What Is Microsoft 365
What Is Microsoft 365
What Is Microsoft 365
There are various plans in Microsoft 365 (for home, office, business, etc.)
that come with a combination of apps and tools.
For most office apps, you can use their watered-down, online versions for
free. You only need to create a Microsoft account.
Microsoft Word
Word is most likely the most popular Microsoft application there is. Most
people have used or at least know the app.
From the name itself, Word is a word processor that’s available on
various platforms, including Android and Apple.
People use Word to:
Related: What Is OneNote Used For: What Are Its Main Benefits
People use OneNote to:
Notebook organization
Web clipper
Text search
Recording and other media
Notes translation
Ink-to-text and ink to math
Many people also use OneNote for collaboration, especially since you
can share notes with other people where they can make changes.
OneNote also has compatibility with most media, from images down to
videos. You can even scan handwritten notes with it.
Reports
Presentations
Newsletters
Stories
Multiple
document layouts and styles
Accessibility view
Audio recording
Remix and style customizations
Visuals and live content
Closed captioning
Responsive/interactive documents
Most users of Visio are enterprise users, mostly those who are at the
corporate level, to create serious diagrams that will be shared with the
entire organization.
Visio also enjoys the usual features that Office 365 apps enjoy like
offline viewing, real-time co-authoring, sharing a diagram, etc.
Task management
Microsoft has a few task management options, including apps you can
use within Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.
In terms of dedicated apps, there are three primary Microsoft 365
apps that were built for task management.
Microsoft Planner
Planner is a powerful checklist app that can also double as a task
manager app (with each plan linked to a Microsoft 365 group).
It’s a competitor to apps like Trello that primarily uses a kanban board
to display projects and tasks.
Planner is used to:
Schedule view
Task assignment to multiple users
Group and filter functions
Due date notifications
External user access
Calendar feed
Note: For more info on this app, check this beginner’s guide: What is
Microsoft Planner? How to use it?
Microsoft To Do
In the hierarchy of task management apps in Microsoft, you can say
that To Do is at the bottom tier.
It’s not really that bad as its basic function is to increase workplace
productivity by giving users a simple checklist app.
Related: How to Create a Checklist in SharePoint Online (Guide)
Task organization in To Do is divided into three groups:
Groups
Lists
Tasks
Groups is the highest tier and can contain multiple lists. Lists is a
collection of tasks centered around a theme.
Manage resources
Measure performance
Create project schedules
Analyze opportunities
Assess project risks
Track deadlines
Project timelines
Resource planning
Resource leveling
Create milestones
Show critical paths
Set baselines
Taskboards
Though Project isn’t that complicated, it’s also not something you can
fluently use on the first try. It takes time to learn all its ins and outs.
Note: For an introductory guide to Project, check out this
tutorial: Microsoft Project Tutorial: Introductory Guide for Newbies.
Microsoft Lists
If you know SharePoint, you must know that there is a main component
in it called lists.
Well, the Lists app is basically that feature made into an independent
app that can work even outside SharePoint Online.
You can use Lists in a variety of ways:
As you can see from the earlier image, the interface in Lists is
composed of web-based tables or databases.
Column formatting
Starting templates
Sharing and commenting
Show a list as a calendar/board
Set up alerts and rules
Power Apps and Power Automate integration
One-click Power BI visuals
If you have experience using SharePoint, then you can jump right
away into using Lists. But rest assured that the app is easy to
use.
Both are fairly popular with businesses that use Microsoft Office 365
apps and tools.
OneDrive
Whether you use Microsoft apps or not, you must’ve heard of
OneDrive already.
After all, it’s one of the most viable cloud storage solutions in the
world on par with the likes of Google Drive and Dropbox.
There are two primary ways how people use OneDrive:
File
storage
Search file (with shared libraries)
Recycle bin
File restore
Data encryption
Files on-demand (can access documents stored without
downloading them)
App integration
Live integration
Document libraries
SharePoint lists
File sharing (in tandem with OneDrive)
Event management
Microsoft Office 365 suite integration
Drag and drop page editor
Note: For that, I suggest reading this tutorial first: How to Use
Sharepoint: The Definitive Guide for Newbies.
Enterprise application platforms
There are also Microsoft Office platforms made for enterprise use to
simplify business processes and fulfill business goals.
Three of the apps below are part of the Microsoft Power Platform
that aims to help users create custom apps for business needs.
Power Apps
How about a tool you can use to create an app without entering a
single line of code?
Canvas apps
Model-driven apps
Power Pages
The easiest to create are canvas apps as all you have to do is connect
to a data source and use the drag-and-drop page builder.
With model-driven apps, you need to add components and use a bit of
logic while Power Pages is for creating an external-facing website.
Note: If you want to learn more about Power Apps, check out this article:
Explained: The Types of Power Apps in Microsoft Power Apps.
Power Automate
In tandem with Power Apps, there is also an app that automates tasks
from various platforms.
Note: For more info on Power Automate, read this article: Introduction to
Microsoft Power Automate.
Power BI
Power BI is a business intelligence and data analytics tool that
provide users with interactive visualizations.
