Every Office 365 subscriber regularly receives a new and improved set of Office features. As part of the 365 Miniseries, we have selected some interesting and practical improvements for an easier everyday work life.

Background blur or change in Microsoft Teams

A lot has been said about Microsoft Teams. Detailed information about this service is available in an article on our blog. So what’s new in this virtual communication space?

Microsoft Team is a popular video conferencing services which allows you to stay in touch with colleagues, no matter the location. Sometimes, however, what appears in the background during the video call can be disturbing. Therefore, Microsoft Teams offers the ability to blur or completely change your background.

When connected to a Microsoft Teams call, choose More options > Blur background. You as the caller, will appear clearly but everything in your background will be blurred. In addition to the blurred background, users can also choose their own image to appear behind them. As with the blurred background, the user is clearly seen, while his background is hidden by an image.

XLOOKUP in Excel

XLOOKUP is the successor to the royal function of Excell VLOOKUP. We use XLOOKUP if we need to find things in a table or region by line. For example, we can search for the price of an automotive part by part number or search for an employee’s name based on their identification number. With XLOOKUP, we can search for a term in one column and return the result from the same row in another column, regardless of which side the column returns on.


Find more about the XLOOKUP function here.

Ink Replan in Office

Inking, or using a pen or finger on a computer screen, is becoming increasingly popular. This feature is most used for highlighting text or adding information.

At the time the inking is inserted into a text, everything seem completely understandable. However, there may also be times when we do not recall what each written note stands for. This is where the new Ink Replay feature in Office, comes in. This tool records inserted notes giving the reader a better understanding of the entire text including the visuals added.

Ink replay works in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. You can find it on the Drawing tab. Select using a finger or pen to draw, make your edits and press Play Ink to replay your moves.

For more info visit Microsoft.com