by Felicien | Mar 22, 2018 | Education
With the 2016 version of Excel, Microsoft has really upped the game for people who aren’t great with numbers. You can now easily use one-click access that can be customized to provide the functionality you need.
This is the first of a three-part series about using Microsoft Excel 2016 to help you identify trends, construct helpful charts, and organize information to maximize the value of your data.
You can use Excel Worksheets and Workbooks in conjunction with programs like Microsoft Access and PowerPoint. Excel 2016 possesses many capabilities that aren’t readily apparent. That’s why we’re providing this three-part series for you.
What is Excel and how is it organized?
Excel is an electronic spreadsheet program that’s used to store, organize and manipulate data. You enter data into Workbooks that are made up of individual Worksheets. In the Worksheets, you enter data into cells that are organized into rows and columns. Excel data can consist of text, numbers, dates, times and formulas.
Why would you want to use Excel?
If you or your employees work with financial data, it’s a great tool to use for:
Basic mathematical operations like adding, dividing, and multiplying.
Finding values like profits or losses.
Calculations like averages, percentages and number counts.
Performing calculations in Excel is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s much more you can do like creating charts and graphical layouts to make it easier to recognize trends and more easily analyze data.
Navigation
What’s great about Excel is that it has the same set up as other Microsoft products you’re familiar with. You have tabs across the top, where each tab has a corresponding ribbon with many functionalities to choose from.
The Quick Access Toolbar
The Quick Access Toolbar is a drop-down menu where you’ll find functions that you commonly use like Print and Save. You can also customize the Quick Access menu with other functions you use on a regular basis.
The Formula Bar
This is located underneath the ribbon next to the Name Box that shows you where your cursor is located on your Worksheet. The Formula Bar is important because it’s what calculates the math for you. Excel does the calculation and displays the answer in the cell you choose. The Formula Bar also shows you the contents of the particular cell you’re in.
Adding Data
There are three ways you can add data to your Excel Worksheet. You can:
Type in the data,
Copy and Paste data, or
Import data from other sources.
This is great if you have a large amount of data. For example, if you have customer lists in a database, you can even pull this into Excel.
You can enter data into only one cell, into several cells at the same time, or even on more than one Worksheet at once. And, as mentioned, the data can be numbers text, formulas, dates, or times.
On your Worksheet, simply click a cell and type in the information that you want to enter. Then hit ENTER or TAB. If you typed in a date, Excel will recognize this and format it the way you’ve specified in your default settings.
Formulas
Excel computes the correct answer when you enter a formula into a cell. Once you’ve done this, it recalculates whenever you change any of the values. The way Excel knows that you’re entering a formula is by starting with an equal sign. Then you follow the equal sign with a SUM or AVERAGE.
For example, C2: =A2+B2 means that the number in C2 is what occurs when you add the numbers in A2 and B2.
You can type this in manually, but now Excel has great functionalities to help you do this. The simple way is to put your cursor in cell C2, hit = and type in A2+B2. The numbers in A2 and B2 will be added, and the SUM will be entered in cell C2.
Note: You always want to calculate using the actual cells rather than typing in numbers like 1 + 2, etc. The reason for this is so you can go back at any time and change the values in cells and the formula will calculate with the new numbers.
Let’s say you want to add a bunch of numbers together in your Worksheet. You can type = sum (a1:a5) in the cell where you want the answer to appear. Or you can do this and drag your mouse across the cells you want to add. Type =sum ( and drag your mouse across the cells and hit ENTER. The sum will appear in the cell without you having to typing in all the numbers! When you put your cursor on the cell, you will see the actual formula you just created.
There are many ways to do the same thing in Excel. It’s like this across all Microsoft products. You can go to the Ribbon at the top to “Auto Sum” to do the same calculation. Select a cell next to the numbers you want to add, click AutoSum on the Home tab and press Enter. Do what works best for you.
Once you create a formula, you can copy and paste it into another cell. You can also copy and paste formulas into different Worksheets as well. This can save you a lot of time.
Formatting Worksheets
With Excel 2016, you can format your Worksheets much more easily than you could before. You can use document themes throughout the Worksheets in your Workbook to present a professional and consistent appearance. You can also apply predesigned formats as well.
