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12 Fun Ways to Use OneNote Outside of the Office

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In today’s post, we’re sharing a collection of fun ways to use OneNote outside of the office. The possibilities are endless, but these are our favorites.
Check out some of these awesome videos on how to use OneNote for more than just your business operations.

Making To Do Lists of All Kinds in OneNote

This is certainly a process that helps out in a business setting, but many of us create checklists for all sorts of things in life. Using OneNote to create to do lists can come in handy with things like preparing for your children’s school year, planning a move, and in many of the tips later in this post.

Going Shopping With a Plan on OneNote

Once you’ve mastered the art of OneNote tags, using the to do list function to create shopping lists will become second nature. Office 365 makes it easy to share lists with others, so having a list that all family members makes it easier to keep track of your needs (i.e. you don’t end up with three cartons of milk when you only needed one).

Clipping Content From the Web to OneNote

What do you do when you want to save content from the web? Maybe you have a system of bookmarks, or you use a social tool like Pinterest, or maybe you even copy and paste to a Word document. Instead, try out OneNote! It’s easy to take screenshots and even save an entire page using the OneNote Clipper extension.

Recording Audio Reminders in OneNote

While OneNote is obviously a natural choice for taking written or typed notes, you can also use it to capture and create audio and video recordings.

This function lends itself well to a work or school setting, but why not try using it in your personal life as well? You can record quick notes for yourself while you’re multitasking and come back to them later.

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Bonus Fun OneNote Ideas:

  • Planning a wedding, with OneNote as the digital binder that collects all sorts of information
  • Tracking family information, like wifi network IDs and license plate numbers
  • Planning meals, using templates for lists, recipes, and notes
  • Collecting recipes, with Bing and the OneNote clipper
  • Traveling, with OneNote serving as your travel notebook that stores photos, notes, lists, and directions
  • Writing your collaborative screenplay or novel, with outlines and drafts in one spot
  • Researching genealogy and your family tree
  • Managing your personal finances or family budget, with embedded spreadsheets

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dell and microsoft - managed solution

Dell and Microsoft announce 'Azure in a box' for $9,000 a month at Dell World

By James Niccolai as written on pcworld.com

Dell and Microsoft have teamed up to sell a converged system that combines servers, storage and software in an integrated box which they say can connect easily to Microsoft's Azure cloud services.Called the Cloud Platform System Standard, it's aimed at customers building out a hybrid cloud environment, one in which on-premises equipment is linked to the public cloud for services like backup and recovery, or to provide more compute and storage capacity when it's needed.It's a model most of the big IT vendors are pushing, including Hewlett-Packard, Cisco and Oracle. Dell and Microsoft claim their system is different because it runs basically the same software stack that Microsoft uses in its public cloud, making it easy for the on-premises and cloud components to work together, although that's a claim Oracle is making too.
Cloud Platform System Standard is actually a smaller version of a similar product the companies introduced a year ago, called Cloud Platform System Premium. But while the first product occupied basically an entire server rack, with a minimum buy-in of 32 compute nodes, the standard edition starts with four nodes, scaling to a maximum of 16.
That lowers the entry point and makes it feasible for smaller companies to deploy, and Dell says it's come up with a novel subscription pricing model to reduce the investment risk for companies trying to set up a hybrid cloud for the first time.
Customers can rent Cloud Platform System Standard from Dell for US$9,000 a month. That "starter pack" includes a Dell PowerEdge C6320 Rack Server, two top of rack switches and 64TB of storage. The system comes loaded with Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2, and the Windows Azure Pack.
The basic configuration is enough to run about 100 virtual machines, and the system can scale to support about 400, according to Glenn Keels, Dell's executive director for cloud, HPC and integrated systems.
After six months, customers can buy the system outright, return it, or extend the same payment scheme for another six months, he said. They can also move to a new payment model Dell is offering where they rent the system and pay only for the capacity they use.

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Michael Dell announced the system at the Dell World conference Wednesday morning, joined on stage by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Dell has also joined Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider Program, which means it can act as a reseller of Azure services, the Microsoft Enterprise Mobility Suite and Office 365.
Vendors are pushing the hybrid model hard, but the complexity of putting the software and hardware together has been a barrier. Having a system from two close partners like Dell and Microsoft, with a flexible pricing model, could make the new system appealing.
"The pricing model is pretty incredible; you only get charged for what you use, which basically removes every objection from a financing perspective," said Patrick Moorhead, principal at Moor Insights & Strategy.
Customers can put together their own system using OpenStack, but having Dell and Microsoft do the work for them is appealing, he said.
Ryan O’Hara, director of program management for Microsoft Private Cloud Solutions, told reporters in a briefing that customers can get the product from a bare metal state to running a basic set of Azure services in as little as three hours.
Dell provides support for the entire system, he said, so customers don't have to figure out which vendor they need to call if something goes wrong.

efficiency hacks for IT - managed solution

Efficiency hacks for IT: 6 tips for getting things done

Use these tips from seasoned IT pros to re-architect your day for maximum impact with minimal stress.

