How to open Teams link directly in the client desktop app?

In this post I explain a trick how to open Microsoft Teams links directly in the Desktop Fat client without going through the browser.

Send to Kindle

As explained in a previous post I am used to ordering Kindle ebooks on Amazon.com and send them to my Amazon.de Kindle. In the past, I was doing so by forwarding the order email to my Kindle email with the .mobi file attached.

Now Google Mail does not allow me to send bigger Email attachments. So I had to look for another way.

Blogger: Analytics issue because of mobile views

I've noticed following trouble with Blogger and Google Analytics:

A same page will have different analytics wether it is opened from mobile or not.

I present here a solution to fix this.

Microsoft Teams: New Breakout Rooms feature

Microsoft Teams has just released this new Break-out rooms feature. I share here good references and tutorial about it.

Open multiple Microsoft Teams instances

I share here a trick how to open a second instance of the Microsoft Teams client.

I personally prefer to open Teams in the browser for this but one of you might be interested in it.

Video Tools

I list here some video tools recommendations/ resources for creating video content on a Windows PC.

Monitor web content

Frequently I want to watch a webpage i.e. be notified when a web page is updated.
Common use cases for example: get a notification when a software is updated (watch the changelog), be notified when a question (I haven't asked myself but I'm interested in its answer) in StackOverflow is updated, dedicatedly watch a page in HCL Connections (out of my overcluttered notifications feed), subscribe to a github commit feed etc.

I present here the best solutions I have found so far for this.

James Clear: sharing, writing, recording, networking

I have listened recently to this podcast with James Clear (Atomic Habits) interviewed by Chase Jarvis (CreativeLive).

Below are some notes/ transcripts that resonated with myself related to a digital role model mindset: networking, why writing, sharing and recording.

Chromy: Chrome Launcher Plugin

In this post I share a Chrome Plugin for a Launcher e.g. Executor (my preferred one) or Launchy.

(It is implemented in AutoHotkey but shared as small executable.)

Read faster

I summarize here some techniques/ resources I have learned about Speedreading/ how to read faster.

Mindfulness recommendations

I share in this post some recommendations related to mindfulness.

Get Microsoft Teams Team name and link from file url

Using the NWS PowerTool (implemented with AutoHotkey), when you intellipaste a link to a file located in a Microsoft Teams SharePoint, before the link a nice link to the Team can be displayed.

Example:  Knowledge Brokers Team: General > Knowledge Broker Toolkit > Overall Introduction_Knowledge Brokers.pptx (part highlighted is a link to the Team behind the file)

I explain here how this feature works.

How to get the file link from a SharePoint/OneDrive Sync location

This is a technical post highlighting some implementation part in the NWS PowerTool.

This explains how to get the URL to a file in a SharePoint Online or OneDrive from its local synced location.

Sharing nice links from SharePoint/ OneDrive Sync location

Using the NWS PowerTool, you can conveniently share nice links to files located in your OneDrive or a SharePoint Online directly from the File Explorer Sync location.

The local file location is automatically translated to the URL cloud location.

With nice links I mean that you can choose if you want to display the link in a clickable-breadcrumb format and also that if the file is located in a Teams SharePoint you will get a link to the related Team.

Example:  Knowledge Brokers Team: General > Knowledge Broker Toolkit > Overall Introduction_Knowledge Brokers.pptx 
This page is currently a draft/ WIP. Reach out to me if you want it to be finished soon.

Teams Shortcuts: Smart Reply

In this post I highlight a feature implemented in the Teams Shortcuts PowerTool.

This is about how to reply to a chat thread in Microsoft Teams quoting the selected previous thread in a nice quote block with mention to the quoted thread author and a link to the quoted conversation - all this within the stroke of a hotkey. I call this feature "smart reply".

Teaser animated image:

Outlook Shortcuts: Personalize Mentions

Like for Microsoft Teams with Teams Shortcuts, you can personalize mentions in Outlook using the Outlook Shortcuts PowerTool.

Teams Shortcuts: Personalize Mentions

Mentions in Microsoft Teams are not very personalized. (This does not fit to a #callmebymyfirstname #gernperdu culture.)

