Read: The Top Task Management Software for Developers

What are Microsoft Office 365’s Features

Before we jump into what this suite has to offer, let us discuss its name. Microsoft 365 is the new moniker that replaces Office 365, so if you see both names floating around the Internet, know that they are essentially discussing the same product. As for Microsoft 365’s features, here are some of the highlights that you will get to access once you purchase a subscription.

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word really needs no introduction, as it is one of the top word processors around. As one of the top and most widely used features of Microsoft 365, Word offers:

• Microsoft Editor to provide writing assistance as it checks your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization
• Document sharing with real-time comments and suggested changes
• Accessible documents from any device when saved to OneDrive
• Customizable templates
• Voice commands and dictation

Read: Microsoft Word Tips and Tricks

Microsoft Excel

While Word may be Microsoft 365’s most popular offering, Excel is not far behind. Excel is regarded by many to be the top spreadsheet software thanks to these capabilities:

• Create spreadsheets from scratch or get a running head start with one of many templates
• Perform calculations
• Charts and graphs to easily understand data
• Real-time collaboration
• Image recognition that lets you snap a photo of a table and convert it into a fully-editable one so you can skip the time-consuming task of manually entering data from hard copies

Read: Microsoft Excel Tips and Tricks

Microsoft PowerPoint

Presentation is the name of the game with PowerPoint. With this Microsoft 365 feature, you can:

• Design information-filled and eye-catching slides
• Insert embedded animations and 3D objects
• Get AI recommendations via Presenter Coach to ensure the speeches accompanying your PowerPoint presentations are on point in terms of word choice, pacing, etc.
• Track changes made by other collaborators with the while you were away feature

Read: Microsoft PowerPoint Tips and Tricks

Microsoft Teams

Although you can use many of Microsoft Office 365’s features to collaborate with others, Teams is the software that specializes in this department. With Microsoft Teams, you can:

• Connect and collaborate regardless of your location
• Share your screen
• Be in the same space virtually via together mode
• Make and receive calls (including voicemail)
• Enjoy group calling
• Share and edit files from other Microsoft 365 offerings like Word and Excel
• Chat to share ideas (complete with emojis, stickers, and GIFs)

You can learn more by reading our Microsoft Teams Collaboration Tool Review.

Outlook

Microsoft Outlook helps you stay organized by providing a calendar and email service in one place. With Outlook’s email as part of Office 365, you can:

• Use the built-in calendar to never miss an appointment or important event
• Send, receive, and manage email messages
• Enjoy enterprise-grade security
• Quickly search for contacts or vital messages and documents
• Use Microsoft To Do to prioritize tasks

Read: Microsoft Outlook Tips and Tricks

OneDrive

Microsoft 365 gives you the power to create and share tons of content and ideas, but where can you save them? That is where OneDrive enters the picture with its personal cloud storage that lets you:

• Access, edit, and share files regardless of location or device
• Enjoy the peace of mind of knowing your files and photos are saved in the cloud in case you lose a device
• Collaborate in real-time with others as you share your docs and photos via links versus thumb drives or huge email attachments

Read: Microsoft OneDrive Tips and Tricks

OneNote

Your days of jotting down important notes on paper will be over if you subscribe to Microsoft Office 365, as its OneNote feature can help you do it all digitally. OneNote lets you:

• Organize your life and daily tasks via notebooks that can be divided into sections and pages
• Find essential notes within seconds
• Add to-do tags to the most essential tasks
• Revise and highlight notes with ease
• Collaborate by sharing notes and ideas
• Insert online videos
• Record audio notes
• Add files

SharePoint

As you can tell by its name, SharePoint is a Microsoft Office 365 feature centered on collaboration. With SharePoint, you can collaborate with people both inside and outside of your organization via productive team sites that let you:

• Share files, data, and resources
• Manage content

Read: Project Management Software for .NET Developers

How Much Does Microsoft Office 365 Cost?

Microsoft offers several pricing plans for Office 365 subscribers that differ according to need and user. Here is how the pricing breaks down:

• Microsoft 365 Family: (for one to six people) $9.99 per month
• Microsoft 365 Personal: (for one person) $6.99 per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Basic: $6 per user, per month
• Microsoft 365 Apps for Business: $8.25 per user, per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Standard: $12.50 per user, per month
• Microsoft 365 Business Premium: $22 per user, per month
• Microsoft 365 E3 (Enterprise): $36 per user, per month
• Microsoft 365 E5 (Enterprise): $57 per user, per month
• Microsoft 365 F3 (Enterprise): $8 per user, per month

What are Microsoft Office 365’s Pros And Cons?

What are Microsoft 365’s strengths and weaknesses? Have a look:

Pros

• Tons of powerful apps to choose from to cover varying needs, including content creation, collaboration, organization, and productivity
• The ability to access your information and apps anywhere and from any device
• Great for users who travel often or work remotely and who need to access apps and content on the go
• Tight integration between Microsoft apps that sync across all devices, which eliminates the need to install third-party apps
• Top-notch security via mobile device management, data loss prevention, hashed passwords, threat intelligence, and two-factor authentication
• Automatic updates to ensure every app runs smoothly and securely
• Multiple pricing plans to fit varying budgets and needs

Cons

• Having to pay for features that you may not use due to the monthly subscription format (if not, you will still have to pay an annual fee for features that may not suit you)
• Regular updates that may take some getting used to (such as new versions or layouts)
• Compatibility problems for older devices
• The need for an Internet connection to access apps and services that sit in the cloud (there are higher-priced plans that allow for offline use)

Is Microsoft 365 Right For You?

As far as office suite software goes, it is hard to top Microsoft 365. You get so many user-friendly, productivity-boosting features for one price to help you create content, collaborate with others, share your work, and more, whether you are online or offline.

Is Microsoft 365 the only office suite you can choose from? No, so if you are not sold on its set of features, pricing, or other characteristics, check out similar office suites like Google Workspace, iWork (for Apple fans who are loyal to their devices), WPS Office, and Zoho Workplace.

Read: Best Microsoft Office Add-ins and Plugins

The post Microsoft Office 365 Review appeared first on CodeGuru.

Microsoft Teams Collaboration Software Tips And Tricks

Included at no extra cost as part of the Microsoft 365 productivity suite, Microsoft Teams makes it easier for developers to work together by combining various tools for collaboration, files, and communication, all in one place. Over 100 million users rely on Microsoft Teams frequently to stay in touch and share ideas, thanks to features like chat, audio and video calling, screen and file sharing, and over 600 third-party app integrations. Accessible via web, desktop, and mobile apps, Microsoft Teams promotes and facilitates online learning and remote work, especially for developers who have transitioned to working from home versus the office.

Unsure if you are using all of Microsoft Teams’ features? You can read our Microsoft Teams Review to see if you are using the project management tool to its full potential.

Now that you have a general idea of what Microsoft Teams can do, here are some specific tips and tricks you can incorporate into your routine to make the most of the collaboration software, including:

• Use shortcut commands for common tasks
• Mark messages as urgent
• Get transcriptions of meetings
• Blur background during meetings
• Remove distracting notifications
• Use the @ symbol to direct message users
• Refine your searches to find messages easier
• Customize chat titles for easier searching
• Create polls for fast feedback
• Translate messages
• Share files easily

Use Shortcut Commands To Perform Common Tasks Quickly

Commands in Microsoft Teams can help developers save time so they have more room in their schedule for essential tasks. Best of all, you can activate commands by simply typing / in the command box near the top of your Teams window.

Once you type / in the command box, a menu of commands and their corresponding tasks will appear. See the command you want, and hit Enter to execute it. Here are some examples of shortcut commands in Teams that will be at your disposal as soon as you type / in the command box:

• /activity: View a team member’s activity.
• /busy: Sets your status to busy.
• /call: Calls one of your Teams contacts or a phone number.
• /files: Displays your recent files.
• /keys: Lists all the keyboard shortcuts.
• /mentions: Displays all of your @mentions.

