Microsoft How-To Guide For Real Estate Professionals
Your role as a real-estate professional is simple: Turn your client s dreams into a reality. Of course, accomplishing that task is a whole lot more complicated. The first tool you need in your arsenal is a mobile operations center, a laptop or tablet that lets you stay on top of email messages, access a client s wish list from anywhere, search databases on the go for the perfect listing, or jump on a video chat for a client consultation. A Microsoft Office 365 Business* subscription and Windows 10 will help you do all those things and more. This guide will help you kick your productivity into high gear, offering new ways to achieve the impossible during your workday. And it s actually pretty easy! How to read the guide: Step-by step instructions *Features may only be available in some editions at this time. 2
Outlook Declutter your mailbox The average person receives 100 emails per work day. That means you probably read a lot of low-priority messages when you could be spending that time working toward your next big success. In Outlook, Clutter can help you filter out those less-important emails, saving your attention for those mission-critical messages. The email server keeps track of the kinds of messages you read and the ones you don t. Using this data, Clutter works automatically. As new email rolls in, it puts the messages you re most likely to ignore into the Clutter folder. Clutter should be turned on by default. To manage your Clutter settings: 1. If you have Outlook 2016 for Windows, right-click the Clutter folder and choose Manage Clutter. You ll be directed to Outlook on the web. 2. Sign in using your Office 365 user ID and password. You ll then go directly to the Clutter settings page. To find an email that s been moved to the Clutter folder in Outlook: 1. In Outlook, choose the Clutter folder. You ll see your email there. 2. You can drag email from your Clutter folder to your Inbox. 3. Moving an email in or out of the Clutter folder from any of your devices is enough to give the signal to the Clutter system that an item is or isn t Clutter. For example, if you move an email to the Clutter folder in Outlook desktop or to the Mail app on your phone, the Clutter system records the action for all your mail apps. You don t have to do this individually in each app. Applies to: Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Outlook Web App for Office 365, Outlook Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Outlook Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Outlook Web App Light, Outlook Web App 3
Outlook Create a meeting invite from an email When you work in real estate, you receive email messages with location details all the time: Addresses for properties you will be viewing, meeting locations from a client, you name it. You don t have to cut and paste all that info into your calendar. By using Outlook mail and using the Meeting button, the details of that message are included. You can simply select a date and time, then send the meeting invite to everyone addressed in the message. To create a meeting from an email: 1. In an open message, on the Message tab, in the Respond group, click Meeting. 2. Enter the location and start and end times as you do in any meeting request. You can also add or remove attendees, use Scheduling Assistant to find the best meeting time, or add attachments. 3. The header and body of the original message are included in the body of the meeting request. Applies to: Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Outlook Web App for Office 365, Outlook Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Outlook Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet 4
Outlook Add a contact directly from an email We ve all been there: You want to get in touch with someone, but you can t seem to locate them within your contacts. Instead, their contact information is tucked inside one of your hundreds of emails. With Outlook, you can quickly create a contact for someone who has sent you an email message. And once that contact is created, it becomes available on any device with Outlook on it. Create a contact based on the sender of an email message that you receive: 1. Open or preview the email message that contains the name that you want to add to your contact list. 2. Right-click the name of the person that you want, then click Add to Contacts. Applies to: Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Outlook Web App for Office 365, Outlook Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Outlook Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet 5
Outlook Find email attachments from contacts That important email attachment you received from the client must be somewhere, but digging through your inbox to find it is a serious headache. Why not ease the pain by using a Pane? Outlook s People Pane provides a small window on your screen to view emails, a queue of attachments sent in those messages, and past meetings based on the contact you choose to save you a ton of time. To turn on the People Pane: 1. On the View tab, in the People Pane group, click People Pane, and then click Normal. 2. If you don t see the People Pane, you might need to turn on the Reading Pane. To turn on the Reading Pane: On the View tab, in the Layout group, click Reading Pane, and then click Right or Bottom. Applies to: Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Outlook Web App for Office 365, Outlook Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Outlook Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet 6