Let’s say you have a Worksheet with many rows that are hard to read. You can go in and create fill colors and more to differentiate the rows, columns, and headers to make reading much easier.
You have options to create borders around cells, rows or columns from the drop-down menu. You can also shade cells with a solid background. Don’t forget that you can change the style and types of fonts. Right-click the text, and a drop-down menu will appear where you can make these and other selections easily.
Creating Charts
If the data isn’t complex, you can easily read it, but if you have a lot of data, creating a chart will help you better analyze it. You can select specific cells, rows, and columns for your chart. One way to do this is to highlight the data and go to the top ribbon to select the type of chart you want to create.
With Excel 2016, you have a “recommended charts” option. Excel will help you choose the chart that best suits your data.
You can then go in and further customize your chart in the “Chart Tools”. You can change the color scheme, 3D effects, shading and more. If you change the data in the cells in your Worksheet, your chart will reflect the changes.
Some of the new charts in 2016 include:
Waterfall
Tree Map
Box and Whiskers
Sunburst
Creating Tables
You may be used to creating tables in Word or PowerPoint. Some people think the format in Excel is already in a table, but it’s not; at least until you tell it to do so. If you want to do this, select your data, go to “Insert” and select “Table.”
Similar to other Microsoft products, tabs will appear to help you format your table.
Viewing Worksheets
When dealing with lots of information, it can get unruly trying to work around various rows and columns. This is where Viewing Worksheets can be helpful. You can freeze a portion of your worksheet with “Freeze Panes” to more easily view it.
You also have the ability to “split” the data to view different parts of your Worksheet. You can compare two Worksheets in the same Workbook or even in different Workbooks by viewing them side by side.
Saving and Printing
If you have Worksheets that are so large they won’t fit on one page, go to “Save As” and decide on the name, where it gets saved, and go to “Print” where you can save the file to a pdf that you can send.
You can select options for printing the entire sheet, part of it, resizing it, and more to suit your needs. Going to “Page Setup” will allow you to shrink the entire Worksheet down to a size that’s more manageable for printing.
Sharing & Security
In Excel 2016 you can share Workbooks and Worksheets with others and password-protect them. The people you send them to need to know your password to open them, whether you send them via email, share them on your network, or via the cloud. From within Excel, you can designate who can access your Worksheets and Workbooks, and also whether they can edit them or not. There are a variety of parameters you can set within a Worksheet.
For example, if you want to hide employees’ salaries, you can hide this section when you share it. Or, you can let people see your data but lock it down, so they can’t change it. You can also protect your Worksheets and Workbooks to keep them secure from non-authorized users.
The Quick Analysis Tool
When highlighting data, click on the Quick Analysis button to create a chart, highlight specific cells, and much more. It doesn’t give you the functionality you’ll find in the Ribbon, but you can get things done quickly and easily with this tool.
3D Power Maps
This is another new tool in Excel 2016 that lets you look at information in ways you might not have seen in the two-dimensional format. This helps you strategically create your data on a 3D map. You need latitude and longitude data to do this. You can also import your own maps into 3D Power Maps.
PivotTables
PivotTables help you analyze your Worksheet data. You can summarize, analyze, explore and present your data in just a few clicks. They are very flexible and can be adjusted to your unique needs. Note: Your data should be organized without blank rows or columns for this to work properly.
The good news is that Excel 2016 will also help you pick the best format for your PivotTables!
PivotCharts
PivotCharts are another great way to add visualizations to your data. You will first need a PivotTable to create a chart. Now, your PivotTable will behave like a PivotChart. When you change the information in your PivotTable, the PivotChart will also reflect this change. The PivotTable is connected to the PivotChart.
That’s it for now! For more information on using Excel 2016 like a Pro, feel free to contact the Microsoft Experts at {company}! {phone} {email}
by Felicien | Mar 22, 2018 | Education
With a great looking, professional website, your business can compete in today’s complex marketplace. Since your website is the first thing consumers see, it has to make a great first impression. Otherwise, you may find your traffic declining and conversions down. A company website should also reflect your values, experience and industry knowledge.
