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MS Outlook and SharePoint trainer?

friendofdorothy

Solidarity against neoliberalism!
I have a budget of £400 to pay for training for myself on using ms outlook for emails and SharePoint for sharing word and Excel docs. I've been muddling along with it and my 20thC tech skills not being able to find or share anything for a couple of years now, to the point of crying with frustration. (Please don't tell me to google it. )

I have to use it for a charity I am involved with.

I learn best in person were I can't ask stupid questions and I'm based in South London.
Anyone? Or can you recommend anyone?
 
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For that kind of money I think you'll be better off sourcing online training.

Some places charge £500 for a course on Word intermediate level on its own! And that's cheap 😔

Have a look on Reed.co.uk and at local colleges
 
For that kind of money I think you'll be better off sourcing online training.

Some places charge £500 for a course on Word intermediate level on its own! And that's cheap 😔

Have a look on Reed.co.uk and at local colleges

Will check out reed.co.uk, thanks.

I used Word and Excel for decades but it's the whole saving sharing filing finding stuff that stumps me.

Haven't found anything suitable in local colleges.
 
Hoped there might be someone here with the skills.

How do people learn this stuff nowadays, is it all taught in school?
 
Hoped there might be someone here with the skills.

How do people learn this stuff nowadays, is it all taught in school?
I've learned this kind of thing through work.


There are lots of training videos on Microsoft's website. I'm on my phone now, give me a while to get home and onto my laptop and I'll have a look and I'll back to this thread.
 
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could you get a mentor to contact on an ad hoc basis?

I have learned these sorts of things by trial and error in work usually with the help of someone else on the spot as I needed a new knowledge

I don't have capacity to retain the information from a training course and use it later
 
This is me with CAT tools which would not only make a lot of my translation work easy but are actually a requirement for a lot of jobs, but I can't seem to make myself put the time in and don't want to risk learning as I go on a paying gig in case I fuck it up. Courses for that aren't cheap either. Best of luck fod!
 
could you get a mentor to contact on an ad hoc basis?

I have learned these sorts of things by trial and error in work usually with the help of someone else on the spot as I needed a new knowledge

I don't have capacity to retain the information from a training course and use it later
How does one find a mentor? I didn't know mentors did tech training.

Not in employment now. I struggled in my last post to use their Google based system. The job before was just about to introduce a MS system but then the plague saw me furloughed. For a decade before that I was in a role that didn't didn't use the internet. So I have missed out on the incremental stages of software. The web based MS software is a million miles away from what I was used to last century.

I've been to a few free support sessions for older people using computers. Including course on Google software which really helped so I know how to file, find and share Google docs hooray!. But they don't cover MS software or SharePoint.

I have no one I can ask on a day to day basis. Or at all. It makes me feel so isolated and old.
 
This is me with CAT tools which would not only make a lot of my translation work easy but are actually a requirement for a lot of jobs, but I can't seem to make myself put the time in and don't want to risk learning as I go on a paying gig in case I fuck it up. Courses for that aren't cheap either. Best of luck fod!
I was self employed for a long time and spent a lot of money on design software training like: Photoshop, quark, illustrator etc. 1989-2000. Before web based systems.
 
I have a budget of £400 to pay for training for myself on using ms outlook for emails and SharePoint for sharing word and Excel docs. I've been muddling along with it and my 20thC tech skills not being able to find or share anything for a couple of years now, to the point of crying with frustration. (Please don't tell me to google it. )

I have to use it for a charity I am involved with.

I learn best in person were I can't ask stupid questions and I'm based in South London.
Anyone? Or can you recommend anyone?

Buy a few bottles of nice gin and ask Jeeves whatever your questions are.
 
I've been to a few free support sessions for older people using computers. Including course on Google software which really helped so I know how to file, find and share Google docs hooray!. But they don't cover MS software or SharePoint
SharePoint is similar to the way Google docs works.
Has someone at the charity already setup different groups to save files too?
Just think of the SharePoint group(s) as various hard drives to save your files too.
 