Excel Personalize the Mortgage Calculator You re a real-estate pro, and you re often looking for ways to boost your personal brand. The options are numerous, from business cards to email signatures to property brochures. Microsoft products help you extend that personalized branding through our templates. Many are created by others, but they also allow you to add your logo, contact information, and other details to a basic template. Two of the most-popular among real-estate professionals are the home mortgage calculator and the client checklist. The latter is based on the Home Inspection template, and it lets you create a to-do list for clients as they tour properties. 1. Select and download the mortgage calculator that meets your needs here. You will be promoted to open or save the template. If you receive a security warning, it is safe to proceed. 2. Make changes to the template just as you would work within an Excel file. This includes adding a Header, Footer and any additional information to personalize the file. 3. Save to the location desired. 4. Assistance in working with headers and footers in Excel can be found here. Applies to: Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Excel Web App for Office 365, Excel Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Excel Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet 7
Word Create a client property tour checklist Clients view many properties during their search, and taking notes can help them remember the things they liked and disliked about each location. Consider offering a custom checklist for clients to write down positives about the property and proactively document potential issues to raise during the home inspection. The checklist can be tailored to your client s property purchase journey and feature your branding. 1. Select and download the Buyer s Home Inspection Checklist here. You will be promoted to open or save the template. If you receive a security warning, it is safe to proceed. 2. Make changes to the template just as you would work within an Word file. This includes adding a Header, Footer and any additional information to personalize the file. 3. Save to the location desired. 4. Assistance in working with headers and footers in Word can be found here. Applies to: Word 2016, Outlook 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Word Web App for Office 365, Word Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Word Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet 8
OneNote Create a client property checklist template When a buyer is looking at for a property, there are some common characteristics they look for. As real estate professional, the method of capturing and tracking the buyer s information may differ and include a paper notebook, sticky note, email message, and other creative options out there. Microsoft offers an app called OneNote to help you keep all of notes in a central location electronically, so you can access the client wish list from any device. It also allows you to create a template based on the information you require from discussion to meet your client s needs. To create a OneNote Notebook: When you first install and run OneNote, a notebook is created for you. You can create new notebooks any time and you can have as many notebooks as you want. 1. Click File > New to display the New Notebook options. 2. Choose where you want the new notebook to be created (for example, OneDrive or Computer). To create a notebook in SharePoint, see Create and share a notebook on a Share Point site. 3. It s best to create your notebook on OneDrive or another shared location. When a notebook is in the cloud, it s still private unless you choose to share it with others. The biggest benefit of storing your notebook in the cloud means you ll be able to access it from your computer, smartphone, or any web-connected device, and it will always be up-to-date. If you ve already created a notebook on your computer, you can move it to OneDrive. 4. Follow the prompts for the location you chose. 5. When the new notebook has been created, it will show up in your list of notebooks. Each new notebook contains one section which contains one blank page. You can create additional sections and add new pages in your notebook any time. Note: Notebooks that you currently have open appear in the Notebooks list, which you can view by clicking the arrow next to the name of your current notebook. 9
OneNote Create a new client property checklist Apply a OneNote template To apply a template, do the following: 1. On the ribbon, click Insert > Page Templates. 4. Adjust as needed by entering in beds, baths and other relevant information. 5. When complete, select Save current page as template within the template pane. Click on the Set as default template for new pages in the current section to allow all new pages to default to this template. Click Save. 2. In the Templates task pane, click the small arrows next to the category names to expand them. 3. To apply a template to a new page, click its name in the list. If you don t like your selection, click another template to replace your previous selection. You can do this repeatedly until you find a template to your liking. For the client list, select the Planners category, and click on Prioritized To Do List. If you prefer, learn to create your own page template or customize an existing one. Applies to: OneNote 2016, OneNote 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, OneNote Web App for Office 365, OneNote Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Outlook Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet 10
