Quick Microsoft Guides
Short, no-nonsense walkthroughs for the everyday Microsoft 365 questions I get asked most. Open a topic for the steps, and if you want the full detail there's a link to Microsoft's own guide at the bottom of each one.
Outlook
Set up an email signature
- Open Outlook's settings (the gear icon), then search for signature.
- Write your signature and set it as the default for new messages and replies.
- Save. New emails will pick it up straight away.
Turn on automatic replies
- Settings (gear icon), then search for automatic replies.
- Turn them on and set start and end dates so they switch off by themselves.
- Write one reply for colleagues and one for people outside the organisation.
Sort incoming mail with rules
- Right-click an email, then Rules, then Create rule.
- Pick the condition (sender, subject) and where it should go.
- For anything fancier, the full editor is in Settings under Rules.
Rules run on new mail. Tick the option to run them on your inbox too if you want it tidied retrospectively.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
Share your calendar
- Open the Calendar view and click Share (top right).
- Add the person and choose what they get: availability only, titles, or full detail.
- Send. They'll get an invite to add your calendar to theirs.
Recall a sent message
- Open the message from your Sent Items.
- Find Recall message (on the ribbon, or under the three dots).
- Outlook reports back on whether it worked for each recipient.
Recall only works for colleagues in the same organisation, and speed matters. If it's gone external, it's gone.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
OneDrive
Add shortcuts to shared folders
- Open the shared folder in your browser (from the sharing email or Shared with me).
- Click Add shortcut to My files.
- It now appears in your OneDrive and File Explorer like one of your own folders.
This is the tidiest way to live in a shared folder day to day. One shortcut, always in sync, no digging through links.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
Save disk space with Files On-Demand
- In File Explorer, right-click any OneDrive file or folder.
- Free up space keeps it in the cloud only (cloud icon appears).
- Always keep on this device pins it locally for offline work.
Back up Desktop, Documents and Pictures
- Click the OneDrive cloud icon in the taskbar, then the gear, then Settings.
- Go to Sync and backup, then Manage backup.
- Toggle on Desktop, Documents and Pictures, then save.
Once this is on, a dead laptop stops being a disaster. Everything's waiting for you on the next machine.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
Restore deleted files
- Open OneDrive in your browser and go to the Recycle bin.
- Select what you need and click Restore.
- Work and school accounts keep deleted files for 93 days.
Teams
Schedule a meeting
- Open Calendar in Teams and click New meeting.
- Add people and use the Scheduling Assistant to find a slot that actually works.
- Save. Invites land in everyone's inbox with the join link included.
Share your screen
- In the meeting toolbar, click Share.
- Share a single window rather than the whole screen unless you need to switch apps.
- Playing a video? Tick Include computer sound first.
Single window is the safe option. Nobody needs to see your inbox mid-demo.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
Change or blur your background
- On the join screen, click Effects (or Background filters).
- Pick blur or an image.
- Mid-meeting it's under More, then Video effects.
Chats vs channels
- Chat is for quick one-to-ones and small ad-hoc groups.
- Channels are for team topics, where conversations stay findable later.
- @mention someone when you actually need them to see it.
If a decision gets made in chat, it's invisible to the team. Anything worth keeping belongs in a channel.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
SharePoint
Share files and folders
- Select the file and click Share.
- Check the link settings: who it works for, and view versus edit.
- Send the link, not an attached copy, so everyone's in the same version.
Attachments create five competing copies by Friday. Links keep one version of the truth.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
View a file's version history
- Select the file, click the three dots, then Version history.
- Open any earlier version to check it, or Restore to bring it back.
- Restoring doesn't delete anything; the old version just becomes the newest.
Turn on versioning for a library
- In the library, click the gear, then Library settings.
- Open Versioning settings.
- Make sure major versions are on. It's the safety net for the whole team.
Sync a library to File Explorer
- Open the document library in your browser.
- Click Sync and let OneDrive do the rest.
- The library appears in File Explorer under your organisation's name.
Prefer one tidy OneDrive? Use "Add shortcut to My files" on the folders you care about instead of syncing whole libraries.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
Word
Track changes and comments
- Go to the Review tab and switch on Track Changes.
- Your edits show as markup; the author works through them with Accept or Reject.
- For a comment instead, select the text and click New Comment.
Add a table of contents
- Format your headings with the Heading 1 / 2 / 3 styles first. That's the secret.
- Go to References, then Table of Contents.
- After edits, right-click the contents and Update field.
Dictate instead of typing
- On the Home tab, click Dictate and start talking.
- Say punctuation out loud: "comma", "full stop", "new line".
- Treat it as a fast first draft and tidy it after.
Excel
Freeze rows and columns
- Click the cell just below and to the right of what you want locked in place.
- Go to View, then Freeze Panes.
- Just the headers? Freeze Top Row does it in one click.
Filter and sort your data
- Click anywhere in your data and press Ctrl+T to make it a proper table.
- Use the arrows in each header to filter and sort.
- Bonus: tables auto-fill formulas down new rows for you.
Look up values with XLOOKUP
- The shape: =XLOOKUP(what to find, where to look, what to bring back).
- Example: =XLOOKUP(A2, Staff[Name], Staff[Email]) finds a name, returns their email.
- It replaces VLOOKUP, minus the column counting and the wrong-answer traps.
Build a PivotTable
- Click in your data, then Insert, then PivotTable.
- Drag fields into place: categories into Rows, numbers into Values.
- When the data changes, right-click the pivot and Refresh.
Staying safe
Spot a phishing email
- Check the actual sender address, not the friendly display name.
- Hover over links before clicking. If the domain looks off, stop.
- Urgency, gift cards and "just quickly" requests are the classic tells.
When in doubt, don't reply and don't click. Report it or check with IT. Nobody ever got in trouble for double-checking.
Microsoft's full guide ↗
Set up the Microsoft Authenticator app
- Install Microsoft Authenticator from your phone's app store.
- On a computer, sign in at aka.ms/mfasetup and add your account.
- Only approve sign-in prompts you started yourself. An unexpected prompt means someone has your password.