🧠 Microsoft Loop vs. OneNote—What’s the Difference? 📒🔁

✨ Collaborate Faster Without Giving Up Your Notes!

Maybe you’ve heard of Microsoft Loop—but is it just another version of OneNote? 🤔 Not quite!

I’ll show you how these two tools are different and when to use each one. Spoiler: you’ll probably use both!

🧩 Loop = Sticky Notes for Real-Time Collaboration
📓 OneNote = A Binder for Your Thoughts and Meetings

Time to Read/Watch: ~3 min

Loop is great when you need a fast, interactive way to brainstorm, assign tasks, or take action right inside a Teams chat or Outlook email. OneNote is your go-to for detailed meeting notes, organized sections, and long-term storage.

🔍 Quick Comparison:

Use Flagged Emails + Planner Tasks in One View! 📬✅

 ✨ Stay On Top of Tasks Without Missing a Beat!

Have you ever flagged an email in Outlook, then opened Microsoft Planner and thought, “Why is my email showing up here?” Surprise—it’s not really Planner. But it is one of the most helpful integrations Microsoft has to offer!

In Kari’s Tips & Tricks #114, I’m showing you how your flagged emails and Planner tasks come together, so you can see all your work in one simple list.

🧩 Flag It. Assign It. See It All in Teams.

Time to Read/Watch: ~2 min

When you flag an email in Outlook, it becomes a task in Microsoft To Do. Tasks from Planner (which are usually assigned in group plans or projects) show up too. But here’s the magic:

Both types of tasks appear in the Tasks by Planner and To Do app in Microsoft Teams.

So if you’re using Planner for team projects and Outlook for personal follow-up, you can finally see everything in one place—no more bouncing between apps!

🔄 How It Works:...

⌨️ Kari’s Tip #113: Master 3 Excel Shortcuts to Save Time! 📅📋

✨ Speed Up Your Excel Game with These Keyboard Tricks!

Tired of clicking through Excel menus? Let’s turbocharge your workflow with three must-know keyboard shortcuts! Today’s Kari’s Tips & Tricks #113 shows you how to insert today’s date, copy data from above, and use Excel’s most popular shortcut—all in seconds. Get ready to work smarter!

⌨️ Master 3 Excel Shortcuts: Date, Copy, and More! 📅📋
Time to Read/Watch: ~2 min

Excel is your data powerhouse, but slow clicks can bog you down. These three shortcuts—inserting today’s date, copying from the cell above, and the #1 go-to command—will make you feel like an Excel ninja! Here’s how to do them in a snap:

Why These Shortcuts?

Keyboard shortcuts are like secret weapons for Excel pros. Instead of navigating menus, you can enter dates, duplicate data, or manage your spreadsheet with a quick key combo. These three are game-changers: one stamps the current date, another gra...

📥 Kari's Tip #112: Auto-Organize Outlook with Dynamic Search Folders! 🔍🚀

 ✨ Dynamic Search Folders in Outlook—Your Inbox, Smarter!

Is your Outlook inbox a chaotic mess of emails? Stop wasting time filing messages manually! Today’s Kari’s Tips & Tricks #112 shows you how to use 📥 Dynamic Search Folders to auto-organize emails in Outlook. Find what you need with one click—no more digging!

🎥 Video Walkthrough!

You asked, I listened—videos make learning a breeze! Check out this quick guide:

📥 Eliminate Filing Messages in Outlook with Dynamic Search Folders! 🔍
Time to Read/Watch: ~2 min

Got an inbox overflowing with emails from clients, projects, or that one VIP? Set up a Dynamic Search Folder to automatically sort and display the messages you need! Here’s how to create one in Outlook in a snap:

Why Dynamic Search Folders?

Before we dive into the how, let’s talk why these are a game-changer!

Outlook is your communication hub, but manually sorting emails into folders is a time suck....

✨Custom Tabs in Teams 📁➕ and Why They're a Game Changer!

Teams is so much more than chats and meetings—it’s your ultimate work dashboard! Many of my clients tell me they’re missing out on its full potential. Today’s Kari’s Tips & Tricks #111 shows you how to create 💥 Custom Tabs ➕ for files, 📑 sites, and more in Teams. Let’s pin your go-to resources for one-click access!

🎥 Video Is Back! 

You asked - I listened - videos can be suer helpful! 

💥Create Custom Tabs ➕  -  think Spreadsheets,📊SharePoint sites📑,  and more - in Teams...AND WHY?

