Last week we took a short break, but now we’re back on our blog post theme of Teams!

Do you ever accidently hit enter, and send a message, when you just wanted a new line or paragraph? Then you’re scrambling to edit the message before anyone sees it? Happens to us all of the time… So what can we do?!

Formatting Options

Open the formatting options in the text box! With the formatting options open, you are able to format your message in a variety of ways:

• Bold text
• Create a list
• Change font size
• Change font color
• etc…

But most importantly, now when you hit enter, a new line will be started! No more accidently sending messages before you were finished!

How to Open Formatting Options in Teams

From within the textbox, select the format icon (a captial letter A with a pen).

You can also use the keyboard command of CTRL + Shift + X

Last blog post we spoke about pinning chats in Teams. Now this week we’re going to talk about pinning items in HUB. While these may be “small” or “simple” changes, they help with organization and may even save you time!

How to pin Items in HUB

1. Sign into HUB
2. Locate the “launchpad” – it should be on the left-hand side of your window
3. Navigate through your applications until you find the one you want to pin
   • we suggest pinning applications you use often – for example: LEARN or Office 365
4. To the right of the application, there is a push pin icon – select the push pin to “pin” that application. It will now appear at the top of the launchpad in a “pinned items” section.

How to unpin Items in HUB

1. Locate the application you wish to unpin – it should be in the top “pinned items” section
2. Select the push pin icon to the right of the application

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Do you ever find yourself distracted by the constant notifications from a chat in Teams?

Ding. Ding. Pop-up. Pop-up.

Since we use Teams for work or school, it might not be practical to just up and leave that Teams chat. It could send the wrong message. Or you could miss important information.

But the dinging or pop-ups are distracting you from the task you are trying to work on. What do you do? Mute the Teams chat!

How to Mute a Teams Chat

1. Go into the chat
2. Select the ellipsis (three horizontal dots) – “More Chat Options”
3. Then select Mute

How to Un-Mute a Teams Chat

Follow the same steps, but this time select “Unmute”

Continuning with our theme on Teams…

Do you have a lot of Teams chats? Are some more important than others? Do you find it frustrating to scroll and search when needing to message someone? Are there certain people or groups that you often message?

If you said yes to any of the above, you should try pinning Teams chats!

How to Pin a Teams Chat

1. Locate the chat in your list of chats (the list on the left side of Teams)
2. Select the ellipsis (three horizontal dots) icon next to the chat you want to pin
3. Select “pin”

Ta-da!

How to Un-Pin a Teams Chat

Follow the above steps and then select “unpin”.

Another ta-da!

A previous blog post titled “Read or Unread Emails” wrote about some reasons why you might want to mark an email as unread:

• Forgetting to respond unless it’s marked as unread
• Reading an email, but not having time to respond

Or maybe you use unread emails as a reminder of things that you need to do. Regardless of the exact reason, marking emails as unread may be a useful strategy. But, where else could you utilize this strategy?…

Well, the title of this blog post did give it away… but you can also mark Teams messages as unread!

How to Mark Teams Messages as Unread

1. In teams, right-click on the message you want marked as unread
2. Select the option to “Mark as Unread”

Theme on Teams!

Stay tuned for more upcoming blog posts on Teams!

“Snooze” or “snoozing” refers to napping or sleeping. It’s a common phrase to say “I snoozed my alarm this morning” to mean that you pushed that alarm back so you could sleep more. In a set amount of time, that alarm will go off again.

What does “Snoozing Emails” mean?

Snoozing an email would then mean that we are pushing that email back. It’s not time to deal with that email. But, want to be alerted to that email later.

When you snooze an email, it is removed from your inbox (and placed in a “snoozed” folder). At a selected time, the email is moved back into your inbox. You can also go into the snooze folder and move emails back to your inbox if needed.

Why Snooze Emails?

Some examples of why you might want to snooze emails include:

• You are focussed on another task, and don’t want to switch to respond to that email
• You are working with a “zero inbox” (no unread emails), and won’t have time to respond to that email for some time
• The email refers to a project you have already set time aside for
• You have a set time of day where you read and respond to emails

How to Snooze Emails

• Open Outlook
• Select the email you want to snooze
• Either right-click and then select snooze or select snooze from the top ribbon
• Select when you want to be reminded of that email

Enjoy your little nappy-nap email!

