LARA MELLOR MICROSOFT TRAINING BLOG
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Introduction to DAX Functions and Measures
DAX functions are like functions in Excel. There is an overlap with some functions available in both products but there are many functions that are available in one but not the other. DAX functions can be used to create a calculated column or a measure. Measures are...
Top 3 Reasons to Use Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel, a key component of the Microsoft Office suite, is a powerful tool that has become a staple in the corporate world and beyond. Its versatility and robust functionality make it an essential tool for anyone dealing with data. Here are three of the top...
Searching effectively in File Explorer
How many times have you saved a file and then not been able to find it again so you recreate it from scratch. It always makes sense to be careful to store the file in the correct place and to give it a meaningful name but if you still can’t find it then what can you...
When should I use each Visualisation in Power BI?
Choosing the correct visualisation type to help others understand your data is vital. The visualisations should be easily understood by those you are creating the report for and normally show higher level summary data rather than the hundreds or thousands of rows of...
5 New Microsoft 365 Updates
Here are some of the newest additions to Microsoft 365 including setting your work location, viewing meeting information more easily, the new default theme, speaker view in teams meetings and (my favourite) coloured folders. As with any new features these may not yet...
The Power of Power BI: Unleashing the Benefits
In the era of data-driven decision making, businesses are constantly on the lookout for tools that can help them harness the power of data. One such tool that has been making waves in the business intelligence community is Microsoft’s Power BI. Originally released in...
Read Aloud in Microsoft Outlook
Read aloud is an accessibility feature in Microsoft Outlook. For individuals with visual impairments this can be a huge benefit but it is also useful when proofreading as you sometimes notice things that are wrong that you miss when skim reading. It also enables you...
3 Conversation improvements in Teams
Conversations have been a great place to communicate with your team members since teams began but over the years there have been many changes that have been made. The latest 3 don’t change the functionality of team conversations but does improve productivity with...
Creating a Word Template including Cover Pages and Tables
Many of the blogs I create are inspired by questions that come up in training sessions. This one is a little different. I had a request from a client to modify a template that had already been produced for them. It had all the design input they needed but didn’t...
3 Ways to Sort your data in Excel
It’s always good to have choices when you are working in Excel. There will be times when one option is better than another depending on exactly what you are trying to do. So here are 3 ways to perform your sort. Any of these methods can be used to sort text,...
Collaborative Meeting agendas in Microsoft Teams
Having an agenda for a teams meeting can really help give the meeting structure and purpose. Allowing any person invited to the meeting to be able to edit the same agenda before or during the meeting is a much more time efficient way to work. This feature is new to...
Top 5 Outlook Calendar Timesavers
Calendars are an integral part of Microsoft Outlook and the calendar is such a useful tool for setting up meetings and appointments. We all want to find a way to save time and these 5 shortcuts could be just what you are looking for. They are not the most...
Adding the Canva App to Microsoft Teams
I have been using Canva for many years now and found it super useful for creating graphics for social media. But imagine having this available directly from Teams. Without leaving the Microsoft Teams environment you can nip into Canva and start collaborating with...
WRAPROWS and WRAPCOLS Functions in Microsoft Excel
These are a couple more of the new dynamic array functions. They both take a list of data and transform it into a block of data with a maximum number of values in each row or column respectively. This would be useful if you had a list of people and wanted to divide...
Working with Avatars in Microsoft Teams
Sometimes when you are in a meeting you don’t really feel like turning on your camera but turning it totally off seems a bit impersonal. Avatars are a halfway house. Avatars have been around in many products for quite a while but have only recently become available...
3 New Teams features you might have missed
Microsoft continues its updates to Microsoft team meetings by rolling out more new features over the last few months. Here are 3 of the latest. Assign seats in Together Mode Together mode has been around for a while now and gives you the ability to sit people in an...
