#Microsoft365 – My business motto is “Facilitating the evolution of human capabilities”, how do I do that? By showing them how be more awesome than they already are. There are skills we take for granted and think most people know (already) – great search skills are one of them.

For previous posts in my #Microsoft365Challenge go to the index page.

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to search better and he’ll never be ‘hungry’ again.”

Always remember that most people still have to learn what you have forgotten already. Be patient and always take the time to pass on some of your knowledge.

Why is Search so important?

Close your eyes for a moment (after reading this) and imagine your email inbox 10 years ago. Or the messages / calls you got, the notifications per day. It’s impossible and I wish I had actual statistics on the data I’ve dealt with over the last 10 years. We know everything is evolving. Tech is smarter, we have to work harder with less resources, deal with MUCH more data. But we have not evolved. Still 2 hands, 2 ears, 2 eyes. We need to evolve – and the only way to do that is to get super smart at how we do things. Searching better is top of my list when teaching students. Have a look at the Internet Live Stats website – it will blow your mind and make you understand the magnitude of data around us.

Search Operators

Boolean Operators are simple words that can be used to improve the search results you get. There are many others, but I only use this one:  + / –

Operator Function in Search Example Search String Search Results
AND: To include more keywords or filters winter AND spring Find all documents containing both terms “winter” and “spring”
NOT: To exclude terms or conditions winter NOT Spring Find all documents containing key term “winter” but not “spring”
OR: To find files satisfy either term or conditions winter OR Spring Find all documents containing “winter” or “spring”
– / + Use the minus (-) or plus (+) to exclude / promote keywords form the search results. Kurt –Darren +Cobain Find all references to Kurt, exclude any that include Darren and promote all the includes Cobain

Here’s using the – / + in action. I’m able to bring down 17,000,000 search results to 1 by adding a couple of words (I use -wiki to exclude wikipedia articles):

And don’t forget the Windows Button on your keyboard, press this and search for programs, files and settings on your PC.

Resources:

Purpose of this blog challenge:

I will write 365 blogs in 365 days around Microsoft 365. I did a similar challenge with Office 365, blogs can be found here. I won’t just be talking about the new Microsoft 365 subscription model. I will be sharing any news, tips and tricks around Office / Office 365 / Windows / Mobility and Security. And let’s not forget all the great new Apps & services available.  A lot of what I’ll share on Office and SharePoint will also be applicable to none “Office 365” versions.