Topics Map > Features and Functionality
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Microsoft 365 - What features are included in Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 service includes a number of online applications/features with which many campus students and employees are already familiar with. Note: Microsoft continues to add new features/applications to Microsoft 365. Due to resource limitations, certain features/applications are currently not activated/enabled. If there is a feature or application change request, please submit your request to the DoIT Help Desk so it can be properly vetted and prioritized.

Features/applications enabled/available

  • Microsoft 365 desktop applications for Windows/MacOS (Microsoft 365 for Enterprise/Subscription)

    The full-fledged version of Microsoft 365 desktop applications includes:

    • Windows OS: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, Outlook, and OneDrive for Business.
    • Mac OS: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook.
    Install latest version of Microsoft 365 desktop applications.
  • OneNote 365 desktop app

    Microsoft OneNote is your digital notebook for capturing and organizing everything across your devices. Jot down your ideas, keep track of classroom and meeting notes, clip from the web, or make a to-do list, as well as draw and sketch your ideas. Learn more. Important: OneNote will no longer be included within Office 365 suite and instead will be a standalone application - Learn more.

  • OneNote Online

    Also bundled with Office Online, with OneNote Online, you can use your web browser to create, open, view, edit, format, and share the OneNote notebooks that you store on OneDrive for Business. For basic tasks related to OneNote Online, view Microsoft support documentation.

  • Office Apps for iOS and Android

    Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote apps that link to your UW-Madison Office 365 account are now available for these devices. The apps allow you read, create, and edit Office files. Download the apps from the App Store or Google Play.

  • Office Online

    These is the browser-based version of Microsoft Office that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. The Office Online applications can be a great alternative to installing the desktop version of Microsoft Office, or it can be used when you are away from your primary computer. To access Office Online:

    1. Log in to Outlook on the web.
    2. Click on the app launcher.
    3. Select Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or OneNote.
  • OneDrive for Business

    This cloud storage and file sharing application can be accessed via Outlook on the web or the OneDrive for Business desktop application. It allows users to upload files to the cloud, then either share with contacts or keep them private. Learn more.

  • Project

    Project application allows you to view other projects shared with you. It will not allow you to create a new Project. For options on software which allows you to create Projects, please see the following article: Buying Project.

  • Groups

    An Office 365 Group is shared workspace for email, conversations, files, and events. It includes an Inbox, Calendar, and OneDrive for Business storage. All groups are public by default to make joining a group easier. For a quick overview of groups, watch this video. Additional information about groups can be found in this document.

  • Security Groups

    An Office 365 Security Group is a collection of two or more people that appears in your organization&acirc's address book. It can be used to distribute messages to a group of users, or to grant access permissions to NetID, Service, or Resource accounts. Learn more.

  • Class Notebook

    Also bundled with Office Online, Class Notebook is a collaborative addition to OneNote, Microsoft's note taking product. More information about Class Notebook can be found here. The Learn@UW team and others will be evaluating whether Class Notebook can be used alongside other teaching and learning products on campus, including Learn@UW and Moodle. There is no recommendation for its use at this time. Learn more.

  • Connectors - connect apps to your groups

    Connectors are online apps, tools, and services, such as Twitter, Trello, or RSS, that you probably use every day to connect and collaborate, stay on top of current events, track projects, and so on. They're integrated with Office 365 Groups and take just minutes to hook up. Learn more.

  • Copilot (formerly Bing Chat for Enterprise)

    Copilot can help you write text, analyze data, summarize documents, create images, write code, learn new skills and much more. Copilot has access to current internet data, enabling it to provide up-to-date responses to requests. Learn more.

    Note: Copilot is currently only available to faculty/staff. Students should have access by April 2024. Additionally, there are multiple Microsoft products titled as "Copilot". Copilot (formerly Bing Chat for Enterprise) is a separate product from Copilot for Microsoft 365. Please see below for more information about Copilot for Microsoft 365.

  • Delve

    Use Delve to manage your Office 365 profile, and to discover and organize the information that's likely to be most interesting to you right now - across Office 365. Learn more.

