Hands-On | February 2024 Updates

Dear readers,

I needed some time to catch my breath after my blog post marathon. In February, I published a blog post every single day for the third year in a row. That’s why this issue is coming out four days late.

Many people have asked me how I managed to keep up with the pace and how I found ideas for so many blog posts. Here is the secret behind it all:

• Train before the race – You don’t run a marathon without proper training, and that’s what I did for this blog post marathon. In early January, I started to build a schedule of blog posts. I have a to-do list with a backlog of more than 100 ideas for articles that may never see the light of day. I built a schedule to mix tips and tricks, tutorials, and articles about new features for SharePoint, Microsoft Lists, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft 365.
• Warm up – To avoid getting injured while running, it is recommended to warm up before the race, and that’s what I did. In the last days of January, I wrote the first posts for the marathon. That buffer allowed me to take it easy, as I knew I wouldn’t miss the schedule if I couldn’t write for a day or two.
• Keep the pace – When running, especially long distances, you need to stay focused and maintain your pace, without wasting unnecessary energy. In this blog post marathon, I did just that. I stayed focused on the pace of writing and planned time to write every day, including Saturdays and Sundays. Some of the posts were written early in the morning before work, others were written in the evening before dinner.
• Focus on the finish line – When running, it helps to focus on the end result, instead of the pain in your legs. This blog post marathon was not easy, and I felt tired in the third week. To stay focused and keep going, I started to think about the image generated by Copilot to illustrate another successful marathon. Being able to use this image to announce the success of another blog post marathon was my finisher medal.

Now that you know the secret behind the blog post marathon, let’s dive into the topics I wrote about in February.

Hands-On SharePoint

Taking screenshots of web pages can be very useful for content creators who want to have a full picture of the content without scrolling or zooming.

With Microsoft Edge’s web capture feature, you can easily take screenshots of the whole web page or a selected part of it. You can also add notes, copy, or share your screenshots with others. But web capture doesn’t work on SharePoint pages by default. To enable web capture on SharePoint pages, read my step by step guide and discover how to use this awesome feature.

• How to Take a SharePoint full Page Screenshot Using Microsoft Edge

SharePoint publishing workflow is a feature that allows you to manage the content creation and approval process on your Intranet. By using publishing workflows, you can ensure that the content is always reviewed before being made available to everyone. This month, I published an article that explains how to enable publishing workflow to SharePoint pages, and how to use it effectively.

• How to Set Up a Publishing Workflow for Your SharePoint Pages

If you are a SharePoint content creator, you might be interested in this article I wrote. It covers four features that can enhance your SharePoint pages, but are not very obvious at first glance. You will learn how to share a page, send SharePoint news by email, display videos on a page, and crop an image without using an external tool.

• 4 Features Available in SharePoint Pages That You Won’t Want to Miss

A document library template is a useful feature that allows you to create a new document library with the same configuration and design as an existing one. This can help you avoid repeating the same steps and settings for each document library that you need. For example, if you have a document library template for project documents, you can easily create a new document library for each project that you work on, without having to manually add the columns, views, and formatting that you want.?

Document library templates are a new feature that Microsoft has introduced on modern sites. In the following article, you can learn how to create your own document library templates and use them effectively.

• How to Create a Custom Document Library Template for SharePoint

Do you ever need to store online information on your SharePoint site? If you do, you might find it annoying to download and upload the files manually. But what if I told you there is a better way? With Power Automate, you can automate this task and save time and effort.

In this article, I’ll show you how to use Power Automate to upload a file to SharePoint from the internet.

• How to upload files from Public URLs to SharePoint using Power Automate

SharePoint is a great tool for collaboration and communication, but it can also generate a lot of email notifications. If you are feeling flooded by emails from SharePoint, or if you are worried about missing important updates, you might want to change your email notification settings.

• How to Customize Your SharePoint Email Notifications

As usual, I published the monthly update about everything new announced for SharePoint and related technologies. You won’t want to miss all the updates that are coming soon for SharePoint ??

• What’s new for SharePoint – February 2024

Hands-On Microsoft Lists

February was a busy on the Microsoft Lists blog. I began the month by exploring a recent change that was introduced to the image column. I explained where images are stored when added to a list column. I also showed how to automate adding an image to an image column using Power Automate and how to use image columns with adaptive cards.

• Where are Microsoft Lists images stored in 2024?
• How to Add an Image to a Microsoft Lists Image column using Power Automate
• How to Use Microsoft Lists Image Columns in Adaptive Cards

Another topic I covered on the Microsoft Lists blog was attachments. I explained when and how to use attachments in your lists, and how to disable them if they are not relevant for your list scenario.

• How to Turn Off Attachments in Microsoft Lists

I also wrote about an old column type that is making a comeback: the ratings column. In February, I explained how you can use it with the new Microsoft Lists interface.

• How to Create Ratings Columns in Microsoft Lists with the New UI
• How to Switch from Star Rating to Like Rating in SharePoint and Microsoft Lists

With the new interface, new features are being added to Microsoft Lists. One of them is the ability to hide the Unassigned bucket in the board view. This feature was added in February and I wrote about how to use it in this article.

• How to hide the unassigned items bucket from the board view in Microsoft Lists

Microsoft Lists is evolving, but it still has some limitations. One of them is related to the lookup column type. In February, I wrote a tip about how to use a choice column as a lookup in a list.

