Microsoft Office 365 Personal User Guide

Microsoft© Ofce 365

Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime

KATHERINE MURRAY

PUBLISHED BY Microsoft Press A Division of Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, Washington 98052-6399

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011932154 ISBN: 978-0-7356-5694-9

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Seattle

To all users of technology who are willing to take a chance,

make a choice, and try a new way of doing things so that

we can nurture and enjoy a happy, healthy planet.

—K.M.

Contents

Introduction xvii

Part I Finding Your Place in the Cloud

Chapter 1 What’s Happening with the World of Work? 3

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Teams, Teams Everywhere—In the Ofce and Outside of It 4

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Worldwide Collaboration Is Here 5

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Going for the Green—With Groups of All Sizes 6

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Heads in the Cloud (Computing) 7

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A Closer Look at Ofce 365 8

You Can Use What You’ve Got 9

Big-Time Security 9

Keep It Simple with the Ofce 365 Home Page 10

Stay in Touch with Outlook 11

Sync Your Team with Microsoft SharePoint 13

Real-Time Connection with Microsoft Lync 14

Work with Ofce Web Apps 16

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What’s Next 16

Chapter 2 Getting Started with Ofce 365 17

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Creating Your Ofce 365 Account 18

■

A Look Around the Ofce 365 Home Page 19

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vi Contents

■

Setting Up a Prole 21

Changing Your Password 22

Changing Your Prole Picture 23

Setting Ofce 365 Preferences 24

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How Does All This Work? 26

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What’s Your Service? Different Setups, Different Services 27

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Getting Ready to Use Ofce 365 28

Installing Microsoft Lync 28

Getting Ready to Use Ofce 2010 31

Setting Up Your Mobile Phone 35

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How Ofce 365 Meets Small Business Needs 36

The Big Picture: Online and Off 37

Email, Calendars, Meetings, and More 37

Creating a Team Workspace 38

Sharing Documents with Your Team 39

Instant Messaging, Calls, and Web Meetings with Microsoft Lync 40

Behind-the-Scenes Support: Security and Reliability 41

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What’s Next 41

Chapter 3 Administering an Ofce 365 Account 43

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Are You an Administrator? 43

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An Overview of Your Administrative Tasks 45

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First Things First: Key Tasks to Complete 46

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Adding and Managing Ofce 365 Users 47

Adding Users 48

Changing Passwords 54

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Viewing Domain Properties 55

Adding a Domain to Ofce 365 56

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Setting Up and Managing Outlook and Exchange 57

Create a Distribution List 59

Add External Contacts 60

Migrate Your Email 61

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Setting Up SharePoint Online 62

Adding Users for SharePoint Online 62

Assigning User Permissions 64

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Conguring Lync Online 67

Set External Communications 67

Modifying User Information 68

Setting Up Dial-in Conferencing 68

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Managing Your Subscriptions 70

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Getting Help with Ofce 365 71

Creating Service Requests 72

Checking System Status 74

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What’s Next 76

Part II Teamwork in the Cloud

viiContents

Chapter 4 What Your Team Can Do with Ofce 365 79

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Starting with the End in Mind 80

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Creating a Shared Space 81

Displaying the Team Site 82

Working with Document Libraries 84

Creating a Space for Announcements 85

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Sharing Calendars Securely 86

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Translating Content on the Fly 88

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Making Instant Contact with Team Members 89

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Holding Online Meetings 90

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Broadcasting Presentations Online 92

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Creating and Modifying a Website 93

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What’s Next 94

viii Contents

Chapter 5 Creating Your Team Site with SharePoint Online 95

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Planning Your Team Site 96

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Creating a Simple Team Site—Fast 96

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Putting Some Thought into the Team Site Design 97

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Choosing a Site Theme 99

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Changing the Text Layout of Your Page 101

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Posting an Update 103

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Adding and Formatting Pictures 105

Editing Your Picture 107

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Adding a New Page 109

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Entering and Editing Content 110

