Top 7 Microsoft Office 365 Features

Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-enabled Office platform, provides a number of valuable utilities for both business and home users. As a subscription service that can be paid either monthly or annually, Office 365 provides tiered services and support depending on the solutions a user needs. Like other versions of the Office, Office 365 installs directly on your PC — however, it also provides cloud support. 

As both an on-premise and cloud-based deployment, Office 365 is able to provide the best of both worlds — and it is a constantly evolving platform to which new features are continually being added. From Office 2010 through Office 2016, Microsoft Office saw a substantial evolution. The Office 365 version of MS Office comes with a number of exciting services included — here are some of the more prominent ones. 

1. Microsoft Planner

A project and task management solution, Microsoft Planner makes it possible for team members to track their own progress and each other’s schedules. As a cloud-based solution, the Microsoft Planner can be checked on mobile devices as well as synced to desktop, making it accessible from anywhere. When combined with Microsoft Teams, the Microsoft Planner can provide a consolidated, easy to reference project management dashboard. 

2. OneNote Notebooks

An Office 365 subscription comes with access to OneNote Notebooks, personal notebooks that are kept on cloud storage. Notebooks can be shared among team members, synced between devices, and used for work and school. For Office 365 Home, the OneNote Notebook provides cloud-enabled workspaces for everyone from self-employed workers to students. 

3. Office 365 Groups

Office 365 groups are used to control collaboration between Office 365 products. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can all be integrated through the permissions related to Office 365 groups, and shared mailboxes can be used to communicate with anyone within the same group. Office 365 groups make it easier to connect with colleagues regarding Office 365 shared documents. 

4. Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook — they are all integrated into the Office 365 ecosystem. Office 365 documents can be stored on OneDrive storage, accessed by multiple employees, and securely shared. Multiple employees are able to edit the documents without fear that they may be overwritten or corrupted, and multiple versions of each document will be saved to make sure that they can be restored as needed. 

5. Microsoft SharePoint Online

One of the most versatile office applications, Microsoft SharePoint is a complete document management solution. Through SharePoint, documents can be stored and referenced, making it easier for groups to collaborate. SharePoint can index all of an organization’s internal documentation, from Excel to Word, in order to make it easier to search for and find documents as needed. 

6. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is Microsoft’s eventual replacement for Skype for Business. One of the newest and most important additions to new versions such as Office 2019, Microsoft Teams is an all-in-one communication platform. 

In MS Teams, employees are able to separate each other by teams and channels and communicate in real-time. Microsoft Teams supports chat, voice, and video, including large video calls that can connect multiple team members. It is also integrated into many other solutions, such as the Microsoft Planner. 

7. Microsoft Exchange Online

Microsoft Exchange Online remains a powerful method of communication. An online deployment of exchange conveys many benefits, compared to a completely on-premise deployment: MS Exchange Online is accessible, scalable, and intuitive. Through Exchange Online, Office 365 home and business users are able to access their contacts, calendar, and email, whether they are on their mobile device or their computer. 

Conclusion 

These are only some of the most remarkable MS Office 365 features now available. MS Office 365 provides native mobile access in the form of mobile apps and it is one of the most robust and scalable releases of Office to date. Through MS Office 365, an organization can quickly acquire the collaboration and communication tools it needs to streamline its infrastructure, in addition to document management systems, task management, and more. 

Even better, all of these MS Office 365 features are well-integrated together, unifying the processes of digital content creation, storage, and management, in addition to providing tools for discovering and sharing information between users. While these features and capabilities aren’t necessarily revolutionary, they have evolved the user experience in important ways. 

Implementing Office 365 is a bold step towards a new way of working. Let us help you integrate these tools into your organization—Learn more