Mark Cannot-Miss Messages As Urgent

Some chat messages need more attention than others and request a rapid response. For such messages, use the Urgent feature in teams to let your colleagues know what you are sending is something special.

Look under the compose text field when crafting your message, as that is where you will have the option to label it as Urgent or Important. Once your chat message has the Urgent label and you send it, the recipient will receive it every two minutes for the next 20 minutes. In other words, it will be hard to miss.

Get Transcriptions Of Microsoft Teams Meetings

Development team meetings are often filled with so much information that it is easy for certain essential snippets to slip through the cracks. Instead of spending precious time taking notes, you can let Microsoft Teams do all the work with transcriptions.

Here is how to download transcriptions of your meetings in Microsoft Teams:

• Click on the ellipsis (…) once your meeting recording is ready.
• Open the meeting video in Microsoft Stream.
• Click on the next visible ellipsis (…).
• Select Update Video Details.
• Click on Video Language.
• Select Autogenerate a caption file.
• Click Update.
• Go to the Microsoft Streams section to download your meeting transcription.

How to Blur Your Background During Microsoft Teams Calls

As more developers work remotely, more meetings occur where your possibly messy home office may be put on display. To increase the privacy of your home setting and to minimize distractions for your coworkers, blur your background in Teams. To do so, go to the Audio and Video settings screen and click on the three dots (ellipsis) …. Click on Blur my background, and you can keep the focus on yourself instead of your surroundings.

If blurring your background is not your style, Microsoft Teams gives you the additional option of using a background image to camouflage your surroundings. You can find this option by heading to the Audio and Video settings screen and clicking the ellipsis. Then, select Show background effects to pick something that suits your needs.

Read: Microsoft OneDrive Tips and Tricks

Avoid Distractions By Tweaking Your Notifications

Notifications in Microsoft Teams can ensure developers stay in the loop. But too many notifications can distract from the task (or chat) at hand. To tweak your notifications to minimize distractions in Microsoft Teams, do the following:

• Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner of Teams.
• Click on the Notifications tab.
• Edit your notifications to your liking in terms of frequency, appearance, sound, etc.

Direct Message Team Members With The @ Symbol

Microsoft Teams is all about collaboration, and one of the quickest ways to collaborate through the software is via the @ symbol. Navigate to the search bar near the top of Teams and type the @ symbol. Then find the team member you are looking for in the drop-down menu and message them directly without any fuss.

Refine Your Chat Searches in Microsoft Teams

As your development team’s conversations grow in Microsoft Teams, finding the specific items you are looking for will become harder unless you use keywords. Microsoft Teams has specific keywords that unlock advanced search capabilities to help you quickly find what you seek. Include these keywords in your searches, and you can save a ton of time finding your desired information:

• “Sent:” – the date you sent the message (Sent:1/7/2023)
• “From:” – the sender’s name (From:John Smith)
• “Subject:” – a keyword in the subject line or message (Subject:Meeting)
• “In:” – the name of the group chat or channel (In:Developers)

For this advanced search to work, you must leave no space between the keyword, colon, and search terms, just as in the examples above.

Customize Your Chat Titles For Seamless Searching

It can be frustrating to search for specific chats/information to no avail. Luckily, Microsoft Teams makes it easier to organize your chats and make them more searchable. How?
By letting you edit your chat titles to your liking so you can easily search for and find them in the future.

You can edit your chat titles’ names in Microsoft Teams by clicking the pencil at the top right-hand corner of the chat and renaming them as you wish.

Use Polls For Fast Feedback

Gathering feedback can be tricky when everyone on your development team is busy. But it can be much easier when you conduct polls in Microsoft Teams. Beneath the message box, you will find the Forms icon. Click on it to create and distribute a poll to your team.

The polls feature gives you the power to ask a custom question, list several answers or options, and enable multiple answers. You also have the option to instantly share results once the poll is completed or keep them anonymous.

Translate Your Messages

Some developers or clients you interact with may speak a foreign language. Teams has you covered, so nothing gets lost in translation. To translate a message, hover over it. Then,
click on the three dots …, and choose Translate.

Beyond manual translation, Microsoft Teams also translates video calls. This feature is accessible via the Translate to menu that lets developers add captions in various languages. Video call participants can see the translations by navigating to the right sides of their screens and selecting the Subtitles On option.

Share Files Easily And Securely

Sharing files plays a big part in collaboration amongst developers, and Microsoft Teams lets you enjoy this essential feature via SharePoint integration. Click on the Files tab, and you can start securely sharing files with other developers on your team through SharePoint. Once you share a file to a Teams channel, other team members can edit and collaborate on it with Microsoft Office apps like Word or Excel.

Final Thoughts on Microsoft Teams Tips and Tricks

In this Microsoft Teams tutorial, we learned some simple tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your collaboration software. These tips include learning how to use shortcuts for common tasks, translate text and video, add captions to videos that need translating, how to share files, use polls for quick feedback, direct message team members with the @ symbol, mark messages as urgent, and, finally, transcribe meetings automatically for later reference.

Read: Tools for Remote Developers

The post Microsoft Teams Tips and Tricks appeared first on CodeGuru.

In this guide, we will reveal some of the most valuable features of Excel for project management and share tips for getting the most out of the versatile spreadsheet software. Whether you are an experienced project manager, a developer that needs to track progress, bugs, and tasks, or just starting, you are about to discover ways Excel can help manage your projects more effectively at a minimal cost.

When To Use Excel To Manage Projects

With so many project management software solutions on the market, you may wonder why or when you should use Microsoft Excel. We list some reasons Excel may work as a PM tool for your needs below, including the following:

• If you are a single developer or part of a small team
• If you want a simple solution with a very low learning curve
• If you or your software development team have a limited budget

For starters, Excel may be ideal for one-person shows or very small development teams. Excel can provide the basics you need to manage such projects without overloading you with advanced PM features you may never use.

Another example of when Excel may be ideal for project management is if you want something simple to use. Some project management software solutions are loaded with features. But with such features, those solutions also require a ton of time for onboarding and learning the software. With Excel, project managers can pick simple spreadsheets that fulfill their needs and fill them with data to create task lists, track hours/inventory, and more.

Lastly, Excel is a solid choice for project management for teams with very limited budgets.
Depending on team size and the features offered, some PM software can cost thousands per month and cut into your profits. With Excel, you can get the essential project management features your team needs with minimal investment. If your organization already has access to Microsoft Office, you can virtually use Excel for free. And, if you do not, you can purchase access with a Microsoft 365 subscription that includes Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneDrive, and Outlook, starting at $6.99 per month.

You can learn more about Office 365 in our Microsoft Office 365 Review.

When To Use Excel Alternatives To Manage Projects

Is Microsoft Excel the ideal project management solution for every team? Of course not, which is why many other PM software alternatives exist. Here is a brief list of reasons why you might choose project management software over Excel, followed by a more detailed explanation:

• If you have more than five employees working on a project
• If your team works with large datasets
• If you want additional features, such as Views, Gantt Charts, built-in collaboration tools, or third-party integrations.

Project management software gains the upper hand over Excel for teams with more than five employees, for example, or those that are continuously growing. The more your team grows, the more moving parts it will have, making it difficult to manage your projects with Excel’s simple spreadsheets as you add moving pieces. A perfect example of where you may outgrow Excel is if you have to manage a lot of data. As data grows and your spreadsheets get out of hand, finding essential bits of information can take a ton of time. And if you need to share that data with external stakeholders, they may find Excel’s presentation style too outdated or inefficient.

Project managers may choose PM software over Excel if they want access to more bells and whistles. While we will offer examples of ways Excel can help you manage projects, you may want more than it can offer to enjoy added features like bid management, job monitoring, etc. And if team collaboration is critical, then you definitely may seek project management software instead of Excel, as Microsoft’s offering lacks in this area.

