Too Many Teams Notifications?

Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.

As you and your colleagues use Teams more and more, you will start to get lots of notifications. Whether it's a really active inter-company chat or someone sending funny emoji's - once users are actively using Teams - what was first helpful to remember to check Teams can become annoying and frustrating as the dings distract you. 

Initially the notifications whether it be a banner or an email was helpful to remember to check on chats or channels in Teams and find out if you've missed anything. However, as time goes on, checking activity in Teams becomes automatic. When you get to this place, it isn't as important to get as many notifications. On the contrary, the notifications become redundant.  

Also - since everyone uses Microsoft Teams differently and some users are in different time zones, different countries or may not be online as often, you can also setup a notification for when they are available. This can also save LOTS ...

Managing Chats in Teams

2 for 1 Tip: Pinning and Popping Out a Chat

The more you use Teams, the more you have going on in this new app resulting in a need to manage the information and the numerous ongoing chats.  Today you get a 2 for 1 tip. They are similar, in that they both help you manage your chats.

Sometimes we have slow going chats, like projects, brainstorming, planning etc.  These might not have activity everyday or even every week.  Other times we have quick moving back and forth chats. With this variety, there is a need for different tools to help us manage them. 

Pinning Chats

We can use Pinning to pin important chats to the top of a window so we don't have to search for them. This is especially helpful for chats that might not have recent activity, as they fall to the bottom of the list and it can be time consuming to find them.

How to Pin a Chat

1. Hover over the chat and right-click or click the ... (more options).
   
   
2. From the menu choose Pin.
   
   
   
3. Now you will see your
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Microsoft Teams

One of the most appealing elements of Microsoft Teams is the ability to EASILY stay in touch with people all over the world. This includes, video chats, screen sharing, audio calls, instant messaging, meetings, file sharing and more.

When COVID-19 hit, Microsoft Teams had a huge surge of users and for good reason. Suddenly millions of users needed to easily stay in touch with their organizations as well as their clients and customers. Teams is the perfect way to do this.  Since people dove into Teams head first - many didn't spend much time learning it.

One of the things I heard this week had to do with having a challenge with multi-lingual chats.   Not knowing how to easily translate the messages. Luckily - there's a SUPER easy way to translate these messages. Check it out.

How to Translate Chats

1. Hover over the message in the chats window and click the ... (More options).
   
   
   
2. When you click on the ellipses (...), choose Translate.
   
   
   
3. The message will be translated an
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Why OneNote's Search Feature Won Me Over

In my humble opinion, the most valuable feature of OneNote is Search and here's why...

Most of you know after reading this blog for a while and maybe even working with me a little about my business. I won't bore you with the details but only as it relates to OneNote.  I provide software consulting, virtual help desk support, access database support and development, Microsoft Office training and courseware development and content. I have phone calls and emails with prospective clients probably at least daily, RFP's (request for proposals),  referrals and inquiries. Before OneNote, I used notebooks to document this information and refer to later. Often times, as a result of my initial phone call, I need to follow up, do research, put together a proposal and such. In the past, I would use a note book to make these notes, contact info, project details, items to research and proposal information and maybe verbal pricing and/or budgets.Now the paper...

New Read Aloud Feature in Outlook

If you're like me, sometimes you just can't sit at your desk another minute. I heard a statistic the other day that since COVID we are spending more time sitting in front of our computers. Using Outlook's new Read Aloud feature allows us to have emails read to us allows us to stand up, stretch, maybe even walk around while catching up on email.

There are so many features that get rolled out in updates and if we don't know about the feature - we can't take advantage of it. This is one of those features. So, watch the video to see and hear how easy it is to use.

How to Use It

It's super simple. Select the email, click the button.

1. Select the email to read.
   
   
2. On your Home tab, look for the Read Aloud button.

If you don't see the button, you may need to enable it.

1. In Outlook, click File....Options...
   
   
2. In the dialog box, choose Ease of Access and make sure Show Read Aloud is checked and click OK.
   

Why Use 3D Maps?

