Microsoft 365 Productivity Tips

Introduction

Microsoft 365 offers a suite of powerful tools designed to make everyday tasks more efficient. These applications provide features that can enhance productivity and improve workflows. The web versions of these applications are demonstrated throughout, with the exception of OneNote, which uses the desktop version. The OneNote desktop application comes preinstalled on all AU computers.

Outlook

Categories

You can create categories in Outlook to organize your email and calendar. Categories can be color-coded and named to fit your preferences. They also serve as an additional filter when searching for specific keywords, even across multiple folders.

1. To set up categories, select Settings by clicking the gear icon in the upper right corner of Outlook.
   
2. In Outlook settings, select Account, then choose Categories to manage your organization options.
   

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Mentioning People

You can mention someone in an email by typing @ followed by their name, such as @Samuel Spartan, in the message body. The person you mention will receive a notification, and clicking the notification will open the email in a separate window.

Archive

Students, full-time faculty and staff can use the Archive folder to access an additional 100 GB of email storage. The default storage limit for adjunct faculty and part-time staff is 50 GB. The Archive folder is enabled by default, and can be used two different ways:

• Right-click an email and select Archive from the pop-up actions.

  

• Select an email and click the Archive button from the top ribbon.

Email Color

You can customize the font color of email subject lines from specific senders to improve organization and workflow management. 

1. To set this up, go to Settings in Outlook by clicking the gear icon.
2. Select Mail, and open Conditional Formatting. From there, create a rule to change the subject line font color based on your preferences.
   

Advanced Search

To access advanced search options, click the filter icon in the search bar at the top of the page. This opens the advanced search panel, where you can use filters and additional search features.

Email Templates

If you frequently send the same type of email, creating templates can save time and ensure consistency. 

1. To set up a template, click More Apps in the bottom-left ribbon of Outlook and click Add Apps.
   
2. Search for My Templates, and click the app from the search results.
3. Click the Add button to enable the feature in Outlook.

4. To create a template, open a new email or reply to an existing one. In the ribbon at the top, select the Apps button, then choose Templates. From there, you can use one of Microsoft’s prebuilt templates or create a custom template to fit your needs.
   

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can send emails directly to OneNote by customizing the Outlook ribbon. 

1. To enable this feature, open any email and click the ellipsis in the upper-right corner. Select Customize Actions from the drop-down menu.
2. Check OneNote under the Apps section. Once enabled, the option to send emails to OneNote will appear in the ribbon.
3. After setup, the option to Send to OneNote will appear in the ribbon for all future emails.
   

OneNote

Sections

In OneNote, you can add multiple sections to your notebook, similar to chapters in a book. This allows you to organize notes by project or topic for better structure and efficiency. To add a new section, click + New Section in the upper-left corner of OneNote.

New Notebooks

If you want to organize notes by project or topic, you can create a new notebook in OneNote. This allows you to dedicate each notebook to a specific subject or purpose. 

1. To create one, click File.

   

2. Then select New.

   
    

Quick Notes

If OneNote is open in the background, you can press Windows + Alt + N to open Quick Notes. By default, these notes are saved to a designated section in your default notebook. To change the default save location, go to File → Options → Save & Backup.

Templates

If you often take notes in a consistent format—such as meeting notes with custom headers—you can create a reusable template in OneNote. 

1. To do so, go to the Insert tab, and select Page Templates from the ribbon.
2. From there, you can choose one of Microsoft’s prebuilt templates or save your current page as a custom template.
   

Screen Clipping

You can record audio or video directly in OneNote. Click the Insert tab in the ribbon. Select Transcribe to record or transcribe audio, or choose Record Video to capture video notes.

Tags

Dock

You can dock OneNote to one side of your screen to keep it visible while working in other programs. This allows OneNote to occupy a smaller portion of your screen so you can easily reference your notes.

• To dock OneNote, click View from the ribbon, and click Dock to Desktop. You can also press Ctrl + Alt + D to dock the window directly.

  

• To undock OneNote, press Ctrl + Alt + D, click the diagonal arrow to maximize the window, or open the ellipsis menu, select the View tab, and choose Normal View.

