Microsoft Office Blog by Chris Menard

Working with Time in Microsoft Excel | Time Functions and Conversion

Do you need to add or subtract time in Excel? Some time calculations are easy, but depending on how the time is entered, you may need to use the TIME function or formula to add or subtract time. For example, if you have 9am in B2, and in cell C2, you have 3, for three hours, you can't add them with B2+C2 and get the correct answer without the TIME function.

Zoom - easily play a video file - Zoom 5.5.0 new feature!

Zoom has made it easy to share and play video files in a meeting. Part of the 5.5.0 update on 2/1/2021 allows you to select a video file and Zoom immediately opens the file, shares audio, and plays the video as shared content.

Zoom - Blur your background - virtual background - New Feature

Zoom's latest update, 5.5.0, came out on February 1, 2021. One of the many new features is the ability to blur your background. You can still select a specific virtual background, but the blurred background is a great feature if you need added privacy.

Outlook Sweep Feature - Awesome built-in tool to keep your inbox clean

The Sweep feature in Outlook gives you options to automatically delete all incoming emails from a particular sender, to keep only the latest email, or to delete emails older than 10 days (which I use all the time). Sweep is a great way of keeping your inbox clean.

Upload Files in Microsoft Forms - New Feature!

Microsoft Forms allows you to create a survey with multiple question types. One of the NEW question types is the "File upload". So users can now upload files in a survey! This is an awesome feature. The files are stored in a SharePoint folder and automatically marked with the person's name that uploaded the files. You can specify the number of files someone can upload and the maximum file size.

Word and Outlook - Dictate with Auto Punctuation and Voice Commands

The Dictate feature in Word and Outlook has been greatly improved. Dictate will now allow Auto Punctuation, Voice Commands, and a Profanity Filter. The Dictate command works in the Desktop apps - Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Interestingly, the new improvements only work in Word and Outlook.

Zoom admit Waiting Room users while in a Breakout Room

Zoom's Waiting Room & Breakout Rooms are both great features. One of the issues addressed with Zoom 5.4.9 released on 1/11/21, is if the Host was in a breakout room, the host didn't know if someone was in the Waiting Room. This issue has been resolved with this update from Zoom.

PowerPoint Presenter View in Microsoft Teams

Share PowerPoint slides in a meeting in Presenter View! If you're a presenter and choose to share a PowerPoint file in a meeting, you will have some behind-the-scenes capabilities with the new presenter view. As the presenter, you will see the current slide, your slide notes or speaker notes, and thumbnails of all the slides in your deck.

Today Function in Excel

The TODAY function is a date/time function that shows the current date based on your computer time. The TODAY function will update automatically.

Teams Channel Calendar now available - New Feature

Channels in Teams can have their own calendar. This is a great new feature that allows Teams members to quickly see upcoming channel meetings all in one place.

OneNote - Copy text from picture - 2 reasons to use this awesome feature

Microsoft OneNote allows you to copy the text from a picture or image. OneNote supports Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which allows you to copy text from an image or picture and paste it on your notes or another application, like Word or Outlook, so you can edit the text. Another incredible feature on OneNote and OCR is the text in the picture is searchable!

OneDrive Personal Vault brings added security

OneDrive personal vault works with Microsoft OneDrive for personal accounts. It is an added layer of security. Nothing in the vault can be shared, and it requires 2FA.