Office Hours Blog

Cloud computing for the Office user

Office Hours Bloggers — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:34:46 GMT

(Toney Sisk is a writer for Microsoft Office, and his focus is on Project and Project Server.) No, computing in the clouds doesn't mean your computer (or you) can suddenly float. But you might ask yourself, Why would anyone want to leave the security...(read more)

Zen in the art of data management

Office Hours Bloggers — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:28:27 GMT

(Radhika Shankar was an international journalist before she boarded the technical and marketing content writing train about 10 years ago. She has enjoyed her writing journey that took her to creating advertising campaigns, documenting the nuts and bolts...(read more)

Take charge of your health – Office templates can help

Office Hours Bloggers — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:32:54 GMT

(Darla Crass is a technical writer for the Microsoft Office Online Web site. She started her career at Microsoft in Product Support answering questions about Windows 3.0. When she’s not at work, Darla enjoys remodeling her house and taking her two dogs...(read more)

How wikis help us wrangle team processes

Office Hours Bloggers — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:14:36 GMT

(Toni Saddler-French has been swimming in the waters of content creation for years and years, starting with Microsoft Word 1.1. She has worked with various Microsoft Office products, Internet Explorer, and server products and technologies. In this column,...(read more)

Blurring old border lines

Office Hours Bloggers — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 18:05:18 GMT

When you're overwhelmed by e-mail

Office Hours Bloggers — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:24:54 GMT

March Madness…Office style

Office Hours Bloggers — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:24:22 GMT

(This column was written with Kevin McDowell, who besides being a college basketball fan, is a Microsoft jack-of-all-trades, having worked in product support, training, user assistance, internal tools development and currently testing for Office Online....(read more)

More PowerPoint experts—How fifth graders presented the Bard

Office Hours Bloggers — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:28:51 GMT

(Shellie Tucker writes training courses and videos about PowerPoint and other Office programs. She also spouts off on this blog about both bad and good PowerPoint slides.) Maggie, Aeron, and Hannah are fifth graders who had the challenge of presenting...(read more)

Creating a simple custom workflow to send confirmation email

Office Hours Bloggers — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:02:46 GMT

( Loreen La Penna is site manager of an internal Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 site and a technical trainer who, at the start of her Microsoft career, fielded Windows 3.0 and Excel 4.0 support calls. Now, when she’s not nagging people to update their...(read more)

Bridled Creativity

Office Hours Bloggers — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:03:39 GMT

( Holly Thomas is a technical editor by occupational hazard who has segued into writing for this blog and for Inside Office Online. At work and at home she tends to lunge for bright shiny ideas. Learn more about her art and writing at www.mindzayestudio.com...(read more)

What every Business Major should know about presentations

Office Hours Bloggers — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:54:14 GMT

Eric Schmidt is a recent addition to the Microsoft PowerPoint User Assistance writing team. He is amazed that he now gets paid to play with PowerPoint slides. Follow him on Twitter (Schmidt_Eric)! As mentioned previously , students almost effortlessly...(read more)

Office Ninja: Create an instant table (Excel)

Office Hours Bloggers — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:57:00 GMT

The Office Ninja returns! Many readers enjoyed the Top 10 most useful secret ninja moves article, so Office Ninja continues the tradition of hidden shortcuts and time-saving tips here. You use Excel all the time for sorting lists. You already know how...(read more)

What do kids know about PowerPoint that we don’t?

Office Hours Bloggers — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 22:14:00 GMT

Kristin Beck is a Writer/Editor at Office Online. She has come to regard PowerPoint as an artistic medium. Eric Schmidt is a recent addition to the Microsoft PowerPoint User Assistance writing team. He is amazed that he now gets paid to play with...(read more)

Teach Grade School Students how to Use PowerPoint 2007

Office Hours Bloggers — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:51:00 GMT

Besides writing and publishing technical content about PowerPoint to Microsoft Office Online, in my spare time, Joy Miller is the mother of twin, ten year-old boys. My boys are in an accelerated 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classroom. The proud parent that...(read more)

It isn't just for manuals anymore

Office Hours Bloggers — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:26:00 GMT

Ed McKillop has been writing and editing technical and marketing content for over ten years. He has written catchy phrases and many manuals (some boring, some not so boring) for aircraft, servers, hardware, software, cell phones, and a machine that tested water and air for anthrax, back when no one knew what anthrax was. He lives quietly in Seattle, with his small dog Toby, and enjoys writing emails to his friends.

With any relationship you have, how you communicate is paramount. To make it work, you actively listen, ask good questions, and from that exchange you learn and grow. Last June, I started a new job, a new relationship, with Microsoft Office Online because this group puts significant work into listening to users of Word, Outlook, Excel, and the other Office products. What I especially appreciated was the focus on having that conversation in exciting ways: blogs such as this one, also videos, work scenarios, interviews; the list goes on.

As part of my job, I read through thousands of customer comments, perhaps one from you. Some customers are frustrated (where is the Office button…), many get the information they’re seeking, and there are moments when I laugh out loud — very creative and colorful language. Though I can’t share exactly what was said, the best comments go up on my whiteboard: I respect those willing and able to express themselves; I grew up where people shout out of car and living-room windows. The lesson I learned from that: it’s the message that matters.

For ten years I’ve been writing about technology and I can tell you that a great deal of that was incredibly boring. Don’t get me wrong, it was useful, clear and accurate, but not very interesting to the average person and not at all sexy. It was static. Lucky for me, times have changed. Much as Microsoft has evolved to become the company that listens to its customers, content has become a living, dynamic experience. It isn’t 200-page manuals any more. With e-mail, blogs, text and other technologies, we’re all real-time writers and that’s very powerful. Content is a conversation. We can know what’s happening with our loved ones right now, send a message across continents, mountains, and oceans in seconds; and an organization can hear and see what its customers think and feel. At Office Online we distill those thoughts and feelings and from that valued resource we create stories:

Crabby Office Lady: She tells it like it is, Office-program mysteries, and you can tell her what you think. Go ahead, she can take it.

Office Hours: Share in the joys and sorrows of our life with technology.

Top Hits of Office Online: Our greatest hits section – find out what zillions of Office Online customers downloaded in 2008.

At the end of each piece of content we produce, be it an article, Crabby, or Office Hours, you have the opportunity to express yourself. You’ll see the question, Was this information helpful? You can click Yes, No, or I don’t know. Tell us what you’re thinking and we will work to put those words into action.