Using the Timeline View in Project for the Web
The timeline view in Project for the Web allows you to see a pictorial representation when each of the tasks will take place in a Gantt Chart view. It enables you to see the flow of the project more effectively than the other views available. Adding new tasks New...
Why is Replace so useful in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Power BI?
Replace is a simple but powerful feature throughout the Microsoft suite. It helps you to find some text (or numbers or dates) and replace it with something else. Microsoft Word In Word it is often used where information has changed but has already been used...
The Loop App
The Loop App is in Public Preview at the time of writing. If you have not come across Loop before it enables you to create and update information in a mix of places and everywhere it is used updates automatically. This makes it a great way to allow individuals to...
Top 5 PowerPoint Hints and Tips
Microsoft PowerPoint is a fabulous presentation tool but you can spend hours just getting it to look as you want. Here are my top 5 hints and tips to help produce fantastic slides in no time at all!! Reset Layout When you have been provided with a slide where the...
Working with the Board view in Project for the Web
The board view in project for the web is a great place to look at your project plan with your tasks grouped in different ways. This can help give you clarity on the jobs each person has to do, the priority of the tasks and so much more. Navigate to the Board View...
Why do dates not work properly in Microsoft Excel?
This blog arises from comments I get quite regularly when talking about dates in Excel. Why do they not sort or filter correctly? Or, when I try to format them it doesn’t work? All will become clear when you understand how dates operate. How should I type in dates?...
What are Header Icons in Power BI Desktop?
Header icons are often overlooked when using or producing a Power BI report but it is important to understand the implications of ignoring their impact for the end user. Where are Header Icons found? Header icons sit at the top right of each visualisation by default...
Working with the Grid View in Project for the Web
The grid view is a table containing information about the tasks that need to be performed to complete a project. The columns visible can be customised depending on what is most useful to see. The project can be structured using summary tasks and milestones. Adding a...
5 top time saving tips when emailing in Outlook
Here are some top tips to speed up your way of working in Microsoft Outlook. I’m sure that most of these actions you have already been using but hopefully these tips will make the process much quicker and more efficient. Add emails to a calendar This is useful if you...
How to access frequently used files more quickly in Teams
There are always going to be files that we need to access more frequently than others and if we can find a quick way to access them then this is going to save us loads of time in the long run. Here we will look at 2 options that will help. These are Pin to top and...
What is Project for the Web?
I recently ran a course on Project for the Web for a client who was unsure about what it could actually do so I wondered how many others are in the same position. So here is a quick overview of how it can help you to plan your projects successfully. Project for the...
How to create a planner task from a conversation in Microsoft Teams
You will often find that you have a lot of conversations taking place across a lot of team channels. Much of this these will be for information only with no action required on your part or may be actionable really quickly and then you don’t need to worry about it...
5 Simple Time saving tips in Word
There are loads of complex features in Word but it’s often the simplest things that can have the biggest impact on our day to day productivity. Here are 5 really quick wins that you may not be aware of. Show/Hide This icon shows and hides unprintable characters which...
What is a Gauge in Power BI?
Gauges are a nifty visualisation that can show whether a target has been met or not. This is really powerful to know and showing this is such a visual way can have a huge impact on the understanding of the data. They can even be set up to change colour on this basis...
Sharing a file directly from Word
If you are working in Microsoft Word and then you realise that the file needs to be shared with someone else then you do not have to open up Outlook or Microsoft Teams to share it. This can be done seamlessly from Word. Sharing the file rather than attaching it in an...
How do I find the email I’ve lost?
This is something that I get asked over and over again. Sometimes it’s because you just have too many emails to try and hunt through, or it may be that you have filed it away in the wrong place so it’s’ not where you expect it to be or even that you have accidentally...
How can Power Automate help me work more efficiently?
Power Automate is one of the apps in Microsoft 365. It is designed to speed up things that you are doing regularly by creating a flow. This can be run automatically when something else happens, it can be run on a recurring basis such as once a week or manually when...