Do your projects require complex calculations? Excel can help with basic ones, but PM software may be your best bet as your team and projects grow, and calculations become more complex. Even the slightest data entry error in Excel could lead to inaccurate results that send your project into a tailspin. To play it safe, PM software that makes data entry almost automatic and offers seamless calculations could be a better fit.

Last, but not least, you may find that Excel is no longer up to snuff for managing projects if it negatively impacts your bottom line. Firsthand struggles with the spreadsheet software, such as missing deadlines or letting vital tasks slip through the cracks, could mean that it is time to upgrade to more advanced project management software that streamlines your workflows and minimizes errors.

Some of the best project management tools we recommend include:

• Asana
• Wrike
• Monday
• Microsoft Project

How To Manage Projects With Excel

Project management involves planning, organizing, and tracking tasks, resources, timelines, and budgets. Microsoft Excel is a powerful tool that can be used to manage projects of all sizes and complexities, though it works best for smaller teams and projects. From creating project plans and timelines to tracking budgets and milestones, Excel can help project managers stay organized and on track throughout the entire project lifecycle. Here are some ways you can use Excel for project management, which include:

• • Creating task lists
  • Mapping out project schedules and timelines
  • Tracking projects and resources
  • Time tracking
  • Budgeting
  • Reporting

Create Task Lists in Your Spreadsheet

You can create simple to-do lists in Excel to manage your daily activities as a project manager. Or you can go all out and use the spreadsheet software to create a task list (or download a template) for your team to track their progress and ensure everything gets completed as planned.

Excel task lists can be super simple or surprisingly advanced. To take the simple route, make a spreadsheet containing all the necessary details, such as the task name, assignee, description, due date, resources needed, and so forth. On the other end of the spectrum are more advanced task lists with automation.

Map Out Project Schedules With Timelines

Create a visual timeline chart in Excel, and mapping out a project schedule can become a breeze. You can create one of the most popular project management tools – the Gantt chart – in Excel to map out tasks and gain instant insight into their start dates, duration, and how they stack up to one another in terms of importance.

If you are experienced with Excel, you can create your own customized timeline from scratch. Otherwise, you can take the easier route of downloading a template. Excel has tons of timeline templates, Gantt charts, etc., that you can download to get the functionality you need with minimal effort.

Track Projects

Project managers can track progress in Excel by creating a spreadsheet with columns for the project name, task, assignee, duration, budget, etc. You can view each field to tell if your project is on track or where it is lacking so you can make the necessary adjustments to avoid issues that can delay delivery. And, while glancing at your spreadsheet can provide basic insight into project progress, you can up the ante by using your data to create eye-catching and easy-to-digest charts that make it easier to comprehend where you stand and can be shared with others.

Read: Top Task Management Software for Developers

Track Resources in Excel

Whether it is personnel or equipment and physical materials you need to keep an eye on, Excel can help with resource management. Create one spreadsheet to track all your resources, or split them into several sheets. Regardless of how you do it, Excel can ensure that your project’s resources do not spread thin when you most need them.

Time Tracking and Timesheets

Excel makes it incredibly easy to track time, whether you want to create or download already-made timesheets or see how long it takes to complete specific tasks. In doing so, the software can help project managers ensure their teams are efficient, and it can also assist with billing, particularly if clients pay by the hour. While simple, tracking time in Excel can allow for more accurate project timelines and predictions regarding deliverables.

Create A Project Budget with Excel

It is no secret that Excel is ideal for crunching numbers, and project managers can use the software to create budgets with relative ease for small to medium-sized projects. As you move towards larger, complex projects, you may find Excel’s budgeting capabilities underpowered. Otherwise, the software should suffice for tracking income versus expenses and even adding some details to make managing your project’s finances easier.

Reporting

Excel has reporting capabilities that can help project managers too. Once all of your data is inputted, you can churn out analytics and customized reports to help assess project performance. While reporting in Excel may not be as easy to generate as with other project management software, the capability is there.

Final Thoughts on Using Excel for Project Management

In this tutorial we looked at cases where it would make sense to use Excel as a project management tool, which included if you were a solo developer or a small team, if you wanted a simple PM solution that was easy to use and setup, or if your team had a limited budget. We also discussed situations where using traditional project management tools would make more sense. Those reasons included scenarios where you had a larger team or a growing team, you wanted more third-party integrations and features, or if you have large sets of data that need a solid user interface.

We also talked about actual ways you could use Excel as project management software, including to create reports, as a time tracker, for budgeting, task management, and to track resources and projects.

Finally, we listed some project management alternatives to Microsoft Excel, including Asana, Wrike, Monday, and Microsoft Project.

You can also check out our product round-up of the Top Project Management Tools and Software for .NET Developers for more options.

The post How to Use Excel for Project Management appeared first on CodeGuru.

PowerPoint Presentation Tips

Microsoft PowerPoint has plenty of features to help users create effective presentations. Here are some tips to help you leverage the software’s power to best convey your message to your audience, including:

• Conciseness
• Consistency
• Using simple fonts
• Using the right font size
• Using high quality Images
• Choosing great visuals over text
• Simple table designs
• Choose colors wisely
• Avoid complex transitions

Read: Top Online Microsoft Office Courses

Keep PowerPoint Presentations Concise

Could PowerPoint present all of your information for you? Sure, but instead of letting PowerPoint do all the work, you should view it as a tool to help supplement your story.

When creating PowerPoint slides, the less text, the better, and white space is your friend. Too much text on a slide makes your audience read versus listen. It distracts attention away from you, the speaker. And worst of all, excess slide text makes your presentation dull.

A great way to infuse sufficient text into your slides without overwhelming your audience’s eyes is to use short bullet points that summarize what you are about to say. This makes the information easier to digest and keeps the focus where it belongs: On you. Some go even further and suggest that you should avoid complete sentences altogether unless you are quoting someone.

If you want something more specific to follow when determining how much content to put on each slide, follow the 6×6 rule. It limits you to six bullet points per slide with six words per bullet. On the more extreme end, some say you should limit the content to six words per slide, although that may be difficult to achieve.

In short, do not let your slides dominate the presentation. And avoid the common mistake of simply re-reading your slides as well. They should serve as your guide and not as a script or teleprompter.

Keep It Consistent

Rather than trying to incorporate every color, font, chart, etc., available in PowerPoint into your presentation, aim for consistency. All your slides should have a similar look and feel that creates cohesion and an air of professionalism throughout your presentation. Doing so reflects well on you as the presenter and makes it easier for your audience to follow and absorb your content.

Choose A Simple Font

Avoid the temptation of picking a creative font to spruce up your slides. If your computer does not have the creative font you desire installed, it will replace it with a random one. A classic font, such as Calibri, Helvetica, or Verdana is a much better choice since it is likely available on all devices. More importantly, some fancier fonts are hard to read and could frustrate your audience as they try to decipher what is on-screen.

Do you have to stick with only one font in your PowerPoint presentation? No, but any more than three could be pushing it. And, if you choose the three-font max, for example, ensure that each font plays a particular role in your presentation. Use the first font for your headers, the second for your sub-headers, and the third for your body text to keep it cohesive, organized, and easy to follow and digest.

Another point to remember when dealing with font style is to not over-style the text. While using italics and bold can help you emphasize certain parts of your presentation, overdoing it can be distracting.

Read: Overview of Microsoft Office Certification

Pick A Proper Font Size

Your font style is not the only thing that matters, as you also need to pick the proper size to get your point across. You do not want a font that is too big and dominates your slides. You also do not want a font that is too small to read. Some suggest using a minimum of 20pt font for headers and 18pt for body text. Others say a 30pt font should be the minimum, as it allows everyone to see it and limits you to how much text you put on a slide, forcing you to craft more concise and impactful messages.

A good rule to follow when picking font size or designing slides overall is to create your presentations for the back of the room. In other words, can the person sitting in the last row see everything fine? If not, adjust until they can.

Use High-Quality Images

You may have superb and informative text on your slides, but if your images do not match in terms of quality, you may lose points with your audience. Instead of choosing the first result you see on Google Images, make sure your pictures match the text and the message you are trying to convey. The higher-quality images you use, the better.

