Tech Tips & Tales from The MS Office Maestro

Hello Reader, it's wonderful to have you here!

In this newsletter, you'll find a delightful mix of personal anecdotes, training news, and invaluable tips to boost your productivity with Microsoft Office.

💌 Not sure why you're getting this? Scroll to the bottom for a quick note.

Shelley's News

The past week has been all about Copilot and my back.

For those of you who have been with me a while, you will know that I suffer with my back and every so often, I have a flare-up.

Well, as I was doing my cooking and baking on Friday, I caused a flare-up and so there is nothing to do but to rest it out. After a couple of days, it is as fine as it will ever be...
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Apart from that, I delivered an Introduction to Copilot for Bookboon, one of their Bookboon Boost series. It was well received and there are 2 more in the mini-series. I am looking forward to delivering those.
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I have been prepping for a 3-hour live masterclass that I am delivering for The EA Campus on Thursday this week, after this newsletter edition goes out.
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A 3-hour live masterclass takes a lot of preparation and I would be fibbing if I did not own up to using Copilot to create demonstration documents for me. Saved on a lot of thinking and writing time.

I am also very excited that the first few people have enrolled in Microsoft 365 Fundamentals with AI and Copilot. I offered those on the waiting list a super early bird offer and some took it up. So, it's now full steam ahead with prepping the course in detail. It is going to be so exciting!

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Did you know?

I was recently asked where a list of all of the courses I offer can be found. So, I thought it would be useful to signpost them. You can find them all here

​www.msofficemaestro.com ​

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In the original email the link was broken. Apologies it is now correct 😊

This Week's PowerPoint Tip

Remove Background from Images - Create clean images

PowerPoint makes it easy to remove the background from images directly within the application. To remove the background, select the image, go to the "Picture Format" tab, and click on "Remove Background." PowerPoint will automatically detect the background and highlight it in purple.

It works best for pictures that have a well defined background.

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This week's Copilot Prompt

The Internal Update: Use when updating your team, boss, or stakeholders on progress.

Prompt: "Create a project update email covering [TIME PERIOD]. Include progress made, challenges encountered, next steps, and request [SPECIFIC SUPPORT] if needed."

Example: "Create a project update email covering this week. Include progress made, challenges encountered, next steps, and request additional resources if needed."

Your Shortcut to Confidence in the AI Era: Introducing Microsoft 365 Fundamentals with AI and Copilot

Here is what is included in this brand new live online course.

🌟 Course Overview

Welcome to the Koffee Island Copilot Learning Hub—a live, interactive course designed to help you confidently use Microsoft Copilot by mastering the Microsoft 365 fundamentals it’s built on.

Over four engaging sessions, you’ll explore real-world business scenarios from our fictional coffee shop, Koffee Island, and learn how to use:

· Word

· Excel

· PowerPoint

· Outlook

· Teams

· Copilot tools like Pages and Notebooks

You’ll also get a quick tour of other AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity, to understand how Copilot fits into the broader AI landscape.

🎯 Who This Course Is For

· Professionals who want to use Copilot effectively in their daily work

· Anyone feeling overwhelmed by AI tools and looking for clarity

· Microsoft 365 users who want to level up their skills

· Learners who prefer practical, scenario-based training

🧠 What You’ll Learn

· How Copilot works and how it compares to other AI tools

· How to write effective prompts for Copilot

· How to use Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams with Copilot

· How to apply your skills in real-world business scenarios

· How to use Copilot Pages and Notebooks for deeper insights

📅 Live Session Breakdown

Session 1: Meet Copilot & the AI Landscape

Understand how Copilot works, how it compares to other AI tools, and how to write effective prompts. Explore Copilot Pages and Notebooks.

Session 2: Microsoft 365 Fundamentals – Word & Excel

Build strong foundational skills and see how Copilot enhances your productivity through document creation and data analysis.

Session 3: PowerPoint, Outlook & Teams – Communication & Collaboration

Learn how Copilot supports storytelling, communication, and teamwork in your daily workflow.

Session 4: Real-World Challenge & Wrap-Up

Apply everything in a hands-on challenge. Plan and present a new product launch using Microsoft 365 and Copilot.

📦 What’s Included

- 4 x 2-hour live Zoom sessions

- Downloadable templates and practice files

- Prompt libraries and cheat sheets

- Session recordings for review

- Certificate of completion

🚀 Ready to Brew Your Skills with Copilot?

Join us at Koffee Island and discover how Microsoft 365 and Copilot can transform your workflow—one prompt at a time.

Enrolment opens on August 1st - join us now!

Useful PowerPoint Blog today

The traditional approach to creating and delivering PowerPoint presentations involved adding text, graphics and images to a slide deck. Then click play and talk.

But many audiences today – in an age of video and seemingly short attention spans – expect more than that. They want information but also want to be entertained.

A simple way of creating visually engaging presentations in PowerPoint is to add in some animations and transitions.

Take a look at this blog for some ideas.

​Using Animations and Transitions for Polished Presentations​

Empowering Productivity Blog Series

The seventh blog of this series looks at how to create stunning presentations.

Do take a look and let me know your thoughts

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Keyboard Shortcut of the Week

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In PowerPoint, to move to the next or previous command on the ribbon, press the tab key or shift + tab. ​

Quote of the week

Follow Daniel for tips about SharePoint and Copilot

I follow Daniel Anderson to learn more about SharePoint and Copilot and I highly recommend you subscribe to his newsletter, which is full of useful and actionable insights.

Growing and Transforming Businesses with Microsoft 365 by Daniel Anderson Actionable and practical advice, training and thought leadership on how become a smarter user of Microsoft 365 to become more productive and to grow and scale your business. Join thousands of other IT Professionals, CEO's and information workers receiving firsthand use cases, expert interviews, and practical guidance every day. Subscribe​

I have recently started to follow Katie Skelton, who has a great newsletter - The Email Inner Circle. For those of you who oversee email marketing, whether for your own business, your client's business, or your organisation, this is a gem of a newsletter.

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The Email Inner Circle Become a better writer, marketer and seller with daily emails to help you build a business that inspires your audience to do, think & feel differently.​ Join 1,000+ business owners now in the Email Inner Circle.​ PLUS, get a free, personalised subject line or social media headline when you reply to my first email. Subscribe​

💡 Why you're receiving this newsletter

You may be receiving this newsletter because you joined the waiting list for one of my courses, signed up for a webinar, or purchased one of my online courses.

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This newsletter is sent via Kit and is separate from my course platform (Zenler).
If you unsubscribe from course-related emails on Zenler, that won’t automatically remove you from this newsletter list.
To stop receiving this newsletter, simply click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any issue👇.

I do hope you’ll stay, but I completely respect your inbox 😊

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