In this post I explain how to personalize Microsoft Teams mentions the manual way and the powerful way using Teams Shortcuts Powertool. (AutoHotkey can "du" it)

Teams Shortcuts: Send Mentions

In this post I highlight a feature implemented in the TeamsShortcuts PowerTool.

This is about automagically type Microsoft Teams mentions from emails copied to your clipboard. 

This also provide the option to personalize them (i.e. reformat to first names only)

RegEx Greedy Trap

I have stumbled upon a regular expression trap - so called greedy (or ungreedy) trap. In short, in regex the ungreedy operator does not mean the shortest possible match. 

I explain here the problem description where I have faced it and workaround I came to use.

CamGif: Great small free tool to create gifs

Update: I recommend now ScreenToGif.

I recommend CamGif to create animated images aka Gif files on Windows.

It is free, very light (700kB), portable (it is only one exe file), maintained (last update as of now Nov 2020 was in Oct. 2019), which creates small size output file and provide also edit capabilities.

Cursor Highlighter

I've stumbled by chance (watching Kevin Stratvert's great videos) on this great tool provided by Prof. Luc Boisvert that allows you to highlight your mouse cursor. It is really handy when you are presenting or recording screencasts.

I have included it in my PowerTools so you can start, install run from the PowerTools bundler and also

I provide it as a compiled version: that will avoid you to install AutoHotkey (prerequisite you trust me)

Global Hotkey Launcher

Most of the PC applicaitons provide hotkeys but they can only be accessed if the program window is activated. (no global hotkey)

Moreover hotkeys are sometimes hard to remember.

I present here an approach using AutoHotkey and a launcher app to easily launch program-specific features even when the program is not activated and using an easy to remember keyword syntax.

I illustrate this approach for Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook.

Jira Export Excel Tool

If you want to export a Jira Filter to Excel or csv, you will face the 1000 issues limit so that the built-in export does not work.

I present here a nice Excel/VBA-based tool that make Jira filter export to Excel a one-click solution.

Blogger: share to twitter including post preview with pictures

 I was looking for a way while sharing one of my Blogger blog post to twitter to embed some nice blog preview including images.

I have this solution here: https://www.kimsixbloggersupport.com/2016/04/how-to-add-twitter-cards-to-your.html 

Blogger: Hide Post Footer from Home

While adding the last modified date to my Blogger blog posts footer, this date isn't displayed nicely in the Home / list view.

I have looked for a way to hide the footer from this index view only.

This is the solution I have found.

Blogger: Add Last Updated / Modified Date

I was looking for a way how to display the Last modified date besides the first published date in my Blogger blog.

I have found the solution here: https://www.twistblogg.com/blog/last-updated-date-in-blogger 

How to hide Blog description from Blogger Template

It is recommended for SEO to add a Blog description.

But the default blogger Template will then display it below the Home page title.

This clutters a lot the page and it isn't very useful/ a bit annoying. Specially if you already have an About page. I present here how to hide the blog description from you Blogger theme.

AutoHotkey: Gui to list and select a window

For getting the current Teams window, I have looked for a GUI Utility in AutoHotkey to select a window from a list.

I present here my final solution and code for this.

Outlook: Move Email to secondary Tasks Calendar

In Microsoft Outlook, I like to use a secondary Calendar for planning my Tasks. This has the advantage not to block my main calendar by default (else you have to be careful to mark the appointment as Free) and have a clear split between Meetings and personal Tasks management.

I present here my way to "put" an email into my Tasks calendar in one click without duplicating content and with a real link from the Calendar entry to the original email.

Excel Trick: Average/Formula for visible range only TLDR; SUBTOTAL(10x,

Today I have learned this trick in Microsoft Excel:

How to calculate an average for a range but for only the visible cells? (e.g. if you hide some rows or use a filter in a Table.)

Chrome Extension: View source

This is a recurring question I always have to look out: How to view the source code of a Chrome Extension?

I document here the step-by-step answer.

Blogger: Embed GitHub file

I have looked for an answer to this question: How to embed a GitHub file in a Blogger blog post?

