Matt Wade

Matt is an engineer-turned-IT nerd and Microsoft MVP. His career began in the nuclear power design field and ended up in SharePoint adoption, pretty much by mistake. He’s best known for his SharePoint and Microsoft 365 infographics—especially the Periodic Table of Office 365—and advocating Microsoft Teams as the modern workplace.

Recent posts

Periodic Table of Microsoft 365 - 2022 Edition

The long-awaited update is here. Check out the 2022 version of the popular Periodic Table of Microsoft 365, now with Microsoft Viva, Microsoft Loop, and Power Platform.

November 1, 2022

The Definitive Guide to Rockstar Meetings in Microsoft Teams - 2022 Edition!

Everyone's stuck in online meetings these days, but who actually knows how to be a good meeting lead or attendee in Teams? You can, with this definitive guide to work from home and distance learning meetings in Teams.

October 23, 2021

How to sync OneDrive, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams files to computer or smart phone

OneDrive is more than just a place to store your files. It's a sync tool to let you store OneDrive, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams files locally on your computer and smartphone so you can access files when you have weak or no internet access. Here's how to manage it.

April 13, 2021

An everyday intro to Approvals in Microsoft Teams

Approvals have come to Microsoft Teams, but how do they work and will they do the job for you? Let's find out.

March 12, 2021

An intro to channel calendars in Microsoft Teams

Channel calendars were recently released to Microsoft Teams and they’re very handy in centralizing all those channel meetings you might be using, but they’re maybe not the calendar solution you’ve been hoping for.

January 16, 2021

Upcoming Azure, Office 365, and SharePoint Conferences

Lots of in-person conferences have been cancelled. The smart ones have moved to an online format. Here's a best-effort list of the Microsoft 365, Office 365, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, Power Platform, etc. conferences available.

December 20, 2020

Set your Teams status for a certain period of time

Set yourself as away, offline, you name it for specific amounts of time to let you get work done without being bothered.

November 23, 2020

How to control file permissions in Microsoft Teams chats

Sharing files in Teams chat is easy. But now there are permissions options, which makes things a bit more complex—but useful! Here's how to do it!

November 20, 2020

Use the new built-in polls in Microsoft Teams meetings

Polls are not built in to Teams meetings. Get a quick response to a question using this Microsoft Forms plugin. No additional software (or skills!) required.

November 18, 2020

Add emoji to your Channels in Microsoft Teams

Adding emoji to Channel names in Microsoft Teams can help you quickly identify which Channel is for what. Almost like branding your Channels. Here's how to do it, along with some caveats to know.

November 11, 2020

Microsoft Teams web getting an updated look and feel

Starting in November 2020, Microsoft Teams for the web will get an update to bring it in line with the Fluent UI standard.

October 29, 2020

Appear offline in Microsoft Teams

Keep time-sucking colleagues away by setting your Microsoft Teams status to appear offline and even set a timer on it so you don't have to remember to turn it off later!

October 28, 2020

How to get a refund for Office 365 downtime

Sometimes Microsoft 365, Office 365, and Azure stop working. If they go down long enough, you're entitled to a service credit. Here's how to get it.

October 26, 2020

Which Tool When: All the Microsoft 365 Apps

Behold! The definitive guide to all the Microsoft and Office 365 apps and when you should use which. Or, at least, a very beginner’s intro to each one.

October 20, 2020

How to use the new attendance report in Microsoft Teams meetings

Teams recently rolled out an upgrade to the attendance report. We cover everything you need to know to make the most of it.

October 12, 2020

Get notified when Office 365 or Microsoft Teams is down

Systems go down all the time and Microsoft 365 is no exception. But how do you stay on top of it so you don't waste your time trying to do work when you actually can't? Get notifications for when Office and other apps are down, of course!

October 8, 2020

How to share a Teams meeting recording with external attendees

Teams meeting recordings are now being stored in SharePoint and OneDrive, making sharing super easy. But we'll cover all the ways to share those videos with all your meeting attendees.

October 5, 2020

How to view a Teams meeting window while you're screen sharing

Don't let screen sharing keep you from checking in on your meeting attendees or chat. We cover four tips to juggle the two successfully in your next meeting.

October 2, 2020

How to use breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams

One of the most anticipated features in Microsoft Teams is here! And we've got you covered with this guide to what you need to know to make the most of breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams.

