Microsoft 365 is a widely adopted suite of productivity tools, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Recent data indicates that more than 345 million people use Office 365, which is a part of Microsoft 365, to boost their productivity.
However, there are additional tools and solutions available that you can use to further optimize your Microsoft 365 environment. In this article, we will explore some of the best options to help you enhance your Microsoft 365 experience and elevate your productivity.
Improving Microsoft 365 Environment: Best Additions
The following are some of the best additions to the Microsoft 365 environment to get things done more effectively and make your workday easier.
Email Management
Email management is an essential aspect of productivity, as it allows you to organize, prioritize, and respond to important messages in a timely and efficient manner. It involves creating and maintaining an organized inbox and setting up filters.
This allows you to quickly identify and respond to important messages, while also reducing the amount of time spent on unnecessary or low-priority emails.
In short, email management streamlines the process of handling emails for better use of time and improved productivity.
Best Microsoft 365 Additions for Email Management
While Microsoft Outlook offers several features for email management, you can take it to the next level using the following tools.
Boomerang
Boomerang allows you to silence the noise in your inbox using the pause feature. It comes in handy when you’re on vacation as it keeps new emails from landing in your inbox until you are back to work.
It also has other features like scheduling emails to be sent at a future time, creating automatic follow-ups, and visualizing your weekly availability.
Email Recovery
Email Recovery is another useful tool for email management. As the name implies it allows you to restore previously deleted emails. This can be a lifesaver in case of accidental deletion of important messages.
Document Management
Document management is the process of creating, organizing, storing, and tracking electronic documents. It’s critical for seamless business operations as it allows for easy access, collaboration, and even compliance with legal regulations.
One of the key benefits of good document management is that it allows you to easily access and share documents with others. This can be especially useful for remote teams or for those working on projects with multiple stakeholders.
Another key benefit of managing your documents is the ability to maintain compliance with legal regulations and industry standards. This includes maintaining records for regulatory compliance, such as for financial or healthcare documents. Additionally, it also ensures that sensitive information is protected and only accessible to authorized users.
Best Microsoft 365 Additions for Document Management
The following are the best document management tools for Microsoft 365 that can help to improve productivity and streamline workflows.
Bitrix24
Bitrix24 is a powerful and easy-to-use document management system that provides features for storing and sharing documents in a neat and logical manner. It also includes a built-in intranet for your company files and online resources, allowing you to collaborate and communicate in one place while keeping everything safe.
DocuSign
DocuSign allows you to sign documents and request signatures from others without leaving Microsoft Word. Additionally, the tool also allows you to move the signature line to any place in the document you want.
Pickit Images
Pickit Images makes it easy to find and use free, legal images in your documents and presentations. It allows you to search for the image you want and click to upload it into your files quickly and easily.
Translator
Translator allows you to translate words or sentences from Word documents into a different language. You can integrate it into Microsoft Word, so you don’t have to copy/paste parts of a document into an online translator.
Office Tab
Office Tab brings the familiar tabbed interface of modern web browsers to Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. It allows you to open multiple files within the same window, which means you can quickly close or save all documents with a single click.
Creative Presentations
Creative presentations are an important aspect of communication, especially in business and education. They’re used to convey information and ideas, persuade and inspire people, and share knowledge and skills.
A well-designed presentation will engage an audience and convey a message clearly and compellingly. It’ll help you increase the impact of your message and achieve your communication goals.
While Microsoft 365 offers an excellent app, PowerPoint, to create presentations, you can add several tools to the environment to make your work more dynamic, interactive, and memorable.
Best Microsoft 365 Additions for Creative Presentations
The following tools can help you to create more interactive and engaging presentations, keep your audience focused and engaged, and convey your message more effectively.
Web Video Player
Web Video Player is one of the best additions to your Microsoft 365 environment for creative presentations. It’s an add-in for PowerPoint that allows you to add videos from YouTube or Vimeo to your slides, making your presentations more engaging and interactive.
Web Viewer
Another useful tool for creating presentations is Web Viewer. It’s somewhat similar to the previous tools but with some differences. Instead of adding videos from different platforms, it allows you to insert entire web pages into your presentation, which reduces the need to have external screens open while you’re presenting.
