In this latest installment of the O365 Productivity Tips series, Tom Duff (@duffbert) and Christian Buckley (@buckleyplanet) return with another head-to-head battle of the Microsoft Office and Office 365 productivity hints and tips, delivered via webinar on February 7th, 2019 with audience members voting on each round. Follow us on Twitter for future webinars and sessions where we'll share more great tips, and be sure to follow the CollabTalk YouTube channel!

1. Office 365 Productivity Tips
“February Frenzy"
Christian Buckley
CollabTalk LLC
Thomas Duff
Cambia Health

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

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

4. 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

5. Let’s get started!

6. Round 1

7. Text Annotations in Office Lens
 Office Lens trims, enhances, and makes pictures of whiteboards
and docs readable. You can use Office Lens to convert images to
PDF, Word and PowerPoint files, and you can even save images
to OneNote or OneDrive.
 You can now
 add text to highlight a part of a document
 add a watermark of your brand text before sharing
 add a caption that stays intact with the image wherever it
goes and communicates your idea to your colleagues
 After taking your image, simply tap on the ‘T’ icon and easily
add text while on the go and in the moment. You can select a
style/template, change text color and position, and then share!
 Currently available on both Android and iOS, but no word about
support for Windows Phone, Blackberry, Palm OS, or Kin
(fun article on why Windows Mobile failed that’s worth a read)

8. Text Annotations in Office Lens

9. Starting Outlook in something other than Inbox
It's so common, I don't even think about it any longer… when you start Outlook, it opens up in the
Inbox. However, I saw a posting today by Jason Womack that tossed out the assumption that you
*have* to start Outlook that way. Here's how you can open it up in any folder you'd like…
Using the Outlook Options, go to Advanced > Outlook start and exit. There you will find the
option to Start Outlook in this folder:

10. Starting Outlook in something other than Inbox
By default, it's set to Inbox. However, if you click Browse, you'll see a list of all the folders you have,
including your Tasks and your Calendar. Select a different folder and click OK, and Outlook will start
in that folder next time you launch it:
This is a great idea if you want
to focus on your schedule for
the day when you first start in
the morning, or if you use
Tasks to track what you need
to do. It beats getting bogged
down in email right away.

11. Who won the round?
39 votes 5 votes

12. Round 2

13. Pinning SharePoint document libraries to the Windows
Quick Access area
Stream is Microsoft's video platform for Office 365. I often describe it as "YouTube for Office 365",
as that's a familiar site for many people (and a pretty close analogy to Stream). One of the nice
things you can do with Stream is follow a channel where people are posting videos on a particular
topic. Here's how that works…
To get to the File Explorer interface in SharePoint Online's Modern Document Library interface, click
on All Documents > View In File Explorer:

14. Pinning SharePoint document libraries to the Windows
Quick Access area
If you're in the Classic View experience in SharePoint Online, or if you're in an earlier version of
SharePoint (like SharePoint 2010), click on Library > Open with Explorer:

15. Pinning SharePoint document libraries to the Windows
Quick Access area
Once the Windows File Explorer interface launches with your SharePoint document library, right-
click on Quick Access in the left-side navigation. Then click on Pin current folder to Quick Access:

16. Pinning SharePoint document libraries to the Windows
Quick Access area
The document library will then be pinned in that area, and you can quickly get to that document
library in the future without having to navigate through the browser at all:

17. Automating Microsoft To-Do with Amazon, Apple
and Google Devices
 Households are increasingly using smart speakers and IoT devices to automate
various aspects of our lives and increase productivity, but did you know that you
can sync these services to Microsoft To-Do?
 To use Siri with Microsoft To-Do, you begin by connecting your Outlook.com or
Exchange account.
 Go to your iPhone's settings, select Accounts & Passwords and then Add
Account. Then select Exchange or Outlook.com and simply follow the
prompts to add your account.
 Once you’ve added your account, enable Reminders for that account by
selecting Accounts & Passwords once more and then either Exchange or
Outlook.com. Then make sure that Reminders is toggled on for that
account.
 Once your Microsoft Account has been connected, set your default
Reminders list to one in your Outlook or Exchange account by opening
your iPhone's settings, tap Reminders > Default List and then select the
desired list.
 Once set up, all you need to do is say 'Hey Siri, remind me to...' and it will be
synced to your Microsoft To-Do list. Using Siri and Reminders with Microsoft To-
Do on iOS11 and iOS12

18. Automating Microsoft To-Do with Amazon, Apple
and Google Devices
 For more details, check out the following:
 Using Siri and Reminders with Microsoft To-Do on iOS11 and iOS12
 Using Ok Google with Microsoft To-Do
 Using Apple Watch with Microsoft To-Do
 Additionally, there are many many many integrations available through services
like IFTTT (If This Then That) and Zapier to help connect your smart speakers and
smart phones to Microsoft apps and services, such as
 Connecting Amazon Echo To-Do to OneNote

19. Who won the round?
27 votes 17 votes

20. Round 3

21. Setup a Pre-Built Approval Flow in a
SharePoint Modern Site
 In a recent blog post on the microsoft Tech Community, Microsoft’s Chris McNulty shared a
pre-built Microsoft Flow for approvals of list items in a SharePoint Modern Site.
 As he points out,
“SharePoint page authoring makes it simple to craft beautiful immersive experiences that integrate
applications, data, text, media and more. Pages are also essential for team news, which let you
share impactful updates with an automated distribution engine that reaches portals, mobile, email,
Microsoft Teams and more.
“News pages can be highly visible, since they are automatically aggregated in hub sites, mobile
apps and the SharePoint home page. Some organizations want to standardize page templates and
layouts, and institute a review process to assure that all updates are approved.”
 Creating an approval processes using Microsoft Flow is a snap, and Chris’s post provides an
animated demo that walks you through the setup process.

