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How to Enable Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) in Applied Epic: A Must Have for Your Agency’s Security

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Cybersecurity and compliance standards are tightening across the insurance industry, and agencies are under increasing pressure to protect client data. One of the most effective and often required ways to do that is by enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA). 

If your agency uses Applied Epic, Applied Systems now makes it possible to integrate Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) through Microsoft 365. This integration provides a seamless and familiar login experience that enhances security without adding unnecessary complexity for your staff. This setup offers a seamless and familiar login experience that strengthens your security posture without adding unnecessary complexity for your staff.

In this article, we will walk through the key requirements and steps to successfully enable MFA in Applied Epic through Microsoft 365.

Prerequisites for Enabling MFA in Applied Epic

Before you can integrate Multi-Factor Authentication with Applied Epic, your agency needs to meet a few key requirements within Microsoft 365. Ensuring these are in place ahead of time will help the implementation go smoothly and avoid user login issues.

1. Each user must have a unique Microsoft 365 Email Address.

Every employee who logs into Epic must have a distinct email address in Microsoft 365. If there are any shared accounts in use, either in Applied Epic or Microsoft 365, they will need to be replaced or reconfigured before implementing MFA.

2. MFA must be enabled for every Microsoft 365 account.

Every Microsoft 365 account will need to have MFA set up in some way or another. This can be handled through Conditional Access policies, Microsoft’s Security Defaults, or even a third party MFA provider that is linked to Microsoft 365. 

At Kite Technology, we recommend that agencies use Conditional Access policies through Microsoft Entra ID because they offer the highest level of flexibility and control. Conditional Access allows you to tailor MFA requirements based on specific conditions such as user role, device type, or location, so you can strengthen security without unnecessarily disrupting daily workflows.

Implementing MFA in Applied Epic

Once your agency has met the necessary prerequisites, the next step is to integrate Applied Epic with Microsoft 365 so users can take advantage of secure, MFA-enabled sign-ins. The process is straightforward, but accuracy and communication are key to ensuring a smooth rollout. Follow the steps below to complete the integration successfully and minimize disruption for your staff.

1. Connect with your Applied representative to get the process started.

Someone from your agency or your IT provider should reach out to your Applied account representative to let them know you would like to integrate Epic sign-ins with Microsoft 365. While they may direct you to the self-service portal in the Applied Community, we have found that working directly with your account representative or an implementation technician often leads to a smoother and faster setup process.

2. Review and verify user accounts to prevent login issues.

Once communication with Applied is established, the technician you are working with will send over a list of all the accounts your agency currently has in Applied Epic. You or your IT provider should carefully review this list to confirm that it includes all active users who should have access.

Next, verify that the email addresses associated with each Epic identity exactly match the User Principal Names (UPNs) in Microsoft 365. This alignment is essential for a smooth implementation. If any of the email addresses in Epic do not match the UPNs in Microsoft 365, users will experience sign-in problems once MFA is activated. Taking time to double-check this list up front can prevent frustrating login issues later.

3. Complete the App Registration in Microsoft 365 to Enable Secure Communication

As part of the setup, Applied will provide documentation outlining the steps needed to create an App Registration within your Microsoft 365 tenant. This registration allows Epic and Microsoft 365 to communicate securely using modern authentication protocols.

Follow the instructions provided by Applied to complete the OpenID Connect (OIDC) App Registration, and then share the required information with your Applied technician. This step ensures that Epic recognizes Microsoft 365 as the trusted identity provider, enabling users to sign in through the Microsoft authentication process with MFA protection in place.

4. Prepare and Inform Your Staff About the Upcoming Change

Before rolling out the integration, communicate the change clearly to your staff so everyone knows what to expect. Applied will provide user instructions that you can distribute ahead of time.

After the integration goes live, users will no longer sign in using their Epic ID and password. Instead, they will log in with their Microsoft 365 email address and password, followed by an MFA challenge using their existing authentication method. Sharing this information early helps reduce confusion and ensures a smoother transition for your entire team.

If any questions come up during the implementation process, your Applied representative will be available to provide guidance and support along the way. Overall, this change has minimal impact on your daily operations but delivers significant benefits in security, compliance, and ease of use. We recommend implementing MFA in Applied Epic as soon as possible to help safeguard your agency’s data and provide a simpler, more secure login experience for your team.

Take the Next Step Toward a More Secure Epic Environment

Implementing MFA in Applied Epic is a simple yet powerful step toward creating a more secure and efficient agency environment. Beyond meeting compliance requirements, this integration with Microsoft 365 helps reduce risk, protect sensitive data, and give your employees a seamless, familiar login experience.

At Kite Technology Group, we help insurance agencies build on that foundation by optimizing Epic performance, improving workflows, and strengthening IT systems. Our Applied Epic Consulting team works with you to optimize Epic for better performance, automation, and user experience. You can also leverage our Managed IT Services for comprehensive technology support, including live US-Based help-desk support, cybersecurity and compliance services, and Microsoft 365 management.

If your agency is ready to take the next step in optimizing Applied Epic and strengthening your IT environment, reach out to our team today to learn how Kite Technology Group can help.

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Christian Moore

Security & Operations Technician
Kite Technology Group

Applied Systems’ Hosted Exchange Retirement: What it Means for Your Agency

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Recently, many of you may have received an email from Applied Systems, notifying users about their decision to retire their Hosted Exchange and Insuremail services by the end of December 2023. This development could have significant implications for agencies relying on these services. In this video and blog post, we’ll explore how Applied Systems’ Hosted Exchange retirement might affect your agency and what strategic measures you can take to ensure a seamless transition to a new service.

A bit of history

Several years ago, Applied began hosting email for agencies using a product called Microsoft Exchange.  Exchange is a fantastic product, and back in the days of servers, this is exactly what we deployed in agencies.  But as the years went on, Exchange was increasingly designed for large organizations.  It required larger servers and more server roles.  It required special skills to manage, and it was difficult to keep secure. This meant more expense. Meanwhile, cloud alternatives were getting better and more cost effective all the time.

These days, there are far better options out there for agencies and Applied is recognizing that.  This will allow Applied Systems to reallocate time and effort into products like Epic, where their core expertise really shines. Check out this recent update from Applied Systems to learn more.

So what does this mean for your agency?

Receiving the letter doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re using the service.  So the first step is determining if this applies to you.  Your IT folks should easily be able to determine this. They’ll want to check inbound email, your copiers and scanners, and Epic DMS.

If you ARE using Applied’s email services, you’ll need to have all of your data off of those services before the end of December 2023. That’s not much time, so you need to start making a plan now to transition to another solution.  For this, I recommend Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 has become the industry standard for email, but the 365 ecosystem is much larger than that. You can use Microsoft 365 to replace servers, deliver cybersecurity, implement cloud desktops, and meet compliance requirements.

KiteTech is here to help

If you are currently using Applied’s email services, and need help migrating to Microsoft 365, we can help.  I would encourage you to reach out to Kite Technology sooner than later, so we can begin helping you plan for the change.

 

If you’re already using Microsoft 365, and you’re curious about how you can make it more effective and secure, we can help with that, as well. We have made Microsoft 365 a part of everything we do, and we would love to help you make Microsoft 365 part of everything you do. Contact us today, to learn to learn more about our Managed IT Services and Microsoft 365 Consulting. 