Beyond ensuring your images are of high quality, here are some other characteristics they should have to strengthen your PowerPoint presentation visually, including being supportive of content, inspiring readers to read more, and being more “human” relatable:

• Supportive: The images should support your content and prove your point further without being so overbearing that they distract the audience.
• Inspirational: Your presentation’s images should inspire the audience to want to learn more or ask questions about what you are presenting. Inspiring engagement is the goal here.
• Realistic and human: You can win over your audience by connecting with them on a human level. Pick images for your .ppt presentation that convey realism and feelings of humanity to achieve this goal. Your basic stock photos will typically fail to connect with your viewers, so picking the right images may take some time and a bit of effort until you find the right fit.

Opt For Visuals Versus Text in Your Presentations

Using visuals to convey your message is an easy way to avoid putting too much text on your slides and overwhelming your audience. PowerPoint has many graphs that can convert complex, sometimes dull data into eye-catching and easy-to-digest information. Another reason to use visuals is that studies show people tend to remember pictures better than words after brief exposure.

“Less Is More” When Designing Tables in PowerPoint

Tables can help you relay data in an organized manner. Unfortunately, many make the common mistake of crowding their tables in PowerPoint with unnecessary borders, colors, and outlines. Keep your tables minimalist, and they will relay your desired information without confusing your audience.

Avoid Complex Transitions Between PowerPoint Slides

Does it seem like your PowerPoint presentation is dull? Avoid the temptation of adding life to it by using diverse transitions as you go from slide to slide. A standard fade effect is all you need for an effective PowerPoint presentation. Anything more than that, and you could distract your audience or come across as unprofessional. As with other elements of your PowerPoint presentation, aim for cohesion and uniformity with your transitions. Once you find one that works, stick with it.

Do Not Overdo PowerPoint Slides With Colors

If you are doing a presentation for a particular brand, use its primary and secondary colors. If the color choice is entirely up to you, avoid extremely bright colors that can cause fatigue or seem tacky.

You can stick to a simple combination of light and dark colors, using light text on a dark background or vice versa to create a contrast that makes for easy reading.

Read: Microsoft PowerPoint Tips and Tricks

The post Tips for Creating Effective Presentations in PowerPoint appeared first on CodeGuru.

The coronavirus pandemic led to an explosion of work-from-home setups for developers, as many were forced to leave the office for the comfort of their couches. Even with the pandemic mostly in our rearview, however, remote work continues to be popular and appears as if it is here to stay.

While working remotely has its benefits – such as giving developers more freedom with their schedules – it can be a challenge, especially when it comes to productivity. That is why we will discuss several tips for remote developers to help you make the most of this increasingly popular work setup.

In addition, many developers collaborate with other programmers from different regions of the globe, so the tips inside this software development tutorial will be helpful in these scenarios as well.

Read: Top Project Management Software for .NET and C# Developers

Remote Developer Tips

Whether you just got a new job as a remote developer or have been working from home for a while now, here are some tips to help you boost productivity and achieve overall success while programming away from the office.

Create A Designated Workspace

One of the biggest challenges you will face as a remote developer, programmers, or software engineer, is separating your workspace from the rest of your home. To avoid blurring the lines between work and home, you should do your best to create a designated workspace that serves as your office and nothing else. This lets you replicate the feel of an employer’s office, makes you feel like you are actually at work, and makes it easier to leave your office (and the tasks associated with it) once the day is over.

You do not need a huge home to pull off this tip. Even if you live in a studio apartment, you could put a small desk in a corner and designate that as your workspace. Taking things even further, you could make a rule that you only use that small desk on Monday through Friday strictly for work purposes. By having that workspace, you can make it easier to concentrate on tasks and avoid one of the biggest obstacles of remote work: distractions.

Work A Consistent Schedule

Not having a designated workspace can blur the lines between work and home life, and so can not having a consistent schedule.

Even though one of the top work-from-home benefits is having more control over your time, some programmers may find themselves working extra hours since switching to a remote position. To avoid burnout, set a consistent schedule, so you know when work begins and ends. Sticking to a schedule can also increase focus and let you know that there are specific times when all your focus should be on coding, for example, and not errands.

Avoid open schedules, as they can lead to excess work, poor time management, less focus, poor work-life balance, and burnout.

Read: Top Task Management Software for Development

Get A Second Phone Number

It can be hard to gain the ideal work-life balance if your team members or project manager are constantly calling your phone at all hours of the day and night. You can avoid this common remote work issue by getting a second phone line used strictly for work purposes. It does not have to be an actual second phone with a separate SIM card, either, as a simpler service like Skype or Google Voice could suffice.

Tell your colleagues this is the phone number they can call with any questions pertaining to work. Even better, give them an exact schedule of when they can call and expect you to answer the phone.

Take Breaks from Programming

Spending most of your work time on a computer does not shield you from the potential health problems of overworking. Sure, you may not be lifting heavy machinery in an oil field, but you can still set yourself up for future health issues if you overstress yourself and do not get the proper rest you need.

Many developers make the mistake of hunching over their desks for several hours at a time. This can lead to fatigue, plus eye, neck, back, and shoulder problems. Take advantage of your remote setup and schedule various short breaks throughout the day to avoid such potential health problems. Not only will you allow yourself to recharge your brain and body, but you will also boost productivity by ensuring you are not too tired to get the job done.

Keep In Touch With Team Members

Working remotely requires extra effort from developers in terms of communication and collaboration. By being at home, you are physically separated from others, which reduces human interaction and cuts down on communication that typically comes from being together in an office setting. As such, you will need to make a conscious effort to reach out to team members daily or at least every other day to keep everyone on the same page.

Use your team’s preferred communication avenue to post daily updates of tasks you have accomplished and what is next on your plate. For instance, you could post a daily status update to Slack, such as: “Finished reviewing the XYZ page for errors and planning on testing ABC tomorrow.”

By posting a simple status update, you let your team know where you stand and what needs to be done. You also give your project manager a heads-up on progress so they can determine if everything is on schedule.

Keeping in touch with team members on work items is just one way to communicate. You can also communicate with them socially to schedule meetups or improve morale and bonding, which can increase productivity as well.

We have a review of the popular collaboration tool, Microsoft Teams if you are looking for a tool to communicate with your team more effectively: Review of Microsoft Teams.

Ask For Feedback

The distance between you and your colleagues creates the need for increased feedback so you can gauge your performance as a developer. Without feedback and constructive criticism from teammates and management via frequent code reviews, for example, you may not improve your development skills, which will not do you any favors as you look to climb up this (or another company’s) ladder in the future.

As you get feedback, you will probably be asked to give it as well. When giving feedback, remember that the goal is to help others improve versus offending them.

There may come times when you have to give and receive feedback from a developer, project manager, stakeholder, or other team member that you do not see eye to eye with. If this happens, ask for feedback from other, less biased developers, so you truly understand what needs to be improved.

Avoid Multitasking With Home And Work Tasks

Can you get more errands done when working at home? Sure, but you want to avoid mixing errands and other home tasks with work, as it can distort focus, lead to mistakes, and make it harder to concentrate.

If you want to get your laundry done on certain days, fine. Just be sure to do your laundry during a quick break, not when working on something important.

Dress Professionally For Virtual Meetings

If you have a video call with a current or prospective client, be sure to dress the part of a professional. Even though you may code in your pajamas, you want to exude a positive impression when collaborating with others who can impact your bottom line and career trajectory.

Never Stop Learning

As mentioned, one of the biggest benefits of working remotely as a developer is that it can lead to more control over your schedule and increased free time. Use some of that free time to advance your education so you can become a more well-rounded developer. This can increase your value to the team and open the door for better, higher-paying development gigs.

There are several ways to learn new skills or advance your developer education online. You can find courses, one-on-one training, and much more to boost your programming, tech, and even soft skills. Ask your employer if they reimburse online training. If so, you could improve your marketability as a developer without paying a penny out of your own pocket.

