Category: Uncategorized

Digital Sticky Notes

Post-It Notes are so helpful for writing down all of the little things that you need to remember. Dozens of these notes used to clutter my workspace until I found the Sticky Notes app. To access it within Microsoft Windows PCs, simply type Sticky Notes in the Windows search bar.

NOTE: Mac users can use these instructions from the Apple webpage: Stickies User Guide for Mac – Apple Support

Simply start typing to add content to or images to your note, using the formatting options that are available at the bottom as needed. Click the + symbol at the top to create as many notes as you need.

Click the ellipses (… symbol) in the upper right to explore other options, like changing the color of your notes, viewing a “Notes list” which will show all of your individual sticky notes in the same place, or deleting a note.

After you click the Notes List option, you will also see a gear icon, as shown here:

Click the gear option to sign-in to your Mason Microsoft account (the same as you use for e-mail). One of the advantages of signing in is that you can sync your Sticky Notes across all of your devices.

Want to learn more? Check out Microsoft’s official support page: Get started with Sticky Notes – Microsoft Support. There are also many videos available on YouTube.

Microsoft Teams Chats

We all make typos and mistakes. The good news is that you can easily fix errors in your Microsoft Teams’ chat messages. To do so, hover over the top right corner of your chat message, then select the pencil icon, as shown here:

Make any corrections or additions that you need, then click the checkmark symbol to save your changes, or the X symbol to discard any changes, and keep the original message.

Once a message has been edited, you and others in the Team will be able to see that the chat was edited, as shown here.

The same is true for chat message deletions. To delete a chat message, however over the top right corner of your message again, but this time click on the ellipses symbol, and then select Delete from the menu that appears.

Now for a bit of bad news. It is possible for team owners to prevent team members from editing and deleting chat messages. So if you’re having trouble, that might be the reason why. My experience is that most team owners do allow for edits and deletions.

Deleting Files in Microsoft Teams

What happens to files after they are deleted from Microsoft Teams?

The answer might surprise you. Although there is no visible trash can or recycling bin in Teams, it does exist. To access this recycling bin, you must open the Sharepoint Document Library that corresponds to your Microsoft Teams’ site. To do this, click on the “Files” tab in any channel, and then click the “Open in Sharepoint” icon in the upper-right-hand corner of your page.

Once the Sharepoint site has loaded in your browser, click “Recycle bin” from the left-hand navigation menu to access it. Here you will find a list of files that have been recently deleted from your team. For each file in the recycle bin, you will have the option to delete or restore it.

Delete will send the file to a second-stage recycle bin accessible by team owners and Microsoft365 admins only. Restore will restore a file to its original location in your Microsoft Teams’ site.

Files that are not restored or deleted from the recycle bin page will be permanently deleted after 93 days*. This is also true of files that are deleted and sent to the Second-stage recycle bin. Unless a team owner or Microsoft365 admin acts to restore those files within 93 days of the original deletion from Microsoft Teams, they will be permanently deleted. This is one of many reasons why it is important to keep your list of team owners up-to-date!

Q: What should I do if a file must be deleted immediately, and I don’t want it to be retained for 93 days?

A: If you are a team owner, first delete the file from Teams, and then from the Recycle bin. Next, scroll down to the very bottom of the Recycle bin page, and click on the link for the Second-stage recycle bin. Deleting the file from this page will permanently delete the file.

If you are not a team owner, you do not have the power to permanently delete files, and must contact the team owner for assistance.

* 93 days is the time frame that was selected by Microsoft365 administrators at George Mason University. Other institutions may utilize a different time frame.