Microsoft Teams: Better New conversation

Microsoft Teams client for Windows got an update with this new "New conversation" button.

This is great but unfortunately, the hotkey for creating a new conversation with the box expanded (Ctrl+Shift+X) isn't working anymore.

I present here a workaround I have found that is implemented in the Teamsy and Teams Shortcuts PowerTools.

Jira to Power BI (Recursive approach)

It is not so obvious to get data from Atlassian Jira into Microsoft Power BI. I share here my learnings and solution about it.

Update: see improved version

How to get Microsoft Teams main or meeting window? (Empower Teams Shortcuts with AutoHotkey)

Microsoft Teams provides hotkeys but they are only running if the target window is active. That means for example there is no "universal" hotkey to mute yourself during a meeting: you have to have the meeting window active to run it.

For running universal Teams Shortcuts from an application launcher see Teamsy or a small utility like the People Connector it would be great to have an efficient way to activate the Teams main Window or the active Teams Meeting window.

I present here my current solution - implemented in AutoHotkey.

Quick Share a link to Microsoft Teams

I have discovered recently by chance this nice feature: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/platform/concepts/build-and-test/share-to-teams that allows to quickly share a link from the browser into a Microsoft Teams Channel.

I share here my learnings and how to integrate this feature e.g. to a hotkey.

Outlook VBA: How to get Appointment Organizer or Email Sender Email

I have struggled to find out this one: How to get a Microsoft Outlook Appointment Organizer in VBA.

I needed this for this nice Outlook to Teams Chat Macro.

I share here my learning and final solution.

How to create a shortcut to/ start an office 365 Standalone Web Application?

Introduction

Most of the office 365 applications can be accessed via the browser. You can browse to them via the waffle = open office.com.

Now for each application if you use Chrome as browser you can also create a shortcut to the web apps a bit less cluttered by the default browser menus and toolbar.

I explain here step-by-step how to do this.

Open Teams Meeting Chat in a Separate Big Window

In the Microsoft Teams Windows client, when attending a Meeting, you can only view the Meeting Chat close to the main meeting window narrowed on the right side. You can not move this chat into a separate Window and therefore to another screen.

This is pretty annoying especially if you are presenting something or moderating. (You can not view the chat in the sharing mode anyway.)

I present here a workaround for this issue.

Outlook to Teams Group Chat (VBA)

The integration between Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Teams has still room for improvement.

(Right now you can forward and email to a channel using the channel email and share a conversation from Teams by email)

The nice Reply with IM only opens a chat with the From recipient. (1-1 chat) and with Reply All with IM it replies to all Recipients in To AND Cc. Also the name of the chat does not reflect the outlook item subject (contrary to Skype IM integration)

A common use case is from an Email or a Meeting you want to generate a Group Chat with the same list of recipients.

I present here a workaround based on VBA.

This post is a Work-In-Progress and will be continuously improved based on the interest/ comments.

Open Teams Links directly in the App

When opening Microsoft Teams Links (starting with https://teams.microsoft.com) before being redirected to the Microsoft Teams App/ Client then will be opened in the browser and you might get a left-over window opened in the browser.

I present here a way to workaround this issue.

Universal Date Picker/Calendar with week numbers/ Quick insert current date

(AutoHotkey is really great!)
With AutoHotkey you can very easily get a date picker + small calendar utility displaying also the week numbers.

(This might avoid you implementing forms in vba.)

Microsoft Teams: Multiple Windows

Microsoft Teams keeps making improvements but it isn't still close handling multiple windows as you would expect in state-of-the-art tools (even Skype was better). Pop out chat came recently and also Separate Meeting Windows with the New Meeting Experience.

Still, one common pain/ wish is to be able to monitor the meeting chat on another screen/ window while attending the meeting or even presenting in a meeting. Or view the attendees' video while presenting.

As common workaround for this, I use the trick to open Teams in the browser. (Another workaround to open a second client instance is explained in this other post.)

Outlook: Flag for recipients

Did you know you could also Flag an email in Outlook for the recipients?

This is pretty handy if you send per Email a Task to be executed till a deadline.

