20 Tips for Mastering M365
Execution means everything in today’s marketplace. Businesses that achieve their goals satisfy their customers and set the stage for growth and prosperity. Similarly, employees that efficiently execute their tasks and other responsibilities contribute to the success of their company and increase their personal value.
Note, the following content was originally created to provide tips for Office 365, but it has been updated to reflect changes in M365. Enjoy!
Outlook
1. How to Recall an Email
- 1. Navigate to your Sent Items folder and double-click the message you wish to bring back.
- 2. Select File > Info
- 3. Select Message Resend and Recall > Recall This Message and you have a choice to select two options:
- Delete unread copies of this message to recall the sent message; or:
- Delete unread copies and replace with a new message – this will replace your sent message with a new message that you can edit/compose based off the original.
- 4. If desired, check the box to Tell me if recall succeeds or fails for each recipient.
- 5. Click the OK button.
2. How to Automate Recurring Tasks and Filing with Quick Steps
The Quick Steps feature includes several templates for automating Outlook tasks, so you can save time using the following steps:
- 1. In Mail, navigate to Home
- 2. Next, navigate to the Quick Steps group, within the Quick Steps gallery, and select “Create new” Quick Step.
- 3. Enter a name for your new Quick step in the Name box.
- 1. Under the Actions option, choose the action that you want the Quick Step to do. For any additional actions, select Add Action.
- 2. You also have the option to create a keyboard shortcut: go to the Shortcut key box and select the shortcut you want to assign.
- 1. Open MFCMAPI.
- 2. Accept any prompts from the application until you see the primary window.
- 3. Click Session and then Logon from the main menu.
- 4. Choose the profile you wish to backup from the Choose Profile dialog box. A window will open that shows all your mailboxes and .pst files used with Outlook. Double-click on the mailbox for which you want to create a Quick Steps backup.
- 5. Expand the Root – Mailbox or Root Container folder in the navigation panel.
- 6. Look for a folder called Top Information Store, IPM_SUBTREE or Top of Outlook Data File and expand it.
- 7. Find the folder called Quick Step Settings and right click on it. From the context menu, choose Export Folder and then As MSG files.
- 8. In the Save Folder Contents to MSG, check both check boxes and then click OK.
- 9. Use the Browse for Folder option to find a location to store your Quick Steps backup. The system will save each Quick Step as a file, so you might want to create a new folder to store your backup.
- 10. Click OK to start exporting your data.
- 11. Close the open windows to shut down MFCMAPI or repeat steps 4 through 10 to backup Quick Steps from other mailboxes.
OneDrive
3. How to Access Local Files Remotely
- 1. Right-click on OneDrive in the Windows taskbar and choose settings from the menu.
- 2. Click the box associated with the Let me use OneDrive to fetch any of my files on this PC option, and then click the OK button.
- 3. Use the Windows Start menu to find OneDrive and open it. Doing so starts the service.
Now, use the below steps to fetch files from a Windows computer:
- 1. Visit https://onedrive.live.com from the remote computer. Log into the account used by your host computer.
- 2. Click the Settings icon at the top left of your OneDrive window and then choose the PCs option from the list.
- 3. Choose the host PC from the list that hosts the files you wish to access.
- 4. If you have not connected previously to the host computer, you will probably need to acquire a security code via SMS or email and enter it into the space provided.
- 5. Browse the PST computer using the web-based OneDrive interface.
Excel
4. How to Forecast from Historical Data
- 1. Open or create a worksheet with two corresponding data series. Use a set with your data and another one with time or date values for your timeline that has regular intervals so that you can get the best possible results. Select both sets of data with your mouse.
- 2. Click on Excel’s Data tab and then click the Forecast Sheet icon.
- 3. Choose either a line or column chart from the Create Forecast Worksheet window.
- 4. Enter an end date and time in the Forecast End box and then click the Create button to generate the forecast worksheet.
- 5. Customize your forecast by clicking Options.
5. Import and Refresh Data from the Web
- 1. Click on the New Query option from Excel’s Data tab and then choose From Web from the Other Sources list.
- 2. Type or paste the URL of the page that contains the data you wish to import and refresh.
- 3. Use the previews generated by Excel to find the table that contains the data you need. When you find it, click Load. The data will appear in your worksheet.
- 4. Later, refresh your data by right-clicking in the table and choosing Refresh from the context menu.
6. How to “Unpivot” Data
- 1. Open Query Editor from the Data ribbon inside Excel.
- 2. From the Get & Transform section, choose the From Table option. If your data does not have clear formatting, the feature might first ask you to define a data range. After that, select the columns you want to Unpivot.
