SC-300 tricks - Microsoft Identity and Access Administrator Updated: 2024

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but which font you use in Microsoft Word can make all the difference. In most scenarios, you want to use a professional font style and a standard font size for all your documents. Something easy to read. The last thing you want is an entire document written in Comic Sans or another font that screams unprofessionalism.

The standard is either an 11 or 12-point font, ensuring you have enough room to write while maintaining an easy-to-read professional style. As for the font style, Times New Roman is, without a doubt, the go-to font for any printed document, while Arial is the number one option for digital writing. If, for some reason, neither is available, Georgia and Calibri are great substitutes, respectively. Follow these steps to change your font in Microsoft Word:

1. Open a Word document.
2. Click the Home tab.
3. In the Font section, click the font name to change it.
4. Next to the font name, click the number to adjust the size.

You can change the font style, size, and color, but it's best to leave it black, as something extravagant could be hard to read. If you want to use multiple fonts, highlight a section of text and select a new font. This will change the selected text while leaving the rest of the document in the default style.

A lot of teams work from home, and they must have a tool that helps them communicate, manage tasks, get on video calls, and so on. Microsoft Teams is a viable solution that anyone can use; it is available without any extra cost. In this post, I am sharing 10 Microsoft Teams tips and tricks that will help you Excellerate your experience with the product.

These are some of the important Microsoft Tips and Tricks you should know and try. Some of them will need an IT admin or Office 365 admin to enable the feature.

1. Bookmark specific content
2. Search and Filter
3. Connectors
4. Navigation
5. Tabs
6. Translation
7. Immersive Reader
8. Microsoft Planner
9. Background Blur
10. Email to Teams.

Microsoft Teams offers tons of features, and if you use features that you think will be worth adding to the list, let us know.

1] Bookmark

Conversations could be lengthy, and they can be in large volumes. That’s where the bookmark feature in Microsoft Teams comes into the picture. Any message or attachment in a conversation can be bookmarked. Select the message, and it will reveal emoji picker along with three dots. Click on it, and you have the option to “Save this message.”

To access saved message, click on your profile on the top-right, and then select “Saved.” It will reveal the list of all the saved messages. When you click on any of the bookmarked messages, it will open the whole conversation, and it’ll temporarily highlight the saved message with a yellow background.

To remove a message from the list, select or hover over it, and then click on the “unsave this message” menu. You can also unsave any message by hovering over it on the list, and then clicking on the bookmark icon.

Read: How to integrate Zoom with Microsoft Teams.

2] Search and Filter

It is a powerful feature which you should master to find anything in the ocean of messages. Click on the search box, and you can type forward-slash(/) to see all the commands, mention feature(@) to find a contact and all the conversation, The “@” feature can also be used to interface with installed apps.

3] Connectors

Not everyone uses the same service, and if you have just moved to Microsoft Teams or want to connect with other services, then you can use the Microsoft Teams’ connectors. You can use it to receive notifications and messages from your web, RSS feeds, and even o push content from different Office 365  applications into Microsoft Teams.

Connectors are available in the Teams menu and are similar to apps, but they work differently. If your company has built a custom connector, then you can publish it into the store and access it or ask IT to deploy it for the company.

4] Navigation Buttons (< >)

If you are using an app, the navigation buttons are going to be your savior. Available on the top left, these buttons act as the browsing buttons (back and forward) like on the browser. So if you opened the inbox and then want to back to your team conversation, use the nav buttons to move back and forth.

5] Tabs

Teams allow you to add multiple sections or tabs. You can add a wiki, a calendar, a website, or even a file. To add a table, click on the ‘+’ sign on the right -hand side of the channel and then search for what it is you want to add in the tab.

6] Translation

Microsoft has done an incredible job when it comes to translation, and it is powerful enough to translate messages in real-time. If you are conversing with people around the world, the translation feature will be handy. Once enabled by the administrator, you can click hover over any message, click on the three-dot menu, and then choose to translate in your default language.

7]  Immersive reader

To read all the messages in a distraction less view, Microsoft has integrated immersive reader for all team message. It is useful, especially for those who need special assistance. In the immersive view, you can read the message with clarity, and also use the audio tool to read the message aloud. To have eth best experience, set the speed, and audio selection.

Click on the menu button of any message, and select Immersive Reader. It also offers extra features such as translation, line focus, change text size, bookmarks, and more.

8] Microsoft Planner integration for task management

If you have access to the Microsoft planner under Microsoft 365 subscription, then it is going to be the most straightforward task manager for you. It is recommended for those who do not use any third-party task manager and need one for the Team. Once integrated, you can create a task out of any message and assign it to any person. You can also “pin” the Planner app to any channel to make it more accessible in one click.

9] Background Blur

If you have used Skype meetings, I am sure you already know about this feature. It allows you to hide what is in your background to keep your privacy.  Microsoft teams offer video calling, and it uses Skype, which means you can use the same set of features.  If you want to activate Background Blur during meetings, click on the more actions on the call menu and select ‘Blur My Background.’

TIP: You can also use Custom Backgrounds in Microsoft Teams.

10] Email into Teams

While Teams-Outlook integration is yet to happen, until then if you want to forward any email into your Team, you can enable the built-in feature, click on the Teams menu, and then select Get email address.  It will then reveal a unique email id to which you can forward an email to appear on the teams. The configuration allows you to let anyone send emails, or only members of Team or only from the fixed set of domains.

That said, there can be a lot of tips tricks available for Microsoft teams. These are some of the best and will make sure you get to learn something new and help you use Microsoft Teams even better.

What are the best messaging apps for Windows PC?

