Upcoming Microsoft 365 changes: Personal Bookings in Outlook, Accessibility add-in and Mendeley add-in

Sydney Kuehn | June 8, 2022

New Microsoft features and add-ins will be available by the end of June. Personal Bookings, Accessibility Review and Mendeley Cite will be available to all faculty, staff and students at The Ohio State University. They are not available to guests or employees of the Wexner Medical Center. For a complete list of approved Office add-ins please see microsoft365.osu.edu. Learn more about Microsoft 365 third-party integrations and requesting add-ins.

Bookings

Microsoft is now adding personal Bookings within Outlook for individuals. Bookings in Outlook may help you reduce the back-and-forth in scheduling while helping you maintain control of your calendar. You'll be able to create custom meeting types to share with others so they can easily find a time to schedule a 1:1 meeting with you according to your availability and preferences. When someone schedules a meeting with you using your personal booking page, you will both receive an email confirmation. Attendees can update or cancel scheduled meetings with you directly from your personal bookings page. While Microsoft Bookings is designed for group and team scheduling, Bookings in Outlook is meant only for the owner of the mailbox and is based only on their preferences and availability. 

Once the add-in request is approved you will be able to access the personal booking page from the Outlook web calendar or through outlook.office.com/bookwithme. 

For more information on Bookings, visit the Administrative Resource Center.

October Changes to Bookings Service

A new version of the Bookings web pages was launched last year that introduced many new features and is the default for newly created Bookings pages. Beginning November 14, 2022, the new version of Bookings will become the standard and the previous version will be retired. You may change to the new version at any time prior to November 14 to become familiar with the new interface and features. Existing Bookings created under the previous version will automatically transition to the new version after November 14, no action is required.

Microsoft Bookings is currently available on the Web, as a Teams App, as a Mobile App on Google Play store and Apple App store. Microsoft will be retiring the Mobile Apps for Android and iOS on December 1, 2022. After that time Bookings on Mobile devices will only be accessible via mobile web browsers.

Accessibility

The Microsoft Accessibility Reminder is an add-in for Office that provides a simple and effective method of notifying document authors and contributors of accessibility issues. This solution adds reminder comments into documents with tips and links to help articles. In PowerPoint, these reminders will be added as instructions on a separate slide at the beginning of the presentation. The Accessibility Reminder is personal and customizable. You can create custom comments and notify specific authors, add personalized links to training materials, cite organization-specific guidelines relating to accessibility, and more. Using the Accessibility Reminder will help increase awareness and education of accessibility best practices. The accessibility reminder add-in will be available in Word, Excel and PowerPoint on both web and desktop versions. 

Mendeley

Mendeley Cite is now available as an add-in for certain Microsoft Office 365 products. Mendeley is a free reference manager that can help you store, organize, note, share and cite references and research data. Mendeley can automatically generate bibliographies, collaborate easily with other researchers online, import papers from other research software, find relevant papers based on what you're reading and access your papers from anywhere online. To request access for Mendeley Cite review the knowledge base article KB07201.

 

Please be advised Microsoft 365 Add-Ins may require you to create an account with that vendor. In these cases, be sure to set a unique and strong passphrase; do not reuse your Ohio State or other passwords. Enable multi-factor authentication where available. For more information on multi-factor authentication and strong passwords visit cybersecurity.osu.edu and www.nist.gov/video/password-guidance-nist-0. Before using any Microsoft 365 services please review the information on sharing content, acceptable use, general questions, and other important items to be aware of on this page Microsoft 365 Important Service Usage Information

If you have a disability and have trouble with any Microsoft 365 product, please reference the Microsoft Accessibility Disability Answer Desk where you can contact Windows and Office accessibility support through various methods. If you require additional support, please call the Ohio State Accessibility Helpline 614-292-5000.

 

If you need additional help, the IT Service Desk offers 24-hour support, seven days a week.
 

 
Tags: 
Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Bookings, accessibility, office 365