Little-Known Tips for Working Smarter With Your Office Software

livemint.com:

I have been using Microsoft Word and Excel for a quarter-century. So to leverage this “expertise," I recently took proficiency exams on LinkedIn that would have conferred skill badges to my profile on the site. I failed them.

It turns out I’ve been using the same basic functions and haven’t explored the advanced features that could have improved the quality of my work, saved time or both. I’m not alone. In a Gartnersurvey of nearly 5,000 workers around the world last fall, just 20% described themselves as experts in the tech they use at work.

While new technologies keep emerging (hello, ChatGPT), stalwart apps like Word, Google Docs, PowerPoint and Gmail still dominate work life. That is why it is crucial to learn how to use them better. Any app may have hundreds of features, but a few produce outsize benefits.

We polled the software makers themselves as well as online instructors (Garrick Chow of LinkedIn Learning, Christopher Hui of Springboard and Lin Yue of Coursera and Macquarie Business School) to find some of the best tools for six application types: word processors, spreadsheet programs, presentation software, email clients, meeting apps and videoconferencing programs. (Microsoft instructions are for the online Microsoft 365 app versions except where noted.) Here are some of their top suggestions. Create smarter documents Whether it is a short memo, an evaluation or a detailed report, we spend a lot of time producing documents in word processors like Microsoft Word and Google Docs.

Here’s how to make that easier. Talk instead of typing (Word, Docs): You can save keystrokes by dictating text. (In Word, click Home > Dictate; in Docs, click Tools > Voice typing.) The online version of Word (but not Docs) can also