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Did you know that built into Outlook is a modern polling system just waiting for you to use? Not only is it easy to use, but it includes easy to view real-time results as well as a quick way to export data into Excel if you want to dive into the details. How to create a poll in Microsoft Outlook 1. Open a New Message In Outlook 2. Fill out your email with recipients and your message as needed 3. Go to Options -> Poll 4. Fill out the the questions and options in the "Poll Pane" 5. Click "insert poll into email" when you are ready to send to your recipients . 6. Your recipients will receive an email with options to vote 7. You can view your results anytime by opening your sent email or viewing your poll at https://forms.office.com But wait, there's more! The Polling feature is actually using Microsoft Forms behind the scenes to run the entire polling operation! Forms can be a fantastic tool to evolve and digitize your internal processes. If you don't see the Polling enabled in Outlook, reach to your IT to help get you set up. Keep in mind that the ability to send a poll outside of your organization may require adjustments to your security policies. You can learn more about the polling feature here. You can also learn more about using Microsoft Forms here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Notetaking is an essential ingredient for staying organized. Whether you are using software to document tasks, a physical notebook, or a digitial notebook, taking notes has numerous benefits. If you have Microsoft 365, you have one of the best digital Notebooks available to you, OneNote. There is a lot you can do with OneNote, but did you know you can quickly take Outlook meeting notes with just a couple of clicks? Inserting Outlook Meeting Details Into OneNote Use this to add meetings into OneNote. Very useful if you already have a page you want to use or prefer to start in OneNote. Open OneNote Select A Page To Insert Details Into Click the "Home" Tab if it isn't already selected Click "Meeting Details" Select the Meeting you want to add details Done! Send Meeting Details From Outlook to OneNote This method starts in Outlook and ends in OneNote and is the fastest way to get your meeting details into OneNote if you don't already have it open Open Outlook Open an Appointment In Your Calendar (Also works with an email!) Select "Send to OneNote" Select "Take Notes on your own" or "Share notes with the meeting" Select a notebook / location to create the OneNote page with your meeting details Done! Wrapping Up It's no secret we are huge fans of OneNote. But, regardless of our preferences, improving your notetaking habits is always a good thing to focus on! You can learn more about taking meeting notes here. For a free full online video training class on OneNote, click here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Windows Server 2012 R2 is a server operating system that was released by Microsoft in 2013. It offers features such as virtualization, cloud computing, storage, networking, security, and management. However, Windows Server 2012 R2 will reach the end of its support lifecycle on October 10, 2023. This means that Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates for this product after this date. Organizations will face increased security risks, compliance issues, performance problems, and compatibility challenges if they do not migrate to a newer version of Windows Server or move to the cloud. Moreover, they will miss out on the benefits of the latest innovations and features that Microsoft offers in its newer products. This means that Microsoft will no longer provide security updates, non-security updates, bug fixes, technical support, or online technical content updates for this product after this date. Therefore, organizations should start planning and preparing for their migration strategy as soon as possible. Microsoft has provided migration guidance and resources for both cloud and on-premises solutions. Some of the options available are: Migrate to Azure and receive up to three years of free Extended Security Updates (ESUs). Customers can migrate their applications and databases to Azure Virtual Machines and receive free ESUs for three years after the end of support. They can also use Azure Arc to manage their on-premises servers and receive automated/scheduled ESU updates as well as the security and governance capabilities in Azure. Remain on-premises by upgrading to Windows Server 2022 or purchasing ESUs. Customers who need to stay on-premises can upgrade to Windows Server 2022, which is the latest version of Windows Server that offers improved security, performance, hybrid capabilities, and innovation. Alternatively, they can purchase ESUs for Windows Server 2012 R2, which will provide security updates only for up to three years after the end of support. ESUs are renewable on an annual basis until October 13, 2026. Migrate to another platform or vendor. Customers who want to switch to a different platform or vendor can explore other options such as Linux, AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Oracle. Regardless of the option chosen, organizations should act fast and take advantage of the migration tools and services that Microsoft and its partners offer. By migrating to a newer or cloud-based solution, customers can enhance their security posture, optimize their costs, increase their agility, and unlock new opportunities for innovation and growth. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Did you know that you can create maps using your Excel data in just a few clicks? You can use these visuals in presentations, reports, and more! How to create a Map Chart in Excel: Create a table with data Make sure the table has a column with high level geographic data (e.g. State) Go to the Insert Tab Select Maps Select Filled Maps To learn more about using maps in Excel, click here! Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Love em or hate em, robots will soon become a big part of our life. From physical robotics to artificial intelligence, the technology is evolving at a very rapid pace. AI tech is only going to continue to get more important as major companies continue investing heavily into AI. One of the most promising Language Models is ChatGPT from OpenAI. GPT stands for generative pre-trained transformer) ChatGPT is sort of like a chatbot that has been trained to have very human-like conversations. It's intelligent enough to understand natural language and can answer complicated questions. For this post, we are going to show off how ChatGPT could assist with basic technical support questions. How do I create a Microsoft Form to poll staff to see if they want pizza or tacos? CHATGPT To create a Microsoft Form to poll staff on their preference of pizza or tacos, you can follow these steps: 1. Go to the Microsoft Forms website (forms.office.com) and sign in with your Microsoft account. 2. Click on the "New" button to create a new form. 3. In the form editor, add a multiple-choice question by clicking on the "Multiple choice" option in the "Questions" menu. 4. Type in your question, such as "What would you like for lunch? Pizza or Tacos?" 5. Add the options "Pizza" and "Tacos" as answers to the question. 6. Customize the form as desired, such as adding a title and a description. 7. Publish the form by clicking on the "Send" button and then selecting "Link" to get a link to the form, or "Embed" to add the form to a website or email. 8. Share the link or embedded form with the staff and they can respond with their preferences. How much ram should I get in my new laptop? CHATGPT The amount of RAM (Random Access Memory) that you should get in a new laptop depends on your usage and the type of tasks you will be performing on the laptop. Here are some general guidelines: - 4GB of RAM: This is the minimum amount of RAM that you should consider for a new laptop. With 4GB of RAM, you can perform basic tasks such as web browsing, email, and document editing, but you may experience slowdowns and lags when running multiple programs or working with large files. - 8GB of RAM: 8GB of RAM is a good option for most users. It provides enough memory for most tasks and allows you to run multiple programs and browser tabs at the same time without significant slowdowns. This is a good choice for general usage, video editing, or gaming. - 16GB of RAM: 16GB of RAM is recommended for heavy users who work with large files, run multiple programs at the same time, or use memory-intensive applications such as video editing software, graphic design software or gaming. - 32GB or more: This amount of RAM is recommended for professionals or power users who need to run multiple memory-intensive applications simultaneously or perform tasks such as video editing, 3D rendering, or scientific simulations. Please note that the amount of RAM you need also depends on the specific needs of the applications you are running, and some specific applications may require more or less RAM than the general guidelines above. How do I send a delayed email in Microsoft Outlook? CHATGPT In Outlook, you can schedule an email to be sent at a later time using the "Delay Delivery" option. Here's how: 1. Compose a new email message or open an existing one. 2. Click on the "Options" tab. 3. In the "More Options" group, click on the "Delay Delivery" button. 4. In the "Properties" window, check the box next to "Do not deliver before" and set the date and time for when you want the email to be sent. Click on the "Close" button. 5. Send the email as you normally would. Note that this feature requires that your computer is connected to the internet and Outlook is running for the email to be sent at the scheduled time. Additionally, you may also use the "Rules" option on the Outlook to set a specific time for sending an email, this way you don't have to manually set the time for each email. How do I enable the hotspot on my iPhone? CHATGPT To enable the hotspot on an iPhone, you can follow these steps: 1. Go to the "Settings" app on your iPhone. 2. Tap on "Cellular" or "Mobile Data" 3. Tap on "Personal Hotspot" or "Hotspot" 4. Toggle on "Personal Hotspot" or "Allow Others to Join" 5. You may also be prompted to set a password for your hotspot, if you 6. wish to set a password, you can set one here. 6. Once you have enabled hotspot, you will see the hotspot status at the top of your screen, your hotspot is now active, and other devices can connect to it by searching for Wi-Fi networks and selecting your iPhone's hotspot network. 7. You can also see how many devices are connected to your hotspot by going back to the Personal Hotspot settings. Please note that your mobile data usage will increase when using the hotspot feature, so make sure to keep an eye on your usage. Pretty crazy right? Every response above was unedited and direct from ChatGPT. The responses took a few seconds and even included the numbering/bullet formatting. Also, every single image on this post was generated by AI as well with Stable Diffusion! Hey ChatGPT, would you be interested in writing a blog post for Aevo's website soon? CHATGPT As an AI, I do not have personal preferences or the ability to write a blog post for any website. However, I can certainly assist you in generating content for your blog post. Please let me know what topic you would like me to write on and what are the specifics you would like me to include in the post. I'll be happy to help you. As this technology continues to evolve, we expect to see it integrated into many of the applications we use today. There are already plans for ChatGPT and similar tools to be integrated directly into various cloud computing and business software suites in the near future. Learn more about OpenAI and ChatGPT here. Learn more about Stable Diffusion here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