22. Setup a Pre-Built Approval Flow in a
SharePoint Modern Site

23. Using the Screenshot feature in Excel
Here's a feature in Excel that I never noticed before… like *that's* a surprise! :) If you need to add a
screenshot in an Excel spreadsheet (perhaps for documentation), you can use the Screenshot feature
that's built into Excel… and you can manipulate the image once it's out there! Here's how you do
that…
When you're in an Excel spreadsheet, select the cell where you want the screenshot to be positioned,
and select Insert > Screenshot:

24. Using the Screenshot feature in Excel
You are presented with a selection of all the currently open windows (the window *has* to be open to
show up), and double-click on the one you want to put into your spreadsheet:

25. Using the Screenshot feature in Excel
You now have that screenshot in your spreadsheet, and you can use the Picture Tools > Format
Ribbon Bar options to manipulate the image, such as cropping, color correction, or any other
tweaking that gives you the effect you're after:

26. Who won the round?
36 votes 8 votes

27. Round 4

28. Finding out what Outlook distribution lists you own or belong to
One of the questions I get asked on a fairly regular basis is how someone can tell what distribution
groups they either own or are a member of. In the process of looking up some other information
today, I found an option in Outlook Online that provides that information in an easy to read format.
Here's how to find it…
After signing into Outlook Online, click on the Gear (Settings) icon in the upper right corner of the
application:

29. Finding out what Outlook distribution lists you own or belong to
Depending on the size of your screen, you may need to scroll down in the Settings options to get to
the bottom, where you'll click on the Mail app settings link:

30. Finding out what Outlook distribution lists you own or belong to
The Mail link opens up the Options panel on the left-side of the screen, and you should select
General > Distribution Groups:

31. Finding out what Outlook distribution lists you own or belong to
It may take a few seconds to get all the information depending on the size of your organization, but
you'll end up with a list of Distribution Groups you belong to, as well as a list of Distribution Groups
that you own:
Depending on what permissions you have and the way your groups are set up, you can click
on various groups to see who is part of the group as well as updating the membership.

32. Engage your audience with interactive forms
and quizzes in PowerPoint
 Microsoft Forms is now integrated
with PowerPoint for Office 365,
providing a seamless way for
speakers, trainers, and educators to
connect and interact with
participants. As shown in a Microsoft
Tech Community blog post,
presenters can get real-time
audience feedback via forms and
quizzes without asking them to leave
PowerPoint.
 To get started, in PowerPoint under
Insert, click the Forms icon to create
a new form/quiz or insert one you’ve
already created.
 Please note that this feature is
currently only available for
PowerPoint Windows 32

33. Engage your audience with interactive forms
and quizzes in PowerPoint
To see the responses to your form or quiz,
sign in to your Office 365 account at
https://forms.office.com/
Open the appropriate form from your My
forms page, and then select the Responses
tab at the top of the page.

34. Engage your audience with interactive forms
and quizzes in PowerPoint
To create a quiz, check out the
article at https://support.office.com/en-
us/article/create-a-quiz-with-microsoft-
forms-a082a018-24a1-48c1-b176-
4b3616cdc83d

35. Who won the round?
42 votes 2 votes

36. Round 5

37. Connecting Your Cloud Storage to Teams
Did you know that you can connect
multiple SharePoint lists and libraries to
Microsoft Teams through Files and Tabs?
But did you also know you can also
connect to your other cloud storage apps
and services the same way?
 Provides an interface into relevant content
 Surfaces sites and tools in context to
conversations
 Removes (or reduces) the “which tool do you
use when?” argument

38. Connecting Your Cloud Storage to Teams – as a Tab
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/skypeh
ybridguy/2017/10/28/microsoft-teams-use-
an-existing-sharepoint-library/

39. Connecting Your Cloud Storage to Teams – as a Tab
http://www.sharepointlonghorn.com/using-
sharepoint-lists-microsoft-teams/

40. Connecting Your Cloud Storage to Teams – in Files
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/skypeh
ybridguy/2017/10/28/microsoft-teams-use-
an-existing-sharepoint-library/

41. Setting the Print Area on an Excel spreadsheet
Obviously, you can have a multitude of rows and columns in an Excel spreadsheet spread out over numerous
worksheets. However, if you want to print out just part of the information, you may think you have to print out
everything just to get the part you want. In reality, you can set the Print Area of your spreadsheet to only print
out the area that you need, saving paper and time in the process. Here's how you do that…
To set your Print Area, highlight the areas of your spreadsheet you want to have printed, and select Page
Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area:

42. Setting the Print Area on an Excel spreadsheet
Now when you print the spreadsheet, you'll only see the areas that were defined as part of the Print Area:

43. Setting the Print Area on an Excel spreadsheet
If you no longer want to restrict the areas that are printed, select Page Layout > Print Area > Clear Print Area:
The nice thing about using this feature is that a selected Print Area is saved with the file, so you don't have to re-select it
each time you edit and print it.

44. Who won the round?
39 votes 5 votes

45. Overall winner?
Christian!
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
WHO WON ROUND 5?
WHO WON ROUND 4?
WHO WON ROUND 3?
WHO WON ROUND 2?
WHO WON ROUND 1?
February Frenzy
Christian Tom

46. Current Leaderboard
Most Rounds Won – Christian (28)
Most Events Won – Tom (6)
Most Overall Votes – Christian (1012)
Most Votes in Single Event – Christian (183)
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
TOTAL 27 995 28 1012
2/7/2019 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

47. Our next bout:
Thursday, March 14th, 2019
“March Melee”
Register at http://bit.ly/O365melee

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