Module 7, the final module of StartCloud's Microsoft 365: Everyday Skills learning pathway, in five short units with a knowledge check: the four mobile apps worth installing, the difference between a file being available and being downloaded, moving between a laptop and a phone without losing your place, and working safely on someone else's computer with web versions, private windows and a proper sign-out.
Working From Anywhere
The apps worth actually installing
Working from anywhere used to mean a laptop, a hotel desk and a lot of hope. Now most of it happens on a phone in a car park, at a client's kitchen table, or on the couch at seven in the morning because the idea would not wait.
You do not need everything Microsoft makes. Four apps cover almost all of it, and the reason to use these rather than a personal email app is not loyalty. Work accounts in work apps can be protected and, if the worst happens, switched off without anyone touching the rest of your phone.
Outlook
Mail and calendar in one app, signed in with your work account. The important part is not convenience, it is that a work mailbox in the proper work app can be looked after by the business. If a phone goes missing, work access can be dealt with without touching your photos or your personal messages.
- Sign in with the work account, not a personal one
- Your calendar comes along, which is the half people forget
- If the business ever needs to cut access, it can do that without wiping your phone
Teams
Chats, calls and meetings, so a quick question does not have to wait until you are back at a desk. It is also the difference between joining a meeting from the car park and missing it entirely. Not from the driver's seat while moving, obviously, but you knew that.
- Set your notification hours so it is not pinging you at 9pm
- Joining audio only is completely acceptable and nobody minds
- Files posted in a channel are in the team's SharePoint library, same as on the laptop
OneDrive
Your own files, plus the SharePoint and Teams libraries you have access to, from one app. This is the one people are most surprised by, because they assume the OneDrive app only shows OneDrive. Being able to open the team's current price list while standing on a site is quietly one of the most useful things on this list.
- Your own files and the shared libraries in the same app
- Files you might need with no signal can be made available offline first
- Handy for getting a photo of a job straight into the right folder
The Microsoft 365 app, and Authenticator
The Microsoft 365 app, which Microsoft has renamed the Microsoft 365 Copilot app, puts Word, Excel, PowerPoint and your recent files together in one place. And if your business uses multi-factor authentication, Authenticator is not optional, it is the thing that lets you sign in at all. Install it properly once rather than fighting it every time.
- Word and Excel on a phone are fine for reading and small edits
- Serious editing is still a laptop job, and that is not a failing
- Authenticator belongs on the phone you actually carry
This is worth saying plainly, because it is the reason a lot of people refuse to install any of it. Being able to reach your work at eight on a Sunday night does not oblige you to. Set quiet hours in Teams and Outlook, turn off badges for the things that do not need them, and let the apps be there for the times you choose. The point is being able to work from a hotel room, not being reachable in one.