Office 365 Productivity Tips
“Summer Scuffle"
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

Make time for outstanding tasks
 The new Insights capability in Outlook
provides some amazing new personal
analytics, as well as AI-powered capabilities
based on your individual work patterns.
 To help you set aside time for pressing
tasks—tasks you promised to complete for
coworkers and tasks they asked you to get
done—new inline suggestions and adaptive
cards in email digests have been introduced.
These will use AI to surface outstanding
tasks from emails, making it seamless for
you to reserve focus time for them.
 One of these new AI capabilities helps you
to set aside “Focus Time”
 https://www.microsoft.com/en-
us/microsoft-
365/blog/2019/05/06/minimize-
distractions-stay-focused-ai-powered-
updates-in-microsoft-365/

Using the Announcement post in Teams
I've been waiting for this feature to show up in our Office 365 tenant, and now we have it…
Announcement posts in Microsoft Teams! This is a great way to garner more attention to a post in
a Microsoft Teams Channel. Here's how it works…
Here's a normal entry to start a new conversation in a Teams Channel. To get to the
Announcement format, click the Format icon in the lower left corner:
In the upper left corner, click on the dropdown arrow next to New Conversation, select Announcement,
and hit Enter:

Using the Announcement post in Teams
Here is the blank Announcement post format. It allows you to add a Headline (with different
background colors or a background graphic), add a subheading, and then your content with all the
text formatting options in the Format toolbar:
In order to change the Headline banner, click on the color control (left) or the image control
(right). For this sample, I'll add a background image:

Using the Notes feature in Outlook
Click on Upload An Image to add your background. It's recommended that you choose something
that's at least 918 pixels wide by 120 pixels high:
When the image is loaded, you can move it up or down to change the focus of the picture, as well
as changing the magnification of what is shown. Once finished, click Done:

Using the Announcement post in Teams
Now you have your background image, and you can add your subheader and the text of the
Announcement. When finished, click the Send icon in the lower right corner:

Using the Announcement post in Teams
And there you have your new Announcement showing up in your Teams Channel:
Just remember… if this is overused, then people will learn to visually filter it out when they're reading a
channel. You should only use this for things that truly warrant it.

Who won the round?
15 votes 23 votes

Round 2

Seeing a weekly calendar view in the Outlook mobile app
This is something I saw mentioned in the Twitter-verse a number of times, and I thought it was
pretty cool. Using the Outlook mobile app, you can easily see a weekly view of your calendar just by
changing your phone's orientation. Here's how that works…
First, I open my Outlook mobile app (I'm on an iPhone, but I understand this works the same for
Android, too):

Seeing a weekly calendar view in the Outlook mobile app
Clicking on the Calendar icon in the lower-right corner shows me my daily calendar view:

Seeing a weekly calendar view in the Outlook mobile app
However, if I turn my phone sideways into Landscape mode, it magically changes my view to a
week-at-a-glance view:
I find this incredibly useful, as I use both the daily and weekly views a lot, and I don't have to spend time
tapping back and forth between them now.

Planner and To-Do Integration
 Planner is your out-of-the-box Kanban-based
project management tool. Microsoft has finally
taken steps to align this great tool with
Microsoft To-Do.
 Users can see all of their tasks across Microsoft
365 in To-Do, including flagged emails in
Outlook and tasks assigned in Planner. View
your tasks, deadlines, and details, and plan to
get more done throughout your days.
 To get started, update your To-Do app and click
Show List when prompted to Track tasks
assigned in Planner.
 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-
365/blog/2019/05/29/new-to-microsoft-365-
april-streamline-compliance-collaboration-
inclusive-engaging/
 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Micro
soft-To-Do-Blog/Planner-and-To-Do-
integration-bringing-you-a-more-cohesive-
task/ba-p/552740

Who won the round?
19 votes 15 votes

Round 3

Get tricky acronym definitions automatically
in Microsoft Word
 Using the Microsoft Graph, Microsoft AI makes
suggestions for acronym definitions specific to you and
your organization while you read documents.
 This makes it easier for you to read documents with
clarity in the flow of your work.
 To get started, click the Acronyms button on the
References tab to launch the Acronyms pane and see
suggested definitions for acronyms.
 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-
365/blog/2018/12/17/new-to-microsoft-365-in-
december-ai-powered-tools-to-help-you-create-your-
best-work/

Using the Notes feature in Outlook
When going through my list of reading material from Twitter, I found a link to an article by Rob
Woodgate titled What are Notes in Outlook and How Do You Use Them? I didn't know that was
buried in Outlook, and it's a pretty cool way to keep "sticky notes" in Outlook for easy reference.
Here's how it works…
Click the Ellipsis icon at the bottom of
your folder list, and select Notes:

Using the Notes feature in Outlook
That option brings you to this Outlook screen. It shows your existing Notes, as well as various options
to create a new Note, change the way you view them, forward the Note to someone else, and
categorize them:

Using the Notes feature in Outlook
If you create a new Note, it automatically saves it using the first few words that are in your Note:
There are some other ways you can work with your Notes, so I strongly encourage you to check out the
article for yourself. This is yet another way to make Outlook more valuable to you throughout your day.