Status Messages in Microsoft Teams
Setting a status helps others you are working with to know whether you are available or not and therefore how quickly you are likely to be able to answer any messages that are sent. A status message can be used in addition to provide more information and, if...
Why should you use Categories in Microsoft Outlook Tasks and Calendars?
Categories are a much overlooked feature in Outlook and can make a huge difference to your productivity if utilised in the right way for your needs. It can be used in most areas of Outlook but not the To Do app. The To Do app is rolling out to Microsoft 365 clients...
How to collaborate effectively using Microsoft Teams
This blog comes about after a session with a client where they had their information all over the place. Much of it was duplicated which is a recipe for disaster as one document gets changed, the other one doesn’t and you no longer know which is correct. They even...
Working with Custom Fields in MS Project
Microsoft Project is a project planning tool. Behind the scenes there is a database that holds all the information for the plan. Although you cannot create new fields in Project there are plenty of customisable fields that can be used for anything you may require. ...
Bookable Times in Outlook Online
Do you find that you sometimes want to give people several options of times to book with you but are fed up with the backwards and forwards email communication required to make that happen? Then bookable times could be exactly what you have been waiting for. You can...
Teams Meetings Toolbar has a Redesign
Microsoft Teams Meetings has had many features added over the last few years but recently a redesign of the toolbar landed. Several of the options that were tucked away have now been moved so they are more accessible and the long “more” menu has sub menus making...
Creating a Customised Table in Microsoft Word
Often when tables are created in Word they are fairly standard with each row containing the same number of columns. If you are looking to create something that is more bespoke then using the Draw Table option may be more effective than having to spend a lot of time...
Loop Components in Outlook for the Web
At the time of writing Loop components are currently only available for the web version of Microsoft Outlook. Loop Components allow you to edit content with others and see the changes instantly wherever you are accessing them from. They are built for collaboration....
New Chat Features in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is constantly evolving and here are 2 new chat features you may not have realised are now available. It is now possible to record short videos as a response or delay the sending of a chat message id required. Record a Video in Chat This feature is...
Using Polls in Teams Meetings
Polls are a fantastic way to add interactivity into a meeting. They can even be created in advanced and launched during the meeting for a smoother experience. At the time of writing the Forms app and the Polls app work in the same way. At some point in the future it...
Creating a Bar of Pie Chart
What is a Bar of Pie Chart I hear you say!! This type of chart is perfect if some of the data in your pie chart is much smaller than others and is such a small segment of the overall data that it barely shows up. The smallest figures can be shown on a separate...
Implementing Microsoft Teams in your company
Microsoft Teams is a fantastic tool for company collaboration but there are a few key decisions to make to ensure that everyone is using the software consistently to avoid frustration and ensure the most is made of the software. Can everyone set up Teams and Channels?...
Backing Up and Transferring Email Hosting Using Microsoft Outlook
If you are moving your website and email hosting, it’s usually a quick and easy job to switch over your domain to your new host by changing your DNS name severs. However, doing this without losing all your existing emails takes a little bit of extra work. We recently...
Search Folders in Outlook
Are you constantly doing the same searches over and over again? You don’t want to move the emails into a specific folder or the emails you are searching for have been filed in more than one folder? Then search folders could be a great addition to your Outlook...
Attendance Register in Microsoft Teams
When you are running a meeting in Microsoft Teams it can be useful to have a list of those that have attended the meeting. This may be because you are running a session for an external company and they aren’t attending the meeting themselves or for an internal...
Using the EXPAND Function to expand an array
The EXPAND Function expands an array to a specific number of rows and columns. The expanded array can be padded with any character you require. At the time of writing this function is only available to some Microsoft 365 Insider users but is likely to roll out to...
Top 3 Problems people have with Microsoft Teams Meetings
Microsoft teams is a great tool for online meetings but every now and then you come across and problem and don’t know how to solve it. Here are the top 3 issues that people have related to online Teams meetings and some things to try to solve the problems. My meeting...