A Cloud PC is a new kind of computer that is growing in popularity amongst businesses and consumers. But before we dive into what a Cloud PC actually is, let's make sure we are on the same page on what The Cloud is. First off, what is the cloud? According to Webster, the cloud, or rather Cloud Computing is "the practice of storing regularly used computer data on multiple servers that can be accessed through the internet". This means that pretty much anything you access via the internet is in The Cloud. You can host your own Cloud or use a Cloud Service from a service provider. In a business, you might have a mixture of cloud services that make up your general IT infrastructure. If your application or service relies on the internet you are using The Cloud A great and common example is with music. In the past, you would purchase an album and play that album via a local device using physical media in front of you. More commonly today, you will use software to access music stored in a server outside of your home that you access via the internet. You likely pay a provider like Spotify, Google, Apple, or Amazon to facilitate this service and access the music files stored on their cloud. The same logic applies to how we stream videos, access email, and most modern cloud centered business solutions. Which brings us to Cloud PCs A Cloud PC is literally a full computer that can be securely accessed via the internet from a supported device. This could be a computer that is running an assortment of Operating Systems and can be hosted in your own private cloud or with a service Provider such as the Amazon Cloud or Microsoft Azure. In the Microsoft universe, it is called Windows 365. Just like any cloud service, a Cloud PC lives inside The Cloud. While it is possible this type of computer can be hosted inside of your server/datacenter, the more modern solutions utilize cloud infrastructure. Pricing will vary greatly depending on your use case. If you are familiar with hosting servers in the cloud, you can expect similar pricing models: Hourly Model Billed pennies to dollars an hour based on the performance of your machine. Powering off your machine when not using it can reduce costs Monthly Model Pricing can range from dozens to thousands of dollars a month, just depends on how much power you want in your computer. There are new options that exist where you can prepay for months/years at a time to drastically reduce costs A user of a Cloud PC is provided a quick and secure method to remotely access their Cloud PC and access all resources as if it was a local computer. With more modern solutions, this includes compatibility with video conferencing, streaming, and 3D development. On the consumer side, it is possible for someone to subscribe to a Cloud PC service to gain access to additional performance for gaming or development. On the business side, the same performance benefits exist while also creating new and more flexible ways to provide scalable and secure computer environments for employees and contractors to utilize. Great, so should we be using Cloud PCs? The quick answer is... maybe, but probably not today. There are a lot of organizations today using a form of Cloud PCs via Remote Desktop (RDS) and Citrix. In the past, this type of solution would provide cost saving and security advantages that a local configuration couldn't match. However, a typical RDS deployment now faces challenges that could be solved with a Cloud PC but also could also be solved with modern software solutions. Ultimately, it really depends on the needs of your business and the direction your technology designs are headed. The best recommendation we have is to make sure the technology vision for your organization is aligned with your business plans and strategies. That generally will mean ensuring the core software solutions utilized in your business are following modern design practices that incorporate cloud computing into your day-to-day workflows. Cloud PCs will one day become a common piece of a typical IT solution, especially as the technology evolves over the next few years. For now, it's important to know what a Cloud PC is and that could be a good option in the right situation for your business. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

There are over 270 million Microsoft Teams users. If you are reading this, it is very likely that you have either hosted or joined a Teams meeting. Sure, you have clicked "Chat" to chat with users in a meeting. Clicking "Camera" and Mic" turn off/on your mic and camera. You know to click "Share" to share your screen. No rookie here! But how many of you have clicked the "More" button while in a meeting? This button is a gateway to many features you might not even realize are available to you. The Cheat Sheet For "More" Options in Teams Clicking "More" during a meeting will present you with a menu of various options and features that you should be aware of. Here's an overview of features available today: Device Settings Use this to configure which audio and camera devices you want to use. This is the place to switch from your speakers to your headset and make adjustments to your camera. Call Health Statistics related to the meeting/call that you are connected to are available here. Information here include network, audio, and video stats that can help sort out issues during a meeting. If you see you have "Received packet loss" you might be experiencing network issues! Meeting Options From here you are able to control who can do what within the meeting that you host. Use these options to restrict or grant access to your guests to help you run smoother meetings. Meeting Notes Directly from your meeting you have the ability to enable notes for the meeting. Click "Take Notes" to activate the notebook for the meeting: These notes are available to anyone in the meeting and can be accessed after the meeting is over. View Modes You have a lot of control over how the meeting is viewed. By default, you'll see a "Gallery" view of all attendees, but you can switch different modes to find what works best for you at any time. Changes here are for you only and do not change the view for other people ithe meeting. Call Me Having issues with your Mic and want to use your phone? Maybe you are in