Check out the second installment of our Office 365 Webinar Series, a focus on the productivity tools included in O365. We want to help churches understand the in’s and out’s of these applications, so that you can maximize the resources that are included in the Office 365 E1 (and above) package, which is available at a discounted rate for churches and non-profit organizations! By getting the most out of these features, you can improve your work flow and ultimately strengthen your ministry. We want to help you do that!  

In this free 1-hour webinar, we take a deep dive into the features of Office 365 that are designed to enhance productivity, including OneNote, Planner, Outlook, and a few extra goodies. Our own Melody Parlett demonstrates a live demo of these tools and gives practical applications of these features in several church-specific scenarios!  

We’ve been working with churches for almost 20 years, and have been long-time fans of Microsoft’s services, and we simply want to share this knowledge with you so that you can take full advantage of the amazing features O365 has to offer! 

Webinar Q&A

Outlook

• Q: How do I install FindTime and does it work for people outside the organization?
  A: You can download it here. Meeting invitees do not need to be part of your organization or have FindTime downloaded themselves to participate. Office 365 admins can also enable this globally for all users from the admin portal. 
  (Video timestamp 49:16)
• Q: Can you set rules for syncing emails to the Focused and Other inboxes?
  A: No, you can’t set rules for the filter- these are sorted based on algorithm and are both just considered your inbox. However, you can turn the filter off or set rules to filter into folders that you create. 

OneNote

• Q: Do you know how long an audio recording can be? Is there a time limit?  
  A: There appears to be a 206 second (3.4 minute) time limit on audio recordings (ask me how I found this out). This is great for getting down a quick reminder, or even something longer, like an email. Not a great option for recording meetings.MicrosoftWord also has a dictation feature that can be used for longer recordings. In testing I’ve seen recordings using dictation that were longer than 1 hour in length. 
  (Video timestamp 49:50)
• Q: Can I import my current OneNote notes into Office365? I was using OneNote prior to being on Office 365 and now when I log onto Office 365, I don’t see any of my notes. 
  A: Your notebooks are not automatically moved into Office 365. However, they can be movedinto/stored in OneDriveso that you can easily access them. Here are instructions.
  (Video timestamp 51:55)
• Q: Can I have a one-note that is private and another for my co-workers? 
  A: Absolutely! You can have multiple personal notebooks, and choose who you want to share them with. OneNote notebooks can also be created for teams and groups that are not owned by an individual and are shared by default. 

Planner

• Q: Can you have Planner send automated notifications as the task due date approaches? 
  A: Yes. Planners default is to send automatic email notifications when you are assigned a task, and one reminder email a day if any of these are true: an assigned task is late, due today, or due in the next 7 days. I don’t believe there’s a way to adjust or turn off these default notification options for assigned planner tasks. 
  (Video timestamp 50:18)
• Q: Can I add people outside my organization to my tasks in Planner?  
  A: Yes, by adding them as a guest to your group. Guests do not have all the same rights as a regular team member. More details and instructions here. 
  (Video timestamp 51:55)
• Q: How do I sync my Planner calendar to my Outlook calendar? 
  A: Click the … menu on your plan and click Add to Calendar. You can create a link for people to subscribe to the calendar. Then just click Add to Outlook.
• Q: Planner vs Tasks – when do you recommend each? 
  A: Planner is great for keeping track of tasks associated with a project or where many people are involved and need visibility into the progress of the tasks. Outlook tasks are more for your everyday to-do list and made up of things that only you to need keep track of. 

Calendar

• Q: Is there a limit on the number of calendars you can have?
  A: The default limit is 30 shared calendars.  
  (Video timestamp 48:51)
• Q: Is there a way to see who made changes to calendar events?
  A: We are not currently aware of an audit log for shared calendar items. This is one for the Microsoft suggestion box.
  (Video timestamp 52:52)

• Q: Can we archive calendar events and/or restore events that have been lost or mistakenly deleted? 
  A:Yes, calendar events can be archived to save space in your data file. Here are instructions. Deleted items that have been permanently deleted are not recoverable. However, most Outlook items that are deleted end up in your deleted items folder for some period of time (90 days is the default). Items in this folder may be restored by someone with admin access to the account/mailbox where the calendar actually lives. (Video timestamp 55:10)