Best Microsoft Outlook Add-ins for IT Pros

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Microsoft Outlook has been one of the leading professional email communication and calendar schedulers chosen by IT pros for years. Two big reasons why are that the platform is very user-friendly and it works seamlessly with the full Microsoft Office 365 Suite. Plus, there are a slew of add-ins that can make Outlook even more efficient to use – amplifying your productivity and saving you time – and who doesn't like that? Here are six of our favorite Microsoft Outlook add-ins that will help IT pros get the most out of the platform.

Send Secure

Protecting your emails from hackers is a huge focus for companies of all sizes these days for good reason. Send Secure works to help in the battle by encrypting any messages you send from Outlook. Once installed, the app allows the user to hit the Send Secure button in Outlook instead of the default send button – encrypting the message before it is sent to the recipient. Encryption makes it harder for hackers to pick off sensitive information contacted within your emails and can also help reduce the chance of spam being sent from your account. Send Secure is $5 per user per month.

DocuSign

Printing, signing and scanning documents such as contracts, purchase orders and invoices can be a pretty tedious task. Luckily, the DocuSign add-in for Microsoft Outlook can help simplify the process. The app makes it easy to have a recipient securely sign a document or to sign one yourself without having to print a single page of paper. Once installed, recipients can "sign attachments" by dragging and dropping their signature or initials in tagged areas in the document. All parties receive a digital copy of the file once complete. DocuSign subscriptions start at $10 per user per month and a 10-day free trial is available to test the service.

Slack

Email communication is great, but sometimes you need a more collaborative way to connect with coworkers. The Slack add-in app for Microsoft Outlook – called Slam Sidebar – allows you to do just that. Slam allows users to run Slack directly in Outlook meaning they can drop meeting invites, attachments, contacts and email messages right into Slack conversations. The app also lets users know which Slack teammates are online and direct message them with one click. Slack post and files can also be attached to Outlook emails with just one click, so users don't have to toggle back and forth between platforms. Slack's Slam Sidebar is currently free to download, but you also need a Slack account to use it.

Zendesk

Being able to provide stellar customer service is a requirement for any good business team, and time is of the essence when responding to help requests. With the Microsoft Outlook app from Zendesk, users can turn any email into a ticket that goes right to the customer support team, ensuring that customer needs are met as quickly as possible. The helpdesk app also keeps the conversation in Outlook for the customer and in Zendesk for the support team. The Zendesk Outlook app is free to download, with the monthly subscription starting at $5 per user per month.

Zendesk Being able to provide stellar customer service is a requirement for any good business team, and time is of the essence when responding to help requests. With the Microsoft Outlook app from Zendesk, users can turn any email into a ticket that goes right to the customer support team, ensuring that customer needs are met as quickly as possible. The helpdesk app also keeps the conversation in Outlook for the customer and in Zendesk for the support team. The Zendesk Outlook app is free to download, with the monthly subscription starting at $5 per user per month.

RoomFinder

Securing an available meeting room can be a daunting challenge in the best of offices. The RoomFinder add-in app for Outlook makes finding an available space to meet so much simpler.  With the app, you can search and sort open rooms by capacity, features and purpose without leaving Outlook. Plus, RoomFinder lets you search for rooms in multiple office locations and different time zones, so booking a conference room with videoconference capabilities for 20 people is a cinch. The RoomFinder app is free to download.

RoomFinder Securing an available meeting room can be a daunting challenge in the best of offices. The RoomFinder add-in app for Outlook makes finding an available space to meet so much simpler.  With the app, you can search and sort open rooms by capacity, features and purpose without leaving Outlook. Plus, RoomFinder lets you search for rooms in multiple office locations and different time zones, so booking a conference room with videoconference capabilities for 20 people is a cinch. The RoomFinder app is free to download.