Formatting Your Text 110

Adding Text Styles 111

Applying Markup Styles 112

Coding for Language 112

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Adding Web Parts 113

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Sharing Your Site 115

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What’s Next 116

Chapter 6 Posting, Sharing, and Managing Files 117

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What Is a Document Library (and Where Is It)? 117

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Creating a Document Library 119

Adding Documents 120

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Organizing Document Libraries 122

Ordering Files in Your Document Library 123

Modifying the Current View 124

Adding a New Column to the Document Library 128

Creating a New View for Your Document Library 129

Switching Views 130

■

Working with Document Library Files 130

Adding a New Library Folder 132

Starting a New Document 132

Viewing File Properties 133

Checking Out and Checking In Files 134

Setting Alerts 136

■

What’s Next 136

Chapter 7 Adding and Managing Workows 137

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Introducing Ofce 365 Workows 137

■

Creating a New Workow 139

Setting Workow States 141

Specifying Task Details 142

Editing Your Workow 144

■

Using a Workow for Your Project 145

Checking Workow Status 145

Completing a Workow Task 146

Stopping a Workow 148

ixContents

■

Managing Workows 149

■

What’s Next 149

Chapter 8 Working with Ofce 2010 Web Apps 151

■

A First Look at Ofce Web Apps 152

Introducing Ofce Web Apps 153

How Ofce Web Apps Work 154

Web Apps on Your Phone 156

What You Can—and Can’t—Do with Ofce 365 156

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Creating, Saving, and Closing a New File 157

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Working with an Existing File 158

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Choosing Your Tools 160

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Levels of Editing in Ofce Web Apps 161

Viewing Your File in Ofce 365 161

Editing in Your Web Browser 162

Taking It to the Desktop 163

x Contents

■

Co-authoring with Ofce Web Apps 165

Editing in the Browser 166

Another Way to Co-author in Ofce 365 167

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Reviewing and Editing Excel Worksheets 168

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Working with OneNote Notebooks 169

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What’s Next 172

Chapter 9 Going Mobile with Ofce 365 173

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How Will You Use Your Phone with Ofce 365? 174

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Receiving and Sending Email on Your Phone 175

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Using the Ofce Hub on Your Windows Phone 7 179

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Last-Minute Word Editing on Your

Mobile Device 182

Editing a Word Document on Your Phone 183

Adding Comments 185

Formatting Text 187

Saving and Sending Your Edited Document 189

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Reviewing and Updating Excel Data 190

Working with the Worksheet 191

Making Simple Editing Changes 192

Saving and Sending Worksheet Changes 194

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Tweaking a PowerPoint Presentation on Your Phone 195

Mobile Editing for Your Presentation 196

Saving and Sending Your Presentation 198

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What’s Next 199

Part III Connecting in Real Time

Chapter 10 Email and Organize with Ofce 365 203

■

Introducing Outlook Web App 203

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Checking and Managing Email 204

Checking, Reading, and Responding to Your Mail 205

Creating a New Message 206

Changing Mail Views 208

Choosing a New Theme 209

Managing Your Mail 210

Setting Mail Preferences 215

Creating a Meeting Request 216

■

Working with Your Calendar 218

Adding an Appointment 219

Changing Your Calendar View 220

Sharing Your Calendar 221

xiContents

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Importing and Managing Your Contacts 224

Adding New Contacts 224

Importing Contacts 225

Searching for a Contact 226

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Adding and Completing Tasks 227

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What’s Next 228

Chapter 11 Talking It Over with Microsoft Lync 229

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Introducing Microsoft Lync 230

Signing In to Lync 230

Getting Started with Lync 232

Entering a Personal Note 233

Setting Your Location 233

Setting Up Sound and Voice 234

xii Contents

■

Working with Contacts in Lync 236

Creating a Contact Group 237

Accepting a Contact Request 239

Setting Privacy Levels for Contact Relationships 240

Tagging Contacts 241

Changing Contact Views 243

Working with Presence and Contact Cards 244

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Instant Messaging with Your Team 245

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Making a Call with Lync 248

Launching a Video Call 249

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Sharing Programs and Files 250

