Are you a planner but struggling to be productive? Do you work better with a to-do list, but you want everything in one place? Introducing Microsoft Teams Task by planner!  

You can create your own to-do lists, break these down into daily to-do lists and even view tasks that have been assigned to you in Microsoft Teams channels.  

To create your To Do List: 

• Go to the Apps icon on the left-hand side of MS Teams 
• Search for and install the Tasks by Planner and To Do app 
• At the bottom of the planner, select ‘+ New list or plan’ 
• Enter any task, select the priority and due date 
• Once completed select the circle and the task will complete itself 

To break down your to-do list to more achievable goals you can add tasks from your to-do list to “my day” which will refresh every day.   

Watch the video below for a demo on how to use Microsoft Teams Tasks by planner.  

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

Do you often find yourself having tired eyes after looking at your device for too long? In DigiTip 16, we will be having a look at how to use a blue light filter setting, to reduce the amount of blue light emitted from your device’s screen.

On Windows devices, follow the system settings below to activate “Night light”:

• Select Start on your windows taskbar and type in Settings in the search box
• From Settings, then choose System before finding the Display option
• Once you have chosen the Display option, select Night light
• With “Night light” switched on, warmer colours will be used on your screen to help block out blue light
• To personalise when “Night light” will be in use on your device, choose the Schedule night light option where you can either select Sunset to sunrise or select Set hours to choose your own custom times for it to begin and end before closing the window

On MacOS devices, follow the system settings below to activate “Night Shift”:

• Go to the Apple menu to open the option System Preferences
• Through System Preferences, select the Displays icon
• On the top of the window, click on the Night Shift tab
• Select the Schedule drop-down list before choosing Custom
• To personalise when “Night Shift” will be in use on your device, you can either select Sunset to sunrise or select Custom to choose your own set times for it to begin and end, before clicking Done

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

Welcome to the start of 2024 and we hope you all had a fantastic Christmas holiday break!

From September 2023, the Digital Skills Team have been publishing short and sweet DigiTips that we think will help you make the most of technology – ranging from taking care of your mental wellbeing with the self-care Finch App to being able to brainstorm new ideas with the whiteboard in MS Teams!

Starting from Tuesday 9^th January, we will continue to be posting weekly tips about all things digital and if you want to explore any of our previous DigiTips, you can access them from this webpage.

Follow these steps to pin your priority chats to the top of your list: 

• On the left-hand side of your Teams window, place your cursor over the chat you would like to pin 
• Right-click once on the chat and click on Pin 
• Your priority chat will be pinned to the top of your recent chat list 

Follow these steps to mute notifications from your chosen chat: 

• On the left-hand side of your Teams window, place your cursor over the chat you would like to mute 
• Right-click once on the chat and click on Mute 
• Incoming notifications will be muted for this specific chat 

Watch the video below or follow these instructions for saving messages to access them later: 

• Open the chat you would like to save a message(s) from 
• Right-click once on the message and click on Save this message 
• Place your cursor your Teams icon and click on it 
• Select the Saved option on the menu 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

Microsoft OneNote is a great way to store all your notes, organise your work and create lists all in one place.  

You can create different tabs for different areas of work. Within this, you can add new pages to separate and organise your work, all with their own separate headers. You can colour code your sections to help organise and keep track of your work. You can also create check lists, highlight important information and much more using the ‘tag’ function.  

Watch the video below for a demo on using Microsoft OneNote or follow the instructions below.  

• Click the ‘+’ icon to create a new section. 
• Right click on the section to change the colour. 
• Name the page anything you would like. 
• Hover on the right-hand side pane to insert new pages. 
• Add checkboxes either by selecting the To Do Tag or by using ctrl+1. 
• You can make pages, subpages by selecting the page, right clicking, and selecting ‘make subpage’. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!  

Depending on who you would like to communicate with, sometimes it is more convenient to schedule and delay your emails for another time. This gives you more time to re-edit the content of your email again if necessary and you can plan for less stress in the future if you can prepare your emails in advance! 

Watch the video below or follow these instructions: 

• Open a blank new email message in Outlook 
• Compose the email and ensure you have included a recipient and a subject line 
• Click on the File tab that can be found on the top left corner of the email window 
• Select Properties  
• Ensure the Do not deliver before option is checked  
• Select the time and date you would like to schedule the email to send out for 
• Click Close followed by Send 

It’s worth noting that Outlook must be open for a delayed email to be sent out. Ensure you have chosen a sending time when you know your Outlook will be running. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week! 

Finch is a self-care app designed to help you set realistic wellness goals to achieve throughout the day.  

The app includes features such as a focus or meditation timer, reflection diaries, quizzes, and soundscapes.  

Help your Finch avatar grow by earning points through completing your daily goals. The daily goals can be remembering to drink water, taking a walk in nature to taking part in the apps movement section which holds a collection of stretching and yoga movements.  

You can download the Finch app on Apple and Android devices. 

To follow our DigiTips, subscribe to our Digital Skills Blog. Or alternatively, you can bookmark this webpage, where a new DigiTip will be added each week!