#Microsoft365 #Office365 #PowerPoint Everyone knows I LOVE PowerPoint, I even had a Powerpuff girl tattooed on my arm and called her PowerPoint Zoom. I’ve (incorrectly) used PowerPoint for years to design some crazy graphics that I used on my sites etc. Yes, there are programs more suited for this (the new Windows Paint 3D is amazing), but I was stubborn and refused to buy or learn how to use other software. I’m SO glad. 🙂
For previous posts in my #Microsoft365Challenge go to the index page.
DISCLAIMER: I WRITE ARTICLES ABOUT OFFICE / MICROSOFT 365. CONTENT IS ACCURATE AT TIME OF PUBLICATION, HOWEVER UPDATES AND NEW ADDITIONS HAPPEN DAILY WHICH COULD CHANGE THE ACCURACY OR RELEVANCE. PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN USING MY BLOGS AS GUIDELINES.
I’ve written previous posts about the Designer in PowerPoint, but as you know, Office 365 brings us updates and new features on a regular basis. Sometimes the apps we use changes ‘right in front of our eyes’. It is something to get used to, but put effort in to try out new features and Microsoft / Office 365 will enable you to be the rock-star you should be.
PowerPoint Designer
PowerPoint Designer improves your slides by automatically generating design ideas that you can choose from. While you’re putting content on a slide, Designer works in the background to match that content to professionally designed layouts.
I will admit, didn’t like this much in the beginning. I’m an OCD, control freak. I’d rather spend hours doing something I know I can do on my own. Don’t want no computer making decisions for me (yup, that’s a Generation X speaking right there!!) 🙁
I was SO wrong. When I eventually tried this I was blown away by how fast it offers me different designs to pick from and HOW much time it saves me.
It’s real simple to use:
Add maximum 4 images to a (standard) slide which has the banner / content parts on
If it doesn’t start doing it’s magic on its own, go to Designs Tab > Design Ideas
Select the design you like
If the designs don’t render, take a look at the size of your images, I’ve found that images too big don’t work (might also be cause I’m stuck in South Africa and work on an ADSL slower than an old dial up at times.
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.
#Microsoft365 – So you think you’re not creative? Think again. Microsoft has added many features to the Office stack which helps us be more creative.Today we’ll take a look at the #PowerPoint Designer feature.
For previous posts in my #Microsoft365Challenge go to the index page.
PowerPoint Designer is a relatively new tool in Office 365 that allows you to add photos to PowerPoint and get help with your design layout.
Good to know:
Must be Office 365 Subscriber
Connected to internet
Use slide layouts with Title or Title & content
No additional objects or shapes on same slide as photos
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.
Feel free to #AskBraam if you have questions or would like me to write about a specific topic. I’ve created a Flow to monitor Twitter for the #AskBraam hashtag and will try my best to incorporate any questions into the blogs, or answer them directly on Twitter. This is a “Learning through Sharing” approach to teach my pet sheep about Microsoft – read more on this here.
#Microsoft365 – The content you have for your presentations is real important – but if it’s boring – it will have a negative impact on your outcome. Let’s take a look at using #PowerPoint Designer to change the way your bullet or numbered lists look.
For previous posts in my #Microsoft365Challenge go to the index page.
PowerPoint Designer is a relatively new tool in Office 365 that allows you change the design and layout of your bullets / numbered lists.
Good to know:
Must be Office 365 Subscriber
Connected to internet
Use slide layouts with Title or Title & content
No additional objects or shapes on same slide as bullets
PowerPoint theme – not custom downloaded theme
Will not work while co-authoring
How to:
Insert bullets or numbered lists
Click on Design Tab > Design Ideas
Select the design you would like to use
See video below for step by step (I used Recording in PowerPoint to make the video)
Note: I’ve said this many times – writing blogs helps me learn and improve my writing skills. Creating videos on the other hand has made me aware of how often I say ‘Um’ and use filler words. Shocking! We’ll have to ‘um’ work on that 🙂
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.
Feel free to #AskBraam if you have questions or would like me to write about a specific topic. I’ve created a Flow to monitor Twitter for the #AskBraam hashtag and will try my best to incorporate any questions into the blogs, or answer them directly on Twitter. This is a “Learning through Sharing” approach to teach my pet sheep about Microsoft – read more on this here.
#Microsoft365 #Office365 As part of a mini series for #CitizenDevelopers I’ll be sharing tips and tricks around Business Analysis, Project and Change Management etc. Today we’ll take a look at being more creative and the tools we can use to curate content. Always remember that what you create is a legacy you leave behind – so make it count.