SharePoint is similar to the way Google docs works.
Has someone at the charity already setup different groups to save files too?
Just think of the SharePoint group(s) as various hard drives to save your files too.
Similar but different enough that I have no idea how to navigate it. I suspect it maybe that no one is saving anything useful there.
 
Thanks I will try. The phrase 'log into office' scares me already. Is 365 the same as SharePoint?

365 is broad family of products with a shared login, which is typicaly your email address. Share point is one of these products.

I hate navigating SharePoint and I work in IT. The best way for most users to use it I think is to have it added to your PC so you view like a network drive.

What are you having issues sharing? It word and excel there's an option to share a document and you can send the person you want to work with a link.

Obviously your after proper training, but happy to answer any questions I can.
 
I hate using SharePoint. I have those files synced to Windows Explorer so I don’t have to go near it. Outlook is kind of bloated crap as well but we have to use it. but yeah what are you having problems with? There are lots of keyboard shortcuts for Outlook. I mean if they would help.
 
Yes, office / microsoft 365 is a single login to outlook, word / excel etc, share point and one drive and who knows what else.

i've used outlook on and off for 20+ years - it's basically an e-mail package with calendar built in. like all these things, it's got the usual features that microsoft think will be useful, multiple but not obvious ways of doing the same thing and so on.

the occasional refresher course in the likes of word / excel is worth doing - they add new features, or change the way you do things, every now and then.

organisation i work for is in the process of migrating from 'box' to share point and it's all been a bit painful so far. next step is supposed to be migrating from huge network drive/s to share point as well. blargh.

share point is a bit of a pain in the tail - the complicated bit is setting up permissions to folders (i need to have some folders that people outside organisation can get at, and it's all a bit complicated) and setting the right people up with access to view / edit and so on. the theory is it's all more secure than e-mailing a file to a lot of people who may then forward it to others, or edit it which means there's multiple versions of the 'same' document floating around.

once you've got it set up, it's not that much more complicated than copying files from one computer drive to another. although sending a file to someone else is more complicated - if i've got it right, you can't just attach a file to an e-mail, you have to share a link and make sure you've set it so that person has access to it.

and then there's one drive which is like share point but different - i'm still at the stage of ignoring it in the hope it will go away, but i'm probably going to have to deal with it some time.

in terms of training, have you looked to see what local adult education (if there's any of it left where you are) do? mum-tat did a handful of courses with lewisham adult education when she first got a computer (she had a home computer before i did - can't remember which of us went on the internet first) but that must have been some time towards the end of the last century... and you may be looking for something beyond the most basic of stuff.

have a vague recollection that morley college near waterloo used to do some one day / half day courses - not sure whether they still do, or whether they are going to be closed for the summer now.

if this is for a charity, there are a lot of organisations out there who push training courses to the charity sector - although the quality / value for money of these can vary.

there's a lot of online videos out there (microsoft's own, linkedin seem to have some (although not free), and there's stuff on youtube which can of course vary in quality) if you can't find anything real world, but you can't ask questions with them.

Reading university used to have a lot of IT training stuff online, but it seems to have gone - i'm not sure whether it should ever have been made public domain, but it was handy while it lasted...
 
How does one find a mentor? I didn't know mentors did tech training.

Not in employment now. I struggled in my last post to use their Google based system. The job before was just about to introduce a MS system but then the plague saw me furloughed. For a decade before that I was in a role that didn't didn't use the internet. So I have missed out on the incremental stages of software. The web based MS software is a million miles away from what I was used to last century.

I've been to a few free support sessions for older people using computers. Including course on Google software which really helped so I know how to file, find and share Google docs hooray!. But they don't cover MS software or SharePoint.

I have no one I can ask on a day to day basis. Or at all. It makes me feel so isolated and old.
 