By Mary K. Pratt as written on computerworld.com

Everyone is busy these days, sure, but research shows that most people are wasting chunks of time throughout their day, whether it's fiddling with the latest tech toy or responding to every email that lands in their inbox.
For those in the technology field, time management is an even tougher task, says Laurie Gerber, co-president of Handel Group Life Coaching. "IT people have this added thing that people constantly need them. It's always an emergency," Gerber says.
More importantly, Gerber says these folks are spending precious time on tasks that don't match up with their priorities and responsibilities.
If that sounds like you, it might be time to get tough -- with yourself. To enhance efficiency, you must set personal ground rules and stick by them, Gerber says. Here are six simple workday hacks from other IT pros that can crank up your productivity.
  1. Focus on the biggest tasks

    Joe Klecha, CTO at the Detroit-based tech firm Digerati and a fan of author Stephen Covey, says he follows Covey's advice to dedicate time first to "big rocks," followed by "pebbles," "sand" and "water" -- with rocks representing the highest priorities and water the lowest.
    "If you reverse and start with water, you can't fit in the rocks, the big priorities," Klecha says. "So for me it's knowing that the most important things that need to get done are always in focus and always have my attention."
    To move that strategy from theory to practice, Klecha says he has frequent meetings with other executives to ensure he's targeting the organization's most critical projects. And he evaluates unexpected requests for his attention as they pop up.
    "A lot are those things that come in on a day-to-day basis and don't ever become a priority but have the potential to distract," Klecha says. "But they're not so immediate in their demands that they can't wait an hour or two or you can't shuffle them off to someone else."
  2. Manage your response time

    In the six years that Sri Baskaran has been IT director at Sun Orchard Juicery, the company has doubled its revenue. To keep pace, Baskaran has expanded the IT group, while working closely with his business-side colleagues to consistently meet their needs. Although he wants to be responsive to those he supports, he knows he can't be at everyone's beck and call.
    "What I found is, if you answer email as soon as it pops into your inbox, you set the expectation that you're the person who can be easily reached," Baskaran says. Plus, he says, that kind of availability would drain away the time he needs to focus on more critical tasks.
    So instead of constantly checking and replying to messages, Baskaran schedules time every day to handle emails and voice mails, a policy he says helps him avoid interruptions.
    "If I have to get back to someone, I'll put it on my calendar, schedule time with them to have a conversation," he says, adding that people know -- and he reinforces it in his outgoing messages -- to call his cell number if they need to reach him for urgent issues
  3. Pick the most efficient way to communicate

    Although there are multiple ways to communicate with a global team, Greg Davidson, director of the information management services practice at the business advisory firm AlixPartners, says for him the most effective platform is videoconferencing. He points to research showing that most communication is conveyed through body language -- a nonfactor over the phone or through emails.
    And video, unlike emails, allows for instantaneous collaboration. "There's nothing like being able to talk in real time with other human beings. It's much clearer, crisper. We get it right the first time if we can look at each other and communicate," Davidson says.
    Bryce Austin, CIO at Digineer, a technology and management consulting company, also knows the importance of being a good communicator -- so much so that he's willing to invest in it. "I bought the best Bluetooth [device] I could find so I can have productive conversations and people can hear me," he says.
  4. Get everyone in sync

    One of the biggest challenges facing CIOs today, says Lawrence Bilker, senior vice president and CIO at Continuity Logic, is the speed of technological change. "The time from concept to implementation is significantly faster. You have to be aware of solutions, you have to be able to respond to strategies quickly, and sometimes the amount of time allocated to research has gone down," he says.
    So, like other IT executives, Bilker says he focuses his team on the highest-priority items and makes sure everyone is on the same page. The leadership team gathers every day for a 20-minute scrum and keeps a shared calendar to track meetings so colleagues know who's available and who's not. And his team uses collaborative platforms such as Dropbox and Box to more quickly come together and hash out plans.
  5. Analyze your time