Project Management and Collaboration
Project management helps organizations achieve their goals and objectives by ensuring that every project is completed on time and within budget. It helps you keep everything organized by providing a clear and defined process for managing the project’s scope, time, cost, and resources.
Additionally, it also provides a systematic approach to identify and mitigate risks and issues that may arise during the project, thus preventing delays or budget overruns.
Another benefit of project management is that it improves communication and collaboration among team members. It helps them share ideas and provide feedback, which results in better problem-solving, decision-making, and innovation.
It also avoids misunderstandings, reduces errors, and helps your teams work together to achieve common goals.
Best Microsoft 365 Additions for Project Management and Collaboration
The following are the best project management and collaboration tools that you can use with Microsoft 365.
Priority Matrix
Priority Matrix is an Outlook add-in that helps you organize your emails and turn them into actionable tasks using a 4-quadrant system. This allows you to focus on the most critical and urgent tasks and projects.
Calendar Plus by Bamboo
Calendar Plus by Bamboo is an add-in that allows you to combine multiple calendars to view information such as overlaps, clashes, and free slots simultaneously. With this Microsoft 365 add-in, your team members can access shared calendars on the organization’s homepage and plan their work schedules conveniently.
FindTime
FindTime is an Outlook add-in that helps schedule meetings by finding the best days and times for everyone involved. It allows users to input their availability and then shows the best potential meeting times.
Polly
Polly allows you to create polls to get feedback and answers from your team(s). It makes it easy for managers to make decisions and for the team to stay informed, to stay on the same page.
Invision
Invision is a collaboration tool that allows different teams working in an organization to brainstorm ideas using a whiteboard that updates in real time. It especially comes in handy when you have remote teams working from different places and don’t have a shared place to sit down and discuss ideas.
Security
When it comes to protecting your business’s sensitive data and intellectual property, it’s essential to have robust security measures in place. Microsoft 365 includes a number of built-in security features, but there are a few additional tools and techniques that can help you stay even more secure.
One of the best ways to improve your security is by implementing a reliable VPN. It’ll help you send and receive emails through Microsoft 365, and transfer all types of data over the internet through a secure VPN tunnel.
In addition to using a VPN, you should also consider other security measures such as multi-factor authentication and regular security audits. These measures can help you minimize the risk of data breaches and other cyber threats.
Best Microsoft 365 Addition for Security
Other than the tips listed above, consider using the following tool to improve your Microsoft 365 security.
Office Protect
Office Protect is an add-on for Microsoft 365 that helps you manage security for your clients more effectively. It allows for the simultaneous implementation of best security settings across all tenants, provides 24/7 network monitoring, and sends alerts for any suspicious events. It helps to improve overall security for clients and demonstrate the value of your services.
Time Tracking
To increase the effectiveness within your company in a sustainable way, time tracking tools are a possible solution. One thing should be given above all – a simple operation, through which time entries can be created in no time at all. At the same time, a good overview of the entered times is an important factor.
We show you the best time tracking systems that harmonize with Microsoft 365.
Best Microsoft 365 Additions for Time Tracking
timeghost
timeghost is a comprehensive and efficient project and time recording system designed specifically for Microsoft365. It captures data from Microsoft 365 apps and automatically converts it into time entries.
TimeDoctor
TimeDoctor is a web-based time tracking and work management software that helps businesses and workers better manage their working hours and increase their productivity. The software offers a variety of features, including automatic time tracking, project management tools, integration with other work apps and platforms, reporting and analytics tools, as well as screenshots and webcam recordings to ensure users are actually working on their tasks.
Clockify
Clockify is a reliable time recording software that helps companies keep track of their employees’ workday in real time. Thanks to the integrated Pomodoro time tracker, employees can improve their time management, work more productively and better maintain their work-life balance.
TogglTrack
If you’re looking for a project management and time recording solution that offers online and offline features, Toggl Track might be the tool for you.
WorkingHours
WorkingHours is a time recording app for mobile devices that allows users to easily manage their working hours and overtime.
Final Words
Microsoft 365 offers a wide range of tools and add-ins to enhance productivity and collaboration for businesses and organizations. However, you can improve your productivity greatly with the help of the best additions for the Microsoft 365 environment, discussed in this guide.
It’ll help you streamline processes, increase efficiency, and enhance collaboration among team members. We hope that this guide has provided valuable information and insights to help you make the most of your Microsoft 365 experience.
