Author: Artemy

Working from home in this new COVID-19 reality, how can companies reduce business disruption and prepare for success when working from home?

We examine key considerations and technological advances that can help you successfully manage this shift and make working from home easier.

Practicalities to Ponder

There has been a growing trend towards flexible and work from home scenarios over the last 5 years but many businesses are still unprepared for full-scale remote working.

So, lets look at some key things to consider when adjusting to working from home.

Of course, not all industries or job roles are suitable for remote work. If your industry isnt one of them, still consider if there is any other work that they can be doing in the short term outside of their normal remit and that can be accomplished in the home environment.
Now is the time to set and communicate clear guidance around work from home policies including sick pay or leave entitlement and the availability of additional Government support.

What happens to an employees mailbox if they no longer work for your organization? Which steps should you take if you want to preserve their emails and forward any incoming correspondence to their addresses? In this short tutorial, we will discuss the necessary steps that you need to go through in Microsoft Office 365 for such scenario.

Summary:

1. Block user access to Office 365.
2. Block user access to Exchange Online.
3. Put users mailbox on in-place hold. (optional, works only with Plan 2 licenses)
4. Preserve data from mailbox by downloading it as PST file from eDiscovery. (Always do that before deactivating a user)
5. Forward the users email to another address. (optional, only if necessary)
6. Remove license from user.

Blocking Access to Office 365:

1. Log in to Office 365 Admin Center.
2. Go to Users => Active users.
3. Select the user that you want to block, and then click Edit besides Sign-in status.
4. Choose Sign-in blocked, and then save.

Blocking Access to Exchange Online:

1. In Office 365 Admin Center, look at the lower left corner.
2. Under Admin Centers, click
3. Go to Recipients => Mailboxes.
4. Click disable under Email Connectivity, then click yes

Blocking Access to Exchange Online:

1. In Office 365 Admin Center, look at the lower left corner.
2. Under Admin Centers, click
3. Go to Recipients => Mailboxes.
4. Click disable under Email Connectivity, then click yes

Mailbox Preservation:

1. Go to Exchange admin center.
2. Go to compliance management.
3. Click + to create a new hold.
4. Give it a name, for example: PST Export.
5. Choose which users to back up; you can select more than one. You can also select everyone if you want to.
6. You can filter what you want to backup per your specific criteria, or you can back up the whole mailbox.
7. Press the download arrow icon to run the app that will download the PST file(s).
8. If you are trying to run the app from Chrome, you will have to install this extension first.

Forward Emails to another Address:

1. Login to Office 365 Admin Center.
2. Go to Users => Active Users.
3. Go to the user that you want to DEACTIVATE.
4. DELETE their email Alias.
5. Go to the user you want them to receive emails meant for the user who is going to be deactivated.
6. Enter the OLD users alias
7. Example: John no longer works here, his email account needs to be deactivated, but emails meant to him should go to Jane.
   1. Delete Johns alias.
   2. Add same old alias that John used to Janes aliases.

Removing License(s)

1. Login to Office 365 Admin Center.
2. Go to Users => Active Users.
3. Select the user you want to deactivate their license(s)
4. Click Edit beside Product licenses.
5. Put the slide(s) of any license(s) you want to deactivate on OFF.
6. Click on Assign to save changes.
7. After finishing the clean-up, make sure to go to Billing => Licenses to remove any excess licenses.

As part of our tips and tricks series, we have already shown some great info on how to be more productive with Microsoft Word  read our previous post Tips and Tricks: Are you being productive in Microsoft Word?.

In todays post, we will continue our trip though the Microsoft Office suite.

Microsoft Outlook is a widely used email client my small and medium enterprises, and also has some great features to help you make the most of your time. A BALANCED+ MS Outlook guru shared some of his tips, tricks, and shortcuts to work faster in MS Outlook.

A lot of things that apply for Word, apply for Outlook as well. Namely:

1. Text selection and navigation
2. Easy text alignment
3. Copy and Paste Text
4. Undoing actions
5. Finding and replacing text
6. Spelling check
7. Text formatting

Convenient Keyboard Shortcuts:

1. To create a new email message, Ctrl+N
2. To reply to a message, Ctrl+R
3. To Reply to All, Ctrl+Shift+R
4. To forward a message, Ctrl+F
5. To send a message, Ctrl+Enter (unless this option is disabled)
6. Switch between mail, calendar, contacts, and other items in the navigation pane by hitting Ctrl + [the place number of the item],
   • e.g. Ctrl+1 will open mail, Ctrl+2 will open the calendar, and so forth.
7. Create a new item from the clipboard. Copy any text to your clipboard, then in Outlook press Ctrl+V. Outlook will create a new message (or note or appointment or whatever item, depending on the folder youre viewing) with the text already pasted.

Inbox Organization

You can create inbox folders and rules to direct messages with certain senders to those folders, so the messages will automatically go to those folders.

1. To create a folder, right-click on the Inbox, select New Folder, and type the folder name.
2. To create a rule, select the email from the sender for whom you want to make the rule, right-click and select Create Rule.
3. Select the From  checkbox.
4. Select the Move the item to folder: checkbox and click Select Folder, and then select the folder you created for that person.
5. You can do similar organisation based on subject, not recipient.

Managing Multiple Signatures

1. Go to File > Options > Mail > Click on Signatures.
2. Click New, and type a name for the signature.
3. Enter the text and formatting for the signature, when finished click Save.
4. In the drop-down menus on the right, select from the dropdown the signature you want to use for
   • New Messages (full signature)
   • Replies/Forwards (shortened signature)

Using Follow-up flags to track messages / tasks

This is a convenient feature that lets you remember if you need to follow up on an email.

1. For an email you want to track, click on the flag beside it (on the right).
   • To select a different priority (time range within which to follow up), right-click on the Flag beside it and select the appropriate time range.
2. The email will now appear in Tasks.
   • To stop tracking the email (i.e. to mark the task as complete), in the list of Tasks, click on the flag  it will change to a check mark and disappear from the list.
   • You can do the same in your inbox by clicking on the flag.

Saving important emails as files

1. To save an email as a file, open the email, go to File > Save as, and select the location to which you want to save. The email will be saved as an Outlook message that can be opened with Outlook.
2. To save as a PDF, simply print the email as a PDF (File > Print > Select Microsoft Print to PDF printer)

Manual Send/Receive

This allows you to have a second look through all your emails before you send them, but requires you to remember to do that.

1. To set manual Send/Receive, go to File > Options > Advanced > Scroll to Send and Receive.
2. Uncheck the box Send immediately when connected and press OK.
3. Now, all emails that you send will appear in the Outbox.
4. To send all emails in the Outbox, in the Home tab press Send/Receive All Folders.

Our Thoughts

Microsoft Outlook is a powerful tool that can greatly improve your productivity if used effectively. By following these tips and tricks, you can better manage your inbox, schedule, and tasks, while also reducing the time spent on administrative tasks. With a little practice and patience, you can turn Microsoft Outlook into a streamlined and efficient tool that helps you stay organized and focused on what really matters. So why not give it a try and see how it can benefit you?