Employee performance management tools in Microsoft 365?
So we are a relatively large organization and in drastic move, we've decided to shift from Google Workspace to Microsoft, primarily centering our employees around Microsoft Teams while trying to encourage them to use Copilot as effectively as possible. In this transition, one of the platforms we will be saying goodbye to will be our performance management software. Are there any Microsoft native performance management tools that can help us go through goal-setting, performance reviews, and feedback? Third party suggestions would also be good but only if they fit into the whole Microsoft workflow well.
PowerPoint NEW Image Editing Tools Explained — Remove Background, Upscale & Edit Images Instantly!
🚀 PowerPoint just received one of its most powerful updates ever! Microsoft has introduced a brand‑new built‑in image editing experience, allowing you to enhance visuals without leaving PowerPoint. In my latest YouTube video, I walk through all the new capabilities now rolling out in Microsoft 365, including: ✨ Remove background 🧽 Erase unwanted objects 🔄 Move elements inside an image 🔍 Upscale low‑resolution pictures ⚡ Auto‑enhance lighting & contrast 📝 Add or edit text directly on images All of this happens directly inside PowerPoint, making slide creation faster and more intuitive than ever. These features are now available on: 💻 Windows 🍎 Mac 🌐 PowerPoint for the Web If you work with presentations daily, this update is a real productivity boost. 📹 Watch the full breakdown and demo here ➡️ https://youtu.be/OZzfFi2qpAk Let me know what feature you find the most useful! 👇 #Microsoft365 #PowerPoint #Productivity #AI #Presentations #Microsoft365Insider #Creators
Peer recognition program in M365. Has anyone done this without a third-party tool?
HR wants to launch a peer recognition program where employees can give kudos to each other. They want it visible to the team, maybe tied to company values, and ideally something that feeds into performance reviews at year end. I looked at Viva Engage but its more of a social feed and theres no way to categorize recognitions by company values or pull them into reviews. Has anyone built something like this using M365 tools or found an app that handles it?
Word/PowerPoint are not suitable replacements for Publisher
I’m writing following the guidance that Word and PowerPoint can be used as replacements for Publisher. This feedback is based on completing a real production document, not theoretical use Having just completed a fairly complex, layout-heavy technical document, I thought it only fair to share how that works in practice. In theory, I can see the logic: Word handles documents PowerPoint handles layouts Therefore, between the two, everything should be covered Unfortunately, in reality, this appears to be more of a theoretical exercise than a practical solution. Publisher was clearly designed for: Fixed, page-based layouts Precise positioning of objects Efficient alignment of mixed content (text, images, tables) Producing consistent, professional multi-page documents By comparison: Word is admirably committed to reminding you that it would prefer everything to flow freely, regardless of whether you want it to or not PowerPoint, while better behaved, does seem to assume every page is a standalone slide rather than part of a structured document Both tools can, with enough persistence, be persuaded into doing the job. However, this involves a level of manual intervention, workaround, and general negotiation with the software that feels somewhat at odds with modern productivity software. To put it simply: They are not replacements in any meaningful, real-world sense. The end result can be achieved, but the process is unnecessarily time-consuming, fragile, and prone to unexpected layout changes—particularly when precision actually matters. Replacing a purpose-built publishing tool with two applications that were never designed for that role gives the impression that this use case has been… optimistically simplified. I would strongly encourage Microsoft to either: Provide a genuine page-layout solution within the Office suite, or Enhance existing applications so they can support fixed-layout publishing without constant workarounds At present, the gap left by Publisher is very noticeable for anyone producing structured documents beyond basic text. I appreciate the direction of Microsoft 365 overall, but in this particular area, the experience feels less like an evolution and more like working around a missing tool. Regards AndyAllow Canvas Studio Public Embeds in Microsoft Sway