  • Dynamics 365

    Dynamics 365 is the next generation of intelligent business applications in the cloud. Dynamics 365 unifies CRM (Customer relationship management) and ERP (Enterprise resource planning) capabilities by delivering new purpose-built applications to help manage specific business functions, including Dynamics 365 for Sales, Dynamics 365 for Customer Service, Dynamics 365 for Field Service, Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation and Dynamics 365 for Operations.

    *NOTE: An additional license must be purchased to use this application. Learn more.

  • Flow

    Create automated workflows between your favorite apps and services to get notifications, synchronize files, collect data, and more. Flow allows you to react to an event in one service (such as SharePoint online) and do something with the data from that event in another (such as Twitter). Learn more.

  • Focused Inbox

    Focused Inbox helps you focus on the emails that matter most to you. It separates your inbox into two tabs - Focused and Other. Your most important emails are on the Focused tab while the rest remain easily accessible - but out of the way - on the Other tab. You&'ll be informed about email flowing to Other tab, and you can switch between tabs at any time to take a quick look. Learn more.

  • Forms

    Forms allows users to create quizzes, surveys, questionnaires, registrations and more. Forms authors can invite others to complete forms via a link and Forms are embeddable in Sway and 3rd party portals. Authors can view results in real-time via built-in analytics and data can be easily exported to Excel for additional analysis. Teachers can create quizzes, including defining the right answers and students get real-time feedback. Learn more.

  • Group Sites

    Office 365 Groups is a powerful and productive platform that brings together conversations and calendar from Outlook, information and files from SharePoint, tasks from Planner, and a shared OneNote notebook into a single collaboration space for your team. All new and existing Office 365 Groups get a team site. Group Sites allow you to work together on projects and help keep related documents, notes, tasks, and conversations organized together. Group & Sites.

  • Loop

    Loop combines a powerful and flexible canvas with portable components that move freely and stay in sync across apps - enabling teams to think, plan, and create together. Microsoft Loop consists of three elements: Loop components, Loop pages, and Loop workspaces. Loop components launched first in Teams chat, but they'll be coming to Teams channels and to other M365 apps in the future. And Loop components are just one element of Microsoft Loop. Learn more here about Loop and Microsoft's plans for this powerful, flexible app. Loop Roadmap.

    Note: Loop will be available to faculty/staff/students beginning in March 2024.

  • Loop Components Preview

    Microsoft Loop is the next-generation co-creation app that connects teams and tasks across your tools and devices. It's a new way of working — so you and your team can think, plan, and create together from anywhere! Access Loop Components. Learn more.

  • MyAnalytics

    MyAnalytics helps you find opportunities to build better habits and get back in control of your time. It provides insights into two of the key factors in personal productivity: how people spend their time and who they spend it with. Learn more.

  • Planner

    Planner helps teams organize their work, with the ability to create new plans, organize and assign tasks, set due dates and update status. Planner's visual dashboards and email notifications help keep everyone informed on the overall progress of their initiative. Learn more.

    * NOTE: The 3rd party iPlanner Outlook Add-in created by a company called iGlobe in Denmark is not being considered for further evaluation due to security and privacy concerns.

  • PowerApps

    PowerApps are a "no code" way to develop forms for viewing and editing your data. Learn more.

  • SharePoint team site

    A SharePoint team site connects you and your team to the content, information, and apps you rely on every day. For example, you can use a team site to store and collaborate on files or to create and manage lists of information. On a team site home page, you can view links to important team files, apps, and web pages and see recent site activity in the activity feed. Learn More.

  • Stream

    Important: Microsoft is changing the storage for new Teams meeting recordings to be stored on, and served from, OneDrive and SharePoint (ODSP) - instead of Microsoft Stream (Classic). Customers are able to opt in, opt out, or take no action with regard to these changes. Learn more. Update on Stream (Classic) retirement: Last day of service set for April 15, 2024.

    Stream is a new business video service that makes it easier to access and discover video content inside your organization. Microsoft Stream builds upon the learnings and success of Office 365 Video, and over time the two experiences will converge, making Stream the de facto video experience in Office 365. Learn more.

  • Sway

    Sway is a presentation app that allows you to create and share interactive reports, presentations, newsletters, personal stories, and more. Learn more.

