4 Office 365 Hacks To Boost Business Productivity

Microsoft Office remains number one as the most popular office suite available, with a market value of USD$2 trillion. And the tech giant’s popularity even soared with the rise of the hybrid workplace––a work setting wherein workers are given the option to work in-office or remotely. Additionally, since many employees and employers alike have seen the value of a modern workplace, Microsoft introduces Office 365, a cloud-based suite of applications. (1)

Still, plenty of people is hesitant to subscribe to Office 365. The main reason for this is that the application isn’t properly utilised. Hence, they believe that it will be an unnecessary expense. However, plenty of companies still uses Office 365 as they believe it’s one of the major contributors to their workers’ productivity. And this is made evident by Microsoft Teams’ 894% increase in users in just four months. (1)

To help you out, consider applying these Office 365 hacks so you can boost your business productivity:

Did you know that an average worker receives around 120 work emails every day? Even though they send fewer emails on a daily basis, the number of emails received by an average worker is staggering. Of course, the number goes up depending on the organisation’s size. (2)

Additionally, with the number of emails you receive, you may find it difficult to separate what’s important and what can be considered spam. Conveniently, Microsoft Outlook has a ‘Focused Inbox’ feature. This feature uses machine learning to analyse what emails to prioritise, allowing you to focus on content that’s actually crucial. The ‘Focused Inbox’ will place what is considered important in a dedicated tab (Focused), while it’ll place the less important emails in another one (Other).

For the ‘Focused Inbox’ to successfully separate what’s essential for you, you can assist them by manually assigning vital emails to the dedicated tab, which is labelled as ‘Focused.’

Research has found that around 81% of businesses, both traditional and those that apply the hybrid workplace set-up, use Excel. Given that there are plenty of commands in both Microsoft Excel and Office, it’s understandable that you can’t memorise them all to increase your productivity. But if you’re not sure how to do something in particular in these famous Office 365 programs, the ‘Tell Me’ feature can help. (3)

To start using the ‘Tell Me’ feature, key in what you need help with into the search bar. The feature will then generate a list of related commands. All you have to do is type what you need help with into the search bar, then a list of commands will show up. After finding the relevant command, you can start using it and become familiar with its shortcut.

As one of the most effective tools in boosting productivity, many employees neglect or incorrectly use the Calendar. The Calendar is an excellent application as your staff can use one of its features as a goal-setting and time management tool. For example, your sales team can easily attach any appointments with the client’s contact information, ensuring that no sales call will be missed.

In addition to training your team to use the Calendar effectively, encourage them to organize it. Perhaps you may stress the importance of filling in vital information, like the meeting place in any upcoming meetings.

People who regularly use Microsoft Word may find it tedious to toggle between tabs and applications to look for important information on the internet. Conveniently, you can use the Smart Lookup application in Office. You can simply right-click on any word, click ‘Smart Lookup,’ then a search window will appear directly inside Microsoft Word.

Once the search window appears, you can enter any queries you have, allowing you to search the web with just the Word document, eliminating the hassle of switching between tabs.

The hacks mentioned above are just four ways to boost your business productivity using Office 365. Since Office 365 is dedicated to making hybrid work viable, you can be certain that there are still plenty of tips and tricks to increase each employee’s output. Ultimately, regardless of whether you have a modern workplace set-up or a dedicated office space, using these tips and many more will help eliminate any tedious and repetitive tasks.

Also, don’t be discouraged with difficult hacks since there are already plenty of tutorials found online. By watching and learning from these tutorials, you can rest assured that your business productivity will boost in no time.

1. “17+ Marvelous Microsoft Statistics to Mull in 2021”, Source: https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/microsoft-statistics/#gref
2. “How many emails are sent every day? Top email statistics for businesses”, Source: https://www.templafy.com/blog/how-many-emails-are-sent-every-day-top-email-statistics-your-business-needs-to-know/
3. “Excel is of critical importance to businesses around the world”, Source: https://www.excel4business.com/resources/research-into-excel-use.php