Often times, business owners try to cut corners and design their own website. While this can be a good solution if you’re low on cash, it can also result in a poorly built site. Some business owners have good, keen insights on how their website should be laid out, the right colors to use and other design elements. But often, this is not true. You may be a pro at what you do, but designing a website requires specific skills you may not have. Before you let your cousin’s roommate design your website, or tackle it yourself, check out these 9 web design mistakes that business owners consistently make.
Number One: User-Friendly Design
A great deal of research has gone into the topic of how to create a user-friendly website. User experience (UX) is one of the key elements of a great website. UX focuses on making sure each visitor has the best possible experience on your site. Was the site easy to navigate? Was the information there credible? Did visitors find the content valuable? It’s a complicated process to get each one of these exactly right.
Number Two: Is It Mobile Friendly?
Most web designers will claim to give you a website that is mobile friendly but don’t take their word for it. This is something that every web designer says to potential customers. Instead, check out a few of their past designs and make sure. Each year, the number of people shopping on their smartphone grows and that is slated to continue on into the near future. A poorly executed mobile site could cost you in the end.
Number Three: Professionally Written Content
This is another area where business owners often try to cut corners. Why not let your spouse, brother or one of the kids write your content? Because poorly written content shouts out to the public that you aren’t taking your business seriously. An experienced copywriter knows how to word your content so that it’s easy and fun to read and contains your important keywords.
Number Four: Web Design Layout
There are so many choices when it comes to how your site should be designed. You have unlimited choices about where to place images, content, taglines and other elements. Some people have great instincts about this stuff, while others struggle. A professional web designer should have enough experience to research your business, industry, and competition and give you exactly what will work best for your specific business. Even small changes can make a big difference.
Number Five: Optimized Content
Optimizing your content so that your site comes up on the first page of search engines is every business owner’s dream. But this dream is a process that takes place every day. When you initially place content on the site, it should be professionally written and contain your keywords. Any future content you add should also be optimized. It’s important to review your content every two years to ensure that it’s still relevant and still contains the right keywords.
Number Six: Use of Colors
This is where many individuals fall short. It may seem like a great idea to do the whole site in black and orange but do a bit of research first. The colors you use should be easy on the eyes, they should be enticing, they should not provoke any negative moods. Experiment by checking out a dozen websites in your industry. As you visit the sites, write down one word that you thought of when you first viewed the site.
For instance, one dating site uses pink and blue. While these colors are associated with boys and girls, your target audience is NOT boys and girls; it’s men and women. Adults might find the use of a girly pink color offensive. There are certain shades of pink and blue that might work, but always bear in mind the impact that colors have on shoppers. There’s an entire industry built around what colors to use, whether you have a brick and mortar store or a website. It’s worth your time to learn about this topic.
Number Seven: Too Much Clutter
Some people just don’t get the concept of “too much information.” A messy website with boxes here and there, multiple images and content that rattles on can be a big turnoff for consumers. It’s like an information overload occurs when viewing some websites. You get that feeling of being overwhelmed, so you click away as soon as possible. Once this happens to a visitor, there’s very little likelihood that they’ll ever visit your site again. We often only get one chance to impress.
Number Eight: No Clear Direction
Too often, website visitors land on a page, look around for a few moments and still have no idea what the business is all about. Your value proposition, your mission statement … these things should all be upfront and easy to understand. There’s no excuse for even one person visiting your site, then leaving without knowing who you are and what you do. Sometimes we all enjoy working on riddles and puzzles, but don’t make your potential customers do that or they’ll go someplace else to shop.
Number Nine: Pages Load Too Slowly
Usually, with today’s technology, this is not as much of a problem as it was a few years ago. Typically, if a page loads too slowly, you have too many images, charts, diagrams and other elements that slow down page-loading times. One site that features emeralds from all over the world suffers from slow page-loading. Why? Each page of the site has a dozen photos, uses formatting like bolding and colored text and includes internal and external hyperlinks. While you can do this occasionally on a page, you cannot get away with doing it on every page of your site.
