Welcome to your weekly dose of productivity and insights, tailored for the busy professional. If you were forwarded this message, you can get the free weekly email here.

In today's Between the Sheets:

• a handy cheat sheet of Windows shortcuts
• Join my free live webinar on Feb 8!
• get achievement badges for completing our courses 🆕

⌨️ Master shortcuts to navigate Windows like a pro (updated for Win 11)

Keyboard shortcuts aren't just about saving time; they're about improving your workflow, making every moment you spend with Windows smoother and more intuitive. 😊

That's why we created this easy-to-use Windows 11 Keyboard Shortcuts cheat sheet. It's your go-to guide for every essential shortcut, covering everything from basic navigation to advanced functionalities.

Download Cheat Sheet​

You probably know some of the shortcuts I use a lot: Win+V to open clipboard history and paste multiple copied items is my go to. I also like to enhance reports with symbols and emojis, easily accessible with Win + period.

If you work with a large monitor, use snap layouts, dividing your windows into their own dedicated corners. Simply press Win+Z.

Alt+Tab lets you cycle between open apps, and Win+Tab between apps and desktops.

If your Windows already has built-in Copilot, you can call it up using Win+C.

Win+X gives you many options for the price of one shortcut 💪 - it opens Quick Link which allows you to run many useful features, including File Explorer, System Settings, Task Manager, as well as shut down the computer for a well-deserved break. 😉

(BTW, you can also access Power Options from Quick Link and change them so that every shutdown is a fresh reboot, just like a restart.)

Learning a few shortcuts can speed up your work (and ease the mouse strain on your hand). For all other shortcuts, keep our cheat sheet handy. 😊

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📢 New at XelPlus: Digital Badges!

Big news! We've launched a new program where you get a special digital badge after completing an XelPlus course. We're working with Credly to make this happen.

What's in it for you?

• Show Your Achievements: You can add these badges to your email, LinkedIn, or resume. It's a simple way to show off what you've learned.
• Get Noticed: These badges tell employers what skills you have. It's a clear way to show you're right for the job.
• Join the Pros: Big names like Microsoft also use Credly for awards.

Want to see? Here's a look at how my Microsoft MVP badge looks like on LinkedIn:

These are the badges we've created for the courses. Once you complete a course, you can proudly display it on your profile.

What if you've already completed the course and got your certificate?

First of all, GREAT JOB! 🙌

If you'd like a digital badge, just reply to this email and we'll issue it for you.

🤓 Geeky News

📋 MS Forms now automatically syncs to Excel!

When you create a new Form directly from the Forms website (or the new Forms app), you can now open its results in Excel so that they're saved to OneDrive and update live with every new response.

(Before it was only possible if you created the Form from Excel Online.)

Since the results are organized in an official Excel table, you can use it as a source for analysis. Your report will update automatically as well. No more overwriting file instances; you get a master file with responses for every form and survey.

(For more ideas on how to put Forms to use in your business, check out this video).

🎙️ Teams made it easier to control audio and video settings

You'll notice new options when you join your next Teams call - a camera and mic icons that you can easily expand to explore available options.

With the camera, you can change the background, adjust brightness, apply soft focus and access more video effects and settings.

With the mic, you can change the audio input and output device, apply background noise suppression, and more.

These settings were previously quite hidden. This left many users fumbling through the many layers of settings to switch their microphone or quickly hide their background. 😉

It's currently in preview, and hopefully will soon be generally available.

👥 New View options in Teams meetings

Camera and Mic are not the only accessibility improvement to Teams meetings. It's also easier to customize the view of the meeting. You get more view options, which you can access directly from the meeting menu on top.

You can switch between the default gallery, speaker view, together mode. You can even select how many participants you want to see in the gallery view.

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💚 My Favorite Things - Global Summit Free Community Day

​Global Excel Summit is fast approaching. I hope to meet many of you in person in London on the 6-7th February (and online on the 8th).

But if a 3-day event seems too long or you're not able to travel, you can participate online.

The community day on February 8th is free and you get to take part in up to 10 webinars from renowned Excel Experts and MVPs. You can sign up HERE.

One of the free webinars will be mine! I'm very excited about the topic and I'm curious what you'll think.

I found inspiration in an unlikely place - social media. Join me to explore charts that blend business practicality with a fresh style, and let's recreate some cool charts together. 📈 You might be surprised just what's possible in Excel.

🕙 So book your calendars for February 8th, 10:00 AM GMT.

BTW, I also started recording lectures for a new "Business Charts" course. Feels like going back to my roots with the very first course I created. It was Charts in Excel 2010. We've archived it on XelPlus. This new course will showcase all the amazing improvements that have since come to Excel. Plus, the emphasis is on "business" - think charts and techniques straight out of McKinsey and The Economist.

I know these days it feels like it's all about Power BI visualizations, but don't discount Excel. Sometimes it's all you need to create a striking and informative report (especially as Power BI licenses remain costly for many smaller organizations). Stay tuned!

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👏 Power Stories

Shoutout to Eris who completed both Fast Track to Power BI and Master Excel Power Query courses. Congratulations on your new certificates!

Power Query is a great skill to have, because it's transferable between tools like Excel and Power BI.

Got a success story about using your XelPlus skills? I’d love to hear it! Hit reply to share the details, and inspire other students. 😇

See you next week,

Leila

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