    Savvy CIOs get insight into their own schedules to guarantee that they're as effective as they can be with their time. Baskaran uses time-tracking software called Toggl which allocates time to various projects and lets him analyze how he's spending his time. He says he can then fine-tune his workday hours and "make sure my time is going into the right buckets."
    Cletis Earle, vice president and CIO at St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital, takes a similar approach, looking at statistics and monitoring statements, such as network-incidence reports, for ongoing issues that he can get ahead of and free up time he would have spent responding to the same scenarios. "Being prepared for anticipated problems will keep you from being distracted," Earle says.
    Handel Group's Gerber advises tracking your time over a few weeks to get a full picture of where you're expending your energy. "Most people aren't doing with their time what they say or think is most important to them," she explains. If your everyday schedule is out of out of whack with your ideal one, then it's time for an adjustment.
    "We ask our clients if [their schedule is] in accordance with their vision," she says. "To do that, you have to ask: What's the best use of your time and energy? And you have to figure out why you're doing what you're doing. If you're getting on the help desk because you don't trust your people, that's a problem. If you're on the help desk for an hour a month to stay in touch with needs, that's great."
  6. Don't forget to delegate

    Earle oversees a 24/7 IT operation -- a typical scenario for many IT managers. That around-the-clock responsibility has taught him to be as productive as possible during normal work hours so he has ample time in his schedule for his family, including his four children. He says a big part of time management is delegating responsibilities, and that means training his team to handle pretty much any task in the department, including those of the CIO.
    "At the end of the day, there's not enough time to do it all yourself," he says.

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Expanding the reach of Skype for Business meetings and voice services in Office 365

By Zig Serafin as written on blogs.office.com
Three months ago, Microsoft launched Skype for Business Cloud PBX, Meeting Broadcast and PSTN services to provide a complete meetings and voice experience in Office 365. Already, thousands of Office 365 customers are using these services, and many more are trialing them. Today, we’re announcing our first major geographic expansion of these services; new support for hybrid deployments; new, modern meeting room solutions; and improvements to our unified reporting, management and analytics.

PSTN Conferencing available for purchase in 32 countries

As of March 1, 2016, customers in 17 additional countries—Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia and South Korea—can buy dial-in conferencing as part of their Office 365 subscription. Now customers in 32 countries total can simplify their infrastructure using Skype for Business Online for all of their meeting needs, and take advantage of flat-rate, per-user, per-month pricing to simplify budgeting and accounting for conferencing services. Our PSTN conferencing service will include local dial-in numbers in more than 60 countries by the end of this month and nearly 100 countries by the end of June.

New Cloud PBX features and general availability of the Cloud Connector Edition

We’re also pleased to announce that the new Cloud Connector Edition of Skype for Business Server will be generally available starting in April. All versions of Skype for Business Server allow customers worldwide to use Office 365 Cloud PBX with the carrier calling services of their choice, and the new Cloud Connector Edition allows customers to quickly connect existing phone lines and phone numbers to Office 365 by delivering these proven hybrid capabilities as optimized, pre-configured virtual machine images. This summer, we will deliver a preview of our new virtual Organizational Auto Attendant in Cloud PBX, enabling customers to use Office 365 for automated handling of business calls and using speech recognition.

PSTN Calling Preview outside the U.S.

Starting in May, we will offer a preview of Skype for Business PSTN Calling services in the UK. With the preview, customers in the UK will be able to trial number acquisition and assignment, inbound and outbound calling, voicemail and other features—all provided by Microsoft and seamlessly integrated as part of Office 365. Office 365 customers in the UK can register for the preview today at the Skype Preview sign-up page.

Project Rigel—bringing the Skype Meeting experience to every meeting room

Over 97 percent of meeting rooms are currently equipped with traditional projectors or displays and only a telephone for including remote participants. But for meetings to be as effective and engaging as possible requires web and video conferencing with features like screen sharing, IM and whiteboard. Without these capabilities, people lose the benefits of rich interaction, remote participants have a sub-optimal experience and the whole team is less productive due to longer meeting startup times.
Today, we are announcing an initiative, codenamed “Project Rigel,” to address this problem. Project Rigel will bring a Skype Meeting experience pioneered on Microsoft Surface Hub to nearly any meeting room with a display or projector. It will use Windows 10 devices for center-of-room touch control and Skype for Business online meeting technology to easily connect remote users. Hardware partners including Polycom and Logitech will certify elements of their portfolios for use with Project Rigel systems, including the Polycom RealPresence Trio and CX5100, and Logitech ConferenceCam Connect, ConferenceCam GROUP and PTZ Pro Camera. Logitech also plans to deliver a purpose-built smart dock for Project Rigel to seamlessly connect the system elements in a meeting room, while Polycom plans to deliver a portfolio of complete Project Rigel systems. We expect the first systems based on Project Rigel to be available in the second half of 2016.

