Top 10 Hidden Features in Microsoft Office 365 You Should Know

Microsoft Office 365, which provides solutions for both personal and business requirements, has emerged as a key component of productivity. Although Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are well-known capabilities that most users are familiar with, Office 365 has several hidden tools that can help you become even more productive.

10 lesser-known features that you should investigate in order to get the most out of this software package are revealed in this article.

1. Dictation Tool in Word

Long papers can take a long time to type, but you can create text by speaking with Word's Dictation Tool. You can save time and effort by using this feature, which is available from the Home page, to turn your spoken words into text. It is an undiscovered treasure that boosts output and is ideal for multitasking.

Pro Tip: For increased accuracy, use a good microphone and a quiet setting.

2. Excel’s Ideas Feature

Excel's Ideas function uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically evaluate data and produce insights. You can get suggestions for charts, patterns, and trends with a single click that could otherwise take hours to find by hand.

How to Use: Click the Ideas button in the Home tab after selecting your data.

For those without a deep understanding of analytics, this Office 365 trick is perfect for understanding big datasets.

3. PowerPoint Designer

Creating visually appealing slides has never been easier. PowerPoint Designer generates AI-powered suggestions for slide layouts, pictures, and designs based on your content. In only a few minutes, you can create presentations that look professional, even if you're not very skilled with design.

Why It's Helpful: You may focus on making your argument rather than perfecting the visuals because it streamlines the creative process.

4. Real-Time Collaboration with Comments

Office 365 enables multiple users to work on a document simultaneously. While collaboration isn’t new, the enhanced commenting feature allows you to tag team members directly. Just type “@” followed by a name to notify someone of a specific task or query.

Smooth teamwork is ensured by this function, particularly in remote work settings.

5. Outlook’s Focused Inbox

Emails can easily overwhelm your day, but Outlook’s Focused Inbox automatically separates essential emails from less important ones. By organizing your inbox intelligently, this tool ensures you don’t miss critical messages.

Pro Tip: Train the feature by alternating emails between the focused and other tabs to increase its accuracy.

6. OneNote’s OCR Capability

You can extract text from photos using OneNote's Optical Character Recognition (OCR) feature. When working with scanned papers, screenshots, or photos of handwritten notes, this hidden feature is quite helpful.

For instance, Use Case: OneNote can turn meeting notes into editable text when you snap a photo of them.

7. Microsoft Teams Meeting Recording

Many users overlook the ability to record meetings in Microsoft Teams. The recordings are stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, making them easily shareable and accessible later. For individuals who were unable to attend or for reviewing significant conversations, this function is invaluable.

Productivity Tip: Store recorded sessions with timestamps for easy browsing in a knowledge base by utilizing this functionality.

8. Planner Integration with To-Do

Microsoft Planner seamlessly integrates with To-Do, enabling you to track tasks across projects in one place. To make sure nothing gets missed, tasks assigned in Planner automatically show up on your to-do list.

Why It Is Important This integration, which combines team-based project tracking with personal task management, is a real efficiency boost for working professionals.

9. Immersive Reader

Immersive Reader in Word and Outlook, which was created with inclusivity in mind, improves readability by modifying backdrop color, font size, and text spacing. Additionally, it has a read-aloud feature, which makes it a useful tool for people who have reading or vision difficulties.

Where to Look for It: While reading emails in Outlook or in Word's View tab, search for Immersive Reader.

10. Version History in SharePoint and OneDrive

Lost changes to a document? Version History allows you to track, view, and restore previous iterations of files stored in SharePoint and OneDrive.

How to Use: Right-click on the file and select Version History.

This feature is a safety net for collaborative projects, ensuring you never lose critical work.

Why You Should Explore Office 365’s Hidden Tools

Using these lesser-known features can significantly boost your productivity and streamline your workflows. Whether it’s AI-driven suggestions in Excel or seamless collaboration via Microsoft Teams, Office 365 has something for everyone.

If you’re a Mac user looking to upgrade, consider the advantages of exploring these features by first installing Office. It pairs well with the latest version of macOS for a smoother experience.

To get started, you can download for Mac Office 2021, which supports many of these advanced tools.

Conclusion,

Microsoft Office 365 continues to evolve, offering powerful hidden features that go beyond the basics. These tools not only enhance productivity but also simplify everyday tasks in unique ways.

For those aiming to maximize their experience, Indigo Software provides insightful guidance and solutions tailored to individual and organizational needs. With a deep understanding of Office tools, they can help unlock the full potential of Office 365.

By exploring these hidden features, you can transform how you work and achieve more in less time. So, dive into these tools today and make the most of Microsoft Office 365!