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Jason Gobbel

Chief Solutions Officer
Kite Technology Group

How Microsoft Forms Can Simplify Data Collection for your Business

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Microsoft Forms is an app included with your Microsoft 365 subscription that gives users the ability to collect information from their customers or employees. Microsoft Forms can be accessed through a web browser or the Microsoft Forms app. Whether you want to create surveys, quizzes, polls, or feedback forms, Microsoft Forms provides a user-friendly platform to easily design and distribute custom surveys, and analyze the data you collect. In this blog post, we’ll explain how to create a custom form and share ideas for how you can use Microsoft forms in your business. 

Getting Started with Microsoft Forms

Creating a Custom Form

One of the best things about Microsoft Forms is its flexibility in customizing forms to suit specific business needs. You can choose from different types of questions, such as multiple-choice, rating scales, or open-ended questions, and add images or videos to make the form more engaging. Additionally, you can customize the theme, color scheme, and font style to match your brand identity. With the drag-and-drop interface, you can easily rearrange questions or sections, add branching logic, or set up conditional formatting. Once you have created a form, you can share it via email, social media, or QR code, or embed it on your website or intranet.

Collecting Responses

Microsoft Forms makes it easy to collect and manage responses from your audience. You can track the number of responses, view the average score, or export the data to Excel for further analysis. If you want to limit the number of responses, you can set up a deadline or password-protect the form. Moreover, you can enable notifications to receive an email or mobile alert when someone submits a response. You can also send automatic thank-you messages or redirect respondents to a custom URL after completing the form.

Analyzing the data

Microsoft Forms provides powerful tools to analyze and visualize data in real-time. You can use the built-in charts and graphs to see trends, patterns, or correlations in the responses. For instance, you can create a bar chart to compare the frequency of different responses, or a pie chart to show the distribution of responses by category. Additionally, you can filter, sort, or group the responses based on certain criteria, such as demographics, preferences, or feedback. You can also share the results with your team or stakeholders by exporting the data to PowerPoint or Word.

Microsoft Forms Use Cases

Here are some examples of how you can use Microsoft Forms in your business today:

  1. Collect customer feedback: Use Microsoft Forms to gather customer feedback on your products or services. Create a survey form to ask customers about their satisfaction levels, preferences, or pain points. This data can help you improve your offerings and customer experience.
  2. Manage event registrations: Use Microsoft Forms to create registration forms for events, such as conferences, webinars, or workshops. This data can help you manage attendance and track preferences, such as dietary requirements or special requests.
  3. Track inventory or assets: Use Microsoft Forms to track inventory or assets, such as equipment, tools, or supplies. Create a form to collect information on the location, condition, or maintenance schedule of your assets. This data can help you optimize your inventory management and reduce costs.
  4. Conduct market research: Use Microsoft Forms to conduct market research and gather data on industry trends, competitor analysis, or customer behavior. Create a survey form to ask targeted questions and analyze the data to gain insights into your market.
  5. Gather employee feedback: Use Microsoft Forms to gather employee feedback on workplace culture, job satisfaction, or training programs. This data can help you create a better work environment and retain your employees.
  6. Conduct product testing: Use Microsoft Forms to conduct product testing and gather feedback on new products or features. Create a form to ask beta testers for their opinions on usability, functionality, or design. This data can help you refine your products and launch with confidence.
  7. Manage customer service inquiries: Use Microsoft Forms to manage customer service inquiries and track response times or customer satisfaction levels. Create a form to collect customer details and their inquiries, and set up automatic notifications to respond promptly.
  8. Gather leads: Use Microsoft Forms to gather leads for your business, such as email addresses, phone numbers, or other contact information. Create a form to offer a free download or a discount in exchange for the contact information, and use this data to build your email list or CRM.

Conclusion

Microsoft Forms can be used in a variety of ways to improve business operations, from gathering customer feedback and conducting employee evaluations to managing event registrations and inventory. With Microsoft Forms, businesses can collect and analyze data to gain valuable insights and make informed decisions that drive growth and success.

The team here at Kite Technology loves to help our clients leverage tools like Microsoft 365 to enhance their business operations and productivity. Our IT and Consulting Services can help you streamline your operations and optimize your IT infrastructure, so you can focus on what matters most: growing your business. Contact us today and discover how we can help take your business to the next level.

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Adam Atwell

Cloud Solutions Architect | Microsoft MVP
Kite Technology Group

Enhance Document Collaboration with Microsoft’s Share and Comments Features

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Need to quickly share a spreadsheet with a colleague? Did you notice a typo in that important document about to be shared with clients? How about sending that PowerPoint directly to everyone in the meeting so they can follow along with you? Today, we will be looking at Microsoft’s Share and Comments features that are present in their 365 apps like Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. These features allow you to quickly and easily collaborate with others in your organization.

Sharing Files with the ‘Share’ Feature.

On the top right of any Microsoft application you open, you will be able to see a button that says ‘Share’. By learning how to utilize this feature you can quickly give others in your organization access to important files. Clicking the button brings up the Share menu.

send link

You will be able to email an access link directly to a colleague and accompany it with a message or create a link that you can share in your organization via Teams or any other messaging software.
By clicking on the globe icon directly above the ‘Message’ field, you will be given several options for sharing:

  1. You can select who you would like to share the file with:
    1. ‘Anyone with the link’ will generate a shareable link with you that you can share with anyone who has the same Microsoft application. This may be useful for quickly sharing information with clients or others outside of your organization. You can also set an access password for added security. Please Note: this will be a temporary link; it will expire after a set amount of time determined by your organization. You can modify this timeframe by clicking the calendar icon (3).
    2. ‘People in Organization with the link’ will generate a link specifically for others in your organization. This link will never expire.
    3. ‘People with existing access’ will generate a link for those who you are already sharing the file with. This is useful if someone loses the original link or forgets how to access the file.
    4. Finally, ‘Specific people’ will share the file only with the people specified. They must have the email that you set to be able to access the file. This is useful if you have a confidential file that only certain members of your organization should have access to.
  2. The ‘Allow editing’ and ‘Open in review mode only’ options allow you to determine if the other members that you share the file with should be able to make changes. ‘Open in review mode only’ will only let them open the file in review mode where they can make comments and suggestions, but never changes. ‘Allow editing’ determines whether the member can make changes to the file.
  3. Finally, the ‘Block download’ button will prevent others from downloading a copy of the file for their personal use.
    Another helpful feature of sharing is the ‘Comment’ and ‘Review’ functions. These allow you to quickly interact and collaborate with others on your file.

Review Feature

The ‘Review’ function allows you to quickly and easily suggest changes or edits to others. Once someone else makes a suggestion on your document, the suggested change will show up to you in red. 

From here, you can click on the red text to either accept or deny the change.

If you choose to share the file in review mode only, this will be the only option collaborators have to make or suggest changes.

Comment Feature

Making a comment on a file is just as easy; simply highlight the portion that you wish to make a comment on and click ‘New Comment’.

This will allow you to type out a comment that other collaborators on the file or document will be able to see.

Once a comment is posted, it will always show up in the comments field and there will be a symbol where the comment is placed. 

You can also mention specific people in your comment using the @ sign or reply directly to comments made. You can even give the comment a thumbs up if you would like!

