6 hidden Microsoft Office features that will transform your productivity

Microsoft’s Office suite is popular for its widely-used applications in the business world. Even if your workplace doesn’t mandate using it, you can use programs like Excel to create workout plans or diet charts for yourself. Moreover, Microsoft has supercharged Office with Copilot, which means there are several projects that AI can handle for you. Beyond these cool tricks, Microsoft Office offers numerous ways to enhance your productivity. One of them is using some lesser-known, hidden features to improve your productivity.

No, I’m not talking about generic features like using default templates on PowerPoint or syncing your OneNote files across devices. There are actually some amazing features baked into the Office suite but are tucked away and, hence, hard to find. Well, not after today.

6 Smart Lookup

View definitions with context

Smart Lookup is easily one of the features I use the most in MS Word. As the name suggests, the feature looks up a word or phrase you select and provides further information, like the meaning, Wikipedia definitions, etc. The reason it’s smart is that, unlike a simple Google search, Smart Lookup provides suggestions based on the context of the text.

There have been situations where I’m unsure if a particular word can be used in a specific context while writing an article. In such cases, I use Smart Lookup to check for correctness or find a more relevant replacement for the word or phrase. While one may argue that a quick search on Google or ChatGPT can yield the same results, I see two advantages to using Smart Lookup.

One, it’s quick since it is happening within the Word app. Two, I don’t have to switch to my browser and get into the endless loop of scrolling through social media, which leads to more wasted time. Talk about improving productivity!

5 Ink Replay

Relive your drawings

Credits: Microsoft

This one quite literally does exactly what the name suggests. Some apps in the Office suite allow you to draw inside them. For example, you can draw within Word to add shapes to your document or sign a contract. PowerPoint lets you draw on slides to add extra elements to your presentations. Of course, OneNote also has a drawing feature you can use to make flowcharts or diagrams when taking notes.

Let’s say you’ve used the draw feature in any of these apps, but you’re unable to figure out the order in which you drew a certain flowchart, or you want to animate how you moved your stylus to draw an image. You can do precisely that with the help of Ink Replay. Your drawings disappear momentarily and reappear in the same order you drew them. It’s also helpful if you’re a teacher and want to display how you drew something to your students.

4 Dictation

Convert speech to text

Credits: Microsoft

Using dictation to reply to text messages on smartphones is quite common. But what if we could use the same functionality to type long documents on our computers? Well, Dictation has made it happen. There are instances when I’m brainstorming ideas for an article, and I’m too lazy to note them down since there are so many thoughts flowing. That’s when I use Dictation in Word.

All I have to do is speak my thoughts aloud, and Word registers them and converts them into text. This way, I have all my ideas documented without putting much effort into manually typing every single point. Note that the accuracy can be hit or miss depending on the pace of your speech or your accent. Notably, the feature even works on the free web version of Office.

3 Quick Parts and AutoText

Add blocks of text with a single click

Credits: Microsoft

Depending on what you’re typing, you may need to use the same block of text multiple times in a single document. For example, if you’re drafting a contract, a specific clause may appear numerous times with minute changes. Instead of repeating the entire content, you can save a text block in the Quick Parts gallery. Once done, you can reuse the same block with the click of a button. This also saves you from copying and pasting multiple times, since you may have other bits of information to store on the clipboard.

Select the text block you want to save, then go to Insert > Quick Parts > Save Selection to Quick Part Gallery. When it’s time to use the text block, head to Insert > Quick Parts and select the relevant information to add. For smaller chunks of text like phrases or the name of the author, if you’re writing a book, you can use AutoText instead. The procedure for using it is the same. Just select AutoText from the drop-down menu instead of Quick Parts.

2 Tell me

Your personal helper

The sheer number of functions and features in some Office apps can be rather intimidating. This is especially true for apps like Excel, where many ways exist to perform a specific task. An easy way to get to the option you’re looking for is by using the Tell me tab. You’ll find the option right at the top on all Office apps. Once you click on it, just type what you’re looking for and it will point you to the steps.

For example, I want to add a footer to my document on Word. So, I’ll click on Tell me and type “add a footer.” By doing this, I get straight to the option to add a footer instead of manually searching for it across the different menus.

1 Focused Inbox

Cut the crap

If your inbox is like mine and is cluttered with promotions and social media updates, you may find it hard to search for important emails. I once missed an email from the HR of a company I’d applied to just because I couldn’t sift through a ton of junk emails in my inbox. That’s when I wished I could organize emails from important senders into a special folder.

Enter Focused Inbox on Outlook. The feature automatically segregates essential emails into a folder while keeping the spam in a separate one. This way, you can only focus on the emails that truly matter to you. While Outlook automatically determines which senders are important, you can manually whitelist specific email IDs from your organization or clients so you don’t miss seeing them. Trust me, there’s no going back once you use Focused Inbox.

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Use Office like a pro

Using the above-mentioned tools and features in Office will improve your productivity whenever you’re working. I use Smart Lookup and Dictation tools almost every day, and they’ve helped me get more work done in less time. What’s your favorite productivity feature in MS Office?