Sharing Your Desktop 251

Sharing Programs 252

Using a Whiteboard 253

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What’s Next 254

Chapter 12 Designing Your Public Website 255

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Getting Started with Your Public Website 256

Making Simple Web Changes 256

Setting Up Your Site 258

Applying a Page Background 259

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Choosing a Theme and Header Style 260

Changing the Site Header 261

Add a Logo to Your Site 262

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Choosing a Custom Color Scheme 263

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Adding and Formatting Text 264

Formatting Your Headings 265

Creating Lists 266

Adding Hyperlinks 267

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Inserting, Formatting, and Aligning Images 269

Formatting Your Picture 270

Setting the Alignment for Images 271

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Adding and Organizing Pages 271

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Selecting a Navigation Layout 273

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Adding Gadgets to Your Site 275

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Optimizing Your Site for Web Search Results 276

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Previewing and Publishing Your Site 277

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What’s Next 278

Chapter 13 Integrating All Parts of Ofce 365 279

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Using It All Together—Online and Off 279

Checking a File Out of Your Document Library 280

Checking a File in After You’re Done Working on It 280

Saving Files to Your Computer 281

Saving Files to Your Document Library 282

xiiiContents

■

Getting Productive with Ofce 365 284

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Creating an Annual Report 284

Thinking Through Your Content 284

Planning for Production 285

How Ofce 365 Helps Facilitate the Process 285

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Tracking a Sales Promotion 287

Thinking Through Your Approach 288

Planning for Production 288

How Ofce 365 Can Help with Your Sales Promotion 288

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Preparing an Online Training Module 290

Thinking Through Your Training 290

Planning for Production 290

How Ofce 365 Can Help with Your Online Training 291

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Happily Ever After…in the Cloud 292

xiv Contents

Appendix A Extras for Great Teams 293

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Thinking Through Your Group Process 294

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Team Contact List 294

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Excel Worksheet with Licenses and Permissions 295

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Meeting Agenda Template 295

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Tips for Your Team Site 296

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Proposal Checklist 297

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Marketing Checklist 297

Index 299

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About the Author

Katherine Murray has been writing articles and best-selling books about Microsoft Ofce in all its avors since it was rst released. She’s taught hundreds of thousands of Ofce users how to be productive (and creative) in Microsoft Word 2010 Inside Out, Microsoft Ofce 2010 Plain & Simple, and Microsoft Word 2010 Plain & Simple, as well as through her many articles on CNET’s TechRepublic and in Windows Secrets. Katherine is also a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and writes frequently about earth care topics. Her book, Green Home Computing for Dummies, was published by Wiley in 2009.

Katherine’s blog and website, BlogOfce since 2002. Her new Ofce 365 companion site, Connect & Collaborate,offers an ongoing source of how-to’s, tips, and strategic case studies for Ofce users and IT professionals who want to efciently and successfully work in the Cloud. Katherine’s focus is on delivering essential techniques and insights to help members of virtual teams who may be developing workow strategies and managing projects, as well as those who are tasked with bringing those projects—simple or complex—to completion.

Readers of this ebook, Microsoft® Ofce 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime, can sign up for Katherine’s free monthly Ofce 365 newsletter “Connect & Collaborate” by clicking here, and can receive Katherine’s Video Tip of the Month by clicking here.

, has inspired and educated Ofce users

Introduction

LE T ’ S HE AR IT for freedom. Freedom from your desk. Freedom from those boring

managers’ meetings. Freedom to work anywhere, with anyone, anytime, on almost

any device. Sounds good, right?

Ofce 365 is Microsoft’s smart and simple answer to cloud computing. Using the various programs in Ofce 365, you can do all the tasks you’re used to doing in your favorite Ofce applications—write documents, create presentations, check email, manage your calendar, crunch numbers, and more—and then share what you create in real time on a team site, design and publish a website, and even create and host live online meetings while you’re traveling on the train, sitting in a coffee shop, or dialing in on your phone.