Conclusion

Microsoft’s 365 applications’ Share and Comments features are a great way to quickly and easily collaborate with others in and outside of your organization. If you are a KiteTech client and require any help with these features, or have further questions about sharing options, don’t hesitate to contact our Help Desk for further assistance. 

If you are curious about Kite Technology and want more information on our Managed IT and Consulting Services, please contact us to schedule a conversation. We’d love the opportunity to learn more about your organization and see how we can help!

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Jordan Mabe

Finance and Procurement Manager
Kite Technology Group

Enhance Your Workflows with Microsoft PowerToys

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Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know. There are so many tools available that could improve your workflows, so we’ve gathered some of our favorites here from the app Microsoft PowerToys. Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities that you can use to tune and customize your Windows experience for greater productivity. It’s one app with many tools. Some are still under development, so note you may see some bugs. 

Installing Microsoft PowerToys

  1. Open the Microsoft store from the Start menu and search “PowerToys”
  2. Select to “Install”. Once complete, a welcome window will open with information about the app. Close the welcome window.
    Note: you may need an administrator password to complete the installation.
  3. To open PowerToys, locate the icon in the taskbar tray. Right-click the icon and select “Settings”. 
  4. The resulting window has all the tools and the settings to adjust each one.
    Note: By default, PowerToys enables every tool. This can cause some unexpected behavior, so we recommend disabling all of them and then re-enabling the tools you choose to use. 

Tool 1: Always on Top

The Always on Top tool allows you to select a window to keep above all other windows. This is great for keeping a calculator or sticky note window on top of other windows. 

 

  1. Enable the tool
  2. The tool is bound to an Activation Shortcut. This key-combination will enable the selected window to be on top. To adjust the shortcut, click on the edit icon and type the preferred key-combination into the keyboard. Select “Save” when done. 
  3. When a window is selected to be on top, a border will outline the window. Change the color and width of the border to preference. 
  4. The tool is now enabled. To activate it, click the window to be on top and push the activation shortcut keys.

Tool 2: Fancy Zones

The Fancy Zones tool creates windows layouts to make multi-tasking easy. Use default templates or create custom layouts. Different layouts can be applied to different monitors for maximum customization. 

  1. Enable the tool
  2. Launch the layout editor
  3. The resulting window displays the available monitors at the top and available templates to apply to the monitors below. To apply a layout to a monitor, select the monitor (highlighted in blue) and then select the layout template. Close the layout editor to apply the change.
  4. To create a custom layout, click the “Create new layout” button. Name the custom template and select either Grid or Canvas. Click “Create”.
  5. The custom editor allows you to create, reposition, and resize windows as needed. When done adjusting, select “Save & Apply”.
  6. Once a layout is applied to a monitor, the layout is enabled. Drag a window while holding the Shift key to see the available zones and place a window in a zone. It will snap the window to the size and position of the zone. 

Tool 3: Power Rename

The Power Rename tool is a file explorer extension for bulk renaming files. 

  1. Enable the tool
  2. Open File Explorer. Select all the files to bulk rename (use shift + click or ctrl + click). Right-click the selection and click “PowerRename” from the resulting menu. 
  3. The resulting menu gives us options for identifying the original files names to be changed and changes that can be made to create the new file names. The right column is a preview of all the transformed file names. 

Transformation options include:

    • Search and replace: search for a text string or regular expression and replace with a different text string or regular expression. Can be applied to filename or file extensions.
    • Choose to apply the change to file names, folder names, and/or subfolders.
    • Choose the text formatting of the new filenames.
    • Apply enumeration to the new filenames
    • Use regular expressions within search and replace. Click on the ? symbol next to replace to see regular expression options.
  •  

4. To apply the file name transformations, select “Apply”

 

Conclusion

PowerToys has many tools not covered in this article, but they are available for you to explore and incorporate into your workflow. If you are a KiteTech client and would like some help using PowerToys, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Help Desk for assistance.

If you’re not currently working with Kite Technology and would like to learn more about our Managed IT and Consulting Services for businesses, please contact us to schedule a conversation. We’d love the opportunity to learn more about your organization and see how we can help! 

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Beth Mabe

Help Desk Technician
Kite Technology Group

Simplify Scheduling with FindTime in Outlook

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FindTime is a Microsoft Outlook add-in that’s very effective! Many of us struggle to manage our schedules and can spend a lot of time emailing back and forth to set a meeting time with colleagues or clients. 

FindTime streamlines this process by aggregating the availability of your contacts, helping narrow down meeting time options quickly. It is available for Outlook on Mac, PC, and the web application. Here’s how to use it!

Step 1: Install FindTime

  1. Go to MS Outlook homepage.
  2. Click on “Get Add-ins” on the top right of the homepage.
  3. Search for “FindTime” and click “Add.”
  4. Once installed, you’ll see it on the top right of your screen near the “Get Add-ins” button.

Step 2: Use FindTime to Create a Meeting Time Options Poll

  1. Start by opening a new email or replying to a client or colleague who wants to set up a meeting. 
  2. Add required attendees to your email in the “To” field. Additionally, you can add any optional attendees in the “CC” field. 
  3. Once you have your attendees selected, click on the “FindTime” button. 
  4. The FindTime panel will open on the right hand of the screen, where you can see the availability of anyone whose calendar you have “view” access for.
  5. This panel will show the availability status of the contacts you added into your email. You will then be able to see the mutual free times that are available. These options go into a poll that is sent to the client(s), so they can select their preferred option. 

Step 3: Customize Your Options

  1. In the FindTime panel, you can set options such as location, duration or meeting, and the times you’re available. You can also select an option to set up a Teams meeting.
  2. When you have adjusted all your settings, click “next.” This will add the poll to your email so that the client can see all the available options to set up a meeting. 

Step 4: Next Steps (From the Client)

  1. From the client’s perspective, they receive an email with a link with the poll to schedule a meeting. It looks something like this:
  2. The client can select their preferred meeting time, and then FindTime will go ahead and book a time that works for everyone else. 
  3. Once that’s done, FindTime sends an email confirming the meeting details and adds it to the calendar of all the parties involved. 

And that’s it! It’s as simple as gathering the availability from colleagues and sending a poll to your client. There are many benefits to FindTime:

  • Clients can choose a time that works best for them without being limited to just a few options. 
  • Streamlines communications so there are less emails back and forth. 
  • Selects options that work for all the parties identified as needing to be part of the meeting. 
  • Integrates with your calendar and MS Teams functions. 

FindTime is an underrated feature of Microsoft Outlook. Try it today to see just how helpful it is! And if you’d like to learn more technology tips and tricks or watch some of our other video tutorials, check out Kite Technology Group’s YouTube channel. Or, visit Kite Technology Group’s website to find out more about our Managed IT Services. 

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Matt Saxton

Client Experience Manager
Kite Technology Group

Getting Started with Microsoft Bookings

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How many times have you double-booked yourself, forgotten about an appointment, or assigned the wrong team member to a meeting? Probably more times than you’re willing to admit! Calendar and schedule management can be tricky, especially if you’re trying to do it manually.

Microsoft Bookings is a free app that is part of the Microsoft 365 Suite. If your business pays for a Microsoft 365 subscription, it’s a free resource to help you streamline bookings and appointments for your team. Instead of manually scheduling appointments, Bookings offers a simple, streamlined option to keep track of appointments throughout the day, week, or year.