September 26, 2020

Biggest Microsoft 365 announcements from Ignite 2020

Microsoft Ignite provided a crap-ton of feature announcements and releases for Microsoft 365. These are the important ones that will impact everyday people in a real way.

September 24, 2020

Matt Wade's Ignite 2020 interview resources

Catch up on all the resources Matt discussed during his discussion about Microsoft Teams meetings at Ignite 2020!

September 23, 2020

The Microsoft Teams tutorial that will make you an expert today

Confused by Microsoft Teams and all the complex features it comes with? This quick but thorough overview of all the major features is just what you're looking for.

September 21, 2020

How to see PowerPoint presenter view when sharing your slides and video in a Microsoft Teams meeting

Diving further down the rabbit hole of sharing both your video and content in a Teams meeting, this post explains how to share your PowerPoint slides and your webcam feed while still giving you access to PowerPoint presenter view.

September 18, 2020

How to use Together Mode and large gallery view in Microsoft Teams meetings

Make the most of two of the biggest features to come to Teams meetings in 2020, the big ol' grid of people and the surprise family-style meeting.

September 16, 2020

How to present in Microsoft Teams meetings with two monitors

Teams meetings become insanely better when you're running them on multiple monitors. Here's how to juggle two screens like a pro.

September 14, 2020

How to present your video and content side by side in a Microsoft Teams meeting

Present your screen content and webcam feed side by side, on top of each other, or however you want, in your Teams meeting with this handy trick.

September 8, 2020

9 resources you should be following to stay up to date with the change cycle in Office 365

Keeping up with all the changes in Microsoft 365 seems like a daunting task, but with a little discipline and a smart listing like this one, it should be a lot easier.

September 2, 2020

Two easy ways to share an email from Outlook to Teams

The best integration between Outlook and Teams recently got even better! Share an email directly from Outlook or forward it to a channel email address. Here's how.

August 27, 2020

Remove yourself as a guest from another Teams organization

Being a guest in another organization's Microsoft Teams system can be incredibly useful, but how do you remove yourself when you no longer need access?

August 23, 2020

Which Tool When: SharePoint, OneDrive, or Microsoft Teams

One of the most common questions to come up in Office 365: when should I use SharePoint and when should I use OneDrive? And what about Microsoft Teams and its files? How are we supposed to make sense of all this!?

August 18, 2020

Convert an email into a calendar event or task just by dragging

Outlook has this nifty trick where you can drag an email right into the task pane and create either an appointment or task based on that email, or both!

August 12, 2020

WTW: Microsoft To Do, Microsoft Planner, Microsoft Lists, or Tasks in Microsoft Teams

Here's how to navigate the complex task management setup in Microsoft 365.

August 11, 2020

The right way to present a PowerPoint file during a Microsoft Teams meeting

There is a correct way to present a slide deck during a Teams meeting. And it's stupidly simple. Here's how to do it.

August 7, 2020

A simple overview of Microsoft Lists

Microsoft Lists offers beautiful UI enhancements to SharePoint lists for all your tracking, planning, and task management needs. Get this quick intro to how Lists works.

July 30, 2020

Microsoft 365 updates and news from Microsoft Build

It came as a bit of a surprise that Microsoft Build--the popular developer-focused conference--was also a source for some general Office 365, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams updates. Here's what we learned.

May 22, 2020

How it was made: The Periodic Table of Office 365

A lot of people ask how the Periodic Table of Office 365 came to being. Take a walk through history into why the table was needed, the steps it took to get to the final product, and how graphics can really help when it comes to human understanding.

May 12, 2020

Schedule your Teams meeting with FindTime

Whenever you need to schedule a meeting with people outside your organization, FindTime is the way to do it. Easily source attendees' availability and preferences with this free Microsoft plugin.

May 9, 2020

Everyday Etiquette in Microsoft Teams - 2022 Edition!

Your essential listing of the everyday tips & tricks, best practices, and life hacks for making the most of Microsoft Teams. For companies, schools, universities, and government agencies.

April 19, 2020

Use custom backgrounds in Microsoft Teams

Add a little personality to your Teams meeting with custom background images.

April 14, 2020

Screen and app sharing options in Microsoft Teams meetings

Keep everyone on the same page — literally! — by sharing your screen, apps, or presentations during Microsoft Teams meetings. Here's how to do it right.