Connecting traditional video teleconferencing systems to the Office 365 Meeting experience

Roughly 3 percent of meeting spaces today include traditional video teleconferencing systems, or VTCs, from Cisco, Polycom and others. We’re pleased to be working with Polycom on two new efforts to extend the Skype Meeting experience to these dedicated video endpoints. First, Polycom will provide an update to its RealPresence Group Series products, which will add both Office 365 integration and a user interface consistent with the Skype Meeting experience. Second, Polycom will provide a Cloud Video Interoperability service, hosted in the Microsoft cloud, which will enable a wide range of existing VTCs, including Cisco and Polycom systems, to connect to Skype for Business meetings in Office 365 and will include audio, video and content interoperability. We will work closely with Polycom to ensure that Office 365 customers can easily take advantage of this service. Both offerings are expected to be available in the second half of 2016.
Through these innovations, we will deliver with our partners a complete range of video conferencing solutions based on Skype for Business in Office 365, establishing a new standard for cloud, hybrid voice and video capabilities for any business meeting room.

Unified management, reporting and analytics for enterprise communications

Finally, in keeping with our goal to make the Skype for Business management tools powerful and easy to use for IT professionals, we will add powerful management, reporting and analytics tools to our communications cloud in the second half of this year. IT admins will be able to understand usage patterns, analyze call quality and quickly troubleshoot issues in both cloud and hybrid Skype for Business deployments via a single pane of glass within the Office 365 admin portal.

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For More Information on Microsoft and other Cloud Solutions, Contact Us at 800-208-4037

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Tina presenting to Hawkins High School jpg

The Future of Tech: See how Women in Tech are Inspiring Great Minds - Big Dream movie screening for Hawkins High School's Critical Design and Gaming School

Managed Solution is passionate about changing the ratio of women in tech through networking events, movie screenings and educational workshops. We provide resources to help young women understand and expand their potential as future leaders in technology – from the classroom to the boardroom.
We’ve partnered with JA Achievement and other educational institutions to schedule private and public events in 2016 for young women interested in learning more about the industry. We are also in the process of planning networking events for women leaders who are interested in sharing their success stories and networking with likeminded professionals.
To schedule a private event or for more information, please visit our 2016 WIT Event Page (events are currently being held in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and Scottsdale).

What Is A Big Dream Movie Screening?

Big Dream follows the intimate stories of seven young women who are breaking barriers and overcoming personal challenges to follow their passion in science, math, computing & engineering. From small town Iowa to the bustling streets of the Middle East, Big Dream immerses viewers in a world designed by and for the inspiring next generation of girls.
Microsoft is pleased to underwrite and co-produce the Big Dream documentary directed by Kelly Cox and co-produced by Iron Way Films. Learn more.

In Apple vs. the FBI, technology wins - managed solution

In Apple vs. the FBI, technology wins

By Bob Muglia as written on techcrunch.com

Government policy and technology usually coexist in harmony. But occasionally, they get into a brawl. When this happens, policy may win a battle or two, but, ultimately, technology always wins. It simply isn’t a fair fight. Technology moves too fast for policy to keep up.
Take for example the infamous Microsoft versus the Department of Justice antitrust case. As one of the 12 Microsoft executives who was skewered on the witness stand by David Boies, I lived through this nightmare firsthand. The DOJ unambiguously won the legal battle. But policy didn’t win the war. While the DOJ certainly weakened Microsoft, what happened instead is technology, in particular the iPhone, broke the monopoly and now Microsoft is hopelessly behind in mobile computing.
Which brings us to the current war raging between technology and government policy. Apple has used encryption technology to protect user data on the iPhone. But they left a crack in the armor, and the FBI wants to create policy to jump through that tiny crack and read what is on Syed Farook’s phone.
What this tells us is that encryption works. If the FBI or NSA could break strong encryption, then they would remove the memory chips from Farook’s iPhone, copy the data and run it through a cloud of government computers to read the files. But they can’t. Encryption works.
So instead, the FBI has used the All Writs Act law from 1789 to convince a federal judge to force Apple to write a special version of iOS to unlock the iPhone of a bad guy in 2016. If that sounds unlikely, well, it just might work.