Time to Read: ~2 min

Got a million links and files scattered across Teams? Have sites and libraries you need to always reference but it's so much clicking to get to it? Or - even remember where it is?  Add a custom tab to pin your go-to resources instantly! Here’s how to Create a Custom Tab in Teams in a snap: 

Why Custom Tabs in Teams? 

Before we know how - this one is important to know WHY?

Teams is your all-in-one hub for collaboration, w...

🆘Drowning in Rows and Columns 📊?

I've got another great tip! Odds are, if you use Excel, there's been times you need to make some of the extra rows and columns just go away - but hiding isn't always an option - this is better for groups of columns and rows!! Today's tip is using Excel's Grouping feature. Kari's Tips and Tricks #110: Hide Spreadsheet 📊Clutter in Excel with One Click 🖱️.

Hide Spreadsheet Clutter in One Click 

Time to Read: ~2 min

Got a chaotic Excel sheet drowning in rows and columns? Collapse them instantly to reclaim your sanity! Here's how to Group and hide clutter in one click: 

How Grouping in Excel Works 

This feature has been around and there are different applications but at it's core - it allows you to quickly group and hide rows and/or columns in one click. 

How to Group Rows (or Columns) 

1. Open your spreadsheet in Excel and decide what rows or columns you'd like to hide (group).
2. Highlight the rows or columns you want to tuck away—like old sales d
...

Drowning in Emails?📧🆘

I've got another great tip! Odds are, you are drowning in emails, because most of us are!! Today's tip is using Outlook's Focused feature. Kari's Tips and Tricks #109: Tame Your Inbox with Outlook’s Focused Feature.

Tame Your Inbox: How to Use Outlook’s Focused Inbox

Time to Read: ~2 min

Drowning in emails? You’re not alone. The average professional receives hundreds of emails a week—some important, some... not so much. Sifting through newsletters, updates, and spam just to find the emails that actually matter wastes time and creates stress.

Outlook’s Focused Inbox sorts the chaos for you—so you can focus on what’s important first.

How Focused Inbox Works

Instead of one giant list of emails, Outlook automatically separates them into two tabs:
✔ Focused (Emails from people you engage with, priority messages)
✔ Other (Newsletters, promotions, and lower-priority messages)

This means key emails stand out, while clutter stays out of your way. 🎉No more inbox ov...

Tricks to Save Time Writing Emails

Most people are going to think we're referring to AI but that is not what today's tips and tricks are about. Although using AI to draft complex emails is a GREAT strategy as well. On average, professionals spend 30 minutes drafting more complex emails like proposals or in-depth responses and most professionals draft a few of these per week.  Just think if we were able to cut this time down how much time you could save?!?! 

I've got 2 tricks for you to try!!

Trick #1: My Templates (formerly Quick Parts)

Why do I want to Use My Templates and How Can it Save Me Time?

My Templates (formerly Quick Parts) allows you to Save commonly used chunks of text and/or graphics/pics so you can re-use them and not have to find them to copy or re-type them.

Most of us have phrases or paragraphs of text we use over and over in emails. This could be a short bio about us, a summary of what our organization does or a product it sells, a response to a frequently recei...

Confused by Copilot? You're not alone!

I'm sure you've noticed that copilot is everywhere in Microsoft right now. If you're like me - you know it's AI but not exactly sure how it's different than the other tools and how can it help you? We're not going to do a deep dive here yet, but one of the first things you need to know is that there is a FREE and a LICENSED(paid) version.

Free vs. Licensed

First off, if you haven't looked too much into it yet, you may not even know this but there is a free and licensed version of Copilot.  

FREE VERSION - The free version of Copilot is a chat.  It's similar to other AI chat apps you've likely used like Chat GPT or GROK. Copilot is considered the most robust free access to AI, but it does have a Microsoft lens. It can also be accessed at https://copilot.microsoft.com/ 

PAID VERSION - The paid version of Copilot is fully integrated into your M365 apps. There are multiple types of subscriptions available which I won't get into. 

Which Version D...

Sick of Clunky Hyperlinks ?

If you've created hyperlinks in the past, you know it can be a bit time-consuming.  This new trick is AWESOME and a HUGE timesaver. This new trick works in Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams.

* NOTE: If yours isn't working in Excel, Word, Powerpoint, OneDrive - it seems (per Microsoft) this is working for some but not everyone yet. Work around,  instead of just using Ctrl+V, use Ctrl+K, then Ctrl+V. 

As of now, on my version, this works perfectly in Teams and Outlook. PowerPoint, Excel, Word and PowerPoint I have to do Ctrl+K, then Ctrl+V. 

Hyperlink Tricks - Where to Use it

This is a trick that applies across the M365 Apps.  The...