XING

Getting invited to a meeting where you don't know anyone in the room can be an awkward experience. The XING for Outlook add-in aims to make those type of uncomfortable professional encounters a thing of the past by providing more information about meeting participants and Outlook contacts. Users with the app installed can see profile photos, job titles and the company name of participants, along with items you have in common with them. Having that type of data can help make any first encounter a little more comfortable.

XING Getting invited to a meeting where you don't know anyone in the room can be an awkward experience. The XING for Outlook add-in aims to make those type of uncomfortable professional encounters a thing of the past by providing more information about meeting participants and Outlook contacts. Users with the app installed can see profile photos, job titles and the company name of participants, along with items you have in common with them. Having that type of data can help make any first encounter a little more comfortable. http://www.office-setup-help.com/ http://www.oofficee.com/setup

Microsoft releases July 2017 Non-Security Office updates

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Microsoft has just released non-security updates for Microsoft Office 2013 and 2016; a day later than anticipated because of 4th of July in the US.

Only non-security Office updates get released by Microsoft on the first Tuesday of the month. That’s the reason why you don’t see patches for Office 2007 or Office 2010 as both are on extended support which means that Microsoft supports them with security updates only.

Security updates for Office are traditionally released on the second Tuesday of a month; Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday.

Microsoft released two updates for Office 2013, and 12 updates in total for Office 2016. The following lists provide you with information on those.

Office 2013 July 2017 non-security updates

KB3213567 – July 5, 2017, update for Word 2013 – This update improves some translations for the Dutch version of Word 2013.

KB3213574 – July 5, 2017, update for Skype for Business 2015 (Lync 2013)  – The update includes the new Skype for Business client. It brings the version to 15.0.4945.1000.

Office 2016 July 2017 non-security updates

KB3213547 – July 5, 2017, update for Office 2016 – This update makes users join a meeting through a meeting link in a more reliable flow even if there’s a DNS failure or high latency networks.

KB3203481 – July 5, 2017, update for PowerPoint 2016 – Text style font properties cannot be retrieved correctly after a title placeholder is deleted on the slide master. The PowerPoint object model will now return the correct text style font properties of shapes on the slide master.

KB3213548 – July 5, 2017, update for Skype for Business 2016 – The update for Skype for Business 2016 brings the version to 16.0.4561.1000. It includes:

• KB4032342 -- Keyboard navigation in chat history is confusing and inconsistent in Skype for Business 2016
• KB4032343 -- Low Internet Explorer performance when you enable the Skype for Business Browser Helper add-on for Skype for Business 2016

KB3203473 – July 5, 2017, update for Visio 2016  – The update fixes two issues:

• Live previews of shape styles in Visio 2016 crash the application.
• The Shape.BoundingBox method returns incorrect results.

KB3203476 – July 5, 2017, update for Project 2016 – The update fixes several issues:

• Cost precision is lost after you copy and paste a task in a project.
• Numeric values from XML files that have comma decimal characters are lost if Project 2016 uses dot decimal characters.
• Task, resource, and assignment information from Excel worksheets imported in Project 2016 have work values ignored.
• Project 2016 may crash when selecting tasks in the Task Name column.
• Replacing a resource with an Enterprise resource has the actual work transferred to the Enterprise resource even if it is protected work.
• If the task finish date is changed in the schedule web part, the actual work is spread unexpectedly.
• Indent settings may not be synced corrected.

Read also:  Office 2007 support ends on October 10, 2017

KB3213549 – July 5, 2017, update for Office 2016 – The update improves and fixes the following:

• Improves translations for the Danish version of Access and Excel, and the Finnish and Swedish version of Excel.
• Reliability improvements when joining Skype for Business meetings in high latency and unreliable DNS environments.
• Saving a file to the SharePoint library had the Managed Metadata column disabled.
• The Open dialog box may show an incorrect folder location or file name after syncing to local.

KB3213550 – July 5, 2017, update for Word 2016 – The update improves or fixes the following:

• Improves Dutch translations for Word 2016.
• Text is shown with display issues when pasting mixed text (right-to-left and left-to-right).