This book shows you how you can use cloud computing—and specically, Ofce 365—to get more done, collaborate more easily, and work more exibly than you ever have before. From the necessary how-tos about creating and administering your Ofce 365 account and working with the various Ofce 365 programs to sharing les with your team, creating a team site, using Ofce Web Apps, and holding online meetings, you’ll discover how easy it is to work online and off, accessing and sharing your les whenever you need to. After you learn about each of the core programs, you can try strategies for building successful teams, and get some good ideas on practical ways you can put all this cloud power to work.

Who This Book Is For

Microsoft Ofce 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime is all about cloud solutions for small businesses, focusing on the core software services (Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Ofce Web Apps, and Microsoft Lync), and demonstrating ways you can create, manage, and lead teams effectively using the communications and collaborative online tools.

You’ll nd helpful ideas and solutions in Ofce 365 if you

■

 Own or work in a small business and want to be exible where and

when you work.

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 Need to collaborate with others near or far.

xvii

xviii Introduction

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 Want to store and work with les online from any point you have web

access.

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 Lead a team online or face to face.

What Is Cloud Computing?

The phrase cloud computing brings to mind for me the feeling of stretching out on a hillside on a summer day while my sons pointed out the animals and shapes they saw in the clouds above. Cloud computing is a little like that—the ability of your technology to take on the shape you need for the type of project you need to accomplish. Want to put together a project team? You can do that in the cloud so that team members all over the globe can collaborate and communicate easily. Need to create a meeting space for your regional sales reps? You can create a team site for everyone in the cloud, using web servers and software, and you can enable every person to log in from any point they have access to the web.

So where is this cloud? The real denition of the phrase cloud computing simply means the ability to access les and applications online through multiple devices—your computer, browser, or phone. Microsoft has already been offering cloud services through the web in various ways:

■

 Windows Live SkyDrive is one of the Windows Live Services, a free

web-based application that enables you to save, store, organize, and share les easily.

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 Microsoft Ofce Web Apps are available for Word 2010, PowerPoint

2010, Excel 2010, and OneNote 2010, making it possible for you to save and work with your Ofce les online and collaborate with other authors. Ofce 2010 Web Apps are free to registered Ofce 2010 users.

■

 Microsoft Ofce Live Small Business is a web-based suite of services

that enable you to create and market a website, communicate with others by email and instant messaging, and store and share les online. The basic services are free, and you can add specialty features for a monthly fee.

■

 Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) is a suite of

messaging and communications programs designed to provide the kind of collaboration support companies need. BPOS includes Microsoft Exchange Online, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Ofce Communications Online, and Ofce Live Meeting, all for a monthly, per-user fee.

The best news about cloud computing for you as an end user is the added exibility the services offer you, without additional investment in either hardware or software. You can simply use your web browser—which is open anyway, right?—to get to the les you need to work with, make any changes, and save and share the les as you see t.

The great thing about cloud computing for companies is that it enables them to expand the services they offer both staff and customers without adding to their own hardware infrastructure. Web services enable companies to connect workers and make collaboration possible on a global scale without adding servers, setting up datacenters, and more. The environment is secure, exible, and expandable to accommodate as many users as businesses need to support.

Introducing Ofce 365

Microsoft Ofce 365 is Microsoft’s latest venture into cloud computing, bringing together tried-and-true programs that make communicating and collaboration natural online. Ofce 365 includes Microsoft Exchange Online for email and scheduling, Microsoft SharePoint Online for sharing les and creating team sites, and Microsoft Lync Online for instant messaging and online meeting. Ofce 365 mixes the capabilities of those programs with cloud versions of Ofce Professional Plus programs.

xixIntroduction

What Cloud Computing Means for You

Ofce 365 makes using Ofce in the cloud a simple, natural, and affordable way to make the most of services you are already familiar with, in ways that easily extend the technology you are probably already using. Sound too good to be true? It’s not. Ofce 365 enables you to easily and naturally

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 Collaborate globally in real time.

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 Use programs you already know.

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 Create a virtual ofce where you can work with information securely

while you’re on the go.

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 Use your PC, browser, or phone interchangeably.

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 Keep your information secure.

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 Keep your hardware costs down.

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 Use multiple devices to access and work with les.

xx Introduction

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 Create a shared team site.

