Tech Tips & Tales from The MS Office Maestro

HelloReader, 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.

Shelley's News

Since the last newsletter, I have been improving my own knowledge in the realm of AI. I have been playing around with the different models. I have been focussed on Copilot and have been blown away by some of its capabilities. The future is indeed here!

I gave Copilot a PowerPoint prompt to create a presentation about AI for assistants. I asked it to include ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and of course to focus on CoPilot.
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It generated a whole presentation, including speakers notes! I had to fact check one thing to make sure I wanted to include it. I applied my brand colours and then I used the Record feature in PowerPoint to record the video. I did it in one take and had I rehearsed it would have been much better however it is pretty awesome.
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To generate this kind of presentation would have taken me at least a day, the research, wording, finding the images, then styling, etc. Then, setting speaker's notes and rehearsing. Instead, it took me about an hour all told.
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Here is a link to the finished video on my YouTube Channel

​Harnessing AI Assistants for Personal and Executive Assistance​

Next week, I will record the process and show you what I did.

Newsletter ​
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I have also been tidying up my email list and making sure that everyone who has signed up for the newsletter does in fact receive it. I moved my newsletter away from Active Campaign to Kit around the end of last year and I am continually learning what the new system can do. It works in broadly the same way as Active Campaign, which I had been using since I started sending out a weekly newsletter, which is at least 15 years!

One thing I have learned is that some organisations open and click links in emails at the server end. What this means for someone like me is that all the links show as having been clicked and I can see who clicked on them. Obviously, this information is used to send out emails of interest - for example, if you clicked on the link about the upcoming Outlook Webinar, you would have a tag added. Then, as the webinar nears, I will email out reminders to those who have shown interest. So, I am a little confused as to whether recipients have in fact clicked a link 😕
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​Help me out 💁‍♀️​
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I would love to hear from you! Please drop me an email in response to this week's newsletter and let me know what you found useful. Your feedback not only helps me improve the content but also shows engagement from you, my wonderful subscribers. Let's keep the conversation going!

Looking forward to your thoughts!

Training News

On Tuesday, I delivered a two-hour training session on PowerPoint. The focus was on the Slide Master - what it is, how to change it, how to update your colour scheme, how to create a template and a lot of other lovely features. We also looked at adding Icons and changing how they look, plus animating them.
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Here is some of the feedback from the chat at the end of the session.

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This Week's Outlook Tip

Quicksteps in New Outlook - Automate Repetitive Tasks

Automate repetitive tasks with Quick Steps. Quick Steps allow you to create shortcuts for common actions, such as moving emails to specific folders, replying to messages, or creating new tasks.

To create a Quick Step, go to the "Home" tab and select "Quick Steps."

Here are three examples of how you can use Quicksteps to maximise efficiency:

1. Move to Folder

A Quickstep that moves emails to a specific folder with a single click. For instance, you can create a Quickstep to move all invoices to the “Finance” folder. This helps in keeping your inbox clutter-free and ensures important emails are organised.

2. Create a Task

This Quickstep allows you to create a task from an email. When clicked, it adds this to your task list in Microsoft To Do

3. Mark as Done

Create a Quickstep to mark emails as “Complete” and move them to a “Completed” folder. This is particularly useful for task-oriented emails where you need to keep track of emails until the task is finished. Once the task is completed, marking it as done and moving it helps in tracking progress and keeping the inbox organised.

Utilising Quicksteps in New Outlook enables you to handle emails more efficiently, making your daily workflow smoother and more productive. Try these examples and customise Quicksteps to suit your needs.

Here is a handy PDF with the steps outlined. Enjoy!

​Automate Repetitive Tasks​

Come along to the webinar on May 22nd to find out more about the New Outlook.

Upcoming Webinars

Here is a little reminder of my upcoming webinars. You can book onto any session by clicking the links below.

22nd May 2025 -1pm BST- New Outlook Boost Productivity​

10th July 2025 - 1pm BST - Boost Your PowerPoint Design​

4th August 2025 - 1pm BST - Boost Your Workflow!​

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Useful Blogs

This week we're sticking with the Outlook theme, well, why not, it is the next webinar after all! - Here is a blog post I did a little while ago on how to hide recipients (like bcc) for meetings.
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​Hide Recipients - like BCC for meetings​

This week's Podcast

In this episode of Virtually Amazing Assistants, I catch up with Alex Hughes of Auxilium Business Consulting.

We chat about how she is helping business owners to streamline their operations and embrace sustainability.

It's not one to be missed!

Keyboard Shortcut of the Week

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In New Outlook, to go to your To Do items, press Ctrl + 4 ​

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​

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