We have a list of some the Best Online Courses to Learn C# if you want to improve your C# or .NET programming skills.

Tools for Remote Developers

Now that you have some tips on how to increase productivity and collaboration as a remote programmer or member of a remote software development team, check out our list of the Best Tools and Software for Remote Developers.

The post Tips for Remote Developers appeared first on CodeGuru.

Before we begin, you might also want to check out our tutorial: Tips for Remote Developers that can help you handle the transition or make the most of your current work environment.

Types Of Remote Developer Tools

Before we jump into our list of specific tools for remote developers, let us take a look at some of the types of tools you may come across in your quest to stay organized and boost productivity while working from home.

At the top of our list of tools for work at home developers are project management tools that offer several features in one place. PM tools can keep you focused by not forcing you to switch between apps to complete everyday tasks. For instance, the right project management tool could have collaborative features like chat and messaging, plus task management features to ensure work gets completed. And, if you get a project management tool that is truly feature-rich, it may even have features like time tracking, invoicing, and more to keep all aspects of your development work organized.

Some tools for remote developers stress collaboration, which is essential as you lose the in-person benefits of working in an office. Whether via video conferencing or simple chat and file or code sharing, these tools can also make your life as a remote developer easier.

While we could list more types of remote developer tools, you get the picture: These tools are meant to offer capabilities that can take your productivity to the next level or at least keep you organized and in touch with others, regardless of location.

Read: Top Project Management Tools for .NET and C# Developers

Remote Programmer Tools

Many developers have made the move to remote work, either by force due to the pandemic or because they wanted to. As you work remotely, you gain several benefits, such as greater freedom with your time, more control over your schedule, and the ability to work from the comfort of your couch in your pajamas. However, you lose some benefits via a work-from-home setup, such as the ability to collaborate with your colleagues on a daily, face-to-face basis.

Use some of the programmer tools in the list below, and you can collaborate, stay on top of tasks, and ensure that your shift to remote work as a developer is a smooth and productive one.

Codeshare

As its name suggests, Codeshare is a tool for remote developers that helps you share code in real-time, and it is used by some of the biggest names in the world, such as eBay, IBM, Microsoft, and Adobe.

Programmers can open a Codeshare editor to write or copy code. Once finished, you can share it with others to code with your team and troubleshoot problems together without having to be in the same physical location.

Codeshare can also be used to interview developers from a distance. The tool lets you set coding tasks and observe real-time progress as you interview a developer remotely. This eliminates the need to write code on a whiteboard in an in-person setting, plus it lets you test the coding skills of potential team members to ensure they are up to snuff. Lastly, you can use Codeshare to teach peers how to program so their skills stay sharp.

Floobits

Floobits is an open-source tool that allows remote developers to collaborate in real-time to accomplish pair programming. Use it to share code with colleagues and work on it together via a shared workspace. Any edits made to the code will be synced automatically so everyone can stay on the same page. And to enhance coding collaboration even more, Floobits lets you share terminals with teammates, drag users to your precise cursor position for seamless edition, plus video chat to have virtual meetings no matter where you are in the world.

If you are tired of typical screen sharing and want something better suited to your work as a developer, Floobits is a remote tool worth looking into.

InVision

Giving and getting feedback is a must for developers when working on a prototype. That can be harder when everyone is working from their own home office, unless you have a remote developer tool like InVision.

With InVision, you get several features (pre-built templates, interactive widgets, reactions, etc.) that come together to give you an “all-in-one collaborative online whiteboard.” Used by such companies as American Express, IBM Capital One, and Verizon, InVision’s whiteboards give you a workspace to get work done in real-time while working remotely.

The remote developer tool is easy to use thanks to an eye-catching and user-friendly interface, and it makes it super simple to transfer ideas between design and development teams.

Best of all, InVision has several integrations with popular third-party tools that you can use to extend its functionality.

ClickUp

ClickUp is a cloud-based project management and collaboration tool that works wonders for various industries, but it can be particularly helpful if you are in software development.

If you have trouble organizing tasks and want to save time and confusion switching between apps, ClickUp can simplify your remote work life. It claims to be “One app to replace them all,” and ClickUp lives up to that title by letting you manage projects and tasks, share documents, convey new ideas via virtual whiteboards, view real-time progress via dashboards, chat with teammates, set and achieve goals, and more.

All of ClickUp’s features can help you replace several popular and potentially costly apps, such as Asana, Monday, Jira, Slack, MS Teams, Google Hangouts, Lattice, Gtmhub, and Trello.

Nuclino

Nuclino is a collaborative tool for remote developers that helps manage projects, organize knowledge, and share ideas all in one place. It eliminates productivity-killing context switching by replacing multiple collaboration tools on its own, and it boosts productivity with features like fast app performance, instant search, hotkeys, an intuitive interface, and a speedy setup.

Whether you want to manage projects and tasks, collaborate on documents in real-time, or onboard remote workers with ease, Nuclino gives you the power to do so and much more.

Instagantt

One look at its name, and you may think that Instagantt is nothing more than a Gantt chart tool to keep you organized and track progress. This tool for remote developers does much more, though, as it can help you manage projects, add and schedule tasks, tag coworkers, enjoy different views (board, Kanban, etc.), view project progress via the dashboard and detailed reports, collaborate and share, and more to optimize your workflow.

Evernote

While some may suggest that taking notes is not a huge part of a developer’s everyday life, we included Evernote on this list of remote developer tools since you may find its features useful.

Evernote takes note-taking to another level, as it lets you embed audio, video, images, and PDFs into your notes for extreme detail. You can access your notes wherever you are via Evernote’s mobile or desktop applications, and it also has a to-do list and calendar to keep you organized and ensure that no essential tasks slip through the cracks.

Task Management Tools for Programmers

Looking for more tools for remote programmers and software development teams? Check out our list of the Top Task Management Software and Tools for Developers for even more options.

The post Tools For Remote Developers appeared first on CodeGuru.

Are you a programmer, developer, or project manager looking to expand your skill set? Microsoft Office courses can help you do just that. Today we will share the top Microsoft Office courses for increasing proficiency in Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word.

Read: Microsoft Teams Review

The Best Courses For Microsoft Office

Microsoft Office is a suite of productivity tools that includes popular programs like Access, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Here are some popular courses you can take to learn more about Microsoft Office and become a more well-rounded developer, programmer, or project manager. And, if you have a hectic schedule, you will be glad to know that most of these Microsoft Office courses can be completed at your own pace.

Ultimate Microsoft Office: Excel, Word, PowerPoint & Access

As its name suggests, this is the “ultimate” Microsoft Office course, and it has the numbers on Udemy to prove it. Over 47,309 students have taken it, giving the course a solid 4.5-star rating.

What do you get with Ultimate Microsoft Office? A nine-course bundle that includes over 70 hours of on-demand video, 26 articles, and 22 downloadable resources to help you learn basic to advanced Office skills.

Whether you are looking to use Office 365 as a project manager or Office 2019 for some of your administrative work on the side as a developer or programmer, this course will increase your proficiency by equipping you with the following capabilities, plus more:

• Backup and recover spreadsheets, so you never lose data in Excel
• Create and use Excel formulas and functions, plus charts and graphs
• Increase Excel productivity using flashfill and autofill
• Add audio, video, and animations to PowerPoint presentations
• Copy slides and export PowerPoint presentations in less time
• Insert eye-catching graphics in Word documents
• Use Word features such as footers, indents, borders, and columns like a pro
• Compact, repair, and backup databases in Access
• Move data from Excel to Access
• Customize mailbox view in Outlook
• Ignore and flag mail in Outlook, plus use conditional formatting

Microsoft Office Shortcuts And Speed Tips Course

Over 21,000 students have taken Microsoft Office Shortcuts and Speed Tips, giving it a robust 4.5-star rating. On the surface, the Microsoft Office course may seem light on content since it consists of just one hour of on-demand video split among 16 lectures, but once you get into it, you realize how it can significantly boost your productivity with the software, giving you more time to manage projects or write code.

