Microsoft Office Blog by Chris Menard

Chris Menard's Training Roundup | Issue #2

Issue 2 of my training roundup - frequent news and updates from the business training world, available as a free subscription.

Zoom update: Filters, Lighting, and PowerPower as a background

Zoom's August update is one of the best Zoom updates! Included are part of Zoom's August 2020 update. There are 11 new/enhanced features for Zoom Meetings in this update.

Microsoft Teams Meetings Update: New Features for Pop-out Meetings, Focus Mode, Meeting Notes and more | July 2020

Microsoft has some major features scheduled for release for Microsoft Teams, particularly to do with Meetings

Create a Poll in an Outlook email

Outlook now allows you to quickly create a poll in an email. This works with in conjunction with Microsoft Forms, but you do NOT have to go to Forms to use this feature. You create your poll directly in the email.

Three TIPS for Sharing Your Screen, Before You Start a Zoom Meeting

Here's how to prepare your desktop for a Zoom meeting during which you'll have to share your screen. Make sure things are prepared to reduce distraction and embarrassment.

Chris Menard's Training Roundup | Issue #1

The first (welcome) issue of Chris Menard's Training Roundup - Free Email Newsletter.

Excel Automatic Data Type: Dog Breeds and Diseases

Excel's Automatic Data Types recognizes similar data. In this video, I type in different dog breeds in columns A and Excel finds the breeds and returns data information.

Zip Code data type in Excel

To use the Zip Code data type, select your zip codes, and Excel will return important information. Data includes the median household income, latitude, longitude, population by marital status

DeKalb Chapter of CPAs - Technology tips in the shift to the virtual world

Chris Menard will present a Zoom training session to the DeKalb Chapter of CPAs on June 30, 2020, at 5:30 pm. Covered in the 1-hour session will be advanced Zoom hosting tips.

Teams download custom background images for Family Guy, the Simpsons and other shows

Fox has created backgrounds you can use as custom images in Teams meetings. The background images include The Simpsons, Family Guy, The Masked Singer, LEGO Masters, Bob's Burgers, and others.

Zoom Passcodes will be required for all meetings or a Waiting Room enabled starting July 19th

Zoom Passcodes are going to be required, OR a waiting room must be enabled for all zoom meetings from July 19, 2020. Yes, that is a new term from Zoom: Passwords are now called Passcodes.

Teams add your own virtual background directly in Teams

Microsoft has released a Teams meetings update that allows meeting participants to upload their own personal backgrounds. Teams is known for the popular blurry background effect and soon added pre-installed backgrounds. Now Teams allow custom backgrounds to be added easily.