Tips for Success
Look around before you buy. Check out several web designers before a signing a contract. Make sure that some revisions are included in the price. Though you won’t find anyone who will do unlimited revisions, you might be able to negotiate this. Ask for references and check those out. A site should be visually appealing but it should also offer an incredible user experience.
It’s important to find a good web designer that you trust and then allow them to do their job. If you second-guess all their design choices, you may not get the best end result. Be cautious about working with companies in places like Lithuania, Poland and India. Some of these business owners are hard-working individuals who will do a great job. But there’s often a cultural and language barrier that can cripple your efforts to get exactly the website you want.
by Felicien | Mar 22, 2018 | Education
Are you an expert at using Microsoft products? Microsoft wants to hear from you — and wants to make your feedback part of an update — but first, they need to know what you think. How can they find out?
How often do you use a Microsoft product? Are you a daily Microsoft Word user? Is your primary email client Microsoft Outlook? What about SharePoint? The list goes on (Teams, Flow, you get the idea). And those are just the software products! Maybe you have a Surface Book, too? Or a Surface Book 2?!
One of the great things about Microsoft is they love user feedback. Software updates are often based entirely on suggestions from users on what features they’d like to see, what improvements can be made, and how to make daily use easier for users in general. The main goal is to increase efficiency with the Microsoft product while increasing productivity at the end user perspective. This is a win-win-(win). That last “win” was in parentheses because it’s silent – Microsoft sees increased dependence and therefore long-term customer loyalty, which translates into an ongoing revenue stream. That’s understandable.
What’s often less clear is how Microsoft tries to collect user feedback. No, they don’t really call users at home. Well, actually, they might – but in this case, the most effective way to communicate a suggested feature is through the Microsoft Excel Community, a forum of over 16,000 members in which to communicate about all things Microsoft Excel. If you’re in search of a feature, this is the place to peruse. Formula got you flummoxed? Need help with a pesky pivot table? Is a macro making you crazy? You’re most likely to find your answers here. The best part is that this community has super users, and we don’t mean users who wear capes. One such super user has over 400 posts, and these users can be found under “Experts” – a clear indicator they know what they’re talking about in Microsoft Excel!
There is also an active Blog, where Microsoft posts content about Excel. Content ranges from posts aimed at beginners, like how to use general features for newbies, to content focusing on new features released to satisfy the needs of super users (“experts”). These Blog posts are great for deeper insights and step-by-step instructional processes, but the forums are the better space for finding tips and suggestions for specific needs.
Microsoft loves to hear from users about what’s working and what can be improved and encourages engagement through a custom portal on their Community page. Roughly halfway down this page, on the right-hand side, users will see a vivid green box — the green will be instantly recognizable as “Excel” green — with “Submit your ideas”. Clicking on this will open a dialogue menu for users to submit as a digital version of a suggestion box.
Trust us when we say, Microsoft listens. This is their way around getting you on the phone for a personal interview. Recent updates have been made that actually result from feedback in this manner. Users can submit ideas, and other users can “vote up” suggestions. The recent features that have been added to Microsoft Excel have gotten anywhere between 200 to over 1,000 votes from users supporting the suggestion. This is one of the most effective ways to communicate directly with Microsoft – because they’re watching this forum closely.
Stalker Level: Microsoft
Based on user feedback, Microsoft recently updated Excel to include features expanding the use of foreign languages. Before the update, users would attempt to import a CSV file that included text strips that did not contain traditional Latin characters, like Arabic. Users would then get an error message that this information would be lost in the text encoding process upon opening the file. Users affected by situations like this need no longer worry as CSV UTF-8 file formatting is now permitted.
This error dialogue used to pop up all the time in situations like this, no matter how many times a user followed the same process. Excel now allows you to select “Don’t Show Again” to disable this warning for the same user. But even if a user only accidentally clicks the “Don’t Show Again” option, this can be toggled on again. Microsoft is trying to allow users to cater their Excel experience to their custom preferences, and it’s starting to show.
Another feature that came into existence through user feedback via the Community is the improved pivot table experience. Users can now alter pivot table settings and then establish these as the default settings for pivot tables at the user level. No more re-formatting pivot tables with each file! Users can even create a pivot table in a new worksheet and import the settings from the existing table data, to save time. Microsoft realized how big of a time saver this would be, and jumped at the opportunity to satisfy a huge community user base with this update.
