Features you may not have noticed in Office 365.

22nd Jan 2019

Microsoft offers a huge range of tools in its Office 365 suite that are there to aid with productivity and enterprise. Everyone knows what Office 365 is, and most people use it on a daily basis, but not everyone uses the tools to their full advantage, especially when they are constantly being updated with new features. In this blog post, we have put together some of the features that you may have overlooked, but you may not be able to live without once you know...

PowerPoint's 'Zoom' Feature:

In the past, you would normally just flick from slide to slide when presenting a PowerPoint presentation, well those days are now gone! With PowerPoint's 'Zoom' feature, you can simply zoom out to get a birds-eye-view of your presentation laid out on one landing page. Below is exactly how to use this feature:

1. Go to "Insert" > "Zoom" in PowerPoint.

2. Choose "Summary Zoom" to display the whole presentation on a single landing page.

3. Choose "Slide Zoom" to display selected slides.

4. Choose "Selection Zoom" to display a selected section.

 

Improved Collaboration & Group Sharing:

Sending emails to a group of people usually means finding each contact and adding them to the email as you compose it and then you run the risk of missing someone off the list. Outlook's feature makes it so that you can create a group containing all of the relevant contacts and send emails to this one group in just one click, essentially creating a shared workspace. Below is how to use this feature:

1. Launch Outlook.

2. Select "New Group" on the Home tab.

3. In "Create Group" window, fill in the information required.

4. Choose "Advanced Options" and check the group conversations box to allow members to receive emails in their personal inbox or leave it un-checked if you want them to access the group's mail just from the group inbox, selecting "Create" to proceed.

5. Add members, description, and a display image for the group, and then click "OK". (You can add members after creating the group as well).

6. Click "Add" and your newly created group will appear in the left navigation. You'll also receive a 'Welcome' email in the inbox for your group.

 

Office 365's 'Tell Me' Function:

One of the most unknown Office 365 features is the 'Tell Me' function. We have all experienced a time when we're searching for a certain tool within an app such as Word or Excel, then we get redirected to the Microsoft Support website to learn about it. Well, the 'Tell Me' function solves this problem by providing the user with a link that simply launches the tool you are searching for. Below is how to use this feature (Word is used as the example):

1. Open the Office 365 app, then open Word.

2. Click "Blank Document" > "Tell me what to do" field. (There is a lightbulb beside it).

3. Type your "problem or question" and choose the "corresponding action" from the dropdown menu.

4. Done.

 

Excel’s ‘Flash’ Feature:

It can become extremely tedious constantly re-entering data in an Excel spreadsheet. Luckily, Excel has a feature that can fully eliminate the previously frustrating process through automatically filling in the fields for you. All that is needed for this process to work is enough data already inputted in the spreadsheet so that Excel can recognise a pattern. Below is exactly how to use this feature:

1. Open Excel.

2. Select “Open Other Workbooks” and click the “file” you want to open.

3. Enter a value in a cell and press the “Enter” key.

4. Press “Ctrl + E” on your keyboard to fill in the rest of the column values automatically.

5. If ‘Flash Fill’ doesn’t work after these steps, keep adding values into the spreadsheet so that it is able to recognise a pattern.

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