KB3191926 – July 5, 2017, update for Access 2016 – Access 2016 won’t shut down correctly if an accessibility tool or a program that requests an accessible interface run.

KB3178665 – July 5, 2017, update for OneNote 2016 – File printouts that are inserted into a classroom notebook cannot be refreshed.

KB3203471 – July 5, 2017, update for Office 2016 – Update applies only to Windows 7 systems. It fixes emoji display issues. It installs the Segoe UI Emoji font.

KB3115145 – July 5, 2017, update for Office 2016 – The update improves the Korean text typing performance. It fixes the following issue:

• Error Method 'Lines' of object 'TextRange' failed when running VBE code to call the TextRange.Lines method.

KB3191928 – July 5, 2017, update for Office 2016 – User name is not displayed in the message details when you open an Information Rights Management protected file in SharePoint.

Microsoft releases July 2017 Non-Security Office updates downloads

The downloads link directly to Microsoft’s Update Catalog website.

Office 2013

• KB3213567
• KB3213574

Office 2016

• KB3213547
• KB3203481
• KB3213548
• KB3203473
• KB3203476
• KB3213549
• KB3213550
• KB3191926
• KB3178665
• KB3203471
• KB3115145
• KB3191928

http://www.office-setup-help.com/

http://www.oofficee.com/setup

Microsoft launches StaffHub, a new Office 365 app aimed at shift workers

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Microsoft today unveiled the newest addition to its Office 365 suite with the debut of an application for shift workers and management, called StaffHub. The program is aimed at those who don’t tend to work from desktop computers and have different schedules from week to week, such as in retail, hospitality, restaurants and other industries.

The program was originally introduced in “preview” last fall, with the goal of collecting user feedback ahead of its public launch. Since then, more than 1,000 businesses have signed up for the service, including a large winery in California and a hospitality company that uses it to staff their hotels.

Explains Office 365 General Manager Bryan Goode, Microsoft believes that addressing the needs of shift workers with a software platform like StaffHub is an untapped market.

“There’s half a billion frontline staff workers in the world,” he says. “Most companies, though, haven’t actually provided digital tools for these folks…but companies are starting to recognize the benefits of moving some of these offline processes and taking them online.”

However, what StaffHub is really up against is the old way of doing things: paper schedules, bulletin boards, phone calls and other manual processes, Goode notes.

To address the needs of this different kind of work environment, StaffHub takes schedules and puts them online. But it’s more than just another calendaring application.

Managers, who may have access to desktop or laptop computers, may use the web version of StaffHub to create the staff schedules in the program, but employees will likely only use StaffHub from their mobile phones.

When adding shifts, managers can take advantage of a variety of features to differentiate the types of shifts, ranging from custom labels (like “day,” “opening,” “night,” etc.) to color coding, and they can also enter in notes about the work that needs to be done during the shift in question.

The program also makes it simple to update shifts from week to week, by offering a “Copy last schedule” feature that lets managers use the prior week’s shift as a starting point before making changes.

Schedules can be viewed by day, week or month, as needed, and the program has tools for handling common requests, like time off, vacations, sick leave and more.

Where StaffHub becomes more interesting is on mobile devices.

Here, there are comparisons that can be made with Slack, though Microsoft, when asked, dismissed the idea that Slack was a competitor.

However, there are many overlapping features between the two programs — staff can privately chat, one on one, with one another in the app, and the app can host multiple group chats, too.

For example, managers could use their team chat to make informal announcements or share files. The chats support photo sharing, as well, which could be useful for showing the manager something out on the floor that needs their input.

Plus, the app can be used for sharing internal resources — like an employee handbook hosted on SharePoint, a file uploaded from a computer, a video or a file stored on another cloud service like Dropbox. Files will display inline when clicked, making it easy for staff to view them on their phone.

