Tech Tips
With the festive season upon us, I thought to provide a sprinkling of stocking filler tips to bring some cheer while using the technology you use on a regular basis.
Microsoft Teams
Muting
Anyone who has used Microsoft Teams will be all too familiar with “You’re on mute”. What you may not know is you can help them out, by unmuting them. You will however need to either be the meeting organiser or have been assigned as presenter. If you have either of these roles, you will be able to unmute a fellow participant by clicking on their name and selecting the Unmute Participant. Similarly, you can choose to mute them too.
Note: Microsoft Teams will by default mute anyone joining a meeting in progress when there are 5 or more participants. This is aimed at reducing distraction.
Rich-text Messages
There may be times when it would help to add format and structure to messages. To do this, simply click on the ‘A’ icon/button on the bottom left of the text entry window. This will expand the text window and provide you with options to add format and structure to the text, before sending it.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts can be a quick and easy way to use an application. They can also be used to setup assistive technology (e.g. The Grid) to perform various actions. Three common ones are:
- Ctrl + Shift + M – To mute/unmute yourself
- Ctrl + Shift + O – To turn on/off your camera
- Ctrl + N – To start a new chat
For a complete list of shortcuts for Teams, for both Windows and macOS, please visit the Microsoft Teams Support Portal.
Immersive Reader Mode
Microsoft Immersive Reader enables you to adjust how the text is displayed, removing distractions as well as being able to have the text spoken aloud. You can launch the Immersive Reader option by hovering over a message with your cursor and clicking the ellipsis. Note that Immersive Reader may be found under the “More actions” the first time you use it.
For more information about Immersive Reader in Teams please see the Microsoft Immersive Reader help page.
Live Transcriptions
The live transcriptions feature, as the name suggests, generates a transcription of everything said during a meeting/call. This could make the meeting more accessible and help others who missed part of the meeting. It will also make captions available in the post-meeting recording.
This feature, however, can only be activated from the desktop (i.e. not in a browser) version of Teams. It also typically needs to be enabled from within your Microsoft 365 Teams Admin section. This may require asking IT or the person who administers your Microsoft 365 tenancy to do so.
To start Live Transcriptions:
- Go to the meeting controls and select “More actions”
- Choose “Record and transcribe”, and select “Start transcription”.
- All the participants will see a notification that the meeting is being transcribed. The transcript appears on the right side of the screen.
Note: If you also want to record the meeting, select More options again and this time choose Start recording.
Live Captions
Live captions will display all the words spoken as text on the screen. The font size and position can be customised to suit.
To start Live Captions:
- During a meeting. Go to the meeting controls and select “More actions”
- Select “Language and speech”, and then “turn on live captions”.
Live captions can be toggled off at any time during the meeting by repeating the process.
Set status duration
By defaults Teams changes your status after 5 minutes (e.g. from Busy to Away.) You can however set a status duration that suits your needs.
To do this click on your name and set your status. From within the status options, select “Duration”; set your desired status and for how long that status should remain active.
iPad
Scan documents
An iPad or or iPhone can be used to scan documents, through the Apple Notes.
To Scan a document
- Open the Notes app and select a note or create a new one.
- Tap the Camera button, and then tap “Scan Documents” .
- Place your document in view of the camera.
- If your device is in Auto mode, your document will automatically scan. If you need to manually capture a scan, tap the Shutter button or press one of the Volume buttons. Then drag the corners to adjust the scan to fit the page and tap Keep Scan.
- Tap Save or add additional scans to the document.
Virtual trackpad
It can sometimes be useful to be able to move the cursor within a section of text, for example when writing an e-mail. By touching your two fingers on the on-screen keyboard and moving them across the keyboard, the cursor will move as you move them. Note: this does not work if you are using a different keyboard app to Apple’s default one.
Voice assistants
In the festive season here are some fun things to try with your voice assistant.
- Ask Siri “I see a little silhouetto of a man”
- Playing a game, can’t find or use a dice, simply ask, “Alexa, roll a dice.”
- Say, “Alexa, Beatbox for me”
- Say, “Alexa, We don’t talk about Bruno”
- Say, “Alexa, drum roll, please.”
- Say, “Alexa, rap for me.”
- Say, “Alexa, meow.”
- Ask, “Alexa, how many sleeps until Christmas?”
Wishing you a very happy peaceful festive season and may 2024 be a good year for you. As always I am available to provide to support and help where I can, whether that be on using Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 in general, mobile technology, Smart Home technology or something else .
Martin Pistorius
Karten Network Technology Advisor
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- Featured in the Karten December 2023 Newsletter
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