Sway is a hidden gem inside of Microsoft 365. I just discovered it, and it's an amazing tool to turn old PowerPoints or even lecture notes into dynamic lessons for students! One limitation I'm running into is the embed whitelist. While I know this app likely has low priority, is there any chance there is a way to request a specific site be added to the embed whitelist? My biggest priority would be Instructure's Canvas Studio. Microsoft's new LTI 1.3 integration with Canvas has some rough edges, but it's an amazing start! Thing is, I don't want to share a wall of text lecture notes from Microsoft Word through OneDrive. I like the dynamic and more visually oriented style of Sway. The Problem: Currently, when trying to embed instructional videos from Canvas Studio into a Sway presentation, the platform blocks the embed code. This forces educators to either upload duplicate files to a different hosted service (like YouTube or Vimeo) or break the seamless student experience by using text hyperlinks. And the problem with YouTube is that many of our local community partners at K-12 schools have YouTube blocked on the Chromebooks early college students use. Proposed Solution: White-list Canvas Studio public embed domains so that users can seamlessly paste iframe code from Canvas Studio directly into Sway Embed Cards. This will create a smoother workflow for the thousands of schools utilizing both Microsoft 365 and Canvas LMS. And while you're in there adding Canvas, You might consider expanding that whitelist further. Scribe tutorials would be great, or similar services. TikTok might be controversial, but that would be good. Students don't click links; they'll click play on embedded content. Expand the whitelist, please!Microsoft 365 Apps SHOULD NOT overwrite Office 2019/2021 one-time retail installs
I want to raise a serious concern about Microsoft 365 Apps being imposed over existing Office 2019/2021 installations that were activated with legitimate one-time installation retail keys. In our case, these are not Microsoft 365 subscriptions and they are not licenses we can simply deactivate and reactivate freely. They are one-time installation retail keys. Once the product has been installed and activated, removing Office and reinstalling it later can make the original key unusable or trigger “already used” activation problems. That is precisely why the current behavior is so damaging. We have PCs with legitimate Office 2019/2021 installations. These machines did not request a migration to Microsoft 365 Apps. However, after internet connection, Office update activity, or Microsoft account interaction, Office appears to silently update, convert, or replace the existing retail installation with the Microsoft 365 Apps version. This is not a minor inconvenience. It creates a serious licensing and operational problem: -A valid one-time Office 2019/2021 installation is replaced by Microsoft 365 Apps without clear, explicit consent. -The original retail installation is no longer cleanly usable. -Fixing the issue requires uninstalling Office, removing Click-to-Run/licensing/account leftovers, and reinstalling the previous Office 2019/2021 version. -But because these keys are one-time installation keys, that reinstall process can render the original key unusable or create activation failures. -In practice, a forced Microsoft 365 conversion can destroy the value of a legitimate one-time Office license. From a user’s perspective, this looks less like a normal software update and more like an exploitative commercial strategy: using Microsoft’s control over Office updates, account sign-ins, Click-to-Run, and activation systems to push already-paid retail users toward Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Even if Microsoft does not intend that result, the practical effect is that users who already paid for Office 2019/2021 can lose practical access to their licensed product and are then nudged toward paying again through a subscription. This should not happen. A perpetual or one-time installation Office license and Microsoft 365 Apps are different products with different licensing models. Microsoft should not silently replace or convert one into the other because a Microsoft 365 account exists on the PC, because the user signs into Office, because OneDrive is present, or because Office updates are enabled. At minimum, Microsoft should provide: -A clear opt-in confirmation before replacing, converting, upgrading, or rebranding Office 2019/2021 retail installations as Microsoft 365 Apps. -A supported way to block Microsoft 365 Apps from taking over one-time installation Office versions. -A clean removal tool that fully removes Microsoft 365 Apps, Click-to-Run leftovers, licensing remnants, and account-based activation conflicts. -A reliable way to restore the original Office 2019/2021 retail installation without invalidating or losing the original one-time key. -Clear separation between Windows account sign-in, OneDrive sign-in, Microsoft 365 entitlement, and local Office retail activation. Users who purchased legitimate one-time installation Office licenses should not be forced into Microsoft 365 Apps by unclear update behavior. If Microsoft wants users to move to Microsoft 365, that should be a deliberate, informed choice — not a silent process that leaves the user cleaning up the installation and losing access to a paid retail license. I am not asking how to install Microsoft 365. I am asking Microsoft to stop Microsoft 365 Apps from taking over valid one-time Office 2019/2021 installations without explicit consent.Managing Two MSFT Licenses
Hi, I had an old hotmail.com email address but it doesn't exist anymore per MSFT. I purchased an annual Excel annual license several months ago but I can't find an email about it on my Gmail inbox. I just signed up for MSFT 365. How can I find the Excel license subscription so that it doesn't auto-renew?