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 Boost productivity by making it easy for people to work together.

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 Give users instant access to each other with presence technology and

instant messaging.

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 Incorporate social networking in your team communication.

Ofce 365 Versions

Because different types of organizations and businesses have different needs, three different versions of Ofce 365 are available for end users. These three versions are

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 Ofce 365 for small businesses Small businesses and profession-

als who don’t have large IT requirements will nd just the set of tools they need in Ofce 365 for small businesses. This version is easy to try (free for 30 days) and then low-cost ($6 per user per month at the time of this book’s publication), and it offers businesses Ofce Web Apps, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online, and Microsoft Lync for instant messaging and online meetings.

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 Ofce 365 for enterprises Enterprises have larger-scale IT needs than

small businesses or individuals, requiring software that can handle a large number of email accounts, messages, and attachments; provide guaranteed uptime; offer reporting and support options; and deliver Active Directory features that enable a single sign-in for end users. Ofce 365 for enterprises offers all these features and adds on to standard BPOS services to extend the collaboration and online meeting capabilities. Ofce 365 for enterprises also offers exible plans so that businesses of different sizes can tailor the features to get just the kind of cloud support they need.

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 Ofce 365 for education Educational users face a unique set of

challenges—they need to provide students with access to the latest software possible, but they have to do it on a shoestring (and perhaps diminishing) budget. Cloud-based services can help users in education save money and give students the tools they need to create projects, collaborate in real time, and learn how to use software in the cloud.

WHAT DOES OFFICE 365 ADD TO BPOS?

Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, also known as BPOS, has 40 million users all over the world. This highly success- ful online software suite offers communication and collaboration features that make it easy to connect in real time and work together on projects large and small.

Ofce 365 for enterprises extends the features of BPOS by adding Microsoft Lync for instant messaging and online meetings, Outlook Web App for management of email and scheduling, Ofce Web Apps, and the ability to create reports and administer the account through a web-based dashboard. The educational version of Ofce 365 also includes the latest version of Microsoft Live@Edu, which offers cloud solutions to thousands of schools and millions of students around the globe.

xxiIntroduction

A Quick Roadmap

Microsoft Ofce 365: Connect and Collaborate Virtually Anywhere, Anytime is organized in three parts to help you learn about different aspects of setting up and working with Ofce 365.

Part I, “Finding Your Place in the Cloud,” takes a look at the way people are working in the cloud today and introduces you to Ofce 365. Chapter 1 looks closely at teams, both inside and outside the ofce environment, and it takes a look at the way Ofce 365 offers a greener choice for small businesses. Chapter 2 shows you how to create an Ofce 365 account and set up a prole, and it gives you a big-picture tour of Ofce 365 so that you can begin planning just what you want to do with the tools. Chapter 3 is for the team manager or person who will be managing the Ofce 365 site; you’ll learn how to customize the site, add mobile devices, and set up and manage Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Lync online.

Part II, “Teamwork in the Cloud,” is your guide to setting up, organizing, managing, and helping your team be successful using Ofce 365. Chapter 4 spotlights all the team features you can use to get everybody on the same

xxii Introduction

page, calendar-wise; you’ll also nd out how to share les, hold online meetings, instant message each other, and broadcast presentations. Chapter 5 walks you through creating, editing, and sharing a team site. Chapter 6 shows you how to create document libraries, share les with team members, and manage the les in SharePoint Online. You’ll also nd out about working with le versions, tracking le changes, and comparing and merging les. Chapter 7 shows you how to create and use workows to keep your team moving in the right direction, and Chapter 8 introduces all things Web App by shining a light on the capabilities of the various tools and showing you how to work with les online, coauthor documents, edit worksheets, broadcast presentations, and share notebooks. Chapter 9 rounds out this part of Ofce 365 by focusing on mobile technologies: nd out how to use the various Ofce Mobile applications to review, edit, and share the les you develop with your team.