Plus, Microsoft envisions StaffHub as an app platform of sorts, another similarity with Slack. However, Microsoft’s focus is on connecting with line-of-business apps, like a time-clock application, for example. (So it’s like Slack, but without the GIFs — something that may appeal to the target market.)

Staff can swap shifts with other workers in the mobile app and request time off — requests that get routed to a manager for approval. Push notifications are used to alert users of these requests and approvals along with other updates, private notes, chats and more.

The software is available starting now as a part of Office 365 commercial plans. (K1-E5, for those who know the lingo — or entry-level through enterprise, for those who don’t.)

StaffHub is available for web, iOS and Android in Chinese (Simplified), English, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, French, Brazilian-Portuguese, German, Korean, Italian, Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, Turkish, Swedish and Danish.

Original Post: https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/12/microsoft-launches-staffhub-a-new-office-365-app-aimed-at-shift-workers/

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Microsoft’s killer feature for its Chromebook competitor is Office

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Microsoft just unveiled a new operating system at a press event this morning. Windows 10 Sis a streamlined and more secure version of Windows 10. But it still looks and feels like a normal PC. And it runs essential apps like Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

While I haven’t used Office apps for years, I spent most of my days using them back when I was in a student. I used Word to write papers, PowerPoint to prepare presentations and Excel to calculate stuff. And this is a great way to convince companies to buy Office subscriptions as most employees are already familiar with Office apps.

Microsoft is fully aware of that and plans to take advantage of that with its Chromebook competitors.

Sure, you can use Word Online, Google Docs and other web apps on your Chromebook. And Google has been saying for years that you’ll soon be able to run Android apps on your Chrome OS device. But very few Chromebooks currently support Android apps, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Android.

Microsoft is restricting Windows 10 S devices to Windows Store apps. It means that you won’t be able to download app from the your browser and install it. Developers will have to submit their apps to the Windows Store first.

But the company instantly reassured everyone by saying that Office apps are coming to the Windows Store soon. So it means that you’ll be able to buy a $189 Windows 10 S laptop and run full-fledged Office apps. And if you’re a student or teacher, Office 365 is free. Update:Office 365 for Education only gives you free access to online versions of Office apps, so you’ll still have to get a license through your school.

Microsoft is probably going to use Office apps in its advertising campaigns for Windows 10 S devices as it’s a sweet deal if you want a cheap device that runs Word. This is going to be Microsoft’s killer feature when it comes to selling those devices and eating up Chromebook’s market share.

Now it’s still going to take years as schools don’t take this kind of decisions lightly. Districts don’t switch to another vendor because Microsoft is slightly ahead of the competition. It’s going to be a long fight, but it looks like Microsoft thinks it’s worth starting it.

Original Post: https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/02/microsofts-killer-feature-for-its-chromebook-competitor-is-office/

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Office 2019: In the year 2019, your finger will make dogs bark

www.office.com/setup Blogs: I Started Something has some cool video of what Microsoft foresees as the future of MS Office. Dubbed Office 2019, the video is a mish-mash of Surface-esque drawings and lots of cute little applications talking to each other by throwing data from circle to circle. Sadly, what we’ll really get in 2019 will probably look more like Office 95 than anything involving multi-touch puppies that bark when you draw them. A girl can dream, though, right? Video after the jump.

http://images.video.msn.com/flash/soapbox1_1.swfVideo: Future Vision Montage

The video was shown at Wharton Business School’s Technology Conference by Microsoft’s Business Division president Stephen Elop. ISS has the full video on their site. Setup and Install Now at office.com/setup

Top 5 Things You Can Do to Make Your Network a Success

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Working out loud and using social collaboration tools as part of your daily workflow can take some getting used to. It’s also not always easy to persuade people to adopt new methods for working or to even try new technology. We understand taking that first step towards socializing the way you work with your team can be difficult. Luckily, with the help of our customers, we’ve compiled a list of best tips to help you and your company understand how to get the most out of social.