"Technology moves too fast for policy to keep up."

If this policy wins in court and the FBI forces Apple to break open Farook’s phone, it won’t stop there. Apple will begin living the nightmare of hundreds of state and federal judges demanding exactly the same thing. And that’s just the beginning; governments around the world will join in with their demands. Apple will be forced to unlock phones from Beijing to Moscow, phones of both bad guys and protesters fighting repressive regimes.
When policy wins a round against technology, it often runs amok.
Fortunately, this won’t be the last round. Apple has already signaled its intent to plug the crack they left in today’s iPhone. So very soon, perhaps even later this year, Apple will ship a phone with encryption that even they can’t break. Then no government on earth will be able to open those phones.
Maybe the battle will continue. But for policy to win the next round, it will need to order Apple and the other technology providers using encryption to change their products so the government can look inside. This is the so-called backdoor, and this is dangerous ground for policy makers.
Creating this backdoor requires changes to law — and that means Congress. In a world obsessed with what Snowden revealed and with a public angry enough to possibly elect Donald Trump, do you think Congress will write a new law to create a backdoor for the government to snoop wherever it wants? No chance. Technology will win, hands down.
So does that mean the game is over? That all Apple has to do is move forward and create their iPhone fortress? Well, maybe not. Because technology continues to march forward.
"Technical advancements become available to anyone with the will and means to acquire them."
It turns out that technology will almost certainly break today’s approach to encrypting data that is sent over the Internet. A completely different technology called quantum computing is emerging from the lab, with early products being built now. Quantum computing is completely different from today’s digital computers. Instead of calculations using 1s and 0s, quantum computers use something called a qubit, which can represent many values at the same time.
What this means is that some problems that are virtually impossible to solve using today’s digital computers are child’s play for the quantum computer of tomorrow. Of particular interest is the asymmetric encryption approach that is used to secure HTTPS and, thus, just about everything confidential that is sent over the Internet. These keys are practically unbreakable using digital computers. But for a powerful quantum computer, they will be a piece of cake.
We are still a long way from a quantum computer that can pick the lock on encryption keys. Quantum computing today is roughly as advanced as digital computing was in 1971 when Intel created the first microprocessor. But technology moves faster in 2016 than it did in the 1970s.
In 20 years, or maybe even as few as 10, quantum computers may exist that can look inside all of today’s digital communications. Like most new technology, quantum computing will be expensive and complex at first, so it won’t be available to everyone. But the NSA and FBI won’t be deterred, and they will be first in line to buy a quantum computer. This is a pretty scary scenario, but technology does not play favorites. Technical advancements become available to anyone with the will and means to acquire them.
Like all technology, eventually quantum computing will get cheaper and simpler. We’ll all probably carry a quantum computer in our pocket someday. And while quantum computing may someday break today’s encryption keys, something called quantum cryptography promises an approach to encryption that cannot be foiled by a quantum computer. So the pendulum will swing back and the FBI will be frustrated yet again.
The battle never ends. But in the end, technology always wins.

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NETWORKING HAPPY HOUR PART II DEMYSTIFYING LICENSING

Network with Like-Minded Professionals & Get All Your Licensing Questions Answered: Pay-As-You-Go Licensing for Businesses in Motion

Did you hear how Microsoft Licensing has never been easier. Starting in July, Microsoft customers with 500 seats or less will not have enterprise agreements to worry about. Join us to learn more about how your business could save money by switching to pay as you go Microsoft licensing.
Meet Managed Solution and mingle with like-minded IT professionals to learn about more licensing options than ever - see which licensing purchase method makes the most sense for your ever changing business.

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Microsoft's March Updates

By Kirk Koenigsbauer as written on blogs.office.com
This month, our updates include a tool for migrating Evernote notes to OneNote, enhancements to PowerPoint Designer and new languages supported in Office for Mac and Skype Translator. We also have updates for our commercial customers using Skype for Business, Project Online and Office 365 video. Read on for more.

OneNote now helps you make the move from Evernote

Earlier this month, we released a tool that will help you import your Evernote notes into OneNote, and the response has been overwhelming. To date, more than 10.5 million Evernote pages have been moved over to OneNote. If these were stacked pages of standard print paper, it would reach a height of approximately 3,500 feet—which exceeds the Burj Khalifa (the tallest skyscraper in the world) by almost 800 feet. We believe this success has a lot to do with OneNote’s unique capabilities, including a free-form canvas where you can mix text, images, documents, handwriting, audio, video and more; free offline access; and unlimited monthly uploads. Download the OneNote Importer tool for Windows and get started today. We’ll deliver the Importer tool for Mac in the coming months.