For previous posts in my #Microsoft365Challenge go to the index page.
DISCLAIMER: I WRITE ARTICLES ABOUT OFFICE / MICROSOFT 365. CONTENT IS ACCURATE AT TIME OF PUBLICATION, HOWEVER UPDATES AND NEW ADDITIONS HAPPEN DAILY WHICH COULD CHANGE THE ACCURACY OR RELEVANCE. PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND WHEN USING MY BLOGS AS GUIDELINES.
Recap: The purpose of this blog is to help you become a better solution builder. As mentioned, you might have the technical skill – but I want you to rock at building great solutions. And to do so, there’s some other skills you require as well. Like Business Analysis, Project Management, Communication, Problem Solving & Creativity. I’ll be basing this on the 8 Digital Literacy Pillars that I support through training, and you’ll see that Business Analysis is supported by all 8 of the pillars, so you need to apply all those skills in your business analysis.
I know that most people think they’re NOT creative. I don’t think that’s true. Sometimes we just need to show people the great tools out there, which helps them be creative.
Of course Microsoft / Office 365 gives us the most incredible tools to help us achieve this. I’m thinking about PowerPoint, Sway, Stream, Forms, SharePoint News Pages, Hero Web Parts etc.
As a Citizen Developer you might be responsible for the following:
Communicate and Launch a solution:
Use PowerPoint to create a banner / poster, Infographic to tell the users more about the solution. Remember to use Design Ideas and for presentations you should add Zoom and Morph. Add a spotlight video on Stream. Create a News Article on SharePoint with information, cool images / videos.
Create Training Material:
Use PowerPoint to record videos and load these on Stream. Quick Reference guides can also be created in PowerPoint and Word – remember to use the Insert Screenshots functionality.
Document your Solutions:
Remember I’m lazy – so I’ll rather record a video in PowerPoint and save that to Stream as my “technical documentation / handover”. Also refer to the previous blog where I shared templates for requirements gathering and a solution registers.
Get Feedback
Get feedback from the users by creating a survey in Microsoft Forms. Use these for Quizzes as well after training was delivered.
To help you find your creative superpowers, I’ve compiled a summary of blog posts which will take you from “I’m not creative” to “I’m an artist” in no time.
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.
You can also find me contributing to REgarding 365. I’m a member of a group of enthusiasts, sharing their stories, thoughts and opinions about Microsoft 365. Catch us at https://regarding365.com | @regarding365 on Twitter and regarding365 on YouTube
Want to work with me? You’re welcome to CONTACT ME:
(If it’s related to a specific blog, rather comment on the actual blog please – do not send an email)
#Office365Challenge Yes, yes… “Can you make it Pop?” is one of those Designer nightmare requests. I’m just kidding of course, but PowerPoint Designer really does make it “Pop”.
Day: 324 of 365, 41 left Tools: Office 365, Office 2016, PowerPoint Description: Using PowerPoint Designer to make your slides ‘POP’! Audience: All
What does Microsoft Say? PowerPoint Designer is a new service that lets you take your content and automatically generate a variety of ideas that you can choose from to make your slides look better. While you’re putting content on a slide, Designer works in the background to match that content to professionally designed layouts.. Read more…
This update was released November 2015.
I was actually writing a different blog for today and wanted to reference this blog (that I was sure I had written a couple of weeks ago). Couldn’t find it for the life of me, so here goes.
Using PowerPoint Designer:
Using the Designer is quite straight forward – but there is a couple of ‘unspoken’ rules. I couldn’t get it to work using a blank slide and ended up using a layout that allows for images as well as captions / text. As you’ll see below I just randomly put some images and text in there. It also didn’t want to work with more than 4 images. Microsoft actually suggest no more than 2 images and always have a layout that at least has a title or a title + content:
I then clicked on the Design Tab > Design Ideas. It opens the Design Ideas task pane on the right and immediately starts compiling different Design Ideas suggestions. Simply click on the design you like and Voila!!
This is what I chose in the end. It was created in a matter of seconds – have you got any idea how long that would have taken me “by hand”??
Here are some other examples I could have chosen from:
Wow, it’s just crazy amazing. Great feature for creating brochures In practically NO TIME.