Part III, “Connecting in Real Time,” shows you how to use the communication and instant-messaging options in Ofce 365 to stay in touch with your team in real time. In Chapter 10, “Email and Organize with Ofce 365,” you learn how to use Outlook Web App to import and manage contacts, set email preferences, organize mail folders, work with your calendars and tasks, and more. Chapter 11, “Talking it Over with Microsoft Lync,” shows you how to connect in real time to other online users through instant messaging, voice calls, and online chats. You’ll learn how to manage transcripts, invite others to the conversation, and host web meetings. Chapter 12, “Designing Your Public Website,” shows you how to use the web tools in Ofce 365 to create a website to showcase your products and services and give your customers a sense of who you are and what you offer. Chapter 13, “Integrating Ofce 365,” presents a set of examples that show how you and your team can use the various tools in Ofce 365 together to create and share business projects.

Let’s Get Started

Now that you have a general sense of the road ahead, let’s get started using Ofce 365. In Chapter 1, you learn how small businesses are using cloud computing to accomplish business-critical tasks in a exible way. You’ll then get to dream a little about the cloud shapes you want your Ofce 365 to take as you begin using this powerful suite of cloud-powered tools.

Acknowledgments

One of the best things about writing books is working with the talented team that makes it all come to life. Big thanks go out to the team that made it possible for you to be holding this book in your hands today:

Thanks to my editor, Rosemary Caperton, who managed this project with expert care, championing it from the very start and helping to improve and further the idea, while dissolving obstacles, nding a path to the resources we needed, and troubleshooting problems as they arose. (I’d add “She’s able to leap tall buildings in a single bound,” Rosemary, but I think someone has already used that.) This book truly

To Steve Sagman at Waypoint Press, Roger LeBlanc, and Mitch Tulloch for their many talents, expressed though their wonderful design and layout (Steve), always excellent editing (Roger), and a careful, conscientious, and constructive technical edit (Mitch).

To Michael Stroh, author of Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Plain & Simple, who generously contributed some of the illustrations in Chapter 9, and to Kenyon Brown, Senior Editor at O’Reilly Media (Microsoft Press Division) for his help in getting us needed resources at a critical hour.

would not be here without her.

xxiiiIntroduction

And to Brent Watanabe, Windows Phone 7 Developer, for his suggestions and friendly help as we gured out how to capture live Ofce 365 mobile images to share in the book.

Thanks to one and all! Your efforts and care are very much a part of this book!

Errata and Book Support

The following sections provide information on errata, book support, feedback, and contact information.

Errata

We’ve made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this book and its companion content. Any errors that have been reported since this book was published are listed on our Microsoft Press site at oreilly.com:

http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid= 221811

xxiv Introduction

If you nd an error that is not already listed, you can report it to us through the same page.

If you need additional support, please email Microsoft Press Book Support at mspinput@microsoft.com.

Please note that product support for Microsoft software is not offered through the addresses above.

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Finding Your

Place in the Cloud

WHETHER YOU’RE just learning about cloud computing for the rst

time or you’ve been saving and sharing les online for a long time, it’s

plain to see that having an online component is a smart way to make

sure your les are always available where and when you need them.

This part of the book starts out by giving you a glimpse at how the work

world is changing—setting the stage for cloud computing—and then

you discover how to create an Ofce 365 account and set up the roles

and permissions you need to get started.

CHAPTER 1

What’s Happening with the World of Work?

IN THIS CHAPTER:

■

Teams,teamseverywhere—in

theofceandoutsideofit

■

Worldwidecollaborationishere

■

Goingforthegreen—with

groupsofallsizes

■

Headsinthecloud(computing)

■

AcloserlookatOfce365

IT’S N O S E C R E T that computers, the web, and social media have all

dramatically changed the way we work. What we used to compose on

typewriters (remember those?) or le away in clangy, metal ling cabinets,

we now take care of completely electronically with just a few keystrokes

and a click of the mouse button.

What you used to do by writing, printing, folding, putting in an envelope, stamping and mailing, you can now do by simply composing and clicking Send—and the message reaches the other person almost instantly.

Although you used to spend hours camped around a big boardroom table, doodling on your legal pad while someone presented a workshop that wasn’t entirely relevant to your job, today you can log in to a webcast to catch the bits of a presentation that directly impact what you need to do today. And you can form teams on the y to accomplish specic project goals and then disband the team to go back to your regular tasks.