Office Shortcuts and Speed Tips claims that it helps you “work faster, not harder” when using Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and even Windows. How does it achieve this goal? By teaching you the shortcut keystrokes that can minimize time spent moving your mouse, clicking on menus, etc. Some of the course’s highlights include tricks for inserting a custom header quickly and selecting visible cells with just one click.

MS Office Advanced Efficiency Training

What do most programmers, developers, and project managers need more of? Time, which is why the MS Office Advanced Efficiency Training course is essential if you are looking to boost productivity.

Over 7,000 students have taken this Microsoft Office course, giving it a 4.4-star rating. Over its short 2.5 hours of on-demand video, you will learn time-saving tricks and shortcuts to take your Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook experiences to another level.

Here are some of the highlights of topics covered in MS Office Advanced Efficiency Training:

• How to use automatic subtotals in Excel that help you automatically create quick summaries with ease
• How to record long and complex multi-step processes and perform them with a single keystroke (recording and macros)
• How to leverage pre-existing templates and save the ones you create to minimize setup time
• How to configure Slide Masters, the most advanced feature in PowerPoint
• How to set up rules in Outlook that make managing your emails simple

Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook & OneNote in 60 Minutes

Are you so overwhelmed with your current workload that you have minimal time to sharpen your Office skills? Whether you are busy developing new software or managing a team through a complex project, you can still sharpen those Office skills with little time thanks to the Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook & OneNote in 60 Minutes course.

Over 18,000 students have taken this highly-rated (4.5 stars) Microsoft Office course that covers the basics of PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel, Word, and OneNote in 60 minutes each. By giving you an hour of instruction per application, you could say that this is not the most in-depth Microsoft Office course. But with the following lessons, you could use it to brush up on your Office skills if you are headed back to work or have an upcoming job interview where you are looking to beef up your resume. Even if you do not use Office frequently as a developer, for example, having that extra line or two on your resume cannot hurt your chances of getting hired.

Here is a glimpse at what Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook & OneNote in 60 Minutes teaches:

• Word: Paragraphs, formatting, tables, page breaks, Quick Access Toolbar
• Excel: Rows and columns, basic formulas, sheets, data types, interface
• Outlook: Formatting, pasting, signatures, email preview
• PowerPoint: Creating shapes, slides, ribbon
• OneNote: Organizing the ribbon, inserting notes

Read: Microsoft Outlook Tips and Tricks

Comprehensive Microsoft Word Course

While the Office courses listed above dip into various applications to round out your skills, Comprehensive Microsoft Word focuses on a single application if you want to achieve a higher level of mastery.

Over 8,500 students have taken Comprehensive Microsoft Word, giving it a rating of 4.5 stars. The course is designed to help students design and customize professional documents using the popular word processing application, and it does so in just 1.5 hours of on-demand video.

Even if most of your work involves coding as a developer or you use PM software like Asana or Jira as a project manager, there will likely come a time when you need to draft a professional-looking Word document. Complete Comprehensive Microsoft Word, and you can do just that by learning such skills as:

• Using and creating templates
• Customizing headers and footers
• Working with charts and graphs
• Integrating comments within documents to collaborate with team members
• Implementing advanced design and formatting techniques
• Inserting tables into documents

And, if you need to use Word to create a resume that stands out from the competition to get hired as a developer, programmer, or project manager, there is a lesson in Comprehensive Microsoft Word that focuses on that.

Microsoft Excel: From Beginner to Expert in 6 Hours

Microsoft Excel is an application that can be used in various settings. Project managers can use Excel to stay organized and analyze data, and developers and programmers can do the same. Regardless of what you use Excel for, it is a solid skill to have on your resume, and most employers will probably want to see it listed.

If you lack Excel experience or want to refresh your skills and learn some advanced spreadsheet tricks, Microsoft Excel: From Beginner to Expert in 6 Hours, can help. A whopping 135,000-plus students have taken this concise yet information-filled Office course, giving it 4.5 stars. Take it yourself, and you can learn such things as how to:

• Navigate Excel like a pro
• Write formulas with ease via the point-and-click method
• Remove duplicate data
• Sort, subtotal, and filter
• Use macros to automate everyday Excel tasks
• Transpose data between columns and rows
• Implement Excel shortcuts to save time and increase productivity

Microsoft Office Certification

Now that you have checked out some of the top courses to learn Microsoft Office, you should consider become Microsoft Office certified. To help you in this endeavor, we have created a list of the Best Microsoft Office Certifications to help you advance your knowledge, skills, career, and earning potential.

The post Top Microsoft Office Courses appeared first on CodeGuru.

Microsoft Office certification offers many benefits for developers, project managers, programmers, and workers from various fields. To see if getting Microsoft Office certified is right for you, we will reveal the benefits of certification, plus how to make it happen.

What is Microsoft Office Certification?

Microsoft Office certification is a credential that shows skills and knowledge in the various Microsoft Office apps, such as Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Publisher, and Word. When you become a Microsoft Office Specialist, you will assume one of these three levels of expertise: Associate, Expert, or Master.

Read: Microsoft Office 365 Review

What are the Benefits of Microsoft Office Certification?

Getting Microsoft Office certified as a developer, programmer, or project manager can get quite pricey, as each exam costs $100, and you will need to pass several to get certified. That significant financial investment is not the only thing to consider when deciding if you should get your Microsoft Office certification, though, as you will also need to invest plenty of time to study for those exams. As such, you want to ensure getting certified is worth your while, which is why we came up with this list of Microsoft Office certification benefits.

Many Employers Look For Microsoft Credentials

Microsoft is a name that is recognized worldwide. If you have a Microsoft Office certification next to your name, the chances of you getting hired can be higher than someone who is not certified. And, if you were looking to get a promotion to enjoy more prestige and a higher income, getting Office certified could also help with that.

If you are still not convinced that being Microsoft Office certified is worth it, know this: In October of last year, a whopping 63,000-plus job listings on Glassdoor displayed experience with Microsoft Office as a prerequisite for getting hired. Add a Microsoft Office certification to your resume, and you will have more than just experience with the software, as you will be an expert in its use, making yourself more valuable to a prospective employer.

You Could Make More Money With A Microsoft Office Certification

Does getting a Microsoft Office certification take a bit of financial investment? Sure, because, as mentioned, each exam costs $100, and you may need several to get certified. Although that initial investment can put a dent in your wallet at the outset, you can recoup that money and then some since Office certifications can often lead to higher salaries.

The Microsoft Business Applications Guide found that 68 percent of professionals saw higher salaries when they switched jobs, citing Office certification as a significant factor for that income bump. How much does the average Microsoft Office Specialist make? $57,000, if you look at Payscale’s numbers. But you can make much more than that with an Office certification on your resume, as Specialist jobs with much higher incomes include SharePoint Administrators (nearly $79,000 per year) and Senior Marketing Data Analysts (over $100,000 per year).

Read: Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Excel

A Microsoft Office Certification Can Make You Better At Your Job

It is no secret that getting certified with Microsoft Office can help you land a job or a promotion as a project manager, developer, or programmer. But a highly underrated benefit of certification is that studies show it can also make you better at your job. According to the 2022 Careers and Hiring Guide from Nigel Frank, 38 percent of Microsoft Business Applications professionals enjoyed increased efficiency at work, while 30 percent saw a noticeable boost in their industry knowledge. Those are not the only job-related benefits of Office certification reported by professionals, though, as 21 percent said they gained the power to tackle complex tasks with more confidence.

Microsoft Office Certification Can Keep Your Skills Sharp

The needs of businesses are constantly changing, which is why your skill set has to evolve so you can remain a valuable project manager, developer, or programmer and avoid being replaced by someone else. Since many Microsoft Office certifications are updated from time to time, you will be required to adapt by learning and absorbing the latest tech skills. As you sharpen your skills, you become more proficient at your job, increasing your chances of retaining your position or getting promoted.