Search in OneNote for handwriting in photos

OneNote already lets you search on handwritten notes made with a pen or finger and digital ink. Now OneNote can search on handwritten notes and whiteboards contained within images you’ve added to OneNote using Office Lens, as well other tools such as the OneNote Clipper, me@onenote.com and Livescribe. Soon we’ll also support handwriting recognition for images you add directly into OneNote on any device. These improved handwriting search capabilities help you get the most out of capturing information to collect and organize in OneNote.

march onenote updates - managed solution

Enhancing the power of PowerPoint Designer

Four months ago, we launched PowerPoint Designer, an intelligent new design assistant to help you create beautiful slides in seconds. As detailed in this PowerPoint blog, we’re excited to announce three new ways we’ve made Designer more powerful to enhance your PowerPoint experience and give you greater visual impact in less time.
  • Multiple images—Until now, Designer could provide design recommendations when you inserted a single image into a PowerPoint slide. Now Designer can suggest designs for when you insert multiple images. You’ll see design suggestions for up to two images for all PowerPoint themes, and up to four images when using the specific Office and Gallery themes.

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  • Color extractor—Designer now extrapolates the most prevalent color option from inserted images and applies that in a thoughtful way to your overall theme. This works with the new Gallery theme and will roll out to the other native PowerPoint themes in coming months.
  • Facial recognition—Now Designer can recognize which images include faces and make intelligent cropping decisions to prioritize them when making design suggestions.
We’ll keep improving PowerPoint Designer based on what we learn from your feedback. Stay tuned for even more enhancements to Designer in the future, including design suggestions for additional elements such as bulleted text, data points, lists and more. Learn more about using Designer here.

New language support in Office for Mac and Skype Translator

There has been strong customer demand for right-to-left language support in Office 2016 for Mac. We are pleased to announce that Office 2016 for Mac now supports Arabic and Hebrew and provides right-to-left language support in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Outlook will follow within a month. Learn more about how to get started here.

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Skype Translator also now supports Arabic. This means that even more people around the world can speak another language without learning it, helping to break down language and communications barriers in everyday life. Skype Translator now supports a total of eight spoken languages (Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian) and Spanish). More than 50 written languages (including Arabic) are also supported, so you can still text others around the world, even if you don’t speak the same language. Make sure you’ve downloaded the latest version of the Skype for Windows desktop app to get started!

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Expanding Skype for Business meetings experiences and voice services

Earlier this month, we announced a number of ways we are expanding the reach of Skype for Business meetings and voice services in Office 365. We’ve almost doubled the number of countries—now at 32 and counting—where customers can buy dial-in conferencing as part of their Office 365 subscription. This allows them to use Skype for Business Online for all of their meeting needs. Also, our PSTN conferencing service will expand to include local dial-in numbers in more than 60 countries by the end of March and nearly 100 countries by the end of June.
The new Cloud Connector Edition of Skype for Business Server will be generally available starting in April. All versions of Skype for Business Server allow customers to use Office 365 Cloud PBX with the carrier calling services of their choice. Now the new Cloud Connector Edition makes it even easier for customers to quickly connect existing phone lines and phone numbers to Office 365. Check out the blogfor more details on these and other Skype for Business announcements!

Introducing Office 365 Project Portfolio Dashboard and Office 365 Video viewer statistics

We’re excited to announce that Office 365 Project Portfolio Dashboard will soon be available for commercial customers to add to Project Online through the Office Store! Customers will also be able to view these dashboards using a new iPad app. These apps come pre-configured with powerful dashboards that allow business leaders, portfolio managers and project managers to gain insights into areas such as resource utilization, project portfolio performance, costs, active risks/issues and key milestones.

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In addition, video viewer statistics have rolled out to Office 365 Video for our commercial customers. Gain insights on what’s working, how and when in your videos, by tracking how they are viewed and understanding trending patterns as they are shared by email, Yammer, or discovered within Office Delve. You can see aggregate data on how many people have watched your videos, how long they watch them and what the drop-off rates are over time. Learn more about viewing statistics for a video in Office 365 Video.

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As always, learn more about what’s new this month here: Office 2016 and Office for Mac. If you’re an Office 365 Home or Personal customer, be sure to sign up for Office Insider builds to be the first to use the latest and greatest in Office productivity. Commercial customers on both Current Channel and Deferred Channel can also get early access to a fully supported build through First Release.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

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