Microsoft Office Blog by Chris Menard

Excel - 3 Cool methods to extract text from the beginning of a text string

We frequently need to extract part of a text string in Microsoft Excel. We are going to extract the first part of a text string. Examples of text string parts you would extract include product numbers, employee IDs, and accounting numbers.

Excel - switch between relative, absolute, and mixed references

Excel has three cell references - Relative, Absolute, and Mixed. It is critical to understand when to use each reference in Excel.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Microsoft 365

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is in all Microsoft 365 apps - Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Teams, and other M365 apps. In Excel, we have Analyze data on the Home tab and the ability to get data from a picture or screenshot.

Analyze Data Command in Excel - Ask questions about your data using AI

Need to quickly understand your data in Excel and ask questions about your data? Easy to do using Excel's Analyze Data command located on the Home tab in Excel. Analyze Data using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

New Teams coming soon!

New Microsoft Teams is coming out soon. Teams has been rebuilt, and apps will launch 2x fasters, and Teams will consume 50% less memory.

Excel - Easily Break Up Data using Subtotals and Conditional Formatting

After sorting in Excel, we will look at two great methods for separating blocks of data or showing a clean separator between our groups.

Microsoft Teams - Virtual Appointment - No app required!

Microsoft Teams is rolling out Virtual Appointments. Virtual Appointments make it easy to schedule meetings, and the meeting attendees do not need to install Teams. Even joining from an Android or iPhone, there is no need to install Teams.

Teams Video Call or Meeting - Toggle View - Teams Tip

When you are in a Teams Meeting, or Video call, you can toggle between the shared screen and the presenter. This is a great tip when someone is sharing but then starts a discussion. You want to see the person and not the shared screen.

Outlook - Manage your Inbox using Ignore, Archive, Block, Delete, and Clean Up

Your inbox in Microsoft Outlook can become overwhelming to manage. The average office worker receives around 121 emails every workday. Microsoft Outlook has some easy commands located on the Home tab to help manage your inbox.

Excel - Combine the SORT, UNIQUE, and COUNT functions

Excel has dynamic array functions. Two of the dynamic array function are SORT and UNIQUE. I will combine SORT and UNIQUE and also combine them with COUNT and the COUNTA functions. This came from a user that asked how many unique zip codes were in a spreadsheet.

Zoom - Create Breakout Rooms From Poll Results - New Feature - January 2023

Zoom has a great new feature using Polls and Breakout Rooms. Now, when you launch polls, you can create breakout rooms from the poll results! This feature is part of Zoom 5.13.5 released on January 16, 2023.

Excel Sorting Tips with Chris Menard on January 24, 2023

Chris Menard will be live on YouTube and Linked showing Sorting Tips in Excel on January 24, 2023.