a conference room setting and want to utilize an existing conference room for audio. Click "Call Me", enter a number, and Teams will call to add you into the meeting. Apply Background Effects Are you in a setting where your background could be a distraction? Or, perhaps you want to cover up the fact that you are actually on a tropical beach instead of your office? You are able to select a background and preview it before turning it on. Just remember to click "Apply and turn on video" when you are ready. Turn On Live Captions Did you know that Teams has live captioning? Just click this to turn it on! Start recording Every meeting within teams can be recorded with just a click. Meetings are stored securely within your organization and can be shared externally with your guests if desired. Learn more about meeting recordings here. Start Transcription Any meeting can have a live transcription enabled with just a click! Transcriptions can be translated, downloaded, and shared with just a few clicks. Learn more about transcriptions here. Other Options At the bottom of the menu, you'll see options to adjust chat, notifications, and incoming video. Use these settings to configure the meeting to your preference. Use "Help" to access free training about Teams. Wrap Up Teams is an ever changing, ever evolving application so expect to see new features show up over time! We hope this post encourages you try out some of the features available to you in a meeting. For the latest training and news related to Microsoft Teams, click here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Did you know that dictation features are available and just a key press away in Windows 10 and Windows 11? The feature is available on both the 'Home' and 'Business' version of Windows. How to use Windows Voice Typing Select somewhere where you would normally type Press Windows logo key + H Start talking! Select the "Gear" to access the settings menu to adjust the launcher, enable or disable "auto-punctuation", and the microphone used for dictation: There are several voice commands (ex. "Delete That") to control dictation and to select and delete text. You can learn more about these commands here. On a Mac? You have this feature too! There are a couple of extra steps to take to enable the feature. Learn more here! Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

With more and more people working in different time zones and operating in different hours, it's very easy to receive email notifications well past your normal business hours. Built into Outlook Mobile you are able to control these notifications and "snooze" them on-demand and on a schedule. Configuring Do Not Disturb 1. Open Outlook on your mobile device 2. Select the menu button 3. Select the icon on the top right (note that this icon might look different depending on the version of Outlook you are running) 4. Select options to configure based on your needs Don't forget to click the checkmark on the top right to save your settings! Want to learn more? Click here for free Outlook Mobile training. For even more great tips on not just Outlook mobile but the desktop version too, check out 12 New Features in Outlook for 2022 from Mike Tholfsen! Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Ever been in an online meeting and found your image looks too dark or bright? Did you know there were ways to adjust this from within the Microsoft Teams application itself? How to access camera settings from within Teams In Teams, click "..." in the top right Select "Settings" Select "Devices" Select "Open camera settings" Adjust settings based on what looks best These adjustments can make a dramatic difference to how your video looks in your meetings. Check it out before your next meeting! Interested in more information about meetings in Teams? You can learn more about meetings and Microsoft Teams here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Inserting an image into your Word document is a great way to add more to what you are trying to communicate. Whether you use an image of a cat, a logo, or a chart, you have complete control over how it is laid out in your document. Ever insert an image into a Word document and your text ends up getting moved into another dimension and you frantically reach for the undo button (ctrl+z) ? This is the kind of training that might help you out! Working with Images in Microsoft Word We'll assume that you already know how to add random text and insert images into your document. 1. Select the image you want to adjust 2. You can resize the image by clicking and dragging the corners of the image 3. You can move the image by clicking and dragging the image to a different location 4. Select the "Layout Options" icon The layout options icon is a quick way to adjust how you want your image to look on your document. Click the "See more.." link on the bottom right to see even more options. 5. For even more options, with the image selected, use the "Shape Format" and "Picture Format" tabs to do even more! "Shape Format" lets you adjust the container image sits in. "Picture Format" lets you adjust the image itself. These tabs give you even more tools to adjust how your image looks and is presented in your document. Interesting in learning even more info about this? Click here to learn more about managing images in a document. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Did you know that with just a few clicks in Microsoft Outlook you can share access to your calendar with your co-workers? Just remember to make sure that the people you share your calendar with only have the permissions you want them to have! Sharing your Outlook Calendar 1. Open Outlook 2. Go to your Calendar in Outlook 3. Click "Share Calendar" or "Share" Note that the share icon will look slightly different depending on which version of Outlook you are using and the view settings of your application: 4. Select the calendar that you want to share By default, you should see a calendar named "Calendar" , this is your calendar 5. Use the "Calendar Properties" window to add people and control permissions Click "Add" to add people to have access to your calendar Once added, select a user and adjust what permissions they should have The user will receive an email invitation to gain access to your calendar 6. Once the person you have added accepts their invitation, they will be able to access your calendar. You can adjust permissions as needed going forward. To remove access, follow the same process to access the "Calendar Properties" window except click "Remove" instead of "Add" There's more you can do with calendar sharing and the feature is available in all current versions of Microsoft Outlook, including the web version. Click here to learn more about using this feature. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