1. Work out loud

If you’re brand new to Yammer and want to set the example for others in your network, try working out loud. What do we mean by working out loud? Share woking drafts of your documents and ask for feedback from peers. By sharing projects as you work on them, you’ll find more opportunities for collaboration. The more feedback you receive the more polished the final product will be.

2. Invite colleagues from your team and other departments

Loop your colleagues into the conversation by inviting them to join your network. Set up a Yammer Group for your team, share notes from meetings, collect comments on documents, and provide updates on your projects. At your next team meeting, take the opportunity to do a Yammer 101 overview to help them get started. Use the group to manage team projects to get everyone involved.

3. Connect with other active members and create a community of peers

It’s said that three’s a crowd. Well, we believe you should connect with as many peers as you can find. Share ideas with one another and set a strategy to help others embrace this new way of working. By reaching out to others who are active Yammer users, you will find an untapped pool of success stories and a group of like-minded individuals who are working towards the same goal as you.

4. Recruit an Executive

An executive sponsor can help clear the path for those who are hesitant about trying new technology at work and can even champion the initiative. Find an executive who is particularly passionate about driving change in the organization or social tools in general. Provide your sponsor with regular updates on your progress, the value you’ve gained, and any challenges you are facing.

Simon Terry, CEO HICAPS at National Australia Bank found that the best way to engage executives was by discussing relevant topics on Yammer and inviting them to join the conversation. Help your executives get started by coaching them to understand the following key points:

• Get your messages out, but make it a two-way dialogue:  Yammer allows leaders to reach people at all levels of the organization and engage them in a two-way conversation. It gives executives a chance to clarify strategies, get updates on the initiatives, and become aware of customer feedback.
• Discover the potential of your employees: Social media gives people a forum to share their knowledge and allows others to uncover unknown talents in their coworkers.
• Stick with it: People don’t alway flock to discuss your post. Your title or reputation may be intimidating. Yammer offers a way to connect with those you may not regularly interact with, but you may have to give people time to warm up to you.

5. Highlight successes

There is power in recognizing the success of others. A great way to easily find accomplishments is to encourage your team members to hashtag valuable conversations with #yamwin. This makes it seamless to showcase successes in the future.

Jennifer Thorimbert, Enterprise Community Manager at The Walt Disney Company said that for her early adopters, quickly showing triumphs–no matter how big or small–was key to ensuring Disney’s Yammer network continued to grow and to stay relevant after the initial launch.

Whether you’re at a startup or a Fortune 500 company, it’s time to embrace social as the future of business. It can take time for newcomers to become acclimated with this new style of working, but even a simple demonstration of how collaboration tools and working out loud can show social’s potential for transforming business.

Original Post: https://blogs.office.com/2013/08/07/top-5-network-success/

Getting started with app development

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Eli Sheldon is a Program Manager on the Microsoft Project team.

With the new Project, our extensibility story entered two new exciting realms–Apps for Office and Apps for SharePoint. Bookmark this page for all the resources you need to start developing your own apps, tips based on frequently asked questions from our partners, and ideas for developing on either or both of our new models.

Quick start

If you’re like me, you don’t want to spend a lot of time reading articles and SDKs and forum posts–you want to get your hands dirty! The primary resource you’ll want to use for all Office, SharePoint and Project development is the conveniently-named dev.office.com–here you’ll find all of the relevant documentation, tools and support channels you’ll need.

To start writing Apps for Office targeting the Project client, all you technically need is Notepad. You’ll likely want some guidance, and this article is a great place to start–this is part of the wealth of information contained in the Apps for Office and SharePoint SDK.

To start writing Apps for SharePoint targeting Project Web App (PWA), you’ll want a copy of Visual Studio 2012, the Office Developer Tools, and the Project 2013 SDK which contains the necessary redistributable files along with our developer documentation. This article, from the Project 2013 SDK, is a great end-to-end tutorial to help you ramp up quickly.