Dude, get yourself on Youtube, search for tutorials for beginners on these very topics.
Dude I feel like telling you to go something very rude to yourself.
there's a lot of online videos out there (microsoft's own, linkedin seem to have some (although not free), and there's stuff on youtube which can of course vary in quality) if you can't find anything real world, but you can't ask questions with them.
I loose the will to live when looking for online tutorials.
I have no idea where to start - there is plenty of crap, more crap and the far too complex. They use so many terms I don't understand and you can't ask questions.

Unless maybe someone can can recommend a good one?

I'm not on linked in.
 
365 is broad family of products with a shared login, which is typicaly your email address. Share point is one of these products.
Thank you that is helpful.
I hate navigating SharePoint and I work in IT. The best way for most users to use it I think is to have it added to your PC so you view like a network drive.
Now you have lost me. The person who set up the SharePoint and all our email addresses has left and I'm not sure we have anyone who can do this. It's beyond me.
What are you having issues sharing? It word and excel there's an option to share a document and you can send the person you want to work with a link.
Not sure how to even open web based Excel and word yet. Or share them. I have old excel and word on my laptop but they seem to be different with no sharing options as far as I know.
Obviously your after proper training, but happy to answer any questions I can.
Thanks
 
Dude I feel like telling you to go something very rude to yourself.

I loose the will to live when looking for online tutorials.
I have no idea where to start - there is plenty of crap, more crap and the far too complex. They use so many terms I don't understand and you can't ask questions.

Unless maybe someone can can recommend a good one?

I'm not on linked in.

It's really hard to teach yourself something from basics sometimes when you literally don't know the questions you should be asking google.

I really struggle with video stuff. I'd much rather read something (or ideally been shown it).

Apologies if this doesn't help, but what I tend to do is set myself a very specific project with an outcome at the end. It makes it easier for me to break it down and work out the steps rather then saying I need to learn sharepoint/docker/dns or whatever the hell I'm trying to learn this week. Once I've done it I find that reading guides and other information make more sense and fills in the gaps.
 
friendofdorothy if you want any help, ping me a message.

I've been working with SharePoint in just about all its varieties since it first launched. I run a SharePoint support team. I even have the word "SharePoint" in my job title :facepalm:

SharePoint's a fantastic product if you know how to use it. Most people (especially some of those people above!) don't know how to use it or what it's capable of doing.

Yes, Microsoft do sometimes appear to go out of their way to make simple things harder than they should be but, you know... plus ça change
 
Now you have lost me. The person who set up the SharePoint and all our email addresses has left and I'm not sure we have anyone who can do this. I

oh bugger

that is a pitfall with small organisations, but i'm not sure that should be your problem, especially if you're a volunteer

Not sure how to even open web based Excel and word yet. Or share them. I have old excel and word on my laptop but they seem to be different with no sharing options as far as I know.

i think UnderOpenSky is talking about sharing document via sharepoint. i've never handled the web based versions of word etc

are there books on these things that you can either get from the library, or get organisation to pay for (beware of second hand books unless you're sure they are for the latest version of software
 
Thank you that is helpful.

Now you have lost me. The person who set up the SharePoint and all our email addresses has left and I'm not sure we have anyone who can do this. It's beyond me.

Not sure how to even open web based Excel and word yet. Or share them. I have old excel and word on my laptop but they seem to be different with no sharing options as far as I know.

Thanks

Ok. So SharePoint can be used for many things, but I'm assuming your trying to use it like a shared hard disk?

Do you have to use the web versions of Excel and Word. Happy to help you with these, but unless whoever is paying you is a proper cheap skate, you can download the latest versions as part of the 365 license and work locally as your more used to. On the latest word and excel you click file and there's an option to share. If you can't use the desktop software, I'm happy to help work it out with you.
 
oh bugger

that is a pitfall with small organisations, but i'm not sure that should be your problem, especially if you're a volunteer
I'm trustee and my lack of tech skills is seriously hindering my abilies to fulfill my role or get stuff done.

I'm busy trying to change the world for my community - I'm not interested really in tech. Just in knowing enough to do what I need to do.
 
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