- 3. Click the Transform tab and then choose Unpivot Columns.
- 4. After executing the Unpivot, you will see two new columns at the right called Attribute and Value.
- 5. Rename the columns to anything that makes sense to you.
- 6. Save your work to Excel’s default location by clicking File and then Close & Load. If you want to choose an alternate location, select the Close & Load To option. If you close without saving, you will have a chance to save your changes to a new worksheet.
7. How to Extract Data from Dynamics 365 CRM to Standard Word and Excel Documents
- 1. From inside Dynamics CRM, navigate to Templates section of your settings.
- 2. In the Templates section, click the Document Templates efforts.
- 3. You will now see a list of templates to choose from. You can use one of the templates now or click the New option to create a new one.
- 4. After clicking New, you can choose between creating a Word or Excel template.
- 5. Click on Word Template. Under Select data, choose Contact from the dropdown box.
- 6. Click the Select Entity button from one-to-many, many-to-many or many-to-one relationships. Your choice will depend on the purpose of your document.
- 7. For this example, choose the many-to-one relationship called Account.
- 8. Click Open in the dialog box. You will see your template open in Microsoft Word.
- 9. Set up XML Mapping by clicking on the Developers tab, then click XML Mapping. Choose urn:microsoft-crm/document-template/[entity name]/.
- 10. Expand the Contact by clicking the arrow on the left. You will see available field controls that you can insert into your document.
- 11. Scroll to full name, right-click it, and then choose Insert Content Control. Select the Plain Text option. Continue inserting controls until you have the ones you need.
- 12.Name your template and save it.
- 13.Back in Dynamics, navigate to Settings and then Templates.
- 14.Click the Upload template option.
- 15.Here you can drag your saved template file from Windows to the Upload Template box or use the interface to navigate to your file and upload it.
- 16.When the document template loads, enter the Properties and Name.
- 17.CRM will auto-activate your template. Next, you will activate security.
- 18.Click Enable Security Roles. You can enable your template for everyone or for particular roles, such as CSR Manager.
- 19.Choose the appropriate security role and then click OK.
- 20.Use your new template by navigating to the contact record for which you need to create a document. Click the three-dot icon on the navigation bar and then choose Word Template. Choose your template from the list.
8. How to Back Up M365 / Office 365 Data
Word
9. How to Revert to Older Document Versions in Word
Word gives users like you the ability to view historical versions of all your files. To do this, follow a few simple steps:
- 1. From the OneDrive for Business web interface, choose the file you wish to restore by clicking on it.
- 2. Open the context menu by clicking on the three-dot icon and then choose Version History.
- 3. Select the revision that interests you and choose to either View it or Restore it using the context menu.
- 4.When replacing your file with a past version, you will see a dialog box asking you to confirm the action. Click OK to make the change.
Access
10. How to Create a Web App
- 1. Within Access, select Custom web app.
- 2. In the Custom web app dialog, create your app by first entering its name and choosing an available SharePoint or Office 365 site for its location. You can enter the SharePoint or M365 / Office 365 site URL in the space provided. If you need help, click the Get help finding your web location link.
- 3. Browse templates by clicking the circled-right arrow to the right of the dialog box.
- 4.Click the Create button.
11. How to Build and Manage Database Table Relationships
- 1. Open the Database Tools tab from the Ribbon.
- 2. Click the Relationships button. When doing this for the first time, you might also see the Show Table box appear.
- 1. Choose Show Table from the Relationships section of the ribbon if you do not already see it.
- 2. Use your mouse to click Add to add tables for which you will define relationships.
- 3. When you finish adding tables, click the Close button.
- 1. Choose the tables to which you want to add a relationship. Most of the time, you will want to make a one-to-many relationship. You use one table as the Parent and a second table as the Child. Choose a field from the Parent table that contains unique information by left-clicking it with your mouse and drag it to the corresponding field in your Child table and release your mouse.
- 2. In the Edit Relationship box, choose Enforce Referential Integrity and then click the OK button.
- 3. You now see a line connecting the two fields in the Relationships window.
- 4. Repeat the above steps to create additional relationships, if needed.
- 1. Click the line that represents the relationship you want to edit. The line will darken.
- 2. Use the Delete key to remove the relationship or double-click to open the Edit Relationships box to modify it.
12. How to Create a Navigation Form
- 1. Open the database for which you will create a navigation form. When the file opens, open the Create tab. You will see the Forms icons near the center of the ribbon.
- 2. Click the Navigation button to see a list of available Navigation layouts.
- 3. Select a layout. A form appears in Layout view, ready for editing.