Benefits of Microsoft Bookings

With so many different calendar and scheduling apps out there, you may wonder why Bookings is worth your time. As IT professionals who are familiar with various Microsoft apps, we can easily say that there are many benefits of Bookings for your organization!

Advantages of Using Microsoft Bookings to Manage your Calendar:

  • Free Microsoft app with Microsoft 365 subscription—no need to pay for a new calendar service.
  • Easily integrates with Microsoft Teams to ensure everyone is up to date on current appointments and scheduling.
  • Option to use Bookings from desktop, mobile, or tablets.
  • Customizable based on your needs. You can adjust your appointment offerings, notifications, reminders, and other details that help both your team and clients easily manage their calendars.

If your team already uses Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft apps, incorporating Bookings into your workflow is an easy decision. It’ll streamline your process and make things simple for your team and clients.

How to Create and Customize a Bookings Calendar

Within Bookings, you can create as many calendars as you require. For example, you may create one calendar for the IT department, who offers 30-minute consultation appointments. Another calendar can then be created for the HR department, who uses the app to schedule interviews.

Let’s start by creating one calendar in the Bookings App. Follow the steps below or watch the video tutorial to create your own Bookings calendar for your organization.

Step 1: Open Bookings App

  1. Go to Office.com and sign in with your company login information.
  2. Go to “All Apps” and click Bookings.

Step 2: Create a new Bookings Calendar

  1. Open the Bookings app and click “Create a new calendar” on the home page.
  2. Input information about your company, what you offer, and the parameters of your appointment offerings. You can include information such as work hours, other colleagues to include, your services (i.e., IT support session for 30 minutes), and permissions for who can book.

Step 3: Review and Manage Your Calendar

Once you’ve made a calendar, you can book appointments, assign staff, and manage all bookings. This is what the homepage looks like.

1. Open Bookings page to manage settings and view the calendar

2. The “calendar” page shows you all the current appointments

3. The “booking page” shows you the settings and options for set up. From here you can customize:

    • Business access control.
    • Password protection.
    • Data collection and consent.
    • When people can book appointments.
    • Notifications and meeting invites.
    • Staff availability to take appointments.
    • Color and layout customization.
    • Time zone to be displayed for the person making a booking.

Step 4: Integrate Bookings with Microsoft Teams

To get the most out of MS Bookings, you’ll want to integrate it with Microsoft Teams.

  1. Go to “Apps” in MS Teams.
  2. Search for and click “Bookings” to add it to the Teams homepage.
  3. Review your Bookings schedule in Teams from two different views. From the “Schedule” view, you can see what team member has appointments and when they’re booked. The “Queue” view will give you an overview of the upcoming appointments.
  4. Review specific details of an appointment by clicking on it. It will open a window with details, where you can add notes, send an email, or text a reminder.

We always recommend spending some time playing around with the different settings and familiarizing yourself with the platform. MS Bookings is a great tool with tons of customizable options to give your team exactly what they need to stay organized and streamline their schedule and appointments.

Managed IT Services and Microsoft Consulting

If you are looking for more simple, effective, and easy to implement IT tips and tricks, make sure to follow along with us at the Kite Technology Group YouTube Channel . Our goal is to provide you with a variety of resources to help you maximize the value you get from Microsoft 365 and the technology you use.

And, if you’re looking for something more, take some time to look around our website to learn more about our Managed IT and Consulting Services. We provide strategic IT solutions to help you achieve your objectives and drive business performance.

Our proven process starts with discovering your company’s unique needs and goals, deploying best-in-class technology solutions, and continuing to delight you with proactive maintenance and on-demand help desk support. Contact us today to get started!

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Adam Atwell

Cloud Solutions Officer
Kite Technology Group

6 Microsoft Outlook Features for a More Organized Inbox

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Microsoft Outlook has been around for decades now, and in that time has established itself as the most widely used email application in the professional workplace. Anyone reading this article almost definitely either uses Outlook actively at their current job or has used it in some capacity in their career.

Outlook is great for sending, receiving, and organizing emails, and many people use Outlook for years with just these most basic functions, and it serves them well. However, there are a wealth of features in Outlook that can help you save valuable time by better organizing information and automating tasks.

In this article, we are going to review 6 Microsoft Outlook features that you can start using today to organize your inbox and be more productive. Though there are many more features that we could cover, these 6 provide a good starting point in using Outlook more effectively.

1. Categories

This first feature, aptly named “Categories”, allows you to classify messages in your Inbox and other folders into different categories.
When viewing emails in your Outlook list, you’ll notice on the Ribbon at the top of your screen, there is a Categorize button that looks like this.

(Note: You can also access this button if you right-click an email, as well as within a single email if you double-click it to open it in a new window).

By default, Outlook has several Categories already created, named for the colors associated with them. If these work for you, then great! But Outlook allows you to go deeper and customize the Categories. To do so, click on the “All Categories…” menu option.

On the screen that follows, you can click any Category you want, rename it, assign it a different color, and even assign a Shortcut Key, which allows you to quickly set a message to that Category by using the keyboard shortcut you choose from the list. You’ll also notice that you can create brand new categories from this same screen.

In my example, I renamed the Green Category to “Informational”, the Blue Category to “Technical Requests”, and I also created a brand new category called “Blog Articles”. I also assigned a different Shortcut Key to each of my categories so that when I am in my email list, I can quickly press this keyboard shortcut to categorize them accordingly.

Now, once we know how to set Categories, we also need to know how they can be used.

When you set a Category on an email, you’ll notice it appears at the top of the email directly under the Subject line.

If you want it to show up in your list view, go to the View tab on the main screen, click on View Settings, and click the button for “Columns…”.

Then, find Categories on the list on the left (Available Columns), and click the Add > button so it appears on the right (“Show these columns…”).

 

Your screen should look something like this.

Click OK to accept your changes, and when you get back to the list view, you’ll notice the colors corresponding to the Categories you choose will appear in your list of emails.

2. Follow-Up Flags

The next Microsoft Outlook feature called “Follow-Up Flags”, is another way to help stay organized by marking messages, particularly in the case where there is some action needed from you in response. You aren’t always able to answer every email or do every task immediately, so you can use Follow-Up Flags to keep track of when you need to respond. This way you can plan your days and make sure you don’t miss any follow-ups.

Like Categories, you can add a Follow-Up Flag either from the Ribbon under the Follow Up menu, or you can right-click the message and get to the same menu.

From there, you can choose either a preset flag, or you can choose a custom. For example, if I wanted to mark something that needs a follow up tomorrow, I would choose the Tomorrow flag.

When you add a Follow Up Flag to an email, it shows a yellow highlight in the list so that you can quickly visually identify it.

There are additional options you can access if you choose a Custom flag. As you see here, you can choose a Start date, Due date, and even set a Reminder at a certain date and time. These are all intended to help you keep a timeline and not miss any obligations.

The flag feature gets especially useful when you see how it integrates with Tasks in Outlook, which is accessed by clicking the Tasks icon  in the same row as the Mail, Calendar, and Contacts icons.