Multi-Factor Authentication is an essential security feature for every business. While not a "cure-all" for every security risk, enabling MFA will boost the strength of your company's identity security by adding additional layers to the authentication process used by your applications and services. MFA is feature available with all of the major cloud service providers. If you are using Microsoft 365, MFA is included with all Office 365 licenses. Depending on the licensing used in your business, additional MFA and identity security features are available as well. Setting up Microsoft 365 MFA on your phone or tablet for the first time 1. Install Microsoft Authenticator On your phone or tablet you'll need to install the Microsoft Authenticator application from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Microsoft Authenticator from Apple App Store Microsoft Authenticator from Google Play 2. Log into the Microsoft 365 Additional Security Page Go to https://aka.ms/mfasetup to access this page. When you login, use your work email and password. After you login, you should see a page like the one below. 3. Configure "How should we contact you" default verification option We strongly recommend you Set "How we should contact you?" to "Mobile App" Set "How do you want to use the mobile app?" to "Receive notifications for verifications" This setting is a requirement for many of the modern features of MFA (such as RDS MFA) and newer security features like passwordless authentication. As an alternative you have options to receive a phone call or text message if your company policy permits these methods. 4. Click "Set up" to begin the setup process Note that the exact process may vary depending on the device you are using and the configuration used by your company. Open the Microsoft Authenticator app on your phone In the app, select add account and choose "Work or school account" If this is your first time using the app, you can expect to see permissions prompts, tap allow or approve as these come up If you see an option to "Scan QR Code" select that instead Point your phone at the square QR code on your screen to scan and add the account You'll see your account added to the authenticator app to your phone You may also see a 6 digit code, this means the account was added sucessfully This code is a backup method and only needed if you selected "use verification code" instead of to receive notifications Click Next Assuming you selected "receive notifications for verifications" you will receive a prompt on your phone Make sure you select approve Click Next You may be asked to enter a phone number This is a backup method for MFA in case you lose your phone or forget to move your MFA over when changing to a new phone Done! If you experience any issues or have questions, contact your IT provider to help! How to review and modify your MFA configuration When Microsoft MFA has been configured for your account, you can expect to see a screens similar to this whenever you log into an application or service that utilizes MFA: Remember to only approve sign-ins that you know about If you are unsure of whether or not you should approve a sign-in contact your IT provider If you are expecting a prompt and not seeing one, try opening Microsoft Authenticator on your mobile device to see if that triggers a prompt to show up To test and view your MFA configuration Log into https://aka.ms/mfasetup If MFA is configured, you will be prompted for MFA After logging in you will see options to configure MFA for your account Some of the options available: You can change your default MFA verification option Strongly recommended to set "Notify me through app" You can update your phone number and backup phone number This can be used as an alternate method to grant access (if your company policy permits this) Click "Set up Authenticator App" to add a new phone or device The setup process is the same as described in the earlier portion of this post Click "Delete" to remove an old phone or device It's a good idea to get rid of older devices that you no longer have Remember to click save whenever you make any changes! What if you don't see an option for MFA or don't use MFA in your business? Well, that's a problem! At a minimum, every core identity in your business should be secured by MFA. We even wrote a post about it at the end of 2019! Contact your IT provider to make sure your account and organization has been configured to use this very important feature. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

As we near the end of 2021, there's a good chance you are using Microsoft Teams or a solution like it in your business. Sometimes you may find that you don't want to have the entire Teams interface available to you, or you want to "Pop out" a conversation into its own window to give it focus. The "Pop-out Chat" feature is here to do just that! How to use the pop-out chat feature via the chat list Select "Chat" on the left side of teams Hover over and double-click the chat that you want to pop out into its own window There are several other "Pop-Out" chat shortcuts throughout teams. You can even type in "/pop" in the command box to choose a chat to pop out. You can learn more about the "Pop-out chat" feature here. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.

