Newsletter Archives

• The twists and turns of Office Fast Account Switching

  Posted on May 16, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.20 • 2022-05-16

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Fast Account Switching lets you quickly “change hats” between work, home, and other Microsoft accounts in Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and 2019, and now the browser-based Office.com apps.

  Most of us have more than one online life, usually a work account — and a personal account and possibly more for other work or voluntary commitments. For Office users, that means separate Microsoft accounts and switching between those accounts to see recent documents and online storage related to that part of your life. In the past, and still in Office for Mac, changing accounts meant reopening the Office app.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.20.0, 2022-05-16).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Accounts, Office 365, tips

• Removing MFA

  Posted on April 25, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.17 • 2022-04-25

  Look for our special issue on Monday, May 2!

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Will Fastie

  How many times have articles in this newsletter told you that multifactor authentication (MFA) was a good idea and suggested that you turn it on?

  A lot. It’s good advice.

  Just the other day, I turned on Microsoft 365 MFA for one of my clients. It’s too embarrassing for me to describe the mistake I made. Suffice it to say that it was an accident, because I didn’t intend to turn it on.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.17.0, 2022-04-25).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Multi-factor Authentication

• Get more OneDrive with these tips

  Posted on April 25, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  There are a few tricky ways to beat the 365 plan quota, to get more than one terabyte of OneDrive space for nothing and save local disk space by pushing files to OneDrive.

  Most Microsoft 365 plans, including Family, Personal, and most Business plans, include one terabyte of OneDrive storage. That’s 1,000 GB, more than enough for most people. But if you need more, there are cheaper – or even free – options available that are legitimate, inside the bounds of Microsoft’s rules.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.17.0, 2022-04-25).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, OneDrive, tips

• License and registration, please

  Posted on March 28, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.13 • 2022-03-28

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Knowing exactly which version of Office you have is important, but many people forget or don’t know — because it was installed by someone else, it’s been on their system for years, or their record-keeping leaves something to be desired.

  True story: I recently met someone who swore blind they had bought a “Microsoft subscription.” But my quick check of the machine revealed they had Office 2019, the result of having been misled by a computer salesperson.

  First, I’ll talk about the single-purchase, perpetual-license Microsoft Office, from the latest Office 2021 back to Office 2013. Then I’ll tell you how to find the hidden details for Microsoft 365 subscriptions.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.13.0, 2022-03-28).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Microsoft licensing, Office Versions

• Saving money on your Microsoft 365 subscription

  Posted on February 14, 2022 at 02:43 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Using the tips in this article, you can pay less for new subscriptions and renewals.

  Let’s start with Microsoft’s official, full prices for the two main consumer plans for Microsoft 365. Both have the same features for a different number of separate users.

  In the United States, the Microsoft 365 Personal plan, for one person, has a list price of US$69.99 per year. The Microsoft 365 Family plan, for up to six people, lists for $99.99; each person in the plan gets individual access to all the apps, including 1TB of OneDrive storage. It doesn’t take higher math to see that the Family plan is the best value for more than one person and a great price for a family of four.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.07.0 (2022-02-14).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Microsoft licensing

• Dive into Microsoft To Do

  Posted on January 17, 2022 at 02:44 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  To Do from Microsoft is more than just a simple list of tasks. It has tentacles connections to Outlook, Teams, and other people.

  Cutting through all the Microsoft hype about “Set yourself up for success,” To Do is a cloud-based service for task management with connections to other Microsoft services.

  I’m going to show To Do as an online app in a Web browser, then show how it works with Outlook desktop and Teams. There are also To Do apps for Windows, iOS, and Android.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.03.0 (2022-01-17).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, To Do

• Microsoft’s calling confusion: Teams, Meet Now, or Skype?

  Posted on December 20, 2021 at 02:43 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Microsoft has a split personality when it comes to video and audio calling. There’s Skype, Skype for Business, Teams calling/meetings, and “Meet Now” in Windows 11.

  All three can do the same basic thing — computer-to-computer video/audio calls and meetings. What’s the difference, which one to use, and what’s the future of all these overlapping Microsoft options?

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.49.0 (2021-12-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Skype, Teams

• Click-to-run dribbles out changes

  Posted on December 13, 2021 at 02:42 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Office patches are handled differently than Windows patches, and they can be very disruptive as a result.

  Microsoft always releases security patches for Windows on the second Tuesday of the month, no matter what the actual date. It’s the reason that this month’s updates haven’t yet arrived — today is December 13, and Patch Tuesday is December 14. We won’t receive security patches until tomorrow!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.48.0 (2021-12-13).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, On Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Office, Patch Lady Posts, security

• OneDrive app support ending on older Windows

  Posted on December 6, 2021 at 02:45 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.47 • 2021-12-06

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Microsoft dropped a minor bombshell with the announcement that the OneDrive app would stop working for some Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 users beginning in March 2022.

  The changes have some unusual elements, such as a split between personal and work use. Microsoft has (deliberately?) added confusion with poor and incomplete communication.

  Office 365 users are affected by these changes, yet Microsoft hasn’t said a word about that.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.47.0 (2021-12-06).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.47.F (2021-12-06).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Office, Office 365, OneDrive, OneDrive for Business

• Understanding Office 2021 and Office LTSC

  Posted on November 22, 2021 at 02:42 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  What are Office 2021 and Office LTSC, and should you care?

  Office 2021 and Office LTSC are the latest nonsubscription versions of Microsoft Office. Microsoft calls each a “perpetual license,” but historically we might have called them the “boxed” editions of Office. These two Office versions are very similar and deliberately limited in new features, licensing, and even support.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.45.0 (2021-11-22).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365, Office, Office 2021, Office LTSC

• Viva Microsoft!

  Posted on October 21, 2021 at 07:35 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  One day in what seems the distant past, Microsoft Cortana starting sending me email messages. I didn’t ask for them; they just started showing up. For the most part, I found them useless. I think there were some “mental health” messages. My wife thinks I’m crazy; I don’t need some server in Redmond telling me that.

  One day in what I’m sure is the recent past, the new Microsoft Viva took over that responsibility. This time, however, the focus appears to be on actionable items. Cortana/Viva is watching me, picking out what it thinks are to do items, and reminding me about them. I’ve been a happy camper for years because while it was apparent that Google was reading my Gmail, Microsoft wasn’t. Now it clearly is.

  But, okay, reminders. I handle a lot of email in my editorial duties; some assistance might be helpful. So, I’ve been experimenting.

  

  More often than not, clicking one of the action buttons in the email results in the teeny, tiny error message shown at the top.

  Can’t Microsoft code any longer?

  Microsoft, Microsoft 365 Artificial intelligence, Cortana, Microsoft 365, Viva

• All the stuff to use or ignore in Teams

  Posted on October 4, 2021 at 02:43 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Get a grip on Teams by exploring its “nuts and bolts,” including what to ignore, what’s compulsory, what’s possible, and why some people move away from Teams to get things done.

  Teams is confusing because Microsoft has thrown everything except the proverbial kitchen sink into it. Even people who’ve used it for a while get a little lost. Microsoft doesn’t help by making some elements compulsory — with no way to remove, hide, or even rename them. There’s a wide range of Teams apps that can be useful but also add to the confusion.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.38.0 (2021-10-04).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Collaboration, Microsoft 365, Office 365, Teams
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