While there are many, for general consumers, the best apps are WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack, Telegram, and Discord. Now that WhatsApp works well on PC as well, you can use it without the phone on up to four devices.

Does Windows have integrated instant messaging?

No, but Windows 11 offers Team Chat as part of the OS that you can use to organize meetings and chat with friends and family. You can also quickly launch it using Win + C keyboard shortcut.

In this post, we will show you how to open or run File Explorer (explorer.exe) with elevated privileges or in administrator mode in Windows 11/10. Windows File Explorer or explorer.exe is also set to run in the standard user context. Even if you right-click on explorer.exe, and select “Run as Administrator”, it will still run in the standard user context. The problem is caused by the fact that User Account Control can only elevate an application to a higher token when it is launching a new process.  It cannot elevate an existing process.

First, you need to terminate the existing explorer.exe process.

1. Open Task Manager
2. Locate explorer.exe process
3. Right-click on it and select End Task.

Having done that you have three options to run explorer.exe run as admin..

1]  Using Run box

From the Task Manager, select the File tab

Click on Run new task

Run box will open.

Type the following command, select Create this task with administrative privileges and hit Enter.

explorer.exe /nouaccheck

We have restarted the Windows File Explorer as an admin.

Note that just typing in explorer.exe, as suggested by most sites, may not help.

2] Using CMD

Open an elevated command prompt window, type the following and hit Enter:

c:\Windows\explorer.exe /NOUACCHECK

This will open explorer.exe in elevated mode.

Now open Task Manager and go to the Details tab.

We need to add the Elevated column to the Task Manager.

Right-click on any column title, and click Select columns.

Select the Elevated column and click OK.

Now here under the Elevated column, you will see the status as Yes under Elevated, confirm that explorer.exe is running in elevated mode.

Read: Task Manager Tips and Tricks you may not be aware of.

3] Using Taskkill command

Open an elevated command prompt window, type the following and hit Enter:

tskill explorer & explorer

Explorer will close and the new explorer process will restart taking the admin status of the CMD.

Now, this method may or may not work on the latest Windows 10 versions.

Read: File Explorer tips and tricks.

This is the correct way to open File Explorer in elevated mode. You should also verify via the Task Manager if it is indeed running in that mode.

Microsoft’s Copilot might not be breaking ground in quite the same way as ChatGPT seemed to when it first debuted, but there are still some useful abilities for this desktop-ready chatbot AI that is now available to pretty much anyone running the latest version of Windows 11. It doesn’t have a huge range of abilities yet, confining itself to changing some Windows settings, opening apps for you, and performing the creative writing and web search functions available through its contemporaries.

But you can make Copilot work for you and work well, and there are some tips and tricks you’ll want to employ to make the most of it. Here are some of my favorites.

Go hands-free

While the latest natural language AIs might be primarily text-based, many of them now include voice and audio support, and Windows Copilot is much the same. While this might seem like merely a more clunky way to interact with Copilot — and it is kind of clunky — this is an important feature because it means you don’t have to use your hands to prompt it. Beyond clicking the little microphone button, you can get back to whatever you’re doing while asking it a question or requesting something from it.

For me, this means I can ask it to find me information on a Topic for an article I’m writing, summarize a webpage, or supply me some tips on how to do something, all while working on something else. This is particularly useful when you’re writing an article about Copilot tips and tricks, as you can have them play out while you’re writing it. When I’m writing a best-of list, though, I can have it grab a spec sheet for me, which saves me around a minute of time for each request. Those minutes quickly add up.

Beyond my needs, though, voice support is also an important accessibility feature. You don’t even need to be able to type to enjoy Windows Copilot. Young children or those with mobility difficulties can interact with and receive useful responses from it just like everyone else. For those who struggle to use a mouse or keyboard, this could greatly Excellerate their ability to interact with Windows naturally.

When I had a pinched nerve in my back recently and found using a mouse painful, Copilot was able to reduce my reliance on it. It’s not perfect, or even great, yet, but it has the potential to be huge.

You’ll need to be signed in to use all its features

Windows Copilot has a few additional functions that require additional information from you. In the case of generating images, you’ll need to be signed in to the Windows Image Creator service. 

This is also a good help tip if you find that you can’t use Copilot because its icon is missing or it just won’t open. Make sure you’re signed in to your online Microsoft account.

Integrate Edge with Windows Copilot

One of the few features that Copilot currently has that works really well is interacting with Edge. As a Microsoft product, this is perhaps no surprise, but it expands the functionality of Copilot beyond the bounds of Windows itself and, crucially, allows it to interact with your web session in a range of ways.

I often pull up articles with every intention of studying them, only to find out that it will take me 20 minutes, and who has time for that? I’d certainly like to, but at this time in my life, I don’t, so Copilot can quickly summarize it for you. It can find specific information within the page, too, which can be great for finding a quote or reference you need from a lengthy interview or video transcript.

It works with PDFs

One of my favorite ways to use AI chatbots so far is searching through lengthy PDF documents for board game rule references. I’ve tried a few different options, but Windows Copilot does a pretty good job. In this case, I asked about a rule for the complicated board game Twilight Imperium. To do so, I uploaded the living rules to a cloud service, opened the file in Edge, and had it share my on-screen content with Copilot.

It found the right rule reference and added additional (largely unnecessary) clarification. It’s not perfect, but with a less nuanced or complicated request, it could be more effective.

It works in a range of other apps too

If you use Teams, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, or other Microsoft applications, it might be worth paying the additional subscription fee of $30 per user per month to get Copilot into your 365 applications. You’ll be able to do things like make an entire PowerPoint presentation just from a quick prompt or get AI-generated text right in Word.

Be precise and be prepared for errors