But you can also make yourself more valuable in the eyes of your employer by simply making the moves to learn those new Office skills, as it shows dedication towards mastering your craft. The ability to create presentations that look professional and manipulate data in Microsoft Access and Excel are also appreciated by management. Possessing those skills are pivotal to growing within an organization.

According to the Microsoft Business Applications Guide, 26 percent of Office professionals felt increased trust from their employers, and 20 percent said they gained transferable industry skills by having to maintain their certifications.

Read: Top Microsoft Office Courses

How to Get Microsoft Office Certified

Now that you see the benefits of Microsoft Office certification and how it can improve your skills, job and career prospects, income, and more, it is time to see how you can become Microsoft Office certified.

Pick the Right Office Certification Level

Microsoft Office certifications come in three levels, each with differing expertise. The base level certification is that of Microsoft Office Associate. To reach the Associate level, you will need to pass three of the following four exams: Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word.

Next is the Microsoft Office Expert. You will need to pass three associate exams, plus two of these three Expert exams, to reach this level of Office certification: Access Expert, Excel Expert, Word Expert.

Lastly is the Microsoft Office Master certification. To become a Microsoft Office Master, you must pass three required exams, which are:

• Excel 2016 Expert: Interpreting Data for Insights
• PowerPoint 2016: Core Presentation Design and Delivery Skills
• Word 2016 Expert: Creating Documents for Effective Communication

In addition, you must pass one of these two elective exams to gain Microsoft Office Master certification:

• Access 2016: Core Database Management, Manipulation, and Query Skills
• Outlook 2016: Core Communication, Collaboration, and Email Skills

The Microsoft Office certification level you choose will depend on your career goals, your roles as a developer, programmer, project manager, etc., and the credentials and skills employers in your field are looking for.

Read: Microsoft Word Tips and Tricks

Schedule your Microsoft Office Exam

You can schedule Microsoft Office certification exams through the Certiport Authorized Testing Center Locator. When scheduling an exam, factor in the time you will need to study for it so you can ensure you pass.

Study for Your Microsoft Office Exam

There are multiple tools to help you prep for your Microsoft Office exam so you can pass it with flying colors. Begin by downloading the exam skills outline to know what to expect. Then, use the sandbox to get a firsthand demonstration of what the exam will be like. Other ways to prep for Microsoft Office exams include third-party organizations that offer courses on varying subjects or the Microsoft training hub with its numerous learning paths and modules.

Complete and Pass the Exam

Your last step to getting closer to Microsoft Office certification is to take the exam and pass it. You can view your exam scores and other relevant information via the Certification Dashboard.

How to Stay Microsoft Office Certified

Since Microsoft Office certifications expire after a year, you will need to renew and maintain them to reap their various rewards. Renewing certifications is free and involves taking short assessments that sharpen your skills. You can begin renewing certifications six months before their expiration date.

Overview of Each Microsoft Office Exam

Programmers, developers, and project managers will need to pass multiple exams in the quest to become a Microsoft Office Associate, Expert, or Master. Here are some of the Office exams you will come across as you continue to sharpen your skills:

• MO-100 Microsoft Word: Tests you on inserting and formatting text, document, table, and list management, document collaboration, etc.
• MO-101 Microsoft Word Expert: Focuses on creating custom document elements, managing document settings and options, and other advanced Word features.
• MO-200 Microsoft Excel: Has you use functions and formulas to perform operations, manage worksheets, workbooks, data cells, charts, ranges, tables, etc.
• MO-201 Microsoft Excel Expert: Involves advanced formula and macro creation, tables, charts, data formatting, and more.
• MO-300 Microsoft PowerPoint: Tests users on the application of animations and transitions, managing slides and presentations, inserting tables, 3D models, charts, and more.
• MO-400 Microsoft Outlook: Determines proficiency with managing messages, contacts, schedules, tasks, and settings.
• MO-500 Microsoft Access Expert: Involves creating and modifying tables, queries, forms, and reports, plus database management.
• 77-726 Word 2016 Expert: Has users created advanced documents and references, plus custom Word elements.
• 77-728 Excel 2016 Expert: Involves the application of custom data formats and layouts, advanced formula, chart, and table creation, etc.
• 77-729 PowerPoint 2016: Tests skills such as managing multiple presentations, inserting tables, media, and SmartArt, inserting and formatting text, images, and shapes, and more.
• 77-730 Access 2016: Has users build tables, create queries, forms, databases, reports, etc.
• 77-731 Outlook 2016: Determines proficiency in managing messages, schedules, contacts, and groups.

Read: Microsoft PowerPoint Tips and Tricks

The post Microsoft Office Certification appeared first on CodeGuru.

What Is Microsoft Visual Studio?

The question “what is Microsoft Visual Studio?” is answered succinctly on the product’s home page: “It’s how you make software.” Whether you want to build, code, deploy, debug, analyze, learn, or collaborate, Visual Studio is Microsoft’s integrated development environment (IDE) that can help. Developers use Visual Studio to create web applications, mobile apps, web services, websites, and computer programs. And with the help of Visual Studio plugins (aka extensions or add-ons), their jobs can become much easier.

The Best Visual Studio Plugins

Could many of your software development needs be fulfilled by Visual Studio’s out-of-the-box functionality and features? Sure, but with so many free and paid Visual Studio extensions available, why not use them to unlock your development potential? Here are some of the best Visual Studio extensions you can find in the Visual Studio Marketplace.

Visual Studio IntelliCode

You can increase your productivity and boost your workflow as a developer using Visual Studio Intellicode’s machine-learning skills that make it easier to understand code and its context. The plugin supports multiple languages, including XAML, C#, C++, and JavaScript, and it boasts such features as code formatting, argument completion, style rule inference, and contextual IntelliSense.

Magical C# Debugging – Ozcode

Install Ozcode, and its creator claims that you can transform debugging from a dull and daunting task into a fun and simple one. Ozcode is a Visual Studio plugin that dissects your code and detects and isolates bugs, making them easier to fix. Use it, and you can decrease your debugging time and increase your productivity and available time for more critical tasks.

While Visual Studio has its own debugger, programmers can integrate it with Ozcode for even more functionality since it can predict the future of a function code execution and offer valuable insights for faster problem-solving. Your debugging sessions can end quicker than ever with Ozcode’s features, which include evaluating expressions, comparing objects, creating tracepoints, and searching for properties. Since studies show that developers spend about half their time on debugging, it is no wonder why so many have downloaded Ozcode to save time on this essential task.

ReSharper

Nearly two million developers have installed ReSharper, one of Microsoft Visual Studio’s most popular productivity plugins. With it, you can spend less time on menial, repetitive tasks and concentrate on more important things. You can decrease your development time and increase your efficiency with ReSharper’s features, which include support for multiple programming languages (C#, XML, CSS, HTML, etc.), automatic error checking, code correction, and more. If you want to write better code faster, ReSharper is one of the top Visual Studio extensions for doing so.

Visual Studio Spell Checker

Long hours of coding can lead to exhaustion and eventual spelling errors. Visual Studio Spell Checker protects against this problem by checking spelling in plain text, strings, comments, projects, selected items, and entire solutions. The editor extension will check your spelling as you type so you can spot any errors immediately.

SlowCheetah

There are several reasons to download the SlowCheetah plugin or extension for Visual Studio. It can come in handy if you have ever wanted to do the following:

• Preview your XML transform without building or publishing your app
• Transform XML files via simple and clean syntax
• Use different appSettings, connection strings, and more for debug and release when building an app
• Adjust WCF service configuration with ease

Press F5 in Visual Studio and SlowCheetah will automatically transform your app.config or other files.

SonarLint

SonarLint is an open-source and free Visual Studio plugin that helps you pinpoint coding errors in terms of quality and security and fix them before they become problematic. The extension supports C#, JavaScript, C, C++, and other languages. Install it if you want to write clean code, as SonarLint works like a spell-checker by offering real-time feedback and highlighting errors like bugs, security vulnerabilities, and code smells so your code is as issue-free as possible. And, while spotting errors and telling programmers how to fix them is reason enough to install SonarLint, it also tells you why such issues are problematic, so you get a better understanding of the process. In doing so, you can start recognizing the issues on your own to prevent them in the future.