Project Apps for Office

What exactly is a Project App for Office? At its core, an App for Office is just a webpage running in a container in the rich Office clients that can communicate with the Office client through a powerful new JavaScript API. In Project, these apps are surfaced as a task pane, much like the classic Task Inspector. For examples of apps currently in the app store, see Sensei’s Project Dashboard^TM or Projility’s ProjectWare Connect^TM.

Information about Project Apps for Office can be found in the Office SDK. The final product you create is an XML file called an app manifest and the webpage hosting your content / code.

Project Apps for SharePoint

What do we mean by a Project App for SharePoint? SharePoint 2013 introduced a new extensibility model to support the SharePoint Online ecosystem, and now that we have Project Online, we followed suit, leveraging much of the same system. An App for SharePoint can take many forms–a web part, a ribbon customization, a full-page custom experience–and a Project App for SharePoint is simply an App for SharePoint that includes PWA functionality. We have many in the app store already, such as Campana and Schott’s Milestone Trend Analysis or Solvin’s TrackTimesheet Go.

Information about Apps for SharePoint can be found in the SharePoint SDK, and info about Project Client Side Object Model (CSOM, the new API used to support our apps) is best found in the Project SDK. The final product you create is an app package containing an app manifest and all of your functional code. There are multiple hosting and deployment options, and apps should work both online and on premises.

Get your app out to the world

Once your app is ready for prime time, you’ll want to publish it to the Office Store. You can sell it for a price you set, or release it for free. You choose the trial conditions and the licensing options. To get started, you’ll want to read this documentation. To see all of the Project apps already delighting our customers, check out the Office Store.

If you don’t want your app to be public, you can easily distribute it through traditional means–but what fun is that?

Frequently asked questions

We get some questions pretty frequently, and while we do our best to update formal documentation accordingly, sometimes it’s best to just bubble things to the top so they don’t trip you up!

Q: How can I deploy my apps from Visual Studio?

A: If you attempt to deploy an app to any random Project Online site, you’ll probably hit an error saying “Sideloading of apps is not enabled on this site.” To prepare a site for app deployment right from Visual Studio (which gives you rich debugging), follow along with this guide from Colin Phillips, which involves using PowerShell to turn on the relevant feature.

Q: How long does it take to publish my app? How can I speed that up?

A: As soon as you know you’re going to publish an app, you should create your Seller Dashboard profile, as this process involves pretty thorough identity and tax verification. Your app does not need to be ready for this to start–so get it out of the way now!

Once you submit your final app package, you can expect (but not count on) validation to take roughly a week, depending on the current submission queue. The most common issues are inconsistent version numbers and other basic metadata. Make sure to read the complete validation rules before submitting!

Q: How can I access information from my Project App for Office not exposed by the JavaScript API?

A: You’ll want to connect to PWA for cross-project info and SharePoint-hosted info. Fortunately, I wrote a blog post detailing exactly how to do this!

Q: I keep having issues related to OAuth tokens!

A: Bing is your best friend here. Many developers have posted across many forums with what to do to resolve pretty much any OAuth issue you hit.

Q: I’m stuck and need Microsoft to help me!

A: Our forums are populated both by Microsoft extensibility experts and a strong community of seasoned developers. Any time you hit a wall, don’t hesitate to post your issue here. Check out these resources too:

• Project Programmability blog. There are many articles here that will help you get started with many types of Project developments.
• Apps for Office and SharePoint blog. This is the central blog for developer-centric articles related to creating Office and SharePoint apps, and where future in-depth Project app development posts will go.
• Jan Kalis’ Project Partners blog. Jan loves to post about Project extensibility and opportunities for our partners.

Now you have all of the tools and resources you need to create the next killer Project app. I hope to see your work in the store soon!

— Eli Sheldon, Program Manager

Original Post: https://blogs.office.com/2013/08/08/getting-started-with-app-development/