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, recorded May 26th, 2020 with viewers 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 at https://youtube.com/c/collabtalk

1. Office 365 Productivity Tips
“May Mediation"
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. The New Microsoft Lists App!

8. Leverage Cortana Scheduler for meetings
Building on Microsoft’s strategy to re-brand
Cortana as an intelligent personal assistant, you
can now leverage Calendar.help and have
Cortana help you organize online meetings and
book conference rooms.
Scheduler is not a replacement, but an
alternative to FindTime and FreeBusy that
leverages the power of AI and allows you to
respond with natural language.
Scheduler works with your Office 365,
Outlook.com, or Google calendar. Cortana, using
Scheduler, knows your meeting preferences and
uses them to find the best times.
This is key: External participants do not need to
download anything.

9. Leverage Cortana Scheduler for meetings
To get started, go to https://calendar.help/
Once registered and your account
confirmed, simply send an email message
to cortana@calendar.help and ask her to
schedule meetings for you:
 Focus time
 Weekly 1:1
 Online meeting
 Lunch meeting
 Coffee or Drinks
From the desktop or mobile device, you
can also verbally ask Cortana to schedule
these meetings.

10. Getting notifications when adding comments to an Office file
Using the Comments feature in Office is a great way to collaborate on a file, and to provide additional
context and information. However, it's entirely possible that someone may add a comment where your
input would be valuable, and you might never see it. Now Office files will sent out a notification if your
name is mentioned using the @ symbol. Here's how that works…
Using Excel as an example, I will add a comment to the spreadsheet by clicking on Review > New
Comment:

11. Getting notifications when adding comments to an Office file
In the Comment box, I add a name (in this case, mine) prefaced by the @ symbol. You'll get a dropdown
list of matching names when you start to type a name after the @. Once you have a proper name and
you've added your comment, click the Send icon:

12. Getting notifications when adding comments to an Office file
The comment is now part of the spreadsheet, and it shows my name as the targeted recipient of that
comment:

13. Getting notifications when adding comments to an Office file
In a few minutes, I receive an email stating that I've been @-mentioned in the comments of a file, and I
get a link to go to the file and respond:

14. Who won the round?
7 vote 15 votes

15. Round 2

16. Creating multiple lines in an Excel cell
To be honest, this tip is probably more for me so that I remember and don't forget how it works. :) There
are times when I want to have multiple lines in a spreadsheet cell, and not just lines that wrap around. To
get that hard linefeed, you just have to use ALT-Enter, and you'll have a new line in your cell. Here's what
that looks like…
In my example here, I have one line of text in my cell, but I want a second line. If I press the TAB key, I go
to the next column, and the Enter key takes me to the next row. But here's what happens when I use ALT-
Enter:

17. Creating multiple lines in an Excel cell
I now have a second line that I can type into, and it shows up as I want:

18. Create digital badges in Microsoft Teams
Open Badges is a Microsoft Teams app
from third-party digital badge issuing
authority, Badgr, that enables individuals
to earn digital learning credential
badges within the Teams context and
share them everywhere.
Badges are:
 Verifiable — The data inside proves what
you’ve achieved.
 Shareable — You can post your badges all
over the web.
 Portable — Take them with you in
Backpacks.
Awarded badges are recorded in a
recipient's Badgr profile and available to
build and share a rich picture of lifetime
learning journeys.

19. Create digital badges in Microsoft Teams
Within Teams, badges can be a
powerful engagement tool to
reward behavior and encourage
learning and participation.
Read more at
https://techcommunity.microsoft.co
m/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/create-
and-award-digital-publicly-
verifiable-badges-in-teams/ba-
p/1307507

20. Who won the round?
3 vote 19 votes

21. Round 3

22. Create custom results pages for Microsoft Search
Create custom search results pages
for Microsoft Search!
Announced in January, you can now
create custom search results pages in
SharePoint Online, controlling the
layout and design of search results
to tailor your SharePoint Online
experience for your enterprise
environment.
Btw, you can then share these results
as tabs within Teams.

23. Create custom results pages for Microsoft Search
To configure a custom results page in
SharePoint Online follow the steps
below:
 Browse to the site where you would
like to configure a custom results
page and select Site Collection
Settings > Search Settings.
 In Search Settings, choose to Send
queries to a custom results page,
and provide a value for Results page
URL: and save your changes.
Read more at
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-
365/blog/2020/02/27/improve-collaboration-
apps-customize-experiences-new-to-
microsoft-365-in-february/
Watch a video at
https://youtu.be/SG3ngNXGUX8

24. Microsoft Stream now allows for screen capture videos
OK… I did NOT know this was coming, but it is *really* cool! You can now use Microsoft Stream to record
screen capture videos up to 15 minutes in length. Think of creating your own short training videos where
you show something on your screen with narration and everything. Here's how that works…
When you're in Microsoft Stream, you can start your screen capture session by selecting Create >
Record Screen:

25. Microsoft Stream now allows for screen capture videos
To start your recording, click the Record button:

26. Microsoft Stream now allows for screen capture videos
Before the recording starts, you get to choose exactly what you want to be capturing. This could be
everything on your screen, a specific application, or a specific tab in Edge. Once you pick what you want
to focus on, click Share:

27. Microsoft Stream now allows for screen capture videos
Your screen capture then starts to record. You have 15 minutes to record your video. You can pause
temporarily if you need to by clicking the Pause button. Once done with your recording, click Next:

28. Microsoft Stream now allows for screen capture videos
At this point, you can either choose to re-record your video (Record Again), or you can Upload To
Stream:

29. Microsoft Stream now allows for screen capture videos
Now you can name the video, add a description, and set other information. Once the item is published,
you can go out and change things such as what channels the video should appear in:

30. Who won the round?
6 vote 16 votes

31. Round 4

32. Email and attachment layout for Outlook on the Web
Lately I've been seeing and experiencing more features specific to Outlook on the Web that makes me
lean even more towards using that as my primary email client. Sandra Mahan brought this one to my
attention last week, and I really love how it combines an email attachment and email content in a way
that makes context even easier to keep front and center. Here's how that looks…
In my Outlook on the Web page, I have an email that contains an attachment. I see the whole email in my
preview pane on the right side, and I can click on the attachment there:

33. Email and attachment layout for Outlook on the Web
When I click on the attachment to open it, a new window opens that has the attachment on the left and
the email on the right, allowing me to have both the email content and the attachment side-by-side. And
if I need more space for the attachment, I can always click the Hide Email link in the upper-right corner to
show only the attachment:

34. Create Tabs in Teams Chats
We’re all familiar with creating Tabs
in Teams, but did you know that you
can also create a Tab in a Chat? It is
a great way to expand your
collaborations with individuals or
small groups without having to
create the more “permanent” Teams
or Channels.
Tabs in channels can be seen by
everyone in the Team, but Tabs in
chats can only be seen by members
of the chat.
The same is true for bots used
within private or group chats, which
you can read more about at
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-
us/microsoftteams/platform/bots/w
hat-are-bots

35. Create Tabs in Teams Chats
To get started, go into the target
chat in Teams and select the + from
the top nav to add a tab.
The Add a Tab dialog will open,
allowing you to select from all of the
apps available to your organization.
In this example, I want to post a
blog post to our chat that we can
reference in our ongoing
conversations.
Once saved, the new tab appears in
our chat, and only members of the
chat can view this information.

36. Who won the round?
17 votes 3 votes

37. Round 5

38. Increase engagement in Teams with the Incentives App
Are you looking to incentivize behaviors
you want to encourage as part of
organizational change management
strategy?
Incentives is a Power Apps template that
manages and tracks incentivized employee
participation in designated activities such
as trainings and change management
initiatives.
Admins use the app to establish
designated activities, assign points for
completion, and specify required eligibility
point levels for rewards. Employees use
the app to view their accumulated points
and, upon reaching eligibility, request and
claim redeemable rewards.

39. Increase engagement in Teams with the Incentives App
Using the Incentives app template in
Microsoft Teams, admins can establish
adoption activities with points, assign
points for completion, create rewards, and
specify required eligibility point levels for
rewards.

40. Increase engagement in Teams with the Incentives App
Employees can use the app to view their
accumulated points, track their position on
a leaderboard, and upon reaching
eligibility, request and claim rewards.
Read more at
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/
microsoft-teams-blog/engage-your-
employees-using-the-incentives-app-in-
teams/ba-p/1339421

41. Stock photos for SharePoint Online pages
When creating pages in SharePoint Online, I have spent *far* too much time looking for that perfect
photo, searching various sites, etc. But now, Microsoft has finally delivered on their promise to provide
stock photos for the image web part! This makes picking pictures SO much easier. Here's how it works…
Here's a new page, and I'm adding an image web part to it:

42. Stock photos for SharePoint Online pages
When the image selection dialog box appears, I now have the option to select Stock Images, and I also
have the ability to search for various images or select pre-defined image categories:

43. Stock photos for SharePoint Online pages
In this case, I've selected the cat photo in the second row and clicked the Insert button at the bottom:

44. Stock photos for SharePoint Online pages
Voila! There's my image, and I can use the image tool bar to resize, crop, and center the image:

45. Who won the round?
5 vote 14 votes

46. Tom!

47. Current
Leaderboard
Most Rounds Won
Tom (61-58-1)
Most Events Won
Tom (12-11)
Most Overall Votes
Tom (1941-1922)
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
1 31 4 64
4 168 6 200
4 108 1 59
2 69 3 64
4 88 1 60
4 69 1 50
3 56 2 78
2 54 3 51
3 114 1 91
1 65 4 104
2 57 3 51
4 67 1 38
TOTAL 61 1941 58 1922
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
9/24/2019 Online
11/26/2019 Online
10/29/2019 Online
5/26/2020 Online
Tom
2/7/2019 Online
4/19/2019 Online
5/22/2019 SPC19
6/20/2019 Online
7/30/2019 Online
8/26/2019 Online
2/24/2020 Online
3/24/2020 Online
4/22/2020 Online

48. Microsoft 365 Productivity Tips
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2020
“June Jam”
Register at http://bit.ly/M365jam
Christian Buckley Tom Duff

49. Thank you!
Christian Buckley
@buckleyplanet
buckleyPLANET.com
Tom Duff
@Duffbert
OneMinuteOfficeMagic.com
Please remember to subscribe on YouTube!