Every time you mark an email with a flag, it shows up in your Tasks list with the information you specified in the flag. As you process through your emails, if you add flags to the items that need follow ups, you can refer to this Task view for a running to-do list where you can check items off your list. In either the email list view or the Task view, if you click on the flag icon on a particular item, that item will be marked as Complete and will then no longer show on your active Task list.

3. Arrangements

The next feature, called Arrangements, is a View option that lets you show your list of emails under different organizational headers. To access Arrangements, go to the View tab in the Ribbon. There you will see the top of the list of available Arrangements, and if you click the expand arrow, you will see even more options.

By default, most Outlook clients are set to the “Date” Arrangement which lists emails chronologically by the date they were received, but you can choose any of these other options that might be useful to you like Categories and Flags which we’ve already discussed. The below screenshot shows my list under the Arrangement of “Categories”, and you’ll notice there is a different header for each of the Categories I’ve set. (The top of my list, which isn’t visible in the screenshot, displays all the messages that have no Category applied).

You can quickly switch between the different Arrangements and observe how they change your list to see what might be useful to you.

4. Searching

Another important and robust feature in Outlook is the Search function, which can be accessed from anywhere in Outlook on the very top Title bar. Once you click the Search box, another ribbon appears with many different options for refining different search criteria.


Again, you’ll notice options here for the first two topics discussed in this article: Categorized and Flagged. You can use this to quickly find messages with a particular Category or Flag applied, and you can also combine these criteria together for a more specific search. Maybe you want to find messages with a specific Category that you have Flagged for follow-up, like this message.

Another nice thing about the search function is that you can search inside a single folder, a set of folders, an entire mailbox, and even in all the mailboxes you have open in your whole Outlook. This way, no matter how you choose to sort your emails, you can quickly find all messages with your chosen criteria.


When you run searches, your criteria are saved and able to be recalled later, so you can click the “Recent Searches” button and choose a set of criteria you’ve used recently. This can be useful if need to do the same searches frequently.

There are many other options available in the Search ribbon, so I encourage you to be curious and try different things out.

5. Quick Actions

These last two features are designed to help you save time by eliminating clicks in your workflow, so it makes sense that they both have “Quick” in the name.


The first, called “Quick Actions”, are buttons that appear in your email list when you hover over emails, and offer a quick way to do certain things to your messages. By default, when you hover over a message, you will see a Delete button and a Flag button, like here:

You can use these Quick Actions buttons if you prefer, or you can change them by right-clicking an email and clicking “Set Quick Actions”.

This gives you a few other options to change one or both of the Quick Actions that display, or you can disable one or both of them entirely by choosing “None”. In my example, I chose to keep Delete as #1, but changed #2 to Move (moves message to another folder of my choice)

 

6. Quick Steps

Quick Steps are kind of like Quick Actions but accessed differently and offer many more options for automation. While Quick Actions perform a single action from the short list of available actions, Quick Steps can perform multiple actions of different kinds to the selected message.

From your list view, in the Ribbon you will find an entire section for Quick Steps. Start by clicking the expand arrow at the bottom-right of that section to bring up the Manage Quick Steps dialog box.

I use Quick Steps to quickly move emails to certain folders in my mailbox, so the only ones that appear for me in this screenshot are basic Move actions. To add a new Quick Step, you can click the New button, where you’ll see a list of preset options to get you started, or you can choose Custom to start from scratch.

To dive deeper into Quick Steps, I’ll demonstrate creating a more complex one with multiple steps.

Suppose my goal is to have a button that I can click that will do the following:
1. Apply the “Technical Requests” Category to the message.
2. Set an Importance level of “High”.
3. Create a new Meeting.
4. Move the message to the “Kite Tech” folder.

To start, I choose New > Custom to get a blank Quick Step. At the top, I name my Quick Step “Technical Requests”.
Then, one-by-one, I add the actions I want to take, and click the “Add Action” button each time to begin a new action.
For my first action, I choose a “Categorize message” action, followed by the appropriate Category.
My section action is “Set importance” with the option of “Importance: High”.
My third action is “New Meeting”. Here, there are a lot of options I can choose, like the meeting participants, subject, and location. In my case, I’ll leave all these blank so that each time I get a blank meeting request and can fill in whatever information I want.
And finally, my fourth action is a “Move to folder” action with the proper folder selected, called “Kite Tech”.

If I want, I can even assign a keyboard shortcut to activate the Quick Step, as well as a tooltip to provide a description of what the Quick Step does when the mouse hovers over it.

Once I click Save, the new Quick Step is available in the ribbon, and all I need to do is select one or more message that I want to apply it to, and either click the Quick Step, or press the assigned keyboard shortcut. All these steps would have taken me several clicks and concentrated effort, and by using a Quick Step I have made it effortless.

As a busy professional, it is likely that your inbox gets extremely busy, even overwhelming at times. If this describes you, then I hope you can use these Microsoft Outlook features to help you stay organized and keep your mailbox and busy schedule under control. Outlook is full of features that help with productivity, so as you become more comfortable with the features I discussed here, be curious and find others so that you can continue to learn and improve.

The team here at Kite Technology is passionate about helping users and organizations leverage technology to improve their productivity and operate more effectively. If you would like to learn more about how KiteTech’s Managed IT Services can help you boost your company’s performance, reach out to schedule a call! We look forward to learning more about your company’s needs and learn how we can help you meet your business objectives. 

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Daniel Gilbert

Chief Operating Officer
Kite Technology Group

Microsoft OneNote: 10 Tips to Level Up Your Notetaking

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Microsoft OneNote, a notetaking application included in the Microsoft 365 suite of apps, has become an essential productivity tool for businesses today. However, many people have yet to take advantage of OneNote’s capabilities and potential value at work. 

As a digital notebook that you can access anywhere, anytime on multiple devices, OneNote can serve a vital role as you gather, organize, and share information needed for your daily work. As the name suggests, it is intended primarily for taking notes, but this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what you can accomplish with OneNote.

In this video and article, I’ll share 10 OneNote features and tips that you can use to help you improve the quality of your digital notetaking and maximize the value and productivity gains you get from this awesome Microsoft tool.

1. Organize Sections & Pages

OneNote files are organized like this: each OneNote file is called a Notebook, inside Notebooks are Sections, and underneath those Sections are Pages. You can open multiple Notebooks and quickly switch between them, so you are free to organize your notes however you see fit.

In the example here, my Notebook is called “Paddy’s Pub”, my Section is called “Personnel”, and my Pages are called “Dennis”, “Charlie”, “Mac”, and “Dee”.

After you decide how your Notes will be structured, there are additional features that you can use to further improve the organization of your Notebook. 

 

First, you can color-code your Sections by right clicking the Section tab and going to Section Color to choose a color. Maybe I want my HR-related stuff to be blue, my operational stuff to be red, and my sales stuff to be green.

Then, you can create sub-pages by right-clicking on a page and choosing Make Subpage.

You may want to do this to group related pages under a common master page, like in my example where I put certain employee-specific pages under that employee’s page.

2. Use Page Templates


OneNote includes several pre-built page templates you can use to introduce formatting to your pages for specific purposes. If you go to the Insert tab on the Ribbon, then click Page Templates, the Templates pane will appear on the right where you can see all the templates available. Click the one you want to try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When you select a template, a new page will be created in the current Section. Play around with different templates to see what is available and what might be useful for you.

