Office 365 Productivity Tips
“April Afflux"
Christian Buckley
CollabTalk LLC
Thomas Duff
Cambia Health

Christian Buckley
Founder & CEO of CollabTalk LLC
cbuck@CollabTalk.com
@buckleyplanet
http://www.buckleyplanet.com
Please remember to subscribe on YouTube!

Thomas Duff
Software Engineer at Cambia Health
Thomas.Duff@CambiaHealth.com
@Duffbert
http://oneminuteofficemagic.com

Rules of Engagement
1. Each opponent will take turns
2. No duplicates
3. Audience votes after each round
4. No hitting below the belt
5. Winner based on overall voting

Let’s get started!

Round 1

Add the Yammer Communities App to Teams
It just got easier to connect the company-wide
visibility of Yammer within the project or task-
based focus of Microsoft Teams using the new
Communities app.
Add the Communities app to the left rail by
selecting the ellipsis (…) and searching for the
app from the store.
Once added, right click and select Pin to keep
it in the left rail.
Clicking on the icon will take you to the
corresponding Yammer community within your
current channel.

Add the Yammer Communities App to Teams
The Communities app reduces the
context switching between applications,
making it easier to move between
community and team discussions.
As you can see in the image, the app
allows you to work within the Yammer
interface and interact with any of your
communities. You can also search for
new communities or create a new
community.

Add the Yammer Communities App to Teams
What the new app does NOT do is tie a
specific Yammer community or thread
to a specific Teams channel. For this,
you will still need to add the Yammer
discussion using a Tab in the relevant
channel.

Add the Yammer Communities App to Teams
What the new app does NOT do is tie a
specific Yammer community or thread
to a specific Teams channel. For this,
you will still need to add the Yammer
discussion using a Tab in the relevant
channel.

Add the Yammer Communities App to Teams
What the new app does NOT do is tie a
specific Yammer community or thread
to a specific Teams channel. For this,
you will still need to add the Yammer
discussion using a Tab in the relevant
channel.

Add the Yammer Communities App to Teams
The Discovery and Create New Group
(community) steps remain the same.
With this new integration, however, your
organization will better be able to see the
benefits of leveraging both workloads.
Learn more about the new Yammer
Communities app at
https://support.office.com/en-
us/article/use-the-yammer-communities-
app-for-microsoft-teams-930c86f1-e1e2-
4e45-a66a-ce8faca71a21
Additionally, learn more about what is
happening with Yammer here.

Background images in Microsoft Teams meetings
With the massive increase in Microsoft Teams meetings due to people working remote because of
the COVID-19 virus, there's been a lot of comparisons between Teams and Zoom for online meetings.
One of the things that Zoom does that Teams meetings didn't was allow for background images. That
is now corrected with the latest Teams update. Here's how that works…
When you're in a Microsoft Teams meeting, click on the Ellipsis icon and select Show Background
Effects:

Background images in Microsoft Teams meetings
You'll see a panel on the right that shows the images provided by Microsoft for your background.
Select one of the images and click Apply:

Background images in Microsoft Teams meetings
That background will now be applied to your screen:

Background images in Microsoft Teams meetings
If you want to "try out" some of the backgrounds before selecting one, click on an image and then
click on Preview. That will show what your image will look like in the lower-right. Once you find the
one you like, click on Apply And Turn On Video:
And to answer the next question that will be sure to be asked… "Can I have my own pictures in the background?" The
answer is… not yet. Microsoft is working on the user interface to allow you to upload custom images into the right
location so that you can go beyond the provided images.
(fine… here’s the hack: C:UsersYOUR_USER_NAME_HEREAppDataRoamingMicrosoftTeamsBackgroundsUploads)

Who won the round?
1 vote 23 votes

Round 2

Resizing images in the SharePoint Online Image Web Part
Image web parts in SharePoint Online are used to easily add images to your web page. However,
rarely is your image the perfect size when you first upload it, and you'd be surprised how big a photo
can be in full resolution. :) There is now an option in the Image Web Part that allows you to resize
your image. Here's how it works…
Here's a picture of my partner and
I dressed up for a Halloween
dance party. While it's a fun
photo, it's just a "smidge" too
large for the page. When the page
is in edit mode and I'm in the
Image Web Part, I have a tool bar
that allows me to resize the
image. When I click it, it will add
"handles" to the corners of the
image so that you can resize it
(and maintain the aspect ratio):