Overview of my challenge: As an absolute lover of all things Microsoft, I’ve decided to undertake the challenge, of writing a blog every single day, for the next 365 days. Crazy, I know. And I’ll try my best, but if I cannot find something good to say about Office 365 and the Tools it includes for 365 days, I’m changing my profession. So let’s write this epic tale of “Around the Office in 365 Days”. My ode to Microsoft Office 365. Keep in mind that these tips and tricks do not only apply to Office 365 – but where applicable, to the overall Microsoft Office Suite and SharePoint.
Recently I asked a question on social media regarding the #SharePoint “Edit” permissions assigned by default to #MicrosoftTeams Members and I stated that I would like to change that to “Contribute” when necessary. Wowzer, did that open up a can of worms… From support on the topic, to being accused of “stifling” natural / organic growth and curbing the intended purpose of #MicrosoftTeams which is to allow end users more freedom, power and ability to do what they need.
Of course I agree that it’s time empower users to achieve more, with the tools capable of doing so.
But…
In this article I’ll share my reasons to be wary, and as always you’re allowed to comment and change my perspective – it’s my opinion after all. Not every reason is directly related to permissions, but completely supports my decisions regarding the tighter management thereof.
Update 2021/04/04 – I’ve added a “In Conclusion” section at the bottom of the blog. Some might still miss the point I’m trying to make, and yes, we should never complain and not give a clear indication of how we think this can be solved.
1. Training
I have not worked with a single company who trained their users first before rolling out Microsoft Teams. Not.One. And keep in mind that I usually get involved when they’re already struggling with adoption. And this does not only apply to Microsoft Teams training, they still don’t know how to use #OneDrive well, nevermind the Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook) they’ve had for years. And you know what? It’s not their fault, it’s ours! That’s IT and Management & HR.
Digital Literacy is the new superpower. It’s time we start paying attention to it. In a perfect world I want all users to be trained well so they can make decisions for themselves, and use the technology as it is intended to be used – without restrictions.
2. With great power comes great responsibility
Microsoft Teams is like the mullet of the party wigs. All business in the front and party in the back, with most people COMPLETELY unaware of what actually happens when a team is created. And no. Just because it’s easy to do, doesn’t mean people don’t have to know. Not talking about something doesn’t make it less powerful or dangerous, the terrible state this world of ours is in, is a perfect example of that.
Does your team Members and Owners know what happens when a team is created? That there’s a SharePoint Site Collection behind that team, with a library and in it a folder for each channel created? Do they know best practice for sharing from OneDrive, vs Chat, vs Group Chat and eventually sharing in a team. Do they understand how to use the apps available and how this all fits in with SharePoint in the background?
They don’t, because perhaps you don’t think they need to? Well then I suggest they rather just share everything on emails, like they did before. The app doesn’t empower them, the skill to use the app does.
So, if you didn’t allow users to create Security Groups, build SharePoint Site Collections and Apps, provisioning various services before (without some form of training / control), then I’m surprised you’re doing it now with Microsoft Teams, by allowing everyone to create Teams, before ever receiving any “admin” related training.
3. Owners and Members
I always suggest having at least 2 Owners on the Team, and the rest to be Members. Owners and Members can do the same stuff apart from adding new Members / change Members into Owners. Apart from that, everyone can edit and delete everything. Yes, read that again, slowly. (We’ll talk about this later in the article).
When Members have not had training to understand the bigger picture, I don’t allow them to add channels and tabs – because normally it leads to chaos. Some think that tabs and channels are their own, and only they can see it. And same goes for Owners, if they haven’t had some form of “Owners” training, they can’t be owners on Teams or create Teams.
4. Private Channels
This should be the exception, NOT THE RULE. If I had money for every unnecessary private channel I see in Teams I’d have more motorcycles. MUCH MORE. A private channel creates a separate SharePoint site collection with its own library. Sometimes for one document. One. OMW! you could have just shared that document in a group chat OR a separate team for that audience that always needs private channels (like management).
Also, because that channel sits between our other channels, with a NOT so obvious little lock on it, it’s easy to accidentally stand on the wrong channel and share that “People to get fired on Monday” file. My brain doesn’t apply different rules to that channel as it forms part of the channels under that Team, I’d prefer it in a separate team, where I know different business rules apply.
5. SharePoint Permissions
When the team is created, it creates a Microsoft (Office) 365 Group which is the security group with members it uses for all the resources. On the SharePoint side it has 3 SharePoint groups (Visitors, Members and Owners). This Microsoft 365 Group is added to the SharePoint Members group for permissions (that’s the Owners of the Team as well as the Members in one group on SharePoint) which has Edit rights by default.