A cool feature Microsoft just released for Excel Online is an improved search experience. Remember when you would open the “Find” dialogue box, enter your search parameter, and then Excel would show you the next location? And then to find the next location, you had to repeat the process? Well – good news! The search window no longer disappears with each search query. BONUS: users can search within the pivot experience, as well! These filters work on Excel Online just like in the desktop version.
When Microsoft makes an update to any of their products, the goal is to improve efficiency and productivity, as already stated. That’s why they began including the Quick Access icons in the toolbar at the top of the application window several versions of Microsoft Office ago.
Did you know the Quick Access toolbar is customizable? Users can change the icons that live in this section, at the very top of the document window. This is where your magical “undo” button is, by default. If you select the drop-down arrow just to the right of the last icon, there is a short list of actions you can include, and an option for “More” under these. Imagine the possibilities!
Microsoft also likes to share lesser-known features with users to make sure they are getting the most out of their Microsoft products. One of their recently-highlighted features was the Document Location Information, where users can toggle on the ability to see the full address for the location of a file, should the user need to access the file, perhaps for sharing.
One cool workaround for file sharing is that you can click on the icon next to the file name at the very top of the window on the desktop version and use a drag-and-drop feature this way to attach a file to an email or to cloud storage platforms.
Visit the Community to check out all the top features that are packed into Microsoft Excel to see how to simplify your day-to-day tasks, automate reporting processes, and improve overall efficiency. And remember – if you think of something else, tell Microsoft. You never know, the next Microsoft Excel feature that gets announced may be your suggestion!
by Felicien | Mar 22, 2018 | Education
With cybersecurity efforts increasing and becoming more sophisticated in approach, cybercriminals are resorting to extreme tactics. What measures can you take to protect yourself and your identity?
Healthcare is a hot topic these days. Costs are skyrocketing, and fewer skilled workers are entering the medical profession. There are often more questions than answers to any health situation. Time can be critical and limited to successfully diagnose a patient and begin treatment, and the care process is expedited with increased risks from this hurrying.
To get a clear picture of the patient as a whole, medical professionals ask for a full patient history before treatment, including vaccinations, surgeries, allergies, and other pertinent details for the current situation. This is all incredibly helpful for both the patient and the provider. Doctors rely on transparency and communication to diagnose and treat.
All of this information is stored in a patient “chart”. The word “chart” is not as applicable today as it was 20 years ago, when folders or binders with prongs and dividers, etc., held paper copies of test results, physician notes, reports, and anything related to a patient’s health, as well as medical history forms and basic information forms filled out by the patient with personal information like full name, address, and contact details.
A recent trend, begun in the last decade, is the conversion of this data to electronic records. The brilliance of this transition is the ability for a provider to access a patient’s medical records and information from any location – especially in case of an emergency. Gone are the days when a doctor will need to request a patient’s chart from another provider to aid in making a diagnosis and care action plan, possibly delaying treatment for a week or more. The ability to access electronic health records gives care providers a wealth of patient records at their fingertips for more accurate diagnoses and treatment plans and expediting care.
As with anything digitally maintained and transmitted, security is a concern. The healthcare industry seems always to be playing catch-up since its very nature is reactive. Preventive medicine is the ultimate goal, but predicting illnesses like sinus infections or the flu is a near-insurmountable challenge. Patients can minimize the likelihood of symptoms and risks with daily multivitamins, a balanced diet, moderate exercise, and maintaining optimal conditions, like taking an antihistamine for allergies in the case of preventing a sinus infection. Preventing the flu comes down to environmental factors, like ample hand washing and clean surroundings – and, of course, getting your vaccination (the “flu shot”) each year.
Healthcare technology has focused on advancements in diagnosis and treatment rather than recordkeeping and billing, and as such the industry lags behind others, like banking, retail, and entertainment. Unfortunately, the combination of struggling technology and personally identifiable information (PII) speaks to a weakness in cybersecurity. It’s vulnerabilities like these that cybercriminals — hackers — seek to exploit for personal gain.