This is in fact a bit hidden.

Teams link to 1-1 chat or call

It is sometimes nice to provide a direct link to reach someone (e.g. yourself) in Microsoft Teams via a chat or a call. You can for example add such links your email signature or your (e.g. Confluence) profile page.

I explain in this post how to create/ use such links.

How to synchronize playlists between services (Spotify, Google Play Music...)?

For running, I was used to using Google Play Music to hear music offline from my phone.

Now Play Music will soon be closed and YouTube Music does not offer offline listening for free.

So I had to look for a way to synchronize my Google Music Playlist to another service like Spotify.

(With Spotify Premium you can download a playlist to your phone and here music offline, without internet connection - even if this account is used by someone else e.g. in your family)

I share here the solution I have found.

How to synchronize MiFit workouts to Strava?

I am using a MiFit Band 4 for activity/ workout tracking (combined with my Android phone).

I was looking for a solution to synchronize activity/workouts to other services like Strava. 

I share here the solution I have found.

AutoHotkey: Adaptive ListBox

In AutoHotkey I was looking for displaying in a ListBox Gui several text options with the width of the listbox being adaptive to the length of each options. See illustration below:

I couldn't find a standard solution for this but I have found two resources in the AutoHotkey forums which I have combined to build a library function.

Executor: My preferred App Launcher

I have been using Launchy for years.

Now Launchy is unfortunately not maintained anymore - since 2008 and its follower LaunchyQT lacks some features I was used to.

So I have looked for an alternative and came to use now Executor.

Update 2023-01-11: I have troubles getting Executor working and switched to LaunchyQt as alternative.

I present here a short overview how I use it.

Microsoft Teams: Export Team Members to Excel

In this post I explain how to export the list of a Microsoft Teams Team members to an Excel file including the email of each user, using a PowerShell script from an AutoHotkey script.

This is included in the Teams Shortcuts PowerTool.

Outlook Google Calendar Sync

It is sometimes pretty useful to be able to view his work calendar within your private mobile phone.

In private I use Google Calendar where I also share my calendar with my close family members.

To synchronize my work calendar to my Google Calendar I use this small utility:

@OGCalSync

Source code is available in GitHub here: https://github.com/phw198/OutlookGoogleCalendarSync/

I set it to synchronize to a separate Calendar 'Work' also to a separate Google account dedicated for Work purpose.

Be aware not to share work critical information with Google. 

Blogger: How to remove date from url

I was annoyed about standard blogger post url with a date in it e.g. https://tdalon.blogspot.com/2020/07/teamsy.html . I wanted a date neutral one so I can redirect documentation with a fixed doc root url (example from internal to external). Instead of previous url https://tdalon.blogspot.com/2020/07/teamsy.html something like this: https://tdalon.blogspot.com/teamsy  This is a solution I have found to fix it.

Teams PowerShell Setup

In this post I explain how to setup Powershell for Microsoft Teams.

Blogger: How to add a Table of Contents

I have been looking for a way to insert a table of contents to my blogger blog posts that is built automatically.

This is the solution I have found.

https://www.mybloggertricks.com/2017/02/create-table-of-contents-javascript.html

Thanks to MyBloggerTricks (MBT) for sharing this one.
 

Blogger: How to add Excerpts

I was looking for this one for my blogger blog: How to display in the Blog Homepage not the full blog posts but only a preview/excerpt of the posts with a Read more link?

I have found the answer here:

http://blogaholicdesigns.com/tutorials/how-to-add-post-excerpts-on-blogger/

It is very easy (it has changed a bit with blogger update)

Simply add a page break now called insert jump break where you want the excerpt to end.

How to create a shortcut to an app from the Microsoft App Store?

For starting a program from the Microsoft App Store (e.g. MS Whitboard or MS To-Do) from an application launcher like Executor or Launchy I was looking for a way to create a shortcut to such an app.

This isn't trivial as expected. Here is the solution I have found.

Teamsy: Launcher Plugin and Commander for Microsoft Teams

I present here how to master Microsoft Teams hotkeys and shortcuts from your preferred application launcher (e.g. Executor or Launchy) or from the command line e.g. with Stream Deck - using a small but very powerful tool implemented with AutoHotkey. I call it Teamsy.

Update: these feature are also available without requiring an external application launcher. See New Teamsy Standalone Launcher for Microsoft Teams

AutoHotkey: Read a CSV Table

Having exported a list of my Teams into a CSV file (see previous post) I want to be able to read this table.

The CSV file looks like: first row is for the header. Then each following row contains information for each item in the list.

Properties of each item are ordered column-wise.

I want given a value for one property to get the value for another property.

Example: 

TeamName := ReadCsv(CsvFile,"MailNickName",MailNickName,"DisplayName")

MS Outlook: Edit Received Emails

In this post I share a quite unknown Microsoft Outlook tip.

I want to be able to edit received emails to better search them later.
I receive a lot of emails with unclear subjects for example. (who doesn't?).
I don't want to have to forward it to me to be able to edit the subject of the email because the sender is then changed to myself and it duplicates the email.

Outlook: Duplicate event, Organize Meeting Follow-up

It is a common use case to want to duplicate an existing meeting/ appointment especially for example if you want to organize a meeting follow-up.

Contrary to Google Calendar, for example, the Outlook client does not offer this option in a very intuitive way e.g. directly from a calendar item context menu or the item ribbon.

Such a menu is available in Outlook Web access/ in the browser (https://outlook.office.com/calendar/ ).

I present in this post how to duplicate an event in the Outlook client.

Bookmarklet: Open Amazon book in Goodreads

Introduction I like before buying a book on Amazon to check the reviews on Goodreads. You can use a bookmarklet to do this in one click.

Goodreads offers one but it doesn't work. https://www.goodreads.com/user/edit?tab=widgets

Here is a working solution.

 

Good solution in Github

See https://gist.github.com/lightningdb/cfee260c3b7af7e65fce

javascript: var asin_elements, asin;asin_elements = document.getElementsByName('ASIN'); if (asin_elements.length == 0) { asin_elements = document.getElementsByName('ASIN.0'); };if (asin_elements.length == 0) { alert('Sorry, this doesn\'t appear to be an Amazon book page.'); }else { asin = asin_elements[0].value; if (asin.match(/\D/) === null) { var x = window.open('http://www.goodreads.com/review/isbn/'+ asin, 'add_review'); } else { var x = window.open('https://www.goodreads.com/search?q='+ asin); } x.focus();}

My solution

My solution used some regexp trick:

javascript: var array = document.URL.match(/amazon\..*?\/.*?\/([^\/\?]*)/); if (array == null) { alert('Sorry, this doesn\'t appear to be an Amazon book page.'); } else { var x = window.open('https://www.goodreads.com/search?q='+ array[1] + '&search_type=books'); x.focus(); }

Installation

Add a bookmark and paste the code in the URL

Chrome Extension: Close Current Tab

Introduction I've faced the challenge in a Chrome extension to close the current tab - and the chrome window if this Tab is the last one.

Standard answer

chrome.tabs.query({"active": true, "lastFocusedWindow": true}, function (tabs) {
						chrome.tabs.remove(tabs[0]);
					  });

The drawback of this solution is that it won't close the Chrome window if it is the last tab to be closed.

My solution (close window if last tab)

/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function closeCurrentTab(){

// Close current tab and browser window if last tab

// chrome.tabs.remove will not close the window on last tab closure -> needs to check if single tab opened

chrome.tabs.query({

    //active: true,

    currentWindow: true

}, function(tabs)   {

    if (tabs.length > 1) {

        chrome.tabs.query({

            active: true,

            currentWindow: true

        }, function(tabs)   {

        chrome.tabs.remove(tabs[0].id, function() { });

        });

    } else {

        chrome.windows.getCurrent(function(win) {

            chrome.windows.remove(win.id, function() { });

        });

    }       

});

AutoHotkey: Customize Button Message Box

It is not so easy in AutoHotkey to use a custom Message Box with customized Text on the Buttons or as many buttons as wished.

I present here 2 approaches and share some code.

AutoHotkey: TrayTipAutoHide

There is a nice function in AutoHotkey to display system tray notifications called TrayTip.

I present here an adaption to display the notification and auto-hide after a customizable time.
(The 3rd input parameter 'Time' in the active TrayTip function has no effect on Windows Vista and later.)

Text Expander supporting links / rich text format

Text Expander functionality is really useful. I have used PhraseExpress on Windows for this a lot (free for personal use only).
Now you can also use AutoHotkey for this using the so-called Hotstrings.
I present here a way to use Hotstrings that support links i.e. rich-text formatting.
It is based on the AutoHotkey utility I have highlighted in a previous post: WinClip

Add list of users to a Microsoft Teams Team e.g. from Outlook, Excel using the PowerTools

It is right now quite cumbersome to add a list of users you have the email of to a Microsoft Teams Team in a bulk way. The client UI does not offer this. (You need to add users one by one).
The currently most practical way is using a PowerShell script but still it might be some work to get it running. (Edit: see alternative using Power Automate)
I present here a solution implemented in AutoHotkey that can seamlessly add a list of users you already have in Outlook or Excel or a list of Emails in your clipboard to a Team.
It is implemented in the People Connector PowerTool.

AutoHotkey: Copy content of MsgBox

While debugging in AutoHotkey I use a lot of MsgBox.
I've used also to copying to the clipboard (clipboard:= sVar)
to search and have a look in a variable content
Because I could not find a wait to copy the content of the MsgBox.
You can not select the content of the MsgBox.

The point is: you can ; just by pressing Ctrl+C: it will copy the whole content of the MsgBox. (plus the window title)

See here where I've found this answer in the AutoHotkey forum.

AutoHotkey: Add option to launch on startup

It is common to want to add your AutoHotkey script to the startup, so that it automatically is started when you start your PC.
I share here a standard approach to provide this to the user.

AutoHotkey: Clipboard handling

For clipboard handling with AutoHotkey I recommend the following resource called WinClip .

AutoHotkey: Undocumented Hotkeys for Gui Menus

This is a feature a bit hidden/undocumented in AutoHotkey I have learned from Jack's blog post here:
https://jacksautohotkeyblog.wordpress.com/2019/12/30/use-autohotkey-gui-menu-bar-for-instant-hotkeys/

When appended to the end of a MenuItemName, the tab character (`t) followed by one or more standard Hotkey modifiers (Ctrl, Alt, or Shift) plus another key “indicates a keyboard shortcut that the user may press instead of selecting the menu item. If the shortcut uses only the standard modifier key names Ctrl, Alt and Shift, it is automatically registered as a keyboard accelerator for the GUI.”

I use this for example in a simple ListView Gui with checkboxes to be able to select all with Ctrl+A.

Menu, ItemsMenu, Add, Check All`tCtrl+A, SelectAll

Menu, ItemsMenu, Add, Uncheck all`tCtrl+Shift+A, UncheckAll

SelectAll:

LV_Modify(0, "Check")  ; Uncheck all the checkboxes.

return

UncheckAll:

LV_Modify(0, "-Check")  ; Uncheck all the checkboxes.

return

This saves a lot of work-arounding with dynamic hotkeys.

(Thanks to Jack for sharing it)

PowerPoint: Change Language in whole Presentation (VBA Macro)

See updated version.
Working in an international environment, I need a lot of time to fix the language in a whole PowerPoint presentation. There is no built-in feature for this available. I share here my VBA based solution.

Gmail Disposable Email Addresses

This is a (old but still) great tip to know if you are using Gmail / Google Mail:

You can use custom email addresses postponing a +text to your standard gmail adress before the @.
Example: I can use thierry.dalon+spam@gmail.com

LinkedIn Translation Language Settings

Are you annoyed in LinkedIn by this "See translation" button for posts you understand the language of?

You can add additional languages you understand to avoid this.
Go to Settings->Account->Site preferences->Content Languages

How to download a spotify song or playlist (using Python)

For my kids I use following way to put their spotify playlist on their mp3-player.

It is based on some python scripts available here: https://github.com/ritiek/spotify-downloader