Who won the round?
16 votes 19 votes

Round 4

Checking for gender-inclusivity when using Word
If you're old like me, words like "policeman" and "fireman" just want to roll off your tongue, as that's what you
grew up with. But today's communication often requires a more gender-inclusive word selection like "police
officer" or "fire fighter." Microsoft Word has an option that will allow you to do grammar checks for that very
scenario. Here's how to activate that…
In Word, go to Options > Proofing > When
correcting spelling and grammar in Word,
and click on the Settings button after
Writing Style: Grammar & Refinements:

Checking for gender-inclusivity when using Word
Scroll down to Inclusive Language, and select the option for Gender-Specific Language:

Checking for gender-inclusivity when using Word
Now if you type "Stewardesses," you can right-click on the term and get alternatives that are
more gender-neutral:

Checking for gender-inclusivity when using Word
Now if you type "Stewardesses," you can right-click on the term and get alternatives that are
more gender-neutral:

Checking for gender-inclusivity when using Word
Same with "Policeman":
And "Postman":

Share and coauthor documents with LinkedIn connections
 For many of us, our LinkedIn network IS our extended
company or project team. Microsoft is making it easier to
collaborate with people regardless of tenant or company
affiliation.
 You will be able to coauthor documents with many of your
first-degree LinkedIn connections in Word, Excel, and
PowerPoint, and send emails to them directly from Outlook,
without needing to have their email addresses stored in
your contacts.
 This brings your corporate directory and your LinkedIn
network together, so you never lose touch with the contacts
who can help you succeed, inside or outside your
organization. And you no longer need to worry about losing
touch with important contacts.
 https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-365-
Blog/Achieve-more-through-people-with-LinkedIn-and-
Microsoft-365/ba-p/261671
 https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-
directory/users-groups-roles/linkedin-integration

Who won the round?
4 votes 29 votes

Round 5

Sketch your message in Windows 10 Email App
 Within the new Windows 10 Mail app, you can now
author an email with a digital pen, your mouse, or
even your finger!
 Open a new email, select Draw > Drawing Canvas,
and start creating!
 https://support.office.com/en-us/article/drawing-in-
mail-for-windows-10-a9dad32d-9da9-48a2-855d-
d72500914c47

Sorting a list of content in Word
I'm used to sorting columns in Excel, as that's one of the main things you do. But I never really
thought about sorting content in a Word document, as it (in my mind) is just unformatted "stuff."
But, you *can* sort a list of content in Word, and it's pretty slick. Here's how…
Here I have a simple list of names that are unsorted:

Sorting a list of content in Word
In order to sort it, I highlight the list and click on the Sort icon in the Paragraphs section of the
Ribbon Bar:

Sorting a list of content in Word
In the Sort Text dialog box, I use the default option of Sort by Paragraphs and click OK:

Sorting a list of content in Word
And I now have a sorted list!

Sorting a list of content in Word
I can get a little more fancy, too. Here I have a list of first and last names, and I want to sort by last
name without having to rearrange the information. Once again, I would highlight the content and
click the Sort icon:

Sorting a list of content in Word
I still use the Sort by Paragraphs option, but I click Options… instead of OK:

Sorting a list of content in Word
In the Sort Options dialog box, I replace the single character in the Other box with a space character
and then click OK:

Sorting a list of content in Word
That brings up a second Sort Text dialog box, where I can Sort by Word 2. I then click on OK:

Sorting a list of content in Word
Now I have a list that's sorted by last name!

Who won the round?
5 votes 22 votes

Overall winner?
Tom! 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
WHO WON ROUND 5?
WHO WON ROUND 4?
WHO WON ROUND 3?
WHO WON ROUND 2?
WHO WON ROUND 1?
Summer Scuffle
Christian Tom

Current Leaderboard
Most Rounds Won – Christian (39-36)
Most Events Won – Tie (7-7)
Most Overall Votes – Christian (1335-1302)
Most Votes in Single Event – Christian (200)
Most Clean Sweeps – Christian (1)
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
TOTAL 36 1302 39 1335
6/20/2019 Online
Tom 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
2/7/2019 Online
4/19/2019 Online
5/22/2019 SPC19

Our next bout:
Tuesday, July 30th, 2019
“July Jostle”
Register at http://bit.ly/O365jostle

Thank you!
Christian Buckley
@buckleyplanet
http://www.buckleyplanet.com
Tom Duff
@Duffbert
http://OneMinuteOfficeMagic.com
Please remember to subscribe on YouTube!