Once you land on a template you want to use, you can rename the new page and move it wherever you want.Shown here is the template called “Detailed Meeting Notes”, which I renamed to June 2021 to help me run this month’s staff meeting.

3. Enable Rule Lines

By default, pages in OneNote are completely blank white. But have you ever tried to take notes on a blank white piece of printer paper? It’s much easier to stay organized with notebook paper that has horizontal rule lines, so you don’t end up slanting your writing.

To enable rule lines, go to the View tab on the Ribbon, and click Rule Lines. If you click the dropdown arrow, you will see other options, like wide-spaced and grid lines.

 

 

 

 

If you like using pages with rule lines, you can click the Rule Lines dropdown and select the option Always Create Pages with Rule Lines.

4. Use Docked Windows

Docked Windows is a feature that allows you to keep a certain OneNote page on your screen while you browse other content, like web sites. Go to the View tab on the Ribbon and click New Docked Window.

When you do this, you will notice the page you currently have active will appear on the right side of your screen, and everything else on your screen will be pushed to the left side. You can resize your docked page as you want, up to half of the screen. Then, you can move other windows in and out of the left side of the screen, and they will automatically size to the edge of the docked OneNote page. This is particularly helpful if you are working on taking notes that require research online, or in online meetings where you want to see the video feed while still being able to take notes.

5. Incorporate Outside Data

One of the features of Microsoft Office that has always been highly attractive is the ability to integrate files from its different programs so that they work together. OneNote is no different; you can include other kinds of files directly on your notes page in line with your text. Spreadsheets are particularly useful to include in notes pages because you can use Excel features like formulas and conditional formatting.

To include an Excel spreadsheet in your notes, go to the Insert tab on the Ribbon and click Spreadsheet. You can either choose an existing spreadsheet or create a new one. If you choose to insert an existing Spreadsheet, you will need to choose a Spreadsheet and then you will see the below dialog box, asking if you want to Attach File, Insert Spreadsheet, or Insert a Chart or Table. If you choose Attach File, it will create a copy of the spreadsheet and show that on your page so you can open and see it. If you choose one of the other options, the data will be pulled live from the existing Spreadsheet, so edits you make there will reflect in OneNote.

In this example, the bar uses a spreadsheet for inventory management where they can keep track of items they have in stock and Excel helps them calculate how much they will need to pay to restock.

6. Record Audio and Video

Sometimes you want to include more than just text or numbers. Among many other forms of multimedia, OneNote allows you to record audio and video files and include them on your notes page.

To record Audio or video, go to the Insert tab on the Ribbon, and youwill see the Record Audio and Record Video buttons. Click either to get started.

 

You will notice the Ribbon change to a Recording tab with other controls, and at this point your recording has started (assuming your microphone and/or camera are configured properly). You can pause and resume your recording, and when you are done you can click Stop and then play your recording to ensure you got it right.

On your notes page, the recording will show a timestamped icon that you can double-click and watch or listen. Below is an example of both video and audio.

7. Use Tags

Tagging is a feature in OneNote that lets you assign labels to your notes to classify certain kinds of information. In the Home tab of the Ribbon, you will see Tags has an entire section where there are several controls. I’ll just go over a few of the main ones.

  • To Do tags should be added to tasks that need to be completed, and when added a checkbox will appear to allow you to mark tasks as complete.
  • Important tags display a star next to the tagged data and should be used to draw attention to important items in the notes.
  • Question tags identify unanswered questions in the notes that may need input from others or additional research.

Simply position your cursor on the text you want to tag, then click the tag you want from the Tags dropdown. (Expand the dropdown menu to reveal many other tags).

Here is an example of a list of items that are classified using tags.

8. Share Your Notebook


Of course, you can’t have fun with Microsoft Office if you’re not sharing, so just like all the other apps in the suite, OneNote allows you to share with others inside or outside your organization. 

To share your notebook, go to the File menu (all the way left in the Ribbon) and click Share. You will be presented with the options to add people, decide what kind of permissions you want them to have, and decide how you want to share it. You can also access this menu by right-clicking on the name of your Notebook and clicking “Share this Notebook”.

When you share a notebook with others, OneNote keeps track of a history of changes and who makes them. In this example, you can see the initials of another editor in my company who added an announcement to our meeting notes.

What’s more, if you go to the History tab in the Ribbon, you can click on Recent Edits and choose a time frame to see a timeline of changes on the right side of the screen. Choose the Sort by Author option in the dropdown and you can see changes broken out by who made the change.

9. Password Protect Your Notes

Let’s say you want to share a notebook with a team of people, but there is private information you want to keep in the notebook for convenience but not open it up to the entire team. In this case, you can password protect one or more Sections in your Notebook.

To make this happen, while inside the Section you want to protect, go to the Review tab in the Ribbon and click Password. You can also right-click the Section name and click Password Protect This Section…

Then click Set Password in the right pane and choose a password. After that, anyone who accesses that Section will need the password to access it. (Keep in mind, this includes you, so if you’d rather not need to enter this password, you should keep sensitive information elsewhere).

If you click on the Password Options link at the bottom of the right pane, you will be brought to the Advanced OneNote Options, where you can scroll down and edit some of the behavior of password protected sections.

10. Export Your Notes

Finally, when you are finished building a Notebook, or perhaps have gotten it to a point where you want to publish it and/or share it with a larger audience, you can export your notes to a few different formats. To do so, go to the File menu and click Export. Here you will see that you can export a Page, a Section, or the entire Notebook, and the formats you can use are listed on the right.

Most often, you will probably want to export to a PDF document, so it is in a published, non-editable format. This gives some permanence and presentation to your notes. In some cases, you may choose to export to a Word document (.docx) if you think the recipient will want to continue editing the notes in Microsoft Word.

Choose your settings and click Export, and all you will need to do then is choose a location and file name.

While getting the hang of some of these features may take some practice, once mastered they can really make a difference in your ability to more effectively capture and synthesize the information you need.

 

As you can see, OneNote is more of an Information Organization tool than a simple note-taking app. There are so many ways that you can use OneNote to improve your productivity and the way you collaborate with your team. The tips I shared today are just a few of the many game-changing features OneNote has to offer.

To learn more about how Kite Technology can help you leverage everything Microsoft 365 has to offer, please reach out to us to schedule a conversation. We would love to learn more about your organization and discuss your business technology needs.

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Daniel Gilbert

Chief Operating Officer
Kite Technology Group

Webinar Recording: Using Microsoft Teams to Drive Engagement and Collaboration

KiteTech Webinar Recording
Using Microsoft Teams to Drive Engagement and Collaboration
in Your Business – Going Beyond the Basics

You can watch the on-demand webinar below at any time

Ready to learn more about Kite Technology Group? Our Managed IT and Consulting Services are designed to help organizations across the country operate at a high level. Our team of IT and business professionals are passionate about helping businesses like yours leverage technology to improve performance and security. To get the conversation started, please select one of the following divisions below and schedule a complimentary consultation. We look forward to talking with you!

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Quick Tip for Improving Your Computer’s Performance

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Over time, we install a lot of software applications on our computers and many of these applications are specifically coded to automatically start after every reboot and run silently in the background. They consume a lot of system resources and can affect our computers’ performance over time. 