- 4. If you do not see the Navigation pane, press F11 to display it and see your database objects. Do not confuse the Navigation form with the Navigation pane. The form is what you are now creating from the ribbon. The Pane is the embedded window that shows your database objects.
- 5. Drag an object from the Navigation pane to an Add New tab on the Navigation form. You now see the object’s name rather than the Add New tab. Notice that the object now displays in the form’s center.
- 6. Repeat Step 5 until you have added every needed object. While in Layout view, you can edit the names of the tab by clicking the name until you see a cursor.
- 7. On the Access toolbar, click Save to save the form. Access will give you a chance to name your Navigation form. Now you see your Navigation form in the Navigation pane. You can open your Navigation form in the same way you open your database’s other forms.
- 1. Open it in Layout view. Do this by giving your form a right-click and then choosing Layout View from the context menu.
- 2. Select the label in the form’s header by clicking it once, and then click it again to get an editable cursor.
- 3. Enter the desired name for your label and then press Enter.
- 1. Open the form in Layout view.
- 2. In the header, right-click, and then choose Form Properties.
- 3. Look in the Property Sheet to find the All tab. Change the form caption as you desire.
- 1. Right-click on any report or form in the Navigation pane and then choose Layout View.
- 2. Change to the Design tab and use the Themes options to select various themes that change the database’s colors and fonts.
- 3. If you only want to give your database different colors, leaving the fonts alone, use the Colors options.
- 4. You can change the fonts without changing the colors by using the Fonts options.
- 5. Select an option from the Themes section to change the colors and the fonts for your database. Preview each theme by hovering over it with your mouse and then apply it with a single click.
- 1. Click Options under File and then Help.
- 2. Choose Current Database.
- 3. From Application Options access the Display Form list and choose the name of your navigation form.
- 4. If applicable, change the default form when your database opens on a SharePoint server, choose the form from the Web Display Form list under Application Options and choose your form’s name.
Publisher
13. How to Create a Mail Merge
- 1. After opening a new Publisher file, choose Blank Page Sizes from the Popular Publication Types panel. Choose an available page size and then click on Tools from the menu bar. Use your mouse to select the Mailings and Catalogs option. When the sub-menu appears, choose Create Address List. You now see the New Address List dialog.
- 2. Define Column Fields. You must have two or more categories selected for your columns. Use the Customized Columns button at the lower left corner of the New Address List dialog and choose the headers for your columns that will hold information for your contacts. Highlight the column names such as First Name, Last Name, and Email Address and click Add. Close the dialog by clicking OK when you have finished adding columns.
- 3. In the New Address List window, type in the information for your first contact. Use your mouse to enable the empty field below the header of the first column. Use Tab to move to the next column. At the very least, add an email address and name for each contact.
- 4. Use the New Entry button to add a new entry. You can delete entries using the Delete button in the New Address List panel. When you have finished entering contacts, click the OK button to exit. Enter name for your mailing list and then click Save to finish your Mail Merge list.
- 1. Open Publisher and choose the Email option from the Publication Types menu in the left hand panel. When the Email Templates menu opens, choose an available template and then click the Create button at the bottom right.
- 2. Compose your message and signature. You can import a document created using a different application by opening it and then copying its text and pasting it the Text place holder in Publisher. Paste text into the next placeholder for your signature and fill-in other appropriate placeholders. You have finished your message.
- 3. Associate your message with your mail merge list by opening the Mail Merge task pain from the Mailings and Catalogs menu under Tools. Inside the Mail Merge pane, use the option to open an existing mailing list. Use the navigation tools to find the file you created earlier and then double-click it to start the merge. Notice the Mail Merge recipients panel open that displays the information for each contact. Click the checkbox next to each contact to whom you will send the message you created. Click Next: Create merged publications at the bottom of the panel to connect your message with your list of addresses.
14. How to Create a Publication from a Template
- 1. From the Start Page, choose Built-In and then choose a template category. Click on a template to discover whether it works with the number that matches your Avery product.
- 2. When you find the Avery template that matches your needs, click Create.
- 3. Use available Page Design options to change the fonts, colors and other attributes used in your document.
15. Use Building Blocks to Quickly Create a Publication
- Calendars – Stories, sidebars and headings
- Page Parts – Stories, sidebars and headings
- Borders and Accents – Reusable graphic elements
- Advertisements – Coupons and other advertising content
- Business Information – Contacts and other information about your company
Create and save Building Blocks such as borders and images and make them searchable by assigning keywords to them using a simple process:
- 1. Choose an element you would like to save for reuse and save it by right-clicking it and choosing the Save as Building Block option.