It takes more and more to get and keep people's attention. We are all constantly inundated with data, graphics, videos all constantly competing for our attention.  It's always been true that people can better remember data that is presented in graphs, charts, maps or other visual pictures but I think it's more important now than ever.  3D Maps are a great way to present your data for users and allow them to visually process the data. The 3D element also allows users to see things they might otherwise miss in a traditional 2D format.

What's a 3D Map?

If you've ever needed to integrate data with a map, you know it's not always the easiest thing to do.  Excel's new 3D Map feature does a really good job of taking meaningful map related data and allowing you to see it in a 3D map. This makes it so much more meaningful and when presenting or sharing the data, can give a lot more depth of understanding to the user. Excel 2013 used to have a feature called Power Maps, this ...

Take Notice: Microsoft Office had NEW and IMPROVED Clip Art AKA 3D Models

You've used clip art for a long time, if you're like most people. The funny icons, cute images, interesting graphics. You inserted it into your PowerPoint presentations to give viewers a break from the monotony of just text. In Word, you added images to jazz up your newsletters and reports.

3 Reasons 3D Models are Cooler than Clip Art

1. You can customize it by changing the angle and tilt to show it EXACTLY how you want to.
   
   For example, if you're using a 3D model of a robot, it allow you to view it from any angle, not just one.
   
   
2. If it's animated, you can view the animation from any angle.
   
   For example view the pumping of a heart from the bottom or the side.
   
   
3. You can use the Pan and Zoom feature to control what shows in your "frame".
   
   If the image is too general, you can Pan and Zoom in to show the particular details from a particular angle.
   
   

How to Insert 3D Models

1. In your O365 App, click on Insert on the ribb
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Excel's New Geography and Stock Data Types

The 2 newest data types in Excel are really cool. There is a geography type and a stock type. The geography type allows you to link related information like population or capital to a state or country. The stock type allows you to look up things like stock price, company location and other information based on a stock symbol.

Both of these data types are REALLY easy to use. The easiest way is to watch the above video but here are some high level steps on how to use the new data types.

1. Select the data (either geographical or stock).
2. On the Data tab, pick either Geography or Stock data type.
3. Add related columns of data

Geography Data Type

With a list of states, cities or countries - in a couple of clicks you can have related information that would take TONS of time to look up.

Stock Data Type

With stock symbols you can access almost 30 different related fields, things like headquarters, employees, 52 week high and more.

Have you used the New XLOOKUP Function?

Now - if you have used VLOOKUP (or HLOOKUP) you will appreciate the XLOOKUP function. Fair Warning: if you're not particularly versed in functions and formulas - this tip might get a little techy BUT I'd encourage you to watch the XXX minute video anyway because you may pick up a new skill or plant a seed for something down the road OR MAYBE you can just throw this around when chatting with your boss or client and REALLY impress them!!

When would I use the XLOOKUP Function?

The XLOOKUP function can be used anytime you previously used the VLOOKUP or HLOOKUP function. BUT it has some great time-saving features built in. If you're familiar with the VLOOKUP (or less common the HLOOKUP) you will REALLY appreciate these.

In general, lookup functions are for referencing data in other data sets. For example, you are wanting to add employee numbers to a table you're working on but you have that information in another list. A LOOKUP function allows you...

What is Pinning in Office? And Why Should you Care?

Pinning files and folders is a new feature in all the Office programs that allows you to pin favorite files and folders so you can QUICKLY and EASILY access them. Each app has it's own pins. For example, you can pin spreadsheets in Excel and presentations in PowerPoint. You can also pin folders you frequently use to save to or open from.

Example 1 - Monthly Financials

Let me lay the groundwork with a personal example. I use Excel many times a day and sometimes upwards of 15-20 files over a couple of days. This means a file that I opened just 3 days ago is no longer in my "recent" files. This is where PINNING a file comes into play. I have financial files I use every couple of weeks in Excel that I PIN to the top of my recent files so I don't have to browse out to find the drive and click through all the sub-folders it is stored in. I save myself a TON of clicks each day by doing this for my "frequent flier" files.

Example 2 - Writ...