In this video, Krystal Son, Escalation Team Lead at Kite Technology shows you how to see which software applications are configured to run in the background and how to disable them from starting unless you specifically want to open the application. By taking a few minutes to look over the list and turn some of them off, you can squeeze more performance out of your computer.

Here are the steps for disabling applications from running in the background:

On your computer, you’re going to right click the Windows Start Button and select Task Manager.

Once this window pops up, make sure you select the Startup Tab.

Here is where you can see all the applications on your computer that are configured to automatically restart and run in the background every time your computer is rebooted.

So, you can look through the list and turn off any that you don’t need to automatically run in the background. This is not disabling them or uninstalling them from your system. It’s just telling it don’t run in the background unless I specifically call on you to open.

For example, if I turn off Adobe, it doesn’t mean that I’m uninstalling the application. I can still click on Adobe and look at PDFs anytime I want. It just means that Adobe is not going to be running in the background and consuming resources from my computer.

One important thing to note is that any file-syncing services like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive – you want to make sure you keep those on because you want your files to always be saved and uploaded to the cloud.

Additionally, if you work in an insurance agency and you see anything listed here called ASI. whatever it is, make sure you keep that enabled. Those are specific services for Applied Epic and TAM to run successfully.

Once you’ve gone through your list and cleaned that up, all you need to do to make those changes take effect is reboot your computer. Just go back down to the Start Button, select the Power Button and Restart. That’s it!

We hope you found this tip helpful! If you’re a KiteTech client and would like some help with this, please contact our Help Desk and one of our technicians can assist you. 

If you’re not currently working with KiteTech and would like to learn more about our Managed IT or Consulting Services, please reach out and we’d be happy to schedule a conversation to learn more about your technology needs.

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Krystal Son

Escalation Team Lead
Kite Technology Group

Webinar Recording: Growing Your Insurance Agency with Microsoft 365

KiteTech Webinar Recording
Growing your Insurance Agency with Microsoft 365

You can watch the on-demand webinar below at any time

Kite Technology’s Managed IT and Technical Consulting Services are designed to help independent insurance agencies across the country operate at a high level. Our team of insurance technology professionals is passionate about helping agencies like yours leverage technology to meet business objectives and grow. To get the conversation started, please select one of the following divisions below and schedule a complimentary consultation. We look forward to talking with you!

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Best Microsoft Edge Productivity Features

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Close your eyes and think back to the early 2000’s. What was your web browser of choice?

According to major sources, if you browsed the web in the early 2000’s, there was a 75% chance you were using Microsoft Internet Explorer. The next decade would dethrone Microsoft as other browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari reduced Internet Explorer’s market share to less than 10%.

Microsoft needed to act – and fast!

In 2015 Microsoft introduced a new browser called Edge, which they hoped would help them earn back their spot at the top. This move was a clear indication that Internet Explorer did not have much of a future; Edge is the new future.

Luckily, Microsoft learned from their mistakes, and virtually everyone agrees that Edge is a huge improvement over Internet Explorer. This proves true in many aspects, such as better performance, enhanced security, and wider website compatibility.

But perhaps the most noteworthy improvement is the added productivity features now available in Microsoft Edge. By using just two of these new features which I will describe, I am confident that you can improve your workflows so you can get more done in less time with fewer headaches.

Vertical Tabs

The first feature is called Vertical Tabs. The term “tab” in web browsers, which has been around for a long time now, simply refers to an open web page; we can use multiple tabs to open several different web pages and keep them inside a single window.

Vertical Tabs is a new mode in Microsoft Edge that you can toggle on or off, and it offers a highly organized view of all the tabs you have open in Edge at any given time. You can even group tabs together into a “Tab Group”, which helps you keep related tabs under a common header. 

In my example, I have created three Tab Groups because my pages fit well into three distinct categories: Microsoft, KiteTech, and Microsoft Edge Article. You can collapse a Tab Group to hide its pages if you aren’t actively using them, like I did with KiteTech in my example.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To enable vertical tabs, click on the icon in the top-left corner of the window and then click “Turn on vertical tabs”.

Collections

The second feature, called “Collections”, adds a unique way of organizing not only web pages, but also other media like images and notes. A Collection is almost like a scrapbook for your ideas. You can combine all the different kinds of pieces that make up your idea and store them in Microsoft Edge where you can continue working on it.

Take this article for example. To write it, I needed a few things: a guide to help me remember my purpose for writing and target audience; a few general requirements to keep in mind; several web pages for research; and of course, the article document itself. Rather than try to keep all this information on a place like my desktop (or worse, inside my head), I added all the relevant content into a Collection which I titled “Microsoft Edge Article”. I did not write this entire article in one sitting, so my Collection helped me pick up right where I left off when I came back to my computer and opened Microsoft Edge. When I am done, I may delete that collection, but it surely is serving me well now while I am still working on it.

 

 

To access Collections, click the 3 dots menu  in the top-right and click on Collections. You can also choose to right-click on the Collections option and choose “Show in toolbar” to keep it visible in your Edge window at all times (see screenshot to the right).

 

Finally, while each of these features offers massive value on its own, I am particularly fond of how they combine to help you work better.

If you are browsing the web and opening several related web pages, you can click the Vertical Tabs menu and choose “Add all tabs to Collections”. This will create a new Collection containing all open web pages, and from there you can continue to fill that Collection with other related materials.

 

 

After you fill a Collection with web pages, you can right-click that Collection and choose “Open all”, and all the web pages in that Collection open under a Tab Group. Again, this may be useful if a project will take multiple sittings; by combining related web pages, you can easily continue right where you left off.

 

To tell the truth, the research that went into writing this article has even opened my eyes to some functionality I didn’t know existed in Microsoft Edge. I am hopeful that you will be able to include some of these techniques in your workflows and improve your productivity.

To learn more about KiteTech’s Managed IT and Consulting Services, please don’t hesitate to reach out and schedule a conversation. We’d love the opportunity to get to know you and your business and discover how we can help you meet your technology needs. 

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Daniel Gilbert

Chief Operating Officer
Kite Technology Group

The Latest Microsoft Teams Features to Try

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When the pandemic hit, a few things became instantly clear: our commutes will be almost non-existent; stocking up on toilet paper is a priority; and, of course, we were all going to have to learn to use one or more of the tools for remote meetings. For many of you (as well as KiteTech), that tool was Microsoft Teams.

As the world’s workforce rapidly embraced Teams, Microsoft started investing heavily in bringing improvements and new features to the Teams experience to help its users work smarter and more efficiently. Now that your work depends on Microsoft Teams, it is essential that you stay current with all the new additions to Teams as Microsoft releases them.

Arguably the best resource for staying knowledgeable about the new features in Teams is the “What’s New in Microsoft Teams” monthly newsletter on the Microsoft Teams Blog website. Each month, an article is released in a standard format outlining all the new features and updates from that month and includes detailed descriptions of each change.

Below are some notable improvements made to Microsoft Teams over the past several months.

Dynamic View (May)

This feature makes elements in a meeting move and resize automatically to optimize the viewing experience. For example, when certain participants in the meeting are having a conversation while someone is presenting, their faces may appear larger alongside the content being presented.

Attendance Dashboard (June)

A new tab in meetings that will report all attendees as well as the time they join, the time they leave, and the total time they spent in the meeting.