- 2. When you see the Create New Building Block window open, enter appropriate information including:
- Title – Give your block a name
- Description – Add optional information to help you identify your Building Block in the futureGallery – Select the gallery to which you would like to add your new Building Block
- Show in Gallery – Decide whether you want to see your Building Block while browsing the gallery
- Category – Choose a pre-defined category for your Building Block or create a new one
- Keywords – Add keywords to make your Building Block easier to find when you search for it
- 1. Use the Page Navigation panel to choose the page to which you want to add a Building Block.
- 2. Select Insert and then click the Building Block that you want to insert on the page.
- 3. Scroll through the Building Block list or click More to find the Building Block you wish to use.
- 4. Click your desired Building Block to insert it. You can now resize and move it as needed.
Visio
Visio for M365
16. How to Create 3D Shapes
Project
17. How to Prevent Resource Over-Allocation
- 1. Choose Blank Project and then choose the Resource tab.
- 2. Click on the arrow beside Team Planner and then choose the Resource Sheet option.
- 3. Click on the Add Resources option to import the resource information that you already have.
- 4. Enter new resource information by clicking on Work Resource. Add the name and details for your resource.
- 1. Open your Resource Pool project.
- 2. Open the project that will use your pool’s resources by choosing Resource, Resource Pool, Shared Resources.
- 3. Click on the Use Resources option and then choose your Resource Pool project from the dropdown box.
- 4. Choose either the Pool Takes Precedence or Sharer Takes Precedence option to deal with conflicting requests.
- 5. Use your selected resources for your project. Meanwhile, Project will add resources from your project to the Resource Pool.
- 1. Navigate to Project Service and then choose Projects.
- 2. Select the relevant project.
- 3. Use the down arrow from the bar at the top of the screen to select the Resource Requirements option.
- 4. Choose the roles for which you want to request resources and then click the Submit Request option with your mouse.
- 5. Alternatively, you can choose the Hard Book function to hard book a resource after you select a role. After selecting the option, you will see a calendar that shows resources with color-coded availability information. Use available tools to increase the precision of your resource search
- 6. A resource manager will review and approve (or deny) your resource requests.
18. How to Specify an Alternate Date Format in Individual Project Tables
- 1. Use your mouse to access the View ribbon.
- 2. From the Data section of the ribbon, click on Tables and then More Tables from the list.
- 3. Use the More Tables box to choose the table for which you want to change the date format.
- 4. Click Date format in the Table Definition window to choose the format for the dates.
- 5. Click OK to apply.
- 6. Click Apply in the More Tables box to apply your changes.
Power BI
19. How to Shape and Combine Your Data
20. How to Create Reports and Share Reports and Dashboards
- 1. Canvas – The area where you visually create your report; begin creating your report by adding fields from the Fields panel by dragging them to your canvas
- 2. Visualizations – A collection of charts and other visual tools used to present your data; use the Visualization section of the ribbon to change the type of visualization used for your report; for example, Power BI can create a map based on geolocation data if you have it available
- 3. Fields – The collection of data fields available for each query; drag the fields to the canvas to create your report
- 4. Filters – Tools used to choose what data appears in your report
- 5. Views – Use Report View, Data View and Relationship View to define your report
- 6. Click Apply in the More Tables box to apply your changes.
- 1. Publish your report using the Power BI service. On the Home ribbon, choose the Publish option.
- 2. Upload your .pbix file from the Power BI service. To access the Power BI service, visit app.powerbi.com in your Web browser and then click Get Data and then Get. Click Files panel, choose Local File and then choose your report file from the Reports panel to upload it.
- 3. Save your report and send it just as you would any other file. Use your mouse to click File and then Save As. Click the Share icon.
- 1. Open the dashboard you want to share and then click the Share icon.
- 2. In the Share dashboard window, click Invite and enter the email addresses of the people with whom you want to share your dashboard. You can also modify the default message. A yellow warning bar will appear if you invite an external user who is not part of your organization.
- 3. Check the Allow recipients to share your dashboard option if you want recipients to re-share your dashboard.
- 4. You can choose to share your dashboard with as many as 500 coworkers using Office 365 within your company, or you can share with people outside your firm by sending them a link via email.
- 5. Click the Share button.
- 1. First open the dashboard that you must un-share.
- 2. This time, click the Shared with button. You will see a list of all the people who have access to your dashboard.
- 3. Click the dots next to Can view and choose Stop sharing to revoke access. You can also use the Disable re-shares option to prevent people from re-sharing your Dashboard.
Conclusion
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