10 Little Known Tips to Get More Done with Office 365

Office 365 is a widely adopted suite of Microsoft software, with many features to help increase productivity—right at your fingertips. Read below to find ten little known features of Office 365, with links to online tutorials, that will help make progress toward your goals—faster.

1. Document Co-Authoring

Quit emailing documents back and forth and always work from the latest version of a document. Co-authoring in Word, PowerPoint and Excel web apps allow multiple users to work on the same document at the same time. Learn more.

2. Real-Time Document Collaboration

Message with co-workers and collaborate in real-time while viewing documents with the “Chat” feature in the Word, PowerPoint and Excel web apps. Learn more.

3. Document Linking

Quit emailing documents and link to your documents via Office 365 cloud storage in the Outlook web app. The link will automatically allow recipients to edit the document. Learn more.

4. Meeting To-Do Lists in Outlook

Using OneNote, write a to-do list in Outlook and easily convert the list into calendar items with deadlines, reminders and details regarding the meeting. Learn more.

5. Automated Inbox De-Clutter in Outlook

Microsoft has introduced a “Clutter” folder in Outlook. You can teach Outlook to automatically move certain types of messages from certain senders to your “Clutter” folder. This allows you to focus on more pressing messages and get around to the rest at a later time. Learn more.

6. Ignore Reply-All Emails in Outlook

Ignore the infamous (and annoying) reply-all conversations. In Outlook, just click the “Ignore” button in the “Home” tab and you will be removed from the reply-all email chain that’s been quickly taking over your email feed. Learn more.

7. Data to Images in Excel

The latest version of Excel includes a feature called Power Map which helps convert rows of data in to images. If the data involved geography it can turn the data in to a 3D map.  Learn more.

8. Quick Data Analysis in Excel

Excel has rolled out a new feature called “Quick Analysis” that takes the data you’ve selected and presents you with a variety of options as to how to present that data, quickly. Learn more.

9. Auto-Reformat Data in Excel

Excel now has a feature called “Flash Fill” that sees the work you are performing in a new column and does the rest of it for you. For example, if you’re trying to combine data from two columns, you do this once and it will provide you with the option to fill the rest of the column using that example. Learn more.

10. Edit PDFs in Word

You can convert PDFs in to an editable Word document and also save Word documents as PDFs. Open with Word and hit “Ok” when it asks if you would like to covert the PDF. Learn more.

These Office 365 productivity tools lets you create, edit and share with anyone in real time.  With the their online tutorials, Office 365 helps guide you in setting up each feature, step-by-step. Making you, well on your way to becoming more productive—and more efficient. If you office needs a information technology upgrade to be more productive, please, give us a call.

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Brantley Pearce, Director of IT Services

Brantley leads a team of IT professionals whose primary goal is to help organizations use their IT resources in a way that helps them proactively maintain their network and allows them to be more productive.  He joined RJ Young in 2005 but has been in the IT industry for almost a decade.  Brantley is originally from Houston, Texas and works out of our Nashville, TN office. In his spare time he volunteers for multiple organizations. Brantley is married and has two daughters.