Resizing images in the SharePoint Online Image Web Part
Here's what those handles look like, and I was able to use the one in the lower right corner to reduce
the size to something more in line with the page:

Resizing images in the SharePoint Online Image Web Part
Bonus tip… You can also click the alignment icon to move align the picture to the left, center, or
right of the Image Web Part:

Resizing images in the SharePoint Online Image Web Part
Once I republish the page, I have a resized image that is appropriate for what the page should look like:

New Teams & Outlook integrated experience
As we all know, Microsoft Teams is the “hub”
for getting work done, and using Teams will
likely mean a decrease in your internal use of
email as your primary communication tool.
But Teams is not an “Exchange killer” for most
(any) organizations. Instead, Microsoft’s goal is
to provide multiple tools and workloads to
accomplish your communication and
collaboration needs.
The new integration between Outlook and
Teams makes it easy to collaborate no matter
where the conversation is taking place.
With Outlook on the Web enabled, you can
now move a conversation from Teams to
Outlook by clicking on the more options
ellipsis (...) in a conversation.

New Teams & Outlook integrated experience
To use this feature, click on the ellipsis (…)
next to the conversation thread, and select
Share to Outlook.
After processing for a couple seconds, an
email dialog box will open with access to your
Outlook Online contacts, allowing you to
provide a short personal note and send
details of the Teams conversation.

New Teams & Outlook integrated experience
To use this feature, click on the ellipsis (…)
next to the conversation thread, and select
Share to Outlook.
After processing for a couple seconds, an
email dialog box will open with access to your
Outlook Online contacts, allowing you to
provide a short personal note and send
details of the Teams conversation.

New Teams & Outlook integrated experience
To use this feature, click on the ellipsis (…)
next to the conversation thread, and select
Share to Outlook.
After processing for a couple seconds, an
email dialog box will open with access to your
Outlook Online contacts, allowing you to
provide a short personal note and send
details of the Teams conversation.
As with any other email, you can format the
body of your email, include images, or attach
local or cloud-based files before sending.
Hit Send to proceed.

New Teams & Outlook integrated experience
Within Outlook you’ll easily see that the
received message is from Microsoft Teams.
You can continue to communicate via
Outlook or select Go to Teams to continue
the discuss on the original thread.
Also rolling out is the ability to move an
email conversation from Outlook, including
attachments, into a Teams chat or channel
conversation by clicking on the ‘’Share to
Teams’’ in Outlook.
Learn more https://support.office.com/en-
us/article/share-to-outlook-from-teams-
f9dabbe9-9e9b-4e35-99dd-2eeeb67c4f6d

Who won the round?
15 votes 4 votes

Round 3

Use Alt-Tab & Windows Key to Organize your Desktop
The reality is that multi-tasking (i.e. context-switching) is a productivity-sapping dream of the ADHD and OCD crowd (I am
one of them). Having said that….we all do it. So why not make it easier to organize our already overly complex desktops?
The two tools that I rely on are switching between applications using Alt+Tab, and the screen-splitting bliss of the Windows
Key and arrows. When you add in the Windows Timeline feature, you will become the Master of your screen domain!
First, we’re probably all familiar with the Alt+Tab capability, which allows you to see and move between any and all open
applications on your desktop. This is an essential tool when you have one screen or many screens.

Use Alt-Tab & Windows Key to Organize your Desktop
Next up in screen splitting. Let’s say you’re
taking notes in OneNote while reviewing
several sites in the Edge browser, or
documentation hosted on Teams.
Select the first app, in this case OneNote,
and while holding down the Windows Key
on your keyboard, hit the right arrow ()

Use Alt-Tab & Windows Key to Organize your Desktop
The primary application will lock into place
on the right, and as with the Alt+Tab
process, you can then select from the
available open apps.