• How to Use a Choice Field in a Lookup Column Using SharePoint and Microsoft Lists

Hands-On Microsoft Teams

AI is everywhere these days, and Microsoft Teams is no exception. Copilot is an AI assistant that can help you be more productive in Microsoft Teams. In February, I shared how Copilot can assist you in chats and meetings. Copilot can help you write better messages, generate summaries, and keep track of your tasks. Copilot is transforming the way we work, and this is just the beginning.

• Meet Copilot for Microsoft 365, Your New Assistant in Microsoft Teams
• How Copilot for Microsoft 365 in Microsoft Teams can boost your productivity and collaboration
• How to Show or Hide Copilot from Your Chat List in Microsoft Teams

In February, I wrote a lot about new features available in Microsoft Teams meetings that can make you more effective. I explained how to share any window from the Windows 11 taskbar, how to protect the content you share by adding a watermark for all participants, and how to use and save the auto-generated backgrounds that hide and clean your office surroundings.

• How to Add a Watermark to Your Microsoft Teams Meetings
• How to Enable or Disable Share Any Window from the Taskbar in Windows 11
• How to save the decorated background images generated by Microsoft Teams Premium

Another topic I explored related to Microsoft Teams meetings was how to upcycle old devices to use them as an Elgato Stream Deck in your meetings. This is a software that you can install on Android and iOS devices that lets you easily react, share content, mute and unmute with a push of a button, even when Microsoft Teams is not in focus on your computer.

• How to Use Elgato StreamDeck With the New Microsoft Teams

Communication is key for any team, and in February I explored two tools that can help you communicate effectively in Microsoft Teams: the Viva Connections Announcements and the Microsoft Teams Announcements. I explained the differences between them, how to use them, and how they reach your users.

• How Microsoft Teams and Viva Connections Announcements Can Help You Communicate Better

Microsoft Teams is constantly improving to offer better features and interfaces for users. This month, I wrote about two new features that are exclusive to the New Microsoft Teams Client. These will help you stay organized and productive. I wrote about a new way to create channels that avoids creating unnecessary teams. I also wrote about the new Discovery feed that displays the content that matters to you, from different channels in one view.

• The New Channel Creation Experience in Microsoft Teams: What You Need to Know
• How to Stay on Top of Your Teams Channels with Discover Feed

In February, I updated one of the most popular blog posts on the Hands-On Teams blog. It explains how to download audio messages using the new Microsoft Teams.

• How to download audio messages from Microsoft Teams in 2024

As usual, on the last day of January, I published the monthly post about what’s new for Microsoft Viva, the Microsoft Employee Experience platform. This month, there were some announcements for Viva Connections and Viva Engage that you don’t want to miss.

• What’s new for Microsoft Viva – February 2024

Hands-On tek

On the Hands-On tek blog in February, I published several articles that show how to use the built-in features of Windows 11. I demonstrated how to extract text from images with the snipping tool, how to customize the icons of progressive web apps, and how to capture full-screen screenshots with Microsoft EDGE.

• How the Snipping Tool on Windows Made OCR Easier Than Ever
• How to Change the Icon of a PWA Application Using Microsoft Edge
• How to take a full page screenshot using Microsoft Edge

When building a website, it is important to have metrics that show how users interact with your content. Microsoft Clarity is the perfect tool for that. In February, I showed how to add Microsoft Clarity to Power Pages and how to analyse the recordings and heat maps to measure the impact of your content changes.

• How to Add Microsoft Clarity to Power Pages

Last month I started a new blog series where I will keep you updated on the latest news and developments of the various Copilots in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Check out what are the areas receiving Copilot updates this month.

• What’s new for Copilot – February 2024

YouTube Channel

February was the month when I found the groove to record videos. I’ve created a dedicated setup at home and that is already paying off. I can record them faster because I don’t need to set up everything from scratch every time. I’m already halfway to my early goal of publishing 12 videos in 2024. This month, I published the following videos about Microsoft Lists and SharePoint:

• How to Add an Image to a Microsoft Lists Image Column using Power Automate
• The New Board View Features of Microsoft Lists Will Change How You Work
• How to Add Star Ratings to Your Microsoft Lists
• Stream Playlists: The Ultimate Way to Showcase Your Videos on SharePoint Pages

I’ve also experimented with the new shorts video format on YouTube. I published a 60-second video with a demo of the highly anticipated Microsoft Lists forms.

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Public Speaking & Other Engagements

In February, I delivered my first two public sessions of the year, where I spoke about Viva Connections. At the AI, Cloud & Modern Workplace Conference 2024, I showed how to extend Viva Connections without being a developer. A few days later, I explained how Viva Connections can enable collaboration in your organization at Teams Nation. If you are interested in these topics, you can watch the recording from the Teams Nation session here.

Also shared my insights with Larraine Solomon on how Copilot and Microsoft Graph are changing the way content reaches end users in the intranets, based on their preferences and work duties.

• Going Hyper for Personalisation

See you next month ??

I hope that you have found the content to be informative and engaging. I am committed to keeping you updated with the latest trends and developments in technology and productivity. To stay connected and ensure that you don't miss any updates, I encourage you to follow me on social media.

Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to connecting with you soon. ??

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