Everything You Need to Know About Microsoft Office

Presented by Her Campus and Microsoft Store 

We have another semester ahead of us and we’re *pumped* for it to begin.

One thing, however, that we’re admittedly (but unsurprisingly) not super enthusiastic about is the homework, the papers, the group projects and the tests that are looming on the horizon…that is, until now. 

Similar to the days on your family’s desktop computer, but this time, we’re talking about the modern Office apps in Microsoft 365, including our fave tech tools: PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Teams and Excel! So check out these Microsoft 365 tips and tricks, and get ready to ace every class!

PowerPoint

Did you know you can now customize your PowerPoint presentations from scratch and make them shine with PowerPoint Designer while flawlessly creating and embedding video in your slides?! 

Additionally, with the game-changer feature PowerPoint Presenter Coach, you’re able to prepare for your presentation by receiving real-time feedback like directing you to “speed up” or “slow down” you when you use “and” or “um” too much, informal speech, repetitive words, or culturally insensitive phrases. After the end of each rehearsal, you get a report that includes suggestions for improvements.

OneNote

OneNote is the avid-note-takers best friend. With this tool, you can get organized easily by writing your notes (either digitally or handwritten!), have the option to divide them into sections and pages, and easily find them right where you left them with the navigation and search bar. You can also make your notes even brighter and better, by revising them, highlighting or using annotations. You also will always be able to access it across all of your devices. 

You can also add sketch diagrams, videos and pictures into your OneNote pages!

And what are we most excited about with OneNote?! The share and collaborate option! Working with other creative minds is so fun, and this add-on helps share ideas and bring them to life, together, in OneNote.

Excel

You might already know that Excel is awesome at keeping things (especially numbers!) organized, but using Excel like this opens up a whole new world.

Money in Excel is a dynamic, smart template and add-in for Excel that allows you to securely connect your bank, credit card, investment and loan accounts to Excel, and automatically import your transaction and account information into a spreadsheet. 

Once everything is connected, Excel will automatically import your information into a workbook, so you no longer need to spend hours manually setting up a finance spreadsheet from scratch, because Money in Excel does it in seconds. The best part is that any time you want to update the workbook, just click the update button and you’ll get the latest snapshot of your transactions and accounts without ever leaving Excel.

Teams

After the past year, we understand just how important human connections are. And so, the upgrade with Microsoft Teams truly highlights the importance of communication, togetherness and collaboration.

One of the best features (especially for college students missing home!) is Together mode, which allows you to host and join video calls that will make you feel like you’re in the same room. You can turn any regular video call into a shared virtual environment with fun backgrounds, so it will feel like you’re together even when you’re apart.

Our favorite way to use the chats, however?! Is for group projects. All you have to do is add phone numbers or emails, and once you’re together in the chat, you can create a shared to-do list and assign tasks to others in the group, manage each other’s calendars, share documents and so much more. You can keep tabs on the progress by viewing task details and completed items!

Overall, the ways to use Microsoft 365 apps are endless. But, no matter how you choose to use the tool, you know you’ll be set up for a semester of success, and about 365 days worth of tricks to really make this year the best one yet - all thanks to the Office apps in Microsoft 365!