CodeMaid

CodeMaid is a Microsoft Visual Studio extension that promises to do a developer’s “dirty work.” It does this by cleaning up and simplifying coding for C3, C++, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, XML, PHP, etc. Over one million developers have installed CodeMaid for its wide variety of features, including code cleaning, code digging, code reorganizing, comment formatting, and more.

Image Optimizer

Programmers can achieve faster-loading applications with the Image Optimizer plugin for Visual Studio. Use it to optimize images in varying formats, such as PNG, JPEG, and GIFs (even animated ones). The extension offers both lossless and lossy optimization and works on entire folders or single images. All you have to do is right-click on the folder or file of interest, select the Image Optimizer option, and choose between Best Quality or Best Compression.

Trailing Whitespace Visualizer

Are you tired of annoying invisible characters in your code? Then you may want to do what nearly 250,000 developers have done and install the Trailing Whitespace Visualizer extension.

This Visual Studio plugin makes it easier to keep your code clean by highlighting and removing any trailing whitespace. Use its remove on save feature to eliminate all trailing whitespace every time you save a file, or use the ignore rules feature to specify file patterns you want to ignore.

Prettier

You can achieve consistent code formatting and style if you install Prettier for Microsoft Visual Studio. The opinionated code formatter is free and easy to use and gives you a simplified way to format code properly.

VSColorOutput

VSColorOutput uses specified rules consisting of regular expressions to tweak a line’s color emitted to the output window. The rules map to classifications, which convert the map into colors. By default, patterns mark build errors in red and warnings in yellow. Any successful build messages are colored green.

VSColorOutput’s creators claim that they created the Visual Studio plugin to highlight trace output during the debugging process, and it appears as if nearly 500,000 developers have downloaded it to do the same. Since the tool also highlights lines in the build window, it makes it a lot easier to visually parse output and quickly pinpoint specific items.

File Icons

When using Visual Studio, you may notice that the IDE does not offer icons for some files. File Icons is an extension that fixes this issue. Install it like over 450,000 other developers have, and it will add icons to files not recognized by Solution Explorer.

The post Top Plugins for Visual Studio appeared first on CodeGuru.

Read: Microsoft PowerPoint Tips and Tricks

Tips And Tricks For Microsoft Outlook

Chances are, you have the basic gist of what Microsoft Outlook does and how to use it. Use these tips and tricks when logged into your account, and you can make your Microsoft Outlook experience much more enjoyable and productive. It is worth noting that the following were performed on a Mac device using the web version of Outlook, so you may experience slight variations when trying them for yourself in a different format on another device.

How to Clean Up Your Outlook Inbox

If you are like most people, your Outlook inbox is messier than you would like it to be. Instead of taking a day off work to go through your inbox to delete unnecessary messages manually, you can use the nifty Clean Up feature to do the dirty work for you.

Clean Up removes redundant messages so you can enjoy a clutter-free inbox while retaining the information you need for future reference. Click on Clean Up near the top of your Outlook window in the Delete section, and you will have the option to Clean Up conversations, folders, or folders and subfolders. Any redundant messages will be moved to the Deleted Items folder, just in case you are worried that you will lose something essential during the process.

How to Send Automatic Replies in Outlook

The next time you are on vacation or are too swamped to reply to emails, use automatic replies not to leave anyone hanging and make others aware of your status. With an automatic reply, Outlook will send customized responses, so you do not have to. You can select a start and end time for your automatic replies that fits your busy schedule to a T, and it is the ideal feature for workaholics who just cannot stay away from their inbox.

You can access this feature by clicking on File, Info, and Automatic Replies.

Make Multitasking Easy With Multiple Tabs

Would you like to view your Outlook calendar to glance at upcoming meetings, your inbox for urgent incoming messages, and your file attachments for quick access? Instead of clicking back and forth between each of those Outlook features, you can enjoy easier access by having them open in multiple tabs. Here’s how to create multiple tabs in Outlook:

• On the left-hand side of the Outlook window, right-click on the desired feature (Mail, Calendar, People, Files, etc.)
• Click on Open in new tab

From there, you can easily switch between tabs without having to start fresh or wait for each feature to load.

Read: Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Excel

Keep Track Of Time Zone Differences in Outlook

Remote work is as popular as ever, and many teams have workers who live in different time zones. This can create confusion when scheduling meetings, sending emails, or expecting responses, which is why you should use Outlook’s Scheduling Assistant to view multiple time zones simultaneously.

To use the Scheduling Assistant in Microsoft Outlook, do this:

• Open the Calendar panel in Outlook
• Click on New Event, so a new window opens
• Click on Scheduling Assistant
• Click on the small globe icon (when you hover over it with your cursor, it will say Time Zones)
• Use your current time zone for one field
• In the other field, search for your desired city located in the second time zone
• Click on Done

While the multiple time zones will be used for this event, do not worry, as they will not be applied to your entire calendar.

How to Make Scheduling Simple in Outlook

The Scheduling Assistant in Outlook comes in handy when your coworkers are in different time zones, but it also makes it super simple to organize meetings when everyone has a hectic schedule.

Instead of emailing, calling, or texting your coworkers to try to find an open slot to set a meeting, use the Scheduling Assistant to find an opening. Once you create a calendar invite and select the coworkers you want to attend, the Scheduling Assistant will show you everyone’s calendar. Times when everyone is free will be shown in green so you can easily pick a day and time that works.

Ignore Conversations That Do Not Concern You

Have you ever been part of an email thread where some participants kept hitting the Reply All button? If so, those constant incoming messages that did not concern you probably distracted/irritated you and made it impossible to focus on your work.

Instead of taking the rude route and asking others to stop using the Reply All option, you can ignore the conversation instead by doing this:

• With the back-and-forth email open, click on the three dots (…) in the toolbar
• From those settings, click on Ignore
• Outlook will ask if you want to ignore the conversation. To ignore it and avoid that endless stream of annoying notifications, click OK

When you ignore a conversation, Outlook will delete all of its messages from all folders except for Sent. Any new messages from that ignored conversation will also be deleted.

Another option is to Snooze a conversation. This less-permanent feature is accessed by clicking on the three dots (…) in the email’s toolbar. Once you click Snooze, you will be given the option to silence that conversation until a specified date and time, so you can take a break from those distractions but still access the information if needed.

Read: Microsoft Word Tips and Tricks

How to Schedule Emails in Outlook

Some believe that you should only send an email when you expect the recipient to be available to respond. In other words, you should refrain from sending a coworker a message at midnight since they are probably asleep, will not respond, and could be offended or irritated once they see you were writing to them when they are off the clock. This is where scheduling emails in Outlook comes in handy, as you can set the exact time you want an email to be sent.

To avoid interrupting a coworker’s sleep or vacation, do the following to schedule an email in Outlook:

• Compose the email
• Next to the Send button, click on the arrow that points downward
• Click on Send Later
• Select the date and time when you want to send the email

By default, Outlook will offer scheduled sending times via 30-minute intervals, but you can manually input an exact time as well. If you need to find a scheduled email, look in the Drafts section.

How to Use Conditional Formatting in Outlook

Do you receive so many emails daily that you are worried about essential emails slipping through the cracks? If so, you can keep an eye on those essential emails by using Outlook’s conditional formatting feature, as it will let you customize specific messages, so they stand out from the crowd in your inbox.

For instance, if you know you will receive messages from a new client that you cannot miss, you can change their font, so they do not get lost in a sea of “junk” from other senders. You can also create a rule so that any message with a specific word in the subject line, such as “Invoice,” appears in a different color or format. To view all the conditional formatting settings at your disposal in Outlook, click on View at the top of the window, followed by View Settings.

Read: Microsoft Office 365 Review

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