Why would hackers target medical offices or hospitals for health records? For the same reasons, hackers target any cybersecurity vulnerability: to exploit a weakness for personal gain. Stop and think for just a moment what your health records contain. Aside from your home address, forms likely include your employer, your social security number, the names and details of your family members, and very personal information that someone else could use to completely duplicate your life for illicit purposes.
Have you ever had your credit card used for a fraudulent transaction? Have you ever had your bank account compromised? Have you ever been notified that your personal information was affected by a security breach? These are all fundamental elements of identity theft, but in each situation, there is a credible party whose responsibility it was to protect you and your information with a security guarantee. Think back to what we said about healthcare technology. If security breaches can happen to financial institutions, where maximum cybersecurity protocols are deemed essential for day-to-day operations, it’s scary to think of healthcare data being electronically stored. You can change your bank, and a credit card company can re-issue you a card with a new number to protect your account, but you can’t exactly just change your medical records. It’s a scary thought.
One major issue causing the healthcare industry to lag when it comes to cybersecurity is that professionals in the medical field are focused on technology primarily as it relates to healthcare. Those in charge of records and billing tend to have representation in smaller numbers than doctors, nurses, and others that provide patient care – since the purpose of their profession is patient-centric. The industry has yet to fully carve out a niche for top IT talent, much less define their role. The added complication is that healthcare professionals by their very nature must share information with each other about patients to serve in the patients’ best interest. Comparing this to financial institutions isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison since banks keep information securely buttoned up, leaving healthcare IT professionals to explore completely new territory and make up the rules as they go along.
So, what is your life worth to hackers? Did you know your health information can be used to fraudulently obtain prescriptions that are then sold on the black market at a significant profit? The inherent value of this type of information is much higher than the value of a single credit card number with accompanying information. Some reports say that the value of a patient’s health record is exponentially higher than the value of an active and usable credit card number, and this number can’t be truly measured financially until we know more about how the information is used – and isn’t something we hope to be able to determine.
The cost impact of cybersecurity breaches grows each year, and new players are targets due to their lack of experience. The newness of electronic health records compared to the established processes of other tech players translates into confusion and communication challenges and a resistance to change – a “deadly” combination for the life of a patient. Medical professionals are open to change when it comes to the medical field, but much of the processes for patient data and payments haven’t changed in decades. Dated networks and systems are one hurdle; economic considerations and budget allocations are another. The financial impact of simultaneous updates for staffing and systems, and the confusion by the many changes potentially occurring together only add to the complications. Are you picturing a medical office with all the nurses and staff bumping into each other, running into walls, dropping instruments, and just chaos in general? That is a bit extreme – but you get the idea. Now imagine if a hacker suddenly blocks access to all of these medical records until a fee is paid to release the records – a cyber attack with ransomware. Not a huge deal if someone needs treatment for that sinus infection or a flu shot, but imagine if this impacts a dialysis treatment for failing kidneys, or chemotherapy treatment for cancer, or worse.
All of this reinforces the need for the healthcare industry to get up to speed – now. What can you do to bring your practice up to speed? Take the first step today!
by Felicien | Mar 21, 2018 | Education
We noticed that some people are having problems using Microsoft Office 365 with two-factor authentication (2FA) (also known as multi-factor authentication).
We have a few tips for you here.
First: It’s important to know that when your admin sets up 2FA for your Office 365 users, they must enable Modern Authentication (MA) for Exchange Online if users are accessing Exchange using Outlook 2016. (The versions of Microsoft Outlook before 2013 don’t support Modern Authentication.) For details on how to enable MA for Exchange Online tenants, see Enable Modern Authentication in Exchange Online.
Second: You shouldn’t have any problem using 2FA with Microsoft’s mobile Office apps, Outlook Groups, Office 2016 desktop apps, and OneDrive for Business in Windows 10. However, other applications may be incompatible, so make sure you test all the apps in your organization before enabling 2FA.
How to Connect to Office 365 Security & Compliance Center PowerShell Using 2FA.