Imagine PowerPoint with the power of Excel with nice-looking and
interactive graphics to present information.
There are six components that make up this power platform:
Power Query
Power Pivot
Power View
Power Map
Power BI Desktop
Power Q&A
Similar to the previous two platforms, Power BI can access data from
multiple sources, especially those from the Microsoft dataverse.
It’s also easy to use with its drag-and-drop functionality and a feature
for copying all formatting on similar graphics.
Note: For a tutorial on Power BI, check this out: What is a Power BI
Dashboard [Power BI Dashboard Tutorial].
Microsoft Viva
Microsoft Viva is fairly new — it was only revealed in February 2021.
Topics
Connections
Learning
Insights
Topics is a knowledge discovery platform with artificial intelligence while
Connections is a gateway to internal communication.
Learning aggregates resources from different resources for employee
training while Insights helps increase productivity and improve well-
being.
Note: For more info on Microsoft Viva, read this article: Microsoft Viva:
The New Employee Experience Platform.
Collaboration and communication
Microsoft has a lot of communication tools and collaboration tools that
you may already be familiar with.
In fact, there is one that you might already be using on a daily basis to
communicate with team members and clients.
Microsoft Teams
Since the pandemic, the number of Microsoft Teams users ballooned to
270 million in 2022 — from 20 million users pre-pandemic.
It’s understandable as Microsoft Teams is basically a digital
collaborative work environment (or a chat-based workspace).
People use Microsoft Teams for the following reasons:
Recent Microsoft Teams added a ton of new features that make online
meetings even more comfortable and effective.
For example, you can now create an impromptu ice-breaker or check- in
poll that would meet the meeting participants.
The basic functions of Skype are free. The paid features are all about
calling landlines or mobile devices.
There was another version of Skype, Skype for Business, where you
can add more people to meetings. But it will be replaced by Microsoft
Teams.
Note: Skype and Teams are always pitted against each other. See
more here: Skype for Business vs Teams: Only One Remains in
2023.
Microsoft Outlook
Though not as popular as Skype, plenty of people still know Microsoft
Outlook.
Send emails
Set up appointments and meetings
Track sent and received messages
Set up activities
Directaccess to leaders
Alternative for email newsletters
Informal employee training
Connect employees
Showcase achievements to build people up
Note: For more info on Yammer, check out this article: What Is
Microsoft Yammer Good for & Why Companies Use It.
Microsoft Whiteboard
Released in 2017, Whiteboard is a collaborative digital canvas from
Microsoft that can be used during meetings in Teams.
It provides a freeform whiteboard that your team can use during
ideation and meetings when you want to show your ideas.
Inside the canvas, you can do the following:
Microsoft Kaizala
Kaizala isn’t that known to the public as only people who vastly need to
secure their messaging use it.
The app is essentially a secure messaging and work management
app that people inside and outside an organization can use.
One thing to note here is that most platforms have their own admin
centers within Microsoft 365 admin center.
Admin centers
Admin centers are where you can manage your business in the cloud
for that specific app.
Some actions like removing users and changing licenses can only be
done in an admin center.
Security/Defender
Compliance
AzureActive Directory
Exchange
SharePoint
Teams
Security/Defender
The security center is where you can manage intelligent security
solutions from Microsoft for identity and access management.
Within security, you can find the following:
Incidentsand alerts
Actions and submissions
Secure score
Trial
App governance
Reports, audit, health, permissions, and settings
Compliance
The compliance center allows you to assess your compliance risks,
protect your data with sensitivity and retention labels, and more.
Related: How to Create Sensitivity Labels in Microsoft 365 Within
compliance, you can find the following solutions:
Catalog
App governance
Audit
Content search
Communication compliance
eDiscovery
Data lifecycle management
Information protection
Insider risk management
Records management
Privacy risk management
Subject rights requests
Azure Active Directory
Basically, Azure AD is a cloud-based identity and access
management service so employees can access external
resources. Azure AD enables you to manage the following:
Users
Groups
External identities
Roles and administrators
Admin units
Delegated admin partners
Enterprise applications
Devices
App registrations
Identity Governance
Application proxy
Related: Types of Groups in Microsoft 365: Comparing Groups
Other Microsoft 365 tools
Here are other Microsoft 365 tools that don’t fit well with any of the
categories I listed above:
Microsoft Forms
Many students know Forms since many of them use this in school.
Note: For more info on creating a form, read this guide: How to
Create Microsoft Forms: The Definitive Guide.
Microsoft Stream
Did you know that Microsoft has a tool that’s like YouTube?
With the new version, videos become a content type that’s equal to other
content types in Microsoft 365.
Note: For more info on Stream, check out this article: What is Microsoft
Stream? How does it work with SharePoint?
Microsoft Publisher
Publisher is a popular desktop publishing software that you can get
even with the lowest tier Microsoft 365 subscription.
Basically, Publisher enables its users to create gorgeous newsletters,
flyers, brochures, and more professional documents.
A benefit of Delve is that it keeps things private unless you want to share
content or what you’re working on.