Use Alt-Tab & Windows Key to Organize your Desktop
The second app will lock into place.
You can then grab the divider between them
and slide left and right to adjust how much
screen real estate to give each as you work.

Use Alt-Tab & Windows Key to Organize your Desktop
The second app will lock into place.
You can then grab the divider between them
and slide left and right to adjust how much
screen real estate to give each as you work.

Testing your Microsoft Teams calling with /testcall
With the corona virus running rampant around the world, many people are working remotely from
home in order to help stop the spread of the disease. Microsoft Teams has become a vital part of this
remote working scenario, but not everyone is sure that they're set up properly to have a call or a
meeting using Teams. You can use the /testcall feature in Teams to see how your remote set-up is
working. Here's how to do that…
In your Microsoft Teams client, you can enter a forward slash ("/") to get a list of commands. The
command you'll need to enter or select is /testcall:

Testing your Microsoft Teams calling with /testcall
This will start a test call with Teams Echo (TE). You'll see your controls for the video camera and the
microphone, as well as the icon to hang up. TE will ask you to leave a short message that will be
recorded and played back to you:

Testing your Microsoft Teams calling with /testcall
Just babble away for a few seconds, checking to make sure you can see yourself via your video
camera in the lower-right corner. Once you stop talking, TE will stop recording and will play back your
message to make sure your microphone and speakers are working as you expected:

Testing your Microsoft Teams calling with /testcall
After TE hangs up, you'll get a synopsis of what is (or isn't working). If everything is green, then you're
ready to have calls and meetings via Microsoft Teams. If any of your items are red, check with your
help desk or Teams administrator to get things working the way they should:

Who won the round?
18 votes 6 votes

Round 4

Using Tags in Microsoft Teams channels
With the increase of Microsoft Teams usage during the virus stay-at-home orders, the message traffic
in various channels has skyrocketed. This can make it hard to notice things that are relevant to you
and your job function. A new feature called Tags can make it easier to target messaging to specific
groups of people in a channel. Here's how it works…
If you are an Owner of a Microsoft Teams workspace, you can go into the list of members of the
workspace to apply Tags to any member of the workspace. These Tags, when used with an @ symbol,
will notify anyone in the group who has that Tag applied to their name:

Using Tags in Microsoft Teams channels
To apply a Tag, click on the Tag icon for their name:

Using Tags in Microsoft Teams channels
You can create a new Tag name, or enter the name of an existing Tag:

Using Tags in Microsoft Teams channels
In this example, I'm applying a tag called TechDebt to Sandra's entry in this particular Teams workspace:

Using Tags in Microsoft Teams channels
I've done the same for myself, so now Sandra and I have the TechDebt applied to our names:

Using Tags in Microsoft Teams channels
Now when I create a new message in a channel, I can use the Tag name prefaced with the @ symbol to
allow the two of us to be notified of the new entry:

Using Tags in Microsoft Teams channels
Here's what the message looks like with the Tag applied. Please note that this does not hide the message
from everyone else in the channel. It's just a way to notify anyone with that Tag that the message exists,
and it won't get lost among other messages in a busy channel:

Try the Immersive Reader in Teams
The immersive reader is another hidden
feature in Microsoft Teams that can actually be
used across other Office 365 apps such as
Word and PowerPoint.
What the immersive reader does is display the
text on the channel in full-screen focus and
speak the text out loud. This can be super
helpful in eliminating distractions and
digesting information when you’re struggling
to concentrate.
To use the immersive reader simply click the
ellipsis (…) next to a message and select
“immersive reader”.

Try the Immersive Reader in Teams
This will bring the message into focus and
you can click play to have it read out loud.

Try the Immersive Reader in Teams
This will bring the message into focus and
you can click play to have it read out loud.