If you set up 2FA for tenant administrator accounts, they can’t sign in to Office 365 using PowerShell. Instead, you must set up a specialized account for administrators. To do this, you must install the Exchange Online Remote PowerShell Module and use the Connect-IPPSSession cmdlet to connect to Security & Compliance Center PowerShell.
Important note from Microsoft: You can’t use the Exchange Online Remote PowerShell Module to connect to Exchange Online PowerShell and Security & Compliance Center PowerShell in the same session (window). You need to use separate sessions of the Exchange Online Remote PowerShell Module.
This is what Microsoft recommends you do:
Open the Exchange admin center (EAC) for your Exchange Online. See Exchange admin center in Exchange Online.
In the EAC, go to Hybrid> Setup and click the appropriate Configure button to download the Exchange Online Remote PowerShell Module for multi-factor authentication.
In the Application Install window that opens, click Install.
Windows Remote Management (WinRM) on your computer should allow authentication by default. If basic authentication is disabled, you’ll get an error message. Now you should be able to sign into the Security & Compliance Center PowerShell by using 2FA.
After you sign in, the Security & Compliance Center cmdlets will be imported into your Exchange Online Remote PowerShell Module session and tracked by a progress bar. If you don’t receive any errors, you’ve done this successfully.
If not, and you receive errors, check the following requirements:
Limit your open remote PowerShell connections to three. This prevents denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.
Make sure the account you connect to the Security & Compliance Center is enabled for remote PowerShell. For more information, see Enable or disable access to Exchange Online PowerShell.
The TCP port 80 traffic must be open between your local computer and Office 365. It may not be if your organization has a restrictive Internet access policy.
How to Enable 2FA in the Office 365 Admin Portal
Two-factor authentication (multi-factor authentication) can be enabled for individual users or in bulk. Before continuing, be sure to install Microsoft Authenticator on your user’s mobile devices, (not Authenticator, a similar app from Microsoft but without support for push notifications). Here’s what Microsoft says to do to enable 2FA one user at a time:
Log in to the Office 365 admin portal using an administrator account.
In the menu on the left of the portal, expand Users and Active users.
In the list of users, click the user for which you want to enable 2FA. Note that only licensed users can use 2FA.
In the user’s pane, click Manage multi-factor authentication under More settings.
On the multi-factor authentication screen, select the user account to enable, and then click Enable under quick steps on the right.
In the About enabling multi-factor auth dialog box, click enable multi-factor auth.
The MULTI-FACTOR AUTH STATUS should change to Enabled. Close the browser window and sign out of the admin portal.
How to Enroll an Account for 2FA
Once the feature is enabled, the user must now enroll for 2FA, and sign into Office 365 with their username and password, and then click Set it up now on the sign in screen and follow Microsoft’s instructions below:
On the Additional security verification screen, select Mobile app
Select Receive notifications for verification
Click Set up
Open the Microsoft Authenticator app on your phone and click Scan Barcode.
Use the camera on your phone to scan the barcode in the Configure mobile app You’ll then need to wait a couple of seconds while the app activates the new account.
Click Finished in the browser window.
Back on the Additional security verification screen, click Contact me.
The user will receive a notification on their phone. They should open it, and they’ll be taken to the Microsoft Authenticator app.
Click Verify to complete the sign-in process.
Click Close in the Microsoft Authentication app.
In the browser window, they must enter a number to receive verification codes in case they lose access to the Microsoft Authenticator app and click Next.
Web-based and mobile apps can use Microsoft Authenticator app verifications for 2FA logins, but Office desktop apps require an app password.
This final step provides the user with an app password for these apps.
They should copy the app password by clicking the copy icon to the right of the password and paste it somewhere safe. Click Finished.
They’ll be prompted to sign in again, this time by verifying the login using the Microsoft Authenticator app.
Important note from Microsoft: If you want to use only Multi-Factor Authentication for Office 365, don’t create a Multi-Factor Authentication provider in the Azure Management Portal and link it to a directory. Doing so will take you from Multi-Factor Authentication for Office 365 to the paid version of Multi-Factor Authentication.
We hope this helps. It can be complicated to implement the proper settings for two-factor authentication in Microsoft Office 365. If you have any problems doing this, feel free to contact our Microsoft Experts.
