For years, I did something I'm a little embarrassed to admit now.

Every time I needed to present pivot table data, I'd copy it out. Paste it as values into a separate sheet. Then format it manually.

My pivot table stayed hidden in the background like a rough draft nobody was allowed to see.

Why did I do this? Pivot table default styles are just ugly. Nothing to impress management with.

It never occurred to me that the pivot table itself could look like this:

Yes. That's a pivot table. Fully dynamic. Fully interactive. Visual indicators for anything over budget. And it took me just a few minutes to set it up.

The setup is a one-time thing. Once you have it, you can copy the style into any workbook you need it in.

Had I known this earlier, my life would have been a whole lot easier.

​Watch how to set it up yourself​

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🤓 Geeky News

🎬 Teams now makes highlight reels of your meetings

Microsoft is testing a new Teams feature called Video Recap.

It takes a recorded meeting and turns it into a short narrated highlight video. Key moments, actual clips, slides that were shared. You get the gist without watching the whole thing.

Available in preview now. Meetings need to be between 10 and 90 minutes to qualify, and the recap shows up about 10-15 minutes after the recording finishes uploading.

Useful if you're the person who always misses the 8am call. 👀

🔒 You can now set file permissions in Office on the web

If your organization uses sensitivity labels in Microsoft 365, you used to have to switch to the desktop app to set custom permissions on a file. Who can view it, who can edit it, which domains have access.

That's now possible directly in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint on the web.

Same experience as the desktop. No switching apps.

Mostly relevant if your IT team has sensitivity labels configured through Microsoft Purview. If you don't know what that is, your IT department does. 😉

💻 Windows Insider Program is getting a cleanup

Microsoft is simplifying the Windows Insider channels. Three channels (Canary, Dev, Beta) are being collapsed into two: Experimental and Beta.

The more useful change: no more gradual rollouts. If a feature gets announced for Beta, you'll actually have it after updating. No more reading about something new and then not finding it on your device. That's been the number one complaint from Insiders.

Experimental channel users will also get a Feature flags page to turn specific announced features on or off themselves.

If you're not a Windows Insider, none of this affects you. If you are, it's a welcome cleanup.

Note: Windows Insider is separate from the Microsoft 365 Insider program, which gives you early access to new Office features.

👏 Better equipped

Abhipsa works in Talent Development and People Analytics, a field where the data questions are serious and the tool is usually just Excel. Pivot tables aren't optional there. They're the job.

After completing Pivot Table Mastery:

If pivot tables are a regular part of your work, take a look at what's inside the course.

See you next week,

Leila

When you're ready, here are some ways we can help:

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