Try the Immersive Reader in Teams
You can set the default look and feel for the
reader to help you better follow along with the
text…which can also be a great tool for learning
proper grammar!
Find out more at
https://www.sharepointeurope.com/top-7-
hidden-features-in-microsoft-teams/

Who won the round?
10 votes 9 votes

Round 5

Don’t have Teams? Use Meet Now in Skype
While Microsoft has provided a free
version of Microsoft Teams during this
time of COVID-19, some people struggle
with the enterprise limitations of the
product – and prefer to use more
consumer-friendly tools, or resort back to
using Skype, Facebook Messenger, et al.
Instead of Teams, another option is to
leverage the new Meet Now capabilities in
Skype. No need for a download – just go
to the website and create a free meeting.

Don’t have Teams? Use Meet Now in Skype
While Microsoft has provided a free
version of Microsoft Teams during this
time of COVID-19, some people struggle
with the enterprise limitations of the
product – and prefer to use more
consumer-friendly tools, or resort back to
using Skype, Facebook Messenger, et al.
Instead of Teams, another option is to
leverage the new Meet Now capabilities in
Skype. No need for a download – just go
to the website and create a free meeting.

Don’t have Teams? Use Meet Now in Skype
You can easily copy the meeting URL and
paste into your own email, or use the
Share Invite tool, which opens up in your
preferred email tool.

Don’t have Teams? Use Meet Now in Skype
Joining the meeting opens within your
Skype profile. From there, you can send
out additional invites.
Find out more at
https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA3492
6/what-is-meet-now-and-how-do-i-use-
it-in-skype

Making "pretty links" in Microsoft Teams with CTRL-K
I know I've covered the use of CTRL-K in Word before, as a means to create "pretty links" in a Word
document. There were alternative ways to do that in Word, but there seems to be a lack of user interface
options to do the same thing in Microsoft Teams. Here's how you can use the keyboard shortcut of CTRL-
K to format words and phrases into hyperlink URLs…
Here in a Teams chat, I want to turn the words Microsoft Bing into a clickable link:

Making "pretty links" in Microsoft Teams with CTRL-K
To do that, I highlight the words Microsoft Bing and press CTRL-K. This brings up a dialog box to enter a
URL that goes along with the words Microsoft Bing:
I type in the URL for Microsoft Bing and click Insert:

Making "pretty links" in Microsoft Teams with CTRL-K
I now have a clickable link that doesn't appear as a (potentially) long URL:

Who won the round?
7 votes 15 votes

Christian!
Overall winner?
0 5 10 15 20 25
WHO WON ROUND 5?
WHO WON ROUND 4?
WHO WON ROUND 3?
WHO WON ROUND 2?
WHO WON ROUND 1?
April Afflux
Christian Tom

Current
Leaderboard
Most Rounds Won
Tie (57-57-1)
Most Events Won
Tie (11-11)
Most Overall Votes
Christian (1884-1874)
Event Date Location Rounds Won Votes Won Rounds Won Votes Won
9/12/2017 Online 3 31 2 29
10/28/2017 SPSTC 1 74 4 96
11/28/2017 Online 2 11 3 15
1/16/2018 Online 4 167 1 104
2 54 3 53
3 152 2 122
3 141 2 136
2 87 3 104
3 63 2 33
4 178 1 137
0 37 5 183
1 31 4 64
4 168 6 200
4 108 1 59
2 69 3 64
4 88 1 60
4 69 1 50
3 56 2 78
2 54 3 51
3 114 1 91
1 65 4 104
2 57 3 51
TOTAL 57 1874 57 1884
9/24/2019 Online
11/26/2019 Online
10/29/2019 Online
4/22/2020 Online
Tom
2/7/2019 Online
4/19/2019 Online
5/22/2019 SPC19
6/20/2019 Online
7/30/2019 Online
8/26/2019 Online
2/24/2020 Online
3/24/2020 Online
Christian
1/15/2019 Online
7/25/2018 Online
2/3/2018 SPSUTAH
8/28/2018 Online
11/17/2018 SPSTC
12/19/2018 Online

Office 365 Productivity Tips
Tuesday, May 26th, 2020
“May Mediation”
Register at http://bit.ly/O365mediation
Christian Buckley Tom Duff

Thank you!
Christian Buckley
@buckleyplanet
buckleyPLANET.com
Tom Duff
@Duffbert
OneMinuteOfficeMagic.com
Please remember to subscribe on YouTube!