April 5, 2020

9 things you need to stop doing during online meetings

We're all guilty of a faux pas here and there when we're on a conference call or online meeting. Here are the most common no-no's and how you can work to make the meeting a more enjoyable—even professional—experience.

March 27, 2020

How to start or join a meeting in Microsoft Teams

There are a number of ways to get a Teams meeting going. Here's an everyday overview on how to start or join your meeting.

March 25, 2020

How to schedule a meeting in Microsoft Teams

Everything you need to know to schedule meetings in Microsoft Teams, written just for the everyday Teams user.

March 23, 2020

Microsoft Teams tips and tricks for remote working and distance learning

With an unprecedented number of employees working from home and students distance learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft Teams is the new workplace and school for millions of people. Here's how to make the most of it.

March 15, 2020

Why ‘Email a Channel’ is the best hidden feature in Microsoft Teams

Forward any email to Microsoft Teams so you can work on it and its attachments right where you prefer to work. Easy and convenient!

January 23, 2020

The OneDrive Family Tree

The OneDrive brand is used in a lot of places but means different things depending on context. Here's how to tell which OneDrive is the one you're talking about.

December 1, 2019

How to stay up to date with Office 365 life cycle changes

Keeping up with the life cycle of Office 365 is hard. Here are some go-to resources to make that process easier.

November 29, 2019

The Basics of SharePoint Document Libraries

Document libraries are a fundamental aspect of pretty much any use of SharePoint. They act as the repository for any and all files. Even page libraries, media libraries, and the like are based on document libraries. So even if you don’t think you’re using them, you likely are. Learn all you need to know with this infographic.

November 27, 2019

Resources from Matt Wade’s 2019 Ignite sessions

Catch up on Matt's sessions from Microsoft Ignite 2019, complete with hand outs, video recordings of the sessions, and additional resources to help you get acquainted with Teams, bots, and more.

November 14, 2019

Everything you need to know about Private Channels in Microsoft Teams

The most-requested feature ever for Microsoft Teams is now officially available. Here are the ins and outs of using them smartly and avoiding some land mines along the way.

November 4, 2019

The Document Circle of Life in Office 365

Should I use SharePoint or OneDrive? This is a critical question in Office 365. It's not as simple as which app; it comes down to how your documents start their lives, work through collaboration, get published, and are put to death. This infographic should provide some ideas to get you going.

October 23, 2019

An Everyday Guide to Microsoft Office 365 Groups

Microsoft 365 Groups can be confusing. This infographic covers what happens behind the scenes when you create a Microsoft Team, Yammer Community, or Outlook Group.

October 22, 2019

Matt Wade’s Quick Guide to Microsoft Ignite 2019

So you're going to Microsoft Ignite? Here are some tips, tricks, and ideas to make the most of your trip to Orlando.

October 7, 2019

Which Tool When: Microsoft Teams or Yammer

Teams and Yammer may seem similar on the surface, but any deep dive into the apps will show clear differences for best uses of the tools. Jump into the reasons to use Yammer, Teams, or both, and how to make the most of each.

February 27, 2019

Which Tool When: Outlook or Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is giving Outlook a run for its money. But when should you use Teams instead of Outlook? Or vice versa? Here's everything you could want to know about juggling the two.

September 18, 2018

Which Tool When: Project or Planner

Microsoft has two major project management apps as part of Office 365. But which should you use? Microsoft Project or Microsoft Planner? Dive into the details of when to use each.

August 22, 2018

Which Tool When: SharePoint or OneDrive - 2018

Should I use SharePoint or OneDrive for this? It's one of the most common questions in the Office 365 space. This article looks at the two and recommends best practices for common situations.

July 18, 2018

“I Don’t Trust the Cloud” — Actually, You Do

Business decision makers worldwide still get itchy when their employees and IT staff ask to move to modern tools that are built "in the cloud". Here's why the concept isn't actually all that new to us.

November 20, 2017

6 Pitfalls to Avoid When Using Microsoft Teams

Teams offers a ton of benefits for accessing all your work via a single pane of glass, but there are some surprise negatives if you're not prepared. Here are some things to know of before diving too deeply.

August 26, 2017

8 Surprisingly Great Things About Microsoft Teams

Teams isn't just a Millennial replacement for email and Outlook. There are bunch of really great features that make a major difference in your everyday productivity and efficiency. These are the ones that help the most.

July 15, 2017