Spotlighting (June)

When you spotlight a meeting participant, their face shows as the most prominent element of the meeting until they are removed from the spotlight. Now, you can spotlight multiple participants at the same time.

Chat Bubbles (June)

You can now allow meeting chats to show in the form of chat bubbles above the content of the meeting. This allows for quick viewing of chat messages without the need to open the chat pane.

Lock Meeting (July)

Meeting organizers can now lock a meeting in progress, which prevents any further participants from joining the meeting.

Automatic Recording (July)

We have had the ability to record entire meetings and automatically store them in the cloud for quite some time. With this update, we can configure meetings to record, so we don’t need to remember to automatically press the record button at the start of the meeting.

Transfer Calls Between Desktop and Mobile (July)

For those who use Teams on their computers and mobile devices, sometimes the need arises to switch from one to the other. Now, we can transfer calls in progress between a desktop and mobile device without the call disconnecting.

New Presenter Modes (August)

When presenting content in Teams, you can choose different presenter modes that control where the content you present appears and where your video feed is shown. There are now two additional modes to choose from: Reporter Mode and Side-by-Side Mode.

Live Transcription and Captions (August)

This accessibility feature lets you display live captions to your meeting, translating the participant’s spoken word to text displayed at the bottom of the screen. (Learn more about Live Captions and Live Transcription).

Present Directly from PowerPoint (September)

There is now a button conveniently located in the PowerPoint ribbon which allows you to share your presentation directly through Teams.

CarPlay Support for Meetings (September)

If you drive a vehicle that uses Apple CarPlay, you can now join meetings and use some basic controls, similar to how you already use hands-free calling while driving.

The availability of these new features can depend on software updates and configuration policies. If you are interested in any of these features but cannot find them in Teams, ask your IT Provider to help you take advantage of them.

The updates presented above and many more are discussed in detail in the articles below. You can access the Microsoft Teams Blog regularly at the end of each month to make sure that you don’t ever miss a feature! 

If your organization is looking for help with adopting Microsoft Teams or other Microsoft solutions, please reach out and schedule a conversation with our Technical Consulting division. We would love the opportunity to learn more about your organization and help you accomplish your business objectives.

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Daniel Gilbert

Chief Operating Officer

Microsoft Teams Resources

Microsoft Teams Blog Home: Microsoft Teams Blog – Microsoft Tech Community

May: What’s New in Microsoft Teams | May 2021 – Microsoft Tech Community 

June: What’s New in Microsoft Teams | June 2021 – Microsoft Tech Community 

July: What’s New in Microsoft Teams | July 2021 – Microsoft Tech Community 

August: What’s New in Microsoft Teams | August 2021 – Microsoft Tech Community 

September: What’s New in Microsoft Teams | September 2021 – Microsoft Tech Community 

What to Expect with the Windows 11 Release

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Windows 11 was officially announced on June 24th, confirming rumors from several different sources over the past few months and was released as of October 5th. The new operating system is available as a free upgrade for eligible Windows 10 PCs, or on new hardware that ships with Windows 11 pre-loaded. Like many Windows upgrades in the past, it will be rolled out in phases. New eligible devices will get the upgrade first, and then Windows 11 will become available for more in-market devices.

What can you expect from this upcoming change? How will the upgrade impact your workflow? Can you use new features to assist you or should you be prepared to learn your operating system all over again? Kite Technology wants to help keep you informed on what you can expect from the Windows 11 update.

What is new with Windows 11?

1. Location of Start Menu and Start Button

The first thing you should notice with your brand new Windows 11 install is that your Start Menu and Start Button are no longer located on the bottom left-hand side of your screen, instead they are centered on your Taskbar. The new Start Menu attempts to clean up your program list and make it a lot easier to find the things you need. If you are signed into OneDrive on your computer, you can see what files were recently accessed, even if they weren’t accessed from your PC!

2. Layout Changes

Another small cosmetic change is that the edges of your programs are rounded instead of sharp, making your experience a little easier on your eyes. This will be useful when multiple programs are open at once. To make this easier Microsoft is introducing new Snap Layouts and Snap Groups. These features will allow you to multitask how you want, having several pages of snapped together windows and easy access to resizing buttons.

3. Desktops Feature

The new Desktops feature will allow you to have individually set-up home menus and screens for your pc, allowing you to easily switch between multiple sets of programs. Functionally, you could have a different group for every project you may be working on.

4. Microsoft Teams Accessibility

If you or your office uses Microsoft Teams, some features like chat are now instantly accessible from the Taskbar. Meaning that you can access conversations, mute and unmute, and even present to your groups with a single click!

5. New Widget and Gestures

Microsoft is also adding a new Widget and Gestures system to Windows 11. This will allow you to quickly drag a widget panel over your screen when you want to check the weather or look up how your favorite stock is doing at a glance. Microsoft is also planning 3rd party support for their widget menu, meaning you’ll have a whole host of useful widgets to choose from during your workday.

Native touch Gestures mean that for those of us with touchscreens or 2-in-1’s, it is now easy to move things around on screen and access what we need. Wake on Touch is another feature coming to your PC to help it behave a bit more like a tablet or phone, waking your computer up only after you touch the screen.

6. Support for Android Apps

The last large change we’ll be covering is that Windows 11 supports Android apps. You’ll be able to download them straight from the Microsoft store. This means you can download your favorite time-tracking or productivity app and use it natively from your desktop just like any other program.

Windows 11 is shaping up to be a feature packed update that will give you loads of new options to use your PC how you want. But Microsoft is also making sure to optimize your OS and make it faster than ever while still remaining recognizable. And while we don’t know a whole lot about it yet, Microsoft is also bumping up security for Windows 11, working hard to make sure your sensitive data is always secure.

So, how do you upgrade to Windows 11?

Now that you know a little more about what to expect with Windows 11, you’re probably wondering how to go about upgrading. Fortunately, Microsoft has made Windows 11 a free upgrade for all existing Windows 10 users.

To upgrade to Windows 11, simply open up your Update & Security tab on your system page. From there:

  • Click Windows Update
  • Next click Check for Updates
  • Once available click Download and Install
  • Give the program some time and your PC will restart with Windows 11

For any work devices managed by your internal or outsourced IT provider, you’ll want to stay in line with their policy and process for rolling out updates to your business. Before upgrading your work device, you should reach out to your IT provider and learn what their plan is for upgrading to Windows 11. For example, here at KiteTech, our default stance is to block the Windows 11 upgrade, preventing our managed users’ computers from upgrading automatically. As Windows 11 continues to gain steam in the market, KiteTech will work with our clients to develop a rollout strategy that’s appropriate for their organization.

Would you like to learn more about technology solutions that can benefit your business? Kite Technology is here to help. We are passionate about helping the organizations we work with leverage technology to improve their performance and profitability. Contact us today, to learn how our Managed IT and Technical Consulting Services can benefit your organization. 

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adam atwell

Adam Atwell

Cloud solutions architect

Adam is passionate about consulting with organizations across the country to help them develop and execute a cloud adoption strategy that meets their business needs and future objectives. Adam oversees and manages our company strategy for Microsoft 365 adoption and is responsible for future growth and development inside Microsoft 365 and other cloud technologies. 

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