Word Replace information in documents quickly If you have a word that appears multiple times throughout a document, Microsoft Word has a way to edit all instances of that word at the same time. The Replace button allows you to find the word. You can then replace all of them at once, or you can go through each instance, review the edit, and confirm each change. To find and replace words: 1. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, choose Replace. Or press Ctrl+H on your keyboard. 2. In the Find What box, type the text that you want to search for and replace. 3. In the Replace with box, type the replacement text. 4. Choose Find Next, and then do one of the following: To replace the highlighted text, click Replace. To replace all instances of the text in your document, click Replace All. To skip this instance of the text and proceed to the next instance, click Find Next. Note: In Word Online, there is no Find Next button. Browse through the results by using the up and own arrows to replace instances of highlighted text. Applies to: Word 2016, Word 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Word Web App for Office 365, Word Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Word Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet 11
Word Add a cover page to your document Your personal branding is essential, and you want to make a great first impression. Microsoft Word offers a cover-page option you can add to any proposal or document. To add a cover page: 1. On the Insert tab, in the Pages group, click Cover Page. 2. Click a cover page layout from the gallery of options. 3. After you insert a cover page, you can replace the sample text with your own text by clicking to select an area of the cover page, such as the title, and typing your text. Note: If you insert another cover page in the document, the new cover page will replace the first cover page you inserted. To replace a cover page created in an earlier version of Word, you must delete the first cover page manually, and then add a cover page with a design from the Word gallery. To delete a cover page inserted with Word, click the Insert tab, click Cover pages in the Pages group, and then click Remove Current Cover Page. Applies to: Word 2016, Word 2013, Word 2010, Word Starter 2010 12
Sway Create a personal page with your welcome kit Real-estate professionals like you need an easy way to provide information when you re too busy to send a document. Microsoft offers an informational web page through Sway to offer general contact information, standard welcome information, forms for a client to complete, and personalized items such as the mortgage calculator. To create your Sway page: 1. Visit www.sway.com in any browser and then click Sign In on the top menu bar. 2. When prompted, enter the email address you want to use with Sway. You can use your organizational account given to you by your work. 3. On the My Sways page that opens after you ve signed in, click or tap Create New to start creating your first Sway. For additional video tutorials on building your Sway page, click here. Applies to: Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin 13
Outlook Mark contracts in a web browser Marking up contracts is one of the most common and most important tasks for a real-estate professional. As a process, you d traditionally print out the contract, add handwritten changes, and send the document by scanning and sending through email. As an alternative, Microsoft Outlook and the Edge browser in Windows 10 allow you to open the attachment, mark up the document, and send the markups through email. It s an incredible time-saver. If you select a link within an Outlook message and it takes you to your regular default browser other than Edge, you ll need to change your settings in Outlook for Edge. 1. In Windows 10, click the Windows button, and click settings. 2. Click the Apps. 3. Click Default Apps. 4. Scroll down and click Default apps by protocol. 5. On the left side, scroll until you find http and https and read options. Select the browser listed and click Microsoft Edge. Continued on the next page Applies to: Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Outlook Web App for Office 365, Outlook Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Outlook Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Windows 10 14
Outlook Mark contracts in a web browser To mark up a document when receiving in an Outlook message: 1. Open the PDF. It should appear in Edge. 2. Click on the pen icon and mark up as needed. 3. Click on the save or share icons when you notes are complete. 4. To send notes by email, click on the mail app after selecting share. Address and send as needed. Applies to: Outlook 2016, Outlook 2013, Office for business, Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin, Outlook Web App for Office 365, Outlook Web App for Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Outlook Web App for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Windows 10 15
Bookings Offer consulting times automatically You re really busy, but your clients need your expert help and advice. The best way to assist them is in person. The Microsoft Bookings feature can help you pinpoint the perfect time to meet, as it automatically shows appointment times based on your Outlook calendar availability. They ll receive a calendar notice and email confirmation once a time is secured, and you ll receive a calendar notice with all of their contact details. Best of all, this option works with your Facebook page or website without any coding or design experience required. To set up bookings: click here. Applies to: Office 365 Admin, Office 365 Small Business, Office 365 Small Business Admin 16
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