To Do

My Day

You can use the My Day page to organize the tasks you want to get done for the day. If you have not finished the task's

Suggestion

You can use To Do's built-in suggestions to have To Do give you a list of tasks to do based on previously uncompleted tasks. To do so, you will want to select the suggestion at the top right-hand side of the My Day page.

Email to Task

You can make an email a task by right-clicking an email, going to advanced actions, and selecting create task.

Steps

You can break tasks into smaller tasks by creating steps in each task. To do so, click on any task you have created, and a menu will pop up on the right-hand side that will allow you to add steps to the task.

Repeating Tasks

When creating a task, if this is a task that needs to get done regularly, then you can create a recurring task by clicking on repeat.

Categories

You can categorize tasks to help keep them organized. After a task has been created, you can then click on it and add it to a category. To Do will use the same categories you have in Outlook.

Notes

Adding notes to a task is a nice way to add extra information that will help you when trying to complete the task, be it a URL or just information you wanted to add but couldn't in the task name. To add a note to a task, click on any task and find Add Note on the right-hand side.

Planner

Plan

You can get an in-depth view of all your tasks if you create a plan, which will let you see a calendar view as well as a chart view of the tasks created as part of that plan; otherwise, standard tasks only have a grid and board view of tasks. To do so in Planner, go to My Plans and create a new plan, and add tasks to the plan. To change the view you will want to go to the top of the page and find the Grid, Board, Schedule, and Charts options.

Notes

Similar to To Do, you can add notes to a task in the planner to add extra information. To add a note to a task, click on any created task.

Labels

You can use color labels that are re-nameable to help identify tasks based on the label given to them. You can add labels to a task when you create the task and click on it.

You can then filter tasks based on the label by selecting the filter option and choosing labels. 

To Do Integration

By default, any task assigned to you in Planner will get added to To Do.

Forms

Templates

You can use either one of Microsoft's prebuilt templates or you can create your own from one form you have already created.  To use one of Microsoft's templates, you can select New Form on the Forms homepage. When you are brought to the Untitled form page, you will see the Templates option on the left-hand side. 

If you want to create your template to use in the future, go to the Forms homepage and click on the form you want to use as the "template". When in the form, you will want to find the ellipsis on the right-hand side of the page, click on that and select Collaborate or Duplicate, then select Get a Link to Duplicate. Copy and paste that into a browser, and select Duplicate to create a copy of that form.

Branching

You can use branching when creating a form to create a sort of dynamic form that allows people to skip directly to certain questions or parts of the form based on their response to the previous question. To add branching to a question, either go to the form that has the question, or if you don't have one, create a new form, and when in the question you want to add branching to, find the ellipsis on the bottom right corner of the question and select Add Branching.

You will then be prompted to choose where each part of the question goes and branches off to.

QR Code

You can make any form a QR code in case you are in public and want to give people access to your form. To make a QR code, you will want to go to the form in question and select Collect Responses.
There, you will want to select the middle option to bring up the QR code, where you can then download it.

Bookings

Please note that Bookings is only available to faculty and staff upon request.

Buffer Timing

You can add buffer timing in Bookings. Buffer timing allows you to set a time frame before and after available meeting slots. To do so in the specific meeting type you are configuring scroll down to schedule customization, and click on advanced options. You will then be given the option to configure the buffer timing

Email Reminders / Email Follow-up

Under advanced options, you will find email reminders and follow ups. Email reminders will allow you to schedule reminder emails to get sent at the time of your choosing to remind users they have a meeting scheduled. Email follow-up will let you schedule emails to get sent after the meeting is over.

Bookings Signature

You can add your Bookings link as a signature in your email so that people can schedule meetings. To add your Bookings link to your signature, you will want to find the Share option in the Bookings homepage.

After clicking on share, you will want to find the email signature settings option, click on that to bring up the signature settings page.

Configure your signature settings to your liking, and make sure that the Include a link to my bookings page option is selected.

Once that is done, you will want to go to settings by clicking on the gear icon at the top right of the page, and go to Accounts, then Signature to set up your email signature.

Personal Booking Sync to Calendar

Your personal Bookings meeting's automatically get added to your outlook calendar.

If you are busy and it is in your outlook calendar, Bookings will automatically skip the time that is marked as an event on your Outlook Calendar to prevent you from getting double booked. Once a meeting has been booked using your personal Bookings page you it will get added to your outlook calendar.