There is a huge difference between Edit and Contribute permissions. Edit rights gives the user the ability to add, edit and delete apps (libraries and lists), as well as add, edit and delete content. It would have been better if Members on Teams could just have contribute rights, or at least if we had the ability to change that on the Member’s settings – but nope. And it’s also not easy (or advisable) to try and change this. So please Microsoft, help out a girl here.
6. Item Level Permissions
I like business rules applied to “containers”. So when it comes to a team, I know that every member and owner in the team can add, edit, delete anything in the team, on any of the channels and even on other libraries / apps, Microsoft Lists if added (behind that team / on SharePoint).
Now this is where people get creative. I’ve seen them navigate to SharePoint, then change the permissions on a specific folder (behind a channel), which of course breaks how the channel / documents works. Or to share a document out of a team with another party, not part of the team. Or, create a separate library behind the team, and then change the permissions on that. I honestly see this as very bad practice – after all, it’s called a team, not a me, or a some of us. When you share a document differently, your fellow team members don’t necessarily know this, and could be making changes to that document, unaware of the new audience. And yeah, there’s a lot of people in the industry who don’t agree with me on this one, although all the users I’ve trained, and explained this risk to them, understood and agreed to do it differently. Empower people to make better, informed decisions.
There are some instances where this makes sense to me though, imagine a list in a team where members add their grievances / innovations etc. and you don’t want people to see each others submissions, then on the app in SharePoint you can set item level permissions, just remember to grant yourself (or whoever) designer rights so they can approve or view all items.
7. Trust the technology if you don’t trust the people
It’s only human to be nervous working together with people in an environment where your content can be deleted. So before you start messing with permissions because of this, rather consider setting up alerts.
So as mentioned, I don’t think it’s a good idea to store content in a team (anywhere on the SharePoint site collection behind the team for that matter) that should not be accessible to all. High risk content should rather be in a separate team or shared through group chat / OneDrive (exceptions Private Channel). Risk vs Relevance – if not relevant it’s not an issue, as long as it’s not 80% not relevant, 20% relevant to members, then rather break up into multiple teams.
Now if you’re worried about your content, consider setting up alerts on the library behind the team’s channels. Take note that you’re on the correct level (on a channel in the team, go to Files > Open in SharePoint – remember that it will open on that folder, so you would need to navigate back to the main library if that’s where you want the alert). Here you will select the folder, or the file, or just be in the main library with nothing selected and then setup the alert.
The alert can be on modifications on files you uploaded or even just on deleted items.
In Conclusion:
Microsoft Teams & SharePoint – is for me, the ultimate platform to work, share, collaborate and store content. I do believe that business deserves more responsibility and power over their working environments and the way Microsoft Teams was built, absolutely supports that. I do not believe in over-controlled environments where IT provisions the Teams for business. I also believe that it’s the right of every single employee to receive the training and support they deserve, to make better informed decisions and use the technology supplied to be more efficient and contribute to the overall digital transformation of the company.
However, to achieve this “new way of working”, we need to train ALL employees. And as we know, most of the time, this does not happen. In many companies the platform is rolled out and a year plus later, they consider training as they then start running into issues. Sadly these same companies / users blame the product for any of their mistakes made due to inexperience / lack of training or insight.
I am asking for ways to (where identified / necessary), change the roll Teams Owners and Members have, until they’ve done their training. For example:
Someone can only create Teams, assign Members and change settings / delete or archive teams when they’ve had some form of “Owners Training” – before then teams are provisioned. This of course can be done (with great difficulty), by locking down Microsoft 365 Group creation and adding identified (trained) users in a group that can create Microsoft 365 Groups.
When necessary, Members can be given Contribute rights to SharePoint (vs Edit) and not create Channels and Tabs (which is possible to modify in settings). Again, once Members have had sufficient training, this can be changed.
Disclaimer: I create content about Office / Microsoft 365. Content is accurate at time of publication, however updates and new additions happen daily which could change the accuracy or relevance. Please keep this in mind when using my blogs as guidelines. And yes, I change my mind all the time as well, because “The only thing that is constant, is change”.My life mission is to “Facilitate the evolution of human capabilities”: Reach out on:Website > LinkedIn > SlideShare > Twitter > Medium > YouTube > MVP Profile
#Office365Challenge Yes, yes… “Can you make it Pop?” is one of those Designer nightmare requests. I’m just kidding of course, but PowerPoint Designer really does make it “Pop”.