  • Teams

    Teams is a chat-based workspace in Office 365. Microsoft Teams is an entirely new experience that brings together people, conversations and content--along with the tools that teams need--so they can easily collaborate to achieve more. Before creating a team, users should first create a Group to link to the Team. This will ensure the proper Office 365 tools available are linked to the Team correctly. Learn More.

  • To-Do

    To-Do helps you manage, prioritize, and complete the most important things you need to achieve every day. Learn More.

  • Visio Online

    Visio in Microsoft 365 comes with a web app that offers core functionalities of Visio and allows users to create, edit, and share professional diagrams and integrates with a variety of Microsoft solutions, including Microsoft Teams, for a collaborative diagramming experience.

  • Viva Insigts/Cortana Briefing email

    The Briefing email helps you stay in control of your calendar and be intentional about your day. Within the first two hours of your workday (as set up in Outlook), you'll get an email about any relevant items to help you better prepare for the day ahead. Learn more.

  • Whiteboard

    Microsoft Whiteboard is a free-form, digital canvas where people, content, and ideas come together. You can use Whiteboard for collaborating with your team to accomplish many activities - whether your team is in the same place or in multiple locations. Team members can work collaboratively using their own devices. Learn More.

  • Yammer

    Yammer is a private social network that helps you get connected to the right people, share information across teams, and organize around projects. Only your coworkers can join, so your communications on Yammer are secure and visible only to people within your organization. Learn more.

    Beginning in March 2023, Yammer is evolving to Microsoft Viva Engage with new experiences rolling out today. Learn more.

Features/applications pending evaluation/licensing/further development

  • Bookings

    Bookings gives you a fast, easy alternative to time-consuming, frustrating phone-scheduling. An easy-to-set-up, customizable web page lets your customers find available times and book appointments 24/7. You get a private calendar for managing your schedule and automatic confirmations and reminders that save time. Learn more.

  • Classroom

    Classroom is your homepage for managing all of your classes. Organize multiple class sections, create and grade assignments, collaborate with other teachers in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), and provide feedback to students. Learn more.

  • Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365

    Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your organization’s data – all in the flow of work – to turn your words into one of the most powerful productivity tools on the planet. Learn more.

  • Kaizala

    Microsoft Kaizala is a phone-number based, simple, and secure mobile chat app that enables you to connect and coordinate work across your network, your organization, vendors, partners, suppliers, and customers. Learn More.

  • PowerBI (managed by the Chief Data Officer)

    Power BI is not available for general use in our Office 365 tenant. Individuals are encouraged to use the tools managed by the office of the Chief Data Officer for their reporting and analytics needs. Power BI is a collection of online services and features that enables you to find and visualize data, share discoveries, and collaborate in intuitive new ways. Learn more.

    Power BI Pro is available at an additional cost if needed - please contact DoIT Help Desk to request Power BI Pro.

  • Project Online

    Project Online is a flexible online solution for project portfolio management (PPM) and everyday work. Delivered through Office 365, Project Online enables organizations to get started, prioritize project portfolio investments and deliver the intended business value - from virtually anywhere on nearly any device. To be clear, Project Online is NOT a web-based version of Pro Plus. Learn more.
  • SharePoint Online

    SharePoint Online allows users to create websites. You can use it as a secure place to store, organize, share, and access information from almost any device. All you need is a web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Chrome, or Firefox. Get started with SharePoint.

  • StaffHub

    Note: Staffhub was retired on December 31, 2019.



Keywordsmicrosoft office365 o365 m365 microsoft 365 exchange online web apps sharepoint online team site lync skydrive Outlook ews roll-out executive scope deployment services onedrive onenote class notebook groups distribution security video online designer instant message yammer power bi powerbi delve sites sway project enabled planner application available apps features forms focused myanalytics inbox connectors sway classroom dynamics crm flow powerapps feature set to-do todo tasks bookings visio stream Kaizala whiteboard analytics Cortana Briefing email office pro plus viva insights loop components ms access msaccess ms word msword ms outlook msoutlook ms excel msexcel ms powerpoint mspowerpoint viva engage bing ai bingai chat copilot co-pilot bing chat   Doc ID27927
OwnerO365 S.GroupMicrosoft 365
Created2013-01-07 14:51:04Updated2024-02-21 15:31:38
SitesDoIT Help Desk, Microsoft 365
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