Category: Microsoft Support

Our Graduates Top Skills 🎓

Shân Saunders Digital creation, problem-solving and innovation, Digital learning and development, Digital proficiency and productivity, Graduate Digital Skills Profile Series, LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Teams Leave a comment

In 2024, our Student Digital Champions conducted interviews with eight Aberystwyth University graduates to understand what skills they now use after graduating and skills that they wished they had learnt and developed while at university. Below are the top five skills across all the profiles that the graduates now use and how you can develop these skills: 

  1. Microsoft Excel 
  1. Microsoft Teams/Online Meeting Platforms 
  1. Photoshop and Editing Software 
  1. Outlook 
  1. Microsoft PowerPoint 

If you would like to read the Graduate Digital Skills Profiles, you can view them here or you can download them here.  

DigiTip 53: Using Morph in PowerPoint 🧑🏻‍💻

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Do you want to make your PowerPoints more Dynamic? DigiTip 53 Will help you to do that by using a transition in PowerPoint called Morph which can give more flow to a PowerPoint by giving smooth transitions to shapes and text changing in the slides. 

  • First Open up PowerPoint 
  • Then create two slides, one with normal text and in the following slide split up the letters of the word across the slide. I did this by using multiple text boxes. 
  • On the second slide go to the transitions tab and choose morph 
  • Then still on the transitions tab go to effect options and choose characters 
  • From there press F5 or go to the slide show tab and click on from beginning where you should now by pressing space see the morph transition take place. 

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!  

DigiTip 52: Strikeout Star! ➖

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Have you ever wanted to cross something out in Excel? Sometimes you don’t want to delete or hide the cells. DigiTip 52 has a quick shortcut to help you out! 

Simply select the relevant cell(s) and use the shortcut: Ctrl + 5 

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!

DigiTip 51: Become more effective with MS Teams by using commands ⚡ 

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Teams Leave a comment

Do you want a faster and more efficient way to navigate MS Teams, for example to let your colleagues know your status on Teams or send a message? DigiTip 51 can show you quick commands to do just this. For this DigiTip we will be using the forward slash commands in the search bar on Teams.  

  • First open MS Teams. 
  • Next, we will need to access the search bar at the top, this can either be done by pressing ctrl + e or by just clicking in the search area at the top. 
  • Then if you press / you will receive all commands available to you to use. 
  • After you have chosen the command you want to use you just have to press enter. 
  • An example of one of these would be /busy which is a faster way of setting your status to busy. 
  • Another example, /chat will give you a follow up option of selecting who you want to send the message to and what you want the message to be, all in the search bar. 

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!  

DigiTip 50: Become Number One at Notetaking! 📝

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Would you like to advance your note taking but you’re stuck on a format? With DigiTip 50 and page templates in OneNote you can do just that! 

Microsoft OneNote has the option to insert page templates to help you format your notes. There are templates from simple lecture notes to project overview to prioritised to do lists. Watch the video below to find out more! 

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!

DigiTip 49: Interesting Graphs in MS Excel 📈

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

Do you want to add interesting ways of presenting your data in MS Excel? DigiTip 49 can help with that by introducing Sparklines. Sparklines are small graphs that only take up one cell in an excel sheet and are an effective way of presenting data without having a graph that takes up a whole sheet. This could be useful for presenting data that is important but not vital to a presentation.

  • First you need an appropriate amount of data as shown.
  • Then select the Cells which you want to use to present the data and go to insert in the tabs and choose the type of graph you want from sparklines.
  • Select the data range you want to use, in the example that would be B2:F4.
  • And there you go; you should have a graph that presents the data all in a single cell.

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!

DigiTip 46: Match colours on your PowerPoint slides with the Eyedropper tool 🎨 

WordPress User [sil12] DigiTips, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Support Leave a comment

When creating a PowerPoint presentation, there may be occasions when you want to match the colour of the background or an object to a very specific shade. While the colour options available are extensive, there’s an incredibly useful tool called the eyedropper, which allows you to match a colour perfectly! 

Follow the video below to learn how to use this feature. In the video, we’ll show you how to change the colour of a shape, but the same steps apply to changing the colour of your background, a border, and much more. 

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!

DigiTip 44: Make quick decisions in MS Teams with the polling feature 📊 

WordPress User [sil12] DigiTips, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Teams Leave a comment

There may be times when you’re in an MS Teams meeting, and you need to make a quick decision. It could be deciding when to hold your next group meeting or voting on which title to choose for a project report.  

If you need to create a poll once you’ve started your meeting, Teams offers a built-in polling feature. Watch the video below to learn how to set up your first poll. 

Please note: We suggest that you use Vevox, AU’s polling tool, if you’re looking to set up a poll in advance of your online meeting or session. 

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!

DigiTip 43: Change your work with Replace in Word 🔃

Shân Saunders DigiTips, Microsoft Support, Microsoft Word Leave a comment

There may be times where you need to replace a word you have used consistently throughout your work – this could be a name or a misspelled word. DigiTip 43 can show you how to quickly find and replace words. Either read the short step-by-step instructions or watch the video to learn how! 

  • In the top ribbon, select the ‘replace’ option. 
  • Enter the word you would like to replace in the ‘Find what’ section. 
  • Enter the word you would like to use instead in ‘replace with’. 
  • Choose the relevant option to you – replace and find next to change individual versions or replace all.  

Please note this will only work if the ‘find what’ word is spelt correctly.  

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!