Technology now enables us to work faster, more productively, and with more exibly than ever. You can easily pull together the resources you need for as long as you need them and then let them go when you’re done. This is a smarter use of resources—and greener, too—and it results in less overhead for your business. You don’t need to add computer systems or people to work on specic project tasks that require some extra help. You can simply go to the cloud.

4 Chapter 1 What’s Happening with the World of Work?

Teams, Teams Everywhere—In the Ofce and Outside of It

We seem to be in a perfect storm of technology and workforce development, where several important aspects of the way we work are coming together. Since the early ‘60s, the use of work teams has been on the rise. Fortune 500 companies are full of them. Most mid-sized businesses have realized that work teams can boost productivity, help managers manage, and give groups more ownership of the work they perform.

Teams enable individual workers to get together in the name of a common goal— producing the annual report, for example—and bring their own respective talents to the mix. Your work team for the annual report might include a writer, an editor, a graphic designer, a production and layout person, a corporate communications person, and someone who can provide the nancial detail. And here’s the good news—data is showing that working in cohesive teams boosts creativity and productivity, and people seem to be happier at work when they’re part of a successful team. That’s all good.

But add another new development to the mix. Now workers are often on the road, traveling from region to region, stationed overseas, or perhaps remotely accessing a corporate network from another continent. The development of new hardware options— more powerful and affordable laptops, netbooks, and smartphones, as well as improved video conferencing tools—make this easier than ever to do. In this global and mobile workforce, how will your team meet its goals? Will the editor know when the writer has nished the draft? What happens to the deadlines?

The simultaneous development of the pervasive and always-on web and the explosion in social media technologies has made it easier to stay in touch with all members of your team wherever they travel and whenever they appear. From any point of web access on the globe, your teammates can communicate with you. Nice. Working virtually has even bigger benets as well—when a team works successfully from remote locations, there’s a reduced need for centralized ofce space, which means lease costs for your company go down. And that daily one-hour commute into the ofce? Gone, if you’re working from home. That saves fuel and reduces the carbon your car is pumping into the atmosphere. Those are just a couple of the large-scale benets that, multiplied exponentially across the planet, make the world a whole lot greener.

But this brings us back to a critical question. In this exible time of go-anywhere, do-anything work styles, how do you stay focused on your team objectives and complete

Chapter 1 5

Worldwide Collaboration Is Here

your original assignment? How do you organize the work, build libraries of les you all need, meet together in the same space and time, and keep track of all the pieces of the project? Facebook isn’t going to help you with that. And your email client—even if it’s Microsoft Outlook 2010—is limited as far as group space goes.

That’s where Microsoft Ofce 365 comes in. Now you have a shared team space, always available online, where you can build document libraries, share assets, assign tasks, and collaborate on all kinds of Ofce projects. Ofce 365 builds on four key technologies— Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Lync, Microsoft SharePoint, and Ofce Web Apps—to give you all the tools and abilities you need as a team to be successful, no matter when or where you work.

Worldwide Collaboration Is Here

Teams form for all sorts of reasons and have all sorts of goals. Some teams are developed to meet a specic project objective—for example, putting together an annual report. There are also leadership teams, program teams, departmental teams, and formal and informal teams. Pretty much anything you want to create—short-term or long-term, with a few other people—can be done better in a team. (OK, that’s an editorial opinion—but experience proves it.)

If your team involves one or more people who seem to be always on the go, you need

■

 A way to make les accessible to the remote worker

■

 A means of assigning and sharing tasks, appointments, notes, and more

■

 An online meeting space groups can call in to or use to gather together

■

 A shared site that can be accessed by multiple technologies—laptops, smart-

phones, et al.

■

 Translation tools, if your team member’s primary language is different from your

own or you are working on multilingual documents

If you can create a team space that provides all these types of tools, your global team can log in, share their information, get feedback, and contribute to the project in a way that makes global access a moot point. They could just as well be logging in from the coffee shop on the corner!

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