Tips & tricks

Flash Fill: Excel Finishes the Pattern for You

Ctrl+E

Type one example into the next column (say, a name pulled from an email address) and Ctrl+E fills in the rest to match. No formulas.

Format as a Table: Filters, Banding, and Formulas for Free

Ctrl+T

Ctrl+T turns a range into a “smart” table — automatic filters, formatting for new rows, and readable formulas.

Set your Teams status with a duration, not just a toggle

“Do not disturb until 12:00” tells coworkers more than a permanent red dot — and it turns itself off.

Paragraphs in Teams: Shift+Enter and the expanded editor

Shift+Enter

Enter sends a Teams message right away. Shift+Enter starts a new line, and the formatting button opens the full editor.

Block off calendar time for focused work

An empty calendar is an invitation to meetings. Block off your mornings for deep work before someone else does it for you.

F4 in Excel: Repeats Your Last Action and Locks a Reference

F4

One key, two superpowers — repeating your last action and toggling dollar signs in a formula.

Excel: Ctrl+Arrow Keys Jump to the Edge of Your Data

Ctrl+↓

Don't scroll through a sheet with thousands of rows. Ctrl+arrow jumps to the end of the block, and with Shift it selects as it goes.

Filter your Teams activity down to just @mentions

The Activity feed can show only messages where someone mentioned you. Everything else is mostly noise.

Teams in meetings: mute and camera from the keyboard

Ctrl+Shift+M

Ctrl+Shift+M toggles your mic, Ctrl+Shift+O toggles your camera. When it's suddenly your turn to talk, you're not hunting for a button.

Teams: Ctrl+E to search, and jump anywhere from there

Ctrl+E

The search bar at the top finds people, messages, and files — and a slash launches commands.

The up arrow fixes your last message

↑

Typo in a message you just sent? Press the up arrow and you're editing right away — no hunting through menus.

Custom channel sections: important on top, noise below

Split your sidebar into sections — Projects, Team, Noise. Channels you don't need to see get collapsed.

Reply in threads, not in the channel

A threaded reply keeps a discussion together and doesn't flood the channel. A team that threads has half the noise.

Saved items: bookmarks for Slack

The bookmark icon on a message adds it to Later — your personal list of things to come back to.

Set working hours for notifications in Slack

A notification schedule automatically quiets Slack outside working hours. It leaves you alone in the evening — and shows colleagues when you're reachable.

Slack search: from:, in:, before:

Operators narrow a search to a specific person, channel, and time period — instead of scrolling through history.

Remind yourself about a message when you'll have time for it

“Remind me about this” brings a message back at a time you choose. Slack stops being the place where tasks get lost.

Slack: Ctrl+K jumps to any channel or teammate

Ctrl+K

The quick switcher finds a channel, a message, or a person in a few keystrokes. Slack's single most important shortcut.

Color categories: an email's status at a glance

A category like “Waiting on reply” or “Client A” colors emails across folders — and you find them with one click.

The two-minute rule for your inbox

Anything that takes less than two minutes, do right when you read it. Longer things go to your task list — and archive the email.

Email three times a day in blocks, not sixty times in drips

Constantly checking your inbox shreds your focus into pieces. Three fixed blocks a day are enough for 95% of jobs.

Delayed delivery in Outlook

Even in Outlook, an email can wait until Monday morning. The new version has Schedule Send right next to the Send button.

Essential Outlook shortcuts: reply, send, switch modules

Ctrl+R

Ctrl+R replies, Ctrl+Enter sends, Ctrl+1/2/3 switches between mail, calendar, and people.

Quick Steps in Outlook: three actions in one click

A Quick Step can move a message, mark it read, and forward it all at once. Turn a repeated sequence into a single button.

Outlook rules: let your inbox sort itself

Automatic rules move system notifications, reports, and CCs into folders — your inbox stays reserved for messages that actually need you.

Drag an email onto your calendar and it becomes a meeting

In Outlook, drag a message onto the calendar icon — it creates an event with the email's text inside. No more retyping.

Half- and quarter-screen window layouts

Newer macOS versions support window snapping — drag a window to the edge, or hold Option over the green button for instant layouts.

Stage Manager: one window on stage, the rest wait in the wings

An alternative to window-switching — the active window sits center stage, the rest lined up at the edge. Helps you keep one thing in focus.

Control dialogs from the keyboard: Enter, Esc, and Space

Esc

Enter confirms the blue button, Esc means Cancel — and Space checks a box. Handle dialogs without ever touching the mouse.

Focus modes: every activity gets its own rules

Set up a Work mode that lets through only colleagues and family — synced to your iPhone and Apple Watch too.