Perhaps you caught our previous blog post on Microsoft’s Editor, and love how it’s built right into Office applications such as Word and Outlook. But also perhaps, you were left wishing it was available in more places… that it was available, say, in Edge?

Well, it is!

There is an Editor Browser extension available in the Edge Add-ons store, and it’s free! It works in both Edge and Chrome browsers… though if you’ve been following the blog for awhile now, you’d know that there are plenty of reasons that we suggest Edge over Chrome.

• Tech Tips blog post on PDF Files in Edge
• Tech Tips blog post on Collections in Edge
• Tech Tips blog post on Tab Groups (in Edge)

Download the Editor Browser Extension

Microsoft Editor: Spelling & Grammar Checker – Microsoft Edge Addons

Requirements

Certain features of the Editor extension require you to have a Microsoft account. Though, never fret! Your RRC Polytech academic email is a Microsoft account! When you first open the Editor browser extension, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your Microsoft account (academic email).

Resources

For more information check out this Microsoft Support Article on the Microsoft Editor browser extension.

There is an entire new module in the Read&Write Tutorial in LEARN!

Wait, What is Read&Write?

Read&Write (also known as R&W), is an application available (for free) to all staff and students at Red River College Polytechnic. Features in the application support learners with reading, writing, studying, and more!

Learn more about Read&Write

Wow! What’s in the new Module?

The new module is all about customizations in Read&Write:

• Toolbar Appearance in both the desktop and web extension
• Speech settings such as changing the voice, reading speed, and how Read&Write reads
• Pronunciation and how you can teach Read&Write how to properly pronounce words
• Changing the look of the reading highlights
• Adjusting how you collect the text that you’ve highlighted
• And how you can create profiles in the web extension

So head on over to the Read&Write Tutorial in LEARN and check it out!

Quick Parts is available in Outlook and Word. Quick Parts allows you to create content, and later insert it into multiple documents, quickly. It’s also super easy to use!

Examples of when you might use Quick Parts:

• Contact information
• Directions or location information
• Instructions for an assignment
• Document properties (title, author, etc…)
• Reference information
• Standard responses
• Meeting information

And that’s just to name a few. The point is, that Quick Parts allows you to enter in long strings of text, simply by selecting the saved Quick Part.

How To Create a Quick Part

1. Type the text into Word or Outlook
2. Select the text you want included in the Quick Part by highlighting it
3. In the text group in the insert tab, select Quick Parts
4. click on save selection to Quick Part Gallery
5. Give the Quick Part a descriptive title (recommended) and a description (optional)

Then when you want to insert the Quick Part in another document or email, click on the Quick Part from the text group (in the insert tab).

Resources

• Additional information on Quick Parts
• LinkedIn Learning video on Quick Parts

…and for those wondering “haven’t I read about this before”? Yes. Yes you have. Quick Parts was one of the Fun Features of Microsoft Word highlighted previously on the blog. It’s just so, fun, and, quick, to set up, that we couldn’t help but highlight this amazing, part, of Word and Outlook again. …all puns intended.
Tech Tips Blog Post: Fun Features of Microsoft Word

For our final installment in the “Accessibility in Office Applications” blog series – OneNote!

Accessible Best Practices in OneNote

Now, because OneNote is essentially a digital binder full of Word Documents, Accessible Best Practices in OneNote are pretty much the same as those in Word.

There are however two slight additions:

Headers

If you are adding headers into your OneNote page, ensure you are using the built-in heading styles (as discussed with Word). But with OneNote, you also need to ensure you are uniquely naming your notebooks, sections, and pages!

Audio / Video Files

If you are adding an audio or video file into OneNote (for example: a YouTube video), it’s best to ensure that you are choosing an accessible file from the start. A file that:

• Has subtitles / closed captions
• Has video descriptions
• (Ideally) has ASL-English language interpretation

Learn more about accessible audio and video in OneNote

Accessibility Features of OneNote

The accessibility features of OneNote are the same as those we’ve already outlined in the previous blog posts of this series:

• Learn about dictation in OneNote
• Learn about Immersive Reader in OneNote
• Learn about keyboard shortcuts in OneNote

Previous Blog Posts on OneNote

• Tech Tips Blog Post, “OneNote”
• Tech Tips Blog Post, “Top 8 Tips for OneNote”
• Tech Tips Blog Post, “OneNote Updates!”