A new function in Excel has rolled out for Office 365 Excel users called "XLOOKUP". This is a feature we've been excited about since its announcement in late summer 2019. We're excited about an Excel feature? YUP! This is a feature that will save a lot of time for at least one person in every business. It essentially replaces the function called VLOOKUP which was difficult to train new Excel users on, and even those more experienced would have to line their Excel tables just right to use it effectively. Here's an attempt to explain why XLOOKUP is so exciting... The Scenario: You have a list with thousands of members that you maintain. You are working with a vendor that also keeps a list of your members, but in their own format You are tasked with creating a list to see who is missing from their list and who is missing on your list Since it's 2020, you refuse to manually go one-by-one to review each member. Instead you are going use Excel to help you out. Now, with Excel and the power of math, there are several ways to accomplish your objective. However, to help me write this blog post, we'll focus on using VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP to solve the problem. You've already organized you data into an Excel sheet: Your membership list in Excel Their membership list in Excel So, with that lined up, you decide to make your comparison table. Because you know the membership IDs should match on both lists, you copy membership IDs from both lists, and remove duplicates: Now, there are a lot of different ways and functions you could use to get this information. But this is a blog post intended to show off XLOOKUP, so let's show it off! When using VLOOKUP, the problem was that you needed to "Count" tables AND the first column in your table. For "Your Data", that means using column 2 to pull the name from the table: We see Columns as "A" or "B", or by their name "Membership ID" or "Full Name" VLOOKUP sees columns as 1 or 2 Column 1 = Column A = "Membership ID" Column 2 = Column B = "Full Name" We use column 2 because VLOOKUP counts columns to pull the data VLOOKUP will not work with "Their Data" without re-arranging the table or using different functions because the Membership ID is not in left-most column: VLOOKUP uses the left most column The left most column of "Their Data" is "Their ID" We need "Membership ID" since that's the number we are looking up We get a "N/A" error because of this So what do we do? XLOOKUP to the rescue! It doesn't have this limitation and will figure things out for you! Using the XLOOKUP function equates to saying: "Hey Excel, please check to see if this exists in this . If it does, pull the value from . If it doesn't then do ." For the purpose of our comparison list, we want it to say: "Hey Excel, check to see if this Membership ID exists on this list. If it does, grab the name of the person that has the Membership ID. Then do this for everything on our list." This ends up pulling exactly what we want: XLOOKUP saves the day! No data re-arranging. No risks of accidentally tampering the data from copying or moving things around! From here, you can continue with making your sheet. Since XLOOKUP is going to work without messing with any of the data, you set up your sheet with formatting so it can be used as a template for future comparisons: Pretty cool, right? We've worked with numerous people over years to help with scenarios just like this one! This is just one of many scenarios where XLOOKUP can save you time and help you do your job more efficiently. It's also an example of how having a great IT service provider can help your business modernize and evolve its processes. IT is no longer about just making sure your computers are working and that you don't have a virus (That's still important!). It's about designing, implementing, and maintaining a technology infrastructure that enables you, your staff, and your business to take advantage of new features like XLOOKUP. Interested in having a conversation about technology in your business? Send in a contact request at www.aevotec.com or email info@aevotec.com.