office. O365 users will probably have access to Office 2019 features around the same time as its release, possibly sooner.

Much like an O365 subscription, our managed IT services are charged based on a flat monthly rate. We can help your small- or medium-sized business enjoy all the benefits of the cloud. Just give us a call today.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

MS redesigns Office 365 web app launcher

Microsoft is improving the way Office 365 users access their apps and files and collaborate with colleagues. With Office 365’s redesigned web app launcher, users get quicker access to the tools they use the most and useful snapshots of their recent activities. Learn how it can make you work more efficiently.

Key changes to the Office 365 main page

The newly added “Recommended” section displays activities — comments, edits, and @ mentions — on recently opened files. This gives users an overview of changes to recent documents.

Underneath the “Recommended” section is the “Recent” document column, which shows the most recent activities, while “Places” displays the SharePoint sites you frequently visit and the OneDrive folders you’ve recently accessed.

Being able to see the edits, shares, and comments on your documents makes collaboration more transparent among users within an organization, and these new upgrades make that possible.

What’s more, you can now search among online documents, web apps, SharePoint sites, and contacts within Office.com without having to open individual apps. For example, when searching for a document whose file name you don’t know, you can type in the name of the author and the results will show you the author’s profile and other relevant files and activities.

Web app launcher enhancements

One of the biggest improvements to Office.com, however, is how apps are displayed in the app launcher.

The main window of the new web app launcher has been redesigned to highlight the most frequently used apps. It will still show all the apps within your Office 365 subscription, but you can pin your most used apps or display all items in the main bar, which makes opening and switching between apps a lot easier.

You can also return to the main page with a single click of the Office 365 button from the App Launcher — no need to minimize or close each app.

Office 365 Gallery

Users aren’t always aware of every application included in their subscription, which is what the Office 365 Gallery is for. Its main function is to provide users with personalized suggestions of applications — and their descriptions — which may be useful to their active tasks. These suggestions include links to mobile and desktop-based versions of the applications they recommend, and resources for learning more about them. To access the Gallery, click “Explore your applications” from the Office.com main page.

Each of the changes in the new and improved Office 365 are aimed at simplifying and personalizing business users’ experiences, and we recommend exploring the tools available to you. Call us to know more about Office 365’s productivity-enhancing applications and features.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.

Microsoft launches My Workspace for macOS

If you’re using Office 365 on a Mac computer, here’s some good news: Microsoft has introduced a new tool that will help you manage your Office 365 apps much more easily. My Workspace is a productivity-enhancing application that offers quick access to frequently used apps and files.

Office workspace for Mac

My Workspace sits in the Menu bar along the top of the screen and provides macOS users of Office 365 with a quick and easy access to pinned documents, recently accessed files, OneDrive files, Skype calls, and iCloud Calendars. It also makes their lives easier by offering quick buttons to Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, and OneNote. You can download the app for free at myworkspace.ms.

The app is the brainchild of four interns at the Vancouver offices of Microsoft Garage, Microsoft’s Washington-based experimental projects division. It was created when the interns were tasked with developing a tool to “add value to a person’s day.”

Benefits to macOS users

For those who use several Office apps at once, My Workspace’s unobtrusive placement and long list of accessibility features will make their Office experience far more efficient.

By clicking the icon located at the right-hand corner of the screen, you can get a quick overview of your day, respond to event invitations in your calendar, and join Skype calls. The intuitive tool determines recently opened files and displays them on the Recent tab, which gives you quick access to your most important documents.

Under the Pinned column, you’ll find a full list of recently opened files along with shareable links, making collaboration easier.

Account management and customization features

With My Workspace, you can easily access your Office 365 account settings, making account management a breeze. From this window you can manage Subscriptions, Security & privacy, App permissions, Install status, and other general settings.

What’s more, My Workspace allows you to customize your App Settings, where you can set the number of events and recent documents you can see, and decide which apps you would like displayed in the launcher.

Small yet substantial improvements such as My Workspace make Office 365 a thoroughly convenient business tool. There’s plenty of productivity-boosting functionalities within Office 365 regardless of device, and if you want to explore its useful features, call us today for tips and recommendations.

Published with permission from TechAdvisory.org. Source.