Tag: microsoft business

  • Our top 10 best tricks for using Microsoft Outlook every user should know

    Our top 10 best tricks for using Microsoft Outlook every user should know

    Microsoft Outlook is a feature found in their Office line of software and can be used standalone or as part of your overall Microsoft 365 subscription package. It can be used as a mobile app, a desktop app or even within your browser and has many competitive features that make managing your business’s email easier such as tie ins to your Microsoft calendar automatically (including the ability to schedule Teams meetings right from Outlook) and automatic access to OneDrive to make sending files you’re actively working on more convenient.

    Beyond those core features though we have our top 10 tips and tricks you may not be aware of for making using Microsoft Outlook even easier to use.

    1. Organize Your Inbox with Folders and Categories: You probably knew you could create folders, but did you know you can also use color-coded categories to keep your inbox organized? Color coding makes it easier to sort through emails in your inbox at a glance.
    2. Set Up Email Signatures: Create a professional email signature with your contact information and company logo. There are even tools that integrate with Outlook to create a professional looking signature that will always be present on your outgoing emails. At Valley Techlogic we use (and recommend) Exclaimer.
    3. Use Email Templates: Did you know you can create email templates in Outlook? If you have an email message you send frequently to clients or prospects you can create a template to easily send it on the fly, just get the email ready one more time than navigate to File > Save As and in the Save as type list you’ll see the option for “Outlook Template”. Simply name the template and then it will always be right at your fingertips for future use.
    4. Integrate with Other Apps: It’s probably a given but we highly recommend connecting Outlook with other Microsoft Office apps (like OneNote, Teams, and SharePoint) for seamless productivity.
    5. Sync Across Devices: You should also make sure your Outlook is synced across all your devices for easy access to your emails and calendar on the go.
    6. Use Mail Merge for Bulk Emails: Use the Mail Merge feature to send personalized bulk emails to multiple recipients, to start navigating to Mailings> Start Mail Merge > E-mail Messages and select the template you want to use. From there you can set up your mailing list (if you don’t have one saved you can create one as you set up your mail merge). Mail merge is an excellent way to send marketing and promotion emails or updates to your customers without needing to send dozens of individual emails and without the use of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management tool).
    7. Set Out of Office Replies: Going on vacation? Configure automatic replies when you are out of the office. Just navigate to File > Automatic Replies to set one up for your desired dates.
    8. Use the Calendar Efficiently: You probably know you can schedule meetings and set reminders with your Outlook calendar, but did you know you can also share your calendar with colleagues? Just right click on your calendar and select “Share Calendar” and choose the person you’d like to share it with, it’s as easy as that.
    9. Utilize Quick Steps: Set up Quick Steps to automate repetitive tasks, like moving emails to a folder or creating a new meeting request. You can find it by selecting Home in the top tool bar and it will be towards the right end of the bar labeled Quick Steps. From there you can customize the steps you would like Outlook to complete automatically on your behalf.
    10. Archive Old Emails: Use the Archive feature to keep your inbox clutter-free without deleting important emails. You just select the emails you’d like to Archive and right click to send them to the Archive folder, thereby cleaning up your inbox but keeping them available just in case.

    These aren’t our only Microsoft Outlook tips, we also wanted to share our top 5 Outlook shortcuts in the graphic below.

    Do you need assistance in getting the most out of Microsoft Outlook or your Microsoft 365 subscriptions? Valley Techlogic is a certified Microsoft partner and we’re experts in all things Microsoft and Windows related. Learn more with a free consultation today.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, leading provider of trouble free IT services for businesses in California including Merced, Fresno, Stockton & More. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic and LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/valley-techlogic-inc/.

  • This weeks Microsoft outage brought down Teams, Outlook and more for several hours

    This weeks Microsoft outage brought down Teams, Outlook and more for several hours

    In major outage news, this week Microsoft had an outage that lasted over 6 hours and brought down Teams, Outlook and Exchange and more – grinding some workplace activities to a halt until the services came back. The outage affected Microsoft 365 customers worldwide.

    Services resumed yesterday morning although there were residual issues for some customers regarding logins and more. Most of the affected services were the online versions of the product, if you have a desktop accessible version of the Microsoft 365 products you may have noticed less of a disruption (other than Teams being unavailable).

    The cause of the outage was announced on Twitter:

    We’ve determined that a recent deployment contained a broken connection to an internal storage service, which has resulted in impact. We’re working to direct traffic to a healthy service to mitigate impact. Additional information can be found in the admin center under TM402718.

    — Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) July 21, 2022

    By afternoon Thursday July 21st the Microsoft service health page (which can be found here) indicated that all services were up and running as usual.

    Valley Techlogic is a Microsoft shop by and large and we’re major proponents of the Microsoft 365 suite of services. As we mentioned, those who currently had a Microsoft 365 plan with access to the desk top versions were, or would have been, less affected by this week’s outage.

    Here’s a quick guide to the Microsoft 365 plans we recommend to our customers and why in a nutshell (note: this pricing is after discount for an annual commitment).

    Microsoft 365 Plan Chart

    Basic is a good product, but to make the most of your Microsoft 365 subscription plan we generally recommend spending a little more for Standard or Premium. For our security conscious clients in particular, the Premium subscription is an excellent value.

    Microsoft Business Premium comes with advanced cybersecurity protections built into the product, even if you’re not taking any other steps to protect your business from a cyberattack – switching to Microsoft Business Premium will give you major benefits for a very reasonable price (just $22 per user per month).

    Microsoft Business Basic is perfect for an extremely light user experience, say a shared email inbox for a specific billing purpose or for an employee who doesn’t perform many online tasks. For everyone else, we highly recommend upgrading.

    As we mentioned, we’re a Microsoft shop and a certified Microsoft partner and can assist you directly with your Microsoft products, especially choosing a Microsoft 365 subscription that will be the best fit for your business. Learn more today with a quick consultation.

    Looking for more to read? We suggest these other articles from our site.

    This article was powered by Valley Techlogic, an IT service provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://x.com/valleytechlogic.