[m365weekly] #7: What do you need to know about virtual events?

Answer to that question is in the Noteworthy Longreads section below. 😉

Be aware: I have noticed that Gmail is popping up a sign saying that some links in my newsletters are suspicious. I personally read / watch / listen to every piece of content I publish or link to and I assure you they are safe.

☁️What’s on my mind

This week a lot of European countries started to enforce the second lockdown procedures this year. That means that a lot of us are once again forced to work from home and attend virtual meetings, calls.

It was always my dream to be able to work mostly from home but now when these dreams became reality I’m not thrilled anymore.

Most people miss real human interaction and connection. I was used to drinking coffee with the clients whole of my working life. And we did a lot of business deals at the dinner table.

In recent weeks I’ve seen a constant effort from Microsoft engineers to deploy new features that would help to ease the isolation stress. Let’s hope they will continue their great work.

Have a great day,
Matt

P.S.: If you find this newsletter useful and helpful you are kindly invited to buy me a coffee to support the effort. Thanks.

☁️Productivity & Modern Workplace

How OWA Predicts Text as Users Compose Email. Ok, that is something that Gmail added 2 years ago. Great work, guys at MS to add this nice feature.

OneDrive Tips for Beginners & Pros. Did you know you can sync your photos from the phone to the OneDrive?

How to Sign into Office 365 from Anywhere. A great how-to guide for beginners which you can link to when you’re preparing onboarding for your new colleagues.

Helping your users understand Microsoft 365 Terminology. One thing is for sure: dorks at Microsoft don’t have a clue how to properly name products. Why is Microsoft 365 better than Office 365 which was disastrous naming by itself. Users didn’t understand then what’s the difference between Office apps for desktop and Office 365. And they don’t understand that today either since even professionals didn’t update their vocabulary quite yet.

💻 M365 Roadmap

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! At last, we will have synced signatures across desktop devices. Next month? I hope so because it’s already rolling out.
Microsoft Teams: AI-based noise suppression. A child crying in the hallway, dogs barking, roosters outside. That will all be in the past. AI is coming to the rescue and it will make our remote meetings a bit more tolerable. Coming to theatres presumably in November 2020. 😉

💻 Upcoming Webinars

November 10, 2020. Power Automate Mini Summit.
November 13, 2020. M365 Chicago – Virtual.

☁️Sysadmin Stuff

Admin quick start – Meeting and live events in Teams. The article includes a reference cheat sheet with a licensing overview.

Microsoft Administrator and End User Site Links. One of the most useful finds in the last weeks. M365 admin portals, Azure admin portals, Status pages, and much more.

☁️Security & Data Governance

Increasing your security posture with Microsoft Defender ATP and Secure Score. Secure Score is a little bug that is trying to motivate you to make your organization as secure as possible. Have you tried to make it better? You just need to follow the recommendations. It’s quite easy.

Some great reading on OneNote usability. [Ebooks]

Virtual Event Playbook. Great resource for all othose who organise virtual events. [PDF]

💻 Slightly Off-Topic

End of Internet Explorer 11 Support in Microsoft 365. OMG, how is this even a thing? We are almost in 2021 and it was launched back in October 2013. It should be put to sleep for good.

Microsoft plans a big Windows 10 UI refresh in 2021. At the moment revamp is called “Sun Valley” and it brings a significant design refresh.

☁️On a Less Serious Note

55+ Coronavirus Memes — Funny Coronavirus Memes
I’m sure most can relate to this. 🙂 🙂 🙂

☁️ Last but not least …

Here are a few things you can do if you enjoyed reading this newsletter: