Since asserting its Loop collaboration app in late 2021, Microsoft has been rolling out a few of its options to Microsoft 365 apps like Teams and Outlook. But the Loop app itself has been in personal beta. That modified in March when the corporate launched the Loop app in public preview.Loop is a web-based app that you just use by way of an online browser. It’s additionally obtainable as a cellular app for Android or iOS, with extra restricted performance. While anybody with a Microsoft account can signal as much as check out Loop (a minimum of for now), some options will not be obtainable and not using a Microsoft 365 subscription. Also notice that when you have a piece or faculty Microsoft account, your administrator might want to allow the Loop app on your group earlier than you should utilize it.Let’s check out the Loop app and the way you should utilize it to collaborate along with your workforce. Keep in thoughts that the preview variations of the online and cellular apps could also be unstable, and options could change earlier than the apps are formally launched.What is Microsoft Loop?Microsoft Loop is a brand new productiveness app that lets Microsoft 365 subscribers share transportable content material snippets and handle them in a collaborative house. Loop consists of three foremost parts: Loop elements, Loop pages, and Loop workspaces.Loop elements are transportable textual content playing cards or snippets — lists, tables, paragraphs, or different codecs — that may be shared with others for collaboration. They might be embedded in a number of Microsoft 365 apps similar to Teams and Outlook, and any modifications made to a part in a single location instantly seems in all different areas. That means everybody at all times has essentially the most present model of the part regardless of which app they’re working in.Loop pages are shared digital canvases that allow you to add Loop elements and different parts similar to textual content, photos, and associated info. Your co-workers can collaborate with you on pages that you just’ve shared with them, and all modifications are synced in actual time. Loop workspaces are digital areas the place you may group collectively associated pages. You can share a workspace along with your co-workers in order that they will collaborate with you on the pages it accommodates. For occasion, you would possibly wish to create a workspace for a challenge your workforce is engaged on. This challenge workspace may embrace a number of pages for the challenge, similar to a challenge planning web page, a challenge temporary, assembly notes, a difficulty tracker, and so forth.We have a separate story that goes into element about Loop elements and use them in Microsoft 365 apps. In this story we’ll concentrate on organising pages and workspaces within the Loop app. Here’s get began utilizing the app:
Create a workspace.
Add a number of pages to your workspace.
Add textual content and different parts, together with Loop elements, to a web page.
Share a web page or workspace along with your co-workers to allow them to collaborate with you on it.
Creating a Loop workspaceFrom the house web page of the Loop internet app, click on the + button on the higher proper. On the panel that opens, kind in a reputation on your new workspace. IDG
Creating a brand new Loop workspace. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
You can change the duvet picture for the workspace by clicking it and deciding on one other one from a gallery of photos and colours. Also, you may choose an emoticon to function an icon on your workspace by clicking the sq. + button to the left of the workspace title entry field.When you’ve typed in a reputation and made your different choices, click on Create.Creating Loop pagesAfter you create your workspace, you’re taken to its first web page. In the “Untitled page” line, kind in a reputation for this web page. You can choose an emoticon to function an icon on your web page by clicking Add icon. And you may add a canopy picture for the web page by clicking Add cowl and deciding on one from a gallery of photos and colours. IDG
Starting a brand new web page in a Loop workspace. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Add textual content and different parts: In the “Just start typing…” space, kind in textual content or kind / to see an inventory of parts you may add to the web page, together with headings, tables, checklists, progress trackers, photos, and extra. (See “How to make use of Microsoft Loop in Outlook and Teams“ for extra particulars in regards to the kinds of Loop parts obtainable.) To tag a co-worker, kind @, begin typing their title, after which choose their title from the outcomes that seem. IDG
Type / to see an inventory of parts you may add to a web page. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Use a template: Along the underside of any new web page are thumbnails for templates similar to Project Brief, Team Decision, Meeting Notes, and so forth. Instead of beginning a web page from scratch, you may choose certainly one of these templates to use a pre-designed format to your web page. Each template accommodates a number of related parts that you could customise on your wants, and you may at all times add extra parts and textual content as wanted. Click Explore different templates beneath the thumbnails to open a gallery of extra layouts to select from.Turn a component right into a Loop part: You can choose any factor in your web page to show right into a Loop part that may be shared and edited in different Microsoft 365 apps. For instance, you may flip a desk factor in your web page right into a Loop part, then embed the desk in one other M365 app, similar to in an Outlook e mail or Teams chat, with any modifications showing in actual time wherever the part is being considered.Click the factor to pick out it, then click on the six-dot icon that seems to the left or higher left of the factor. From the menu that opens, choose Create Loop part. IDG
Turning a web page factor right into a Loop part. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
The factor could have a line drawn round it with the Loop brand at its higher left to point that it’s now a Loop part. To share the part in one other app, choose the Copy part icon (two overlapping squares) on the higher proper of the part. You can then paste the part hyperlink into an Outlook e mail or Teams chat.As of this writing, solely Outlook, Teams chat, and Whiteboard assist Loop elements. It’s anticipated that Loop will quickly be applied into Teams channels, OneNote, and Word for the online.Adding extra pages and subpagesYou can maintain including pages to your workspace.Add one other web page: In the sidebar alongside the left, click on the + button, and from the menu that opens, choose New web page.Add a subpage: You can add a web page that’s branched beneath one other web page. In the sidebar alongside the left, click on the three-dot icon to the correct of the web page that you just wish to add a subpage beneath. Then, from the menu that opens, choose New subpage. IDG
You can add subpages (and subsubpages) as wanted. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Creating pages within the Ideas partToward the highest of the sidebar alongside the left, there’s a piece titled “Ideas” the place you may work on a web page earlier than you add it to a workspace. This can come in useful if you wish to add a web page to a workspace that you just’re already be sharing with co-workers, however you’re not prepared on your co-workers to see the web page but.Create a web page in Ideas: Move the pointer over Ideas within the sidebar and click on the + that seems to its proper. IDG
Creating a web page in Ideas. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Screenshot: microsoft-loop-06-add-ideas-page.jpgCaption: Creating a web page in Ideas.Add an Ideas web page to a workspace: Click Ideas within the sidebar. A listing of the pages within the Ideas part opens in the primary window. Move the pointer over the web page that you just wish to add to a workspace, click on the three-dot icon, and from the menu that opens, choose Add to workspace.On the panel that opens, click on the title of the workspace the place you wish to add the web page. The web page can be appended because the final web page within the workspace. IDG
Adding an Ideas web page to a Loop workspace. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Restoring a earlier model of a web pageThe Loop internet app archives a number of variations of a web page as you and your collaborators make modifications to it. If you determine {that a} web page was higher earlier than sure modifications had been made to it, you may view the earlier variations and restore certainly one of them to your workspace.With the web page open, click on the three-dot icon on the higher proper. From the menu that opens, choose Version History. In the sidebar alongside the correct, click on the date/time of the earlier model that you just wish to view. That model seems in the primary window. Click the Restore button to exchange the web page with this earlier model. IDG
You can view and restore earlier variations of a web page. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Sharing a Loop workspace or web pageIn the Loop app, you may invite co-workers to collaborate with you on a workspace or a person web page. If you share a workspace, every individual you invite can view and make modifications to any web page in that workspace. If you share a web page, collaborators will have the ability to view and edit solely that web page.Sharing a workspaceThere are two methods to share a workspace:With any web page in that workspace open in the primary window: Click the Share button on the higher proper. From the menu that opens, choose Workspace.From the house web page of the Loop internet app: Move the pointer over the workspace you wish to share and click on the three-dot icon that seems. From the menu that opens, click on Members. IDG
Inviting collaborators to a Loop workspace. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Either means, a panel opens the place you may kind within the e mail addresses or names of individuals in your Microsoft account contacts whom you wish to collaborate with. When you’ve completed including names, click on the Invite button. They can be emailed a hyperlink to entry the workspace.Sharing a web pageYou can share a web page that’s in a workspace or within the Ideas part through certainly one of two kinds of hyperlinks:
As an online hyperlink: When you or somebody you invite clicks this hyperlink, the web page opens in an online browser.
As a Loop part: When you or somebody you invite pastes this hyperlink inside an Outlook e mail or Teams chat, the web page is embedded in it.
You can share a web page from Loop’s foremost window or from the sidebar alongside the left.With the web page open in the primary window: To share the web page as an online hyperlink, click on the Share button on the higher proper and from the menu that opens, choose Page hyperlink. On the panel that opens, click on the Copy button to repeat the hyperlink, which you’ll paste into an e mail or chat.To share the web page as a Loop part, click on Share > Loop part or click on the dual-square icon to the left of the Share button. On the panel that opens, click on the Copy button to repeat the part hyperlink, which you’ll paste into an Outlook message or Teams chat to embed the web page there. IDG
Copying the hyperlink to a shared Loop web page. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
From the left sidebar: You also can share a web page with out having to open it in the primary window. In the sidebar alongside the left, click on the three-dot icon to the correct of the web page that you just wish to share. From the menu that opens, click on Share web page hyperlink or Share Loop part.Change a web page’s sharing permissions: Depending on the kind of Microsoft account you’re utilizing and the way the administrator of your work or faculty account have set sharing permissions, entry to the web page you’re sharing could also be open to anybody with the hyperlink or restricted to individuals in your group. By default, whoever has entry will have the ability to make modifications to your web page. You can change who has entry and whether or not they can edit or solely view the web page.On the panel that seems when you choose Share > Page hyperlink or Share > Loop part, don’t click on the Copy button straight away. Instead, click on the textual content beneath the sharing hyperlink: it is going to possible say Anyone with the hyperlink can edit or People in [your organization] with the hyperlink can edit. This opens the “Sharing settings” panel. IDG
Changing who has entry to a Loop web page. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Depending in your account and the permissions set by your admin, you will have numerous sharing choices obtainable: Anyone, People in [your organization], People with current entry, or Specific individuals. People with current entry are these you’ve tagged within the web page with the @ command. If you select Specific individuals, you may enter e mail addresses or names of contacts you wish to invite to collaborate on the web page.To change the permissions in order that anybody with entry to the web page can view it however not edit it: In the “Sharing settings” panel below “More settings,” click on Can edit, and from the drop-down menu that opens, choose Can view.And once more relying in your kind of account and the way it’s configured, there could also be two extra settings that you could choose. First, you may set an expiration date for the hyperlink. It will not work after a date that you just select. And you may set a password — when somebody clicks the online hyperlink to your web page or pastes the Loop part hyperlink for it, they’ll should enter this password first. IDG
Some customers can set an expiration date and password for entry to a web page. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
After you make your choices, click on the Apply button towards the underside. The personalized hyperlink to your web page can be generated for copying.Managing your Loop workspaces and pagesIt’s simple to create new workspaces, navigate amongst Loop workspaces and pages, and carry out different actions like renaming or deleting pages and workspaces.Create a brand new workspace: With a web page open in the primary window, click on the title of your workspace within the sidebar alongside the left. From the menu that opens, choose New workspace. IDG
You can simply swap to a different workspace or create a brand new one. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Screenshot: microsoft-loop-13-switch-workspace.jpgCaption: You can simply swap to a different workspace or create a brand new one.Navigate to a distinct workspace: With a web page open in the primary window, click on the title of your workspace within the left sidebar. From the menu that opens, click on the title of one other workspace or choose Browse all workspaces to go to the Loop dwelling web page and choose one other workspace there.Rename or delete a workspace: Go to the house web page of the Loop internet app, transfer the pointer over a workspace, and click on the three-dot icon that seems. From the menu that opens, click on Rename and magnificence or Delete. IDG
Click the three-dot icon for a workspace to take actions similar to opening it, renaming it, or deleting it. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Change the order of pages in a workspace: In the left sidebar, transfer the pointer over a web page that you just wish to transfer. Click-and-hold the web page, drag it up or down, and let it go the place you need it to be set alongside your checklist of pages.Rename or delete a web page: In the left sidebar, transfer the pointer over a web page and click on the three-dot icon that seems. From the menu that opens, click on Rename and magnificence or Delete. IDG
Several instructions can be found whenever you click on the three-dot icon to the correct of a web page. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
Copy a web page to a different workspace: In the left sidebar, transfer the pointer over a web page and click on the three-dot icon that seems. From the menu that opens, click on Add to workspace, then choose the title of one other workspace that you just’ve already created. A duplicate of this web page can be added to that workspace.Using the Loop cellular appThe Microsoft Loop cellular app (for Android and iOS units) is in preview launch as of this writing. It allows you to view Loop pages that you just created within the internet app in addition to Loop elements that you just created in Microsoft 365 apps.You can open a workspace that you just created within the internet app, and think about and edit the pages in it. But the cellular app doesn’t have the flexibility to allow you to create a workspace or add pages to a workspace. IDG
You can view workspaces and edit pages in them through the cellular app. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
You also can create new pages utilizing the cellular app. All the weather described above that you could add to a Loop web page utilizing the online app are additionally obtainable within the cellular app. You can share your pages and set permissions through the cellular app as properly. IDG
You can create and share pages through the cellular app. (Click picture to enlarge it.)
There are further limitations to the cellular app that fluctuate relying on whether or not you’re utilizing the Android or iOS app. See Microsoft’s Loop cellular FAQ for particulars.
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