How to increase productivity by using new Microsoft 365 dashboard in Microsoft Edge

Learn how to work more efficiently and stay better organized by using Microsoft Edge’s new Microsoft 365 dashboard.

Microsoft Edge has a dashboard for Microsoft 365 applications and files. Using it provides a secure connection to all of your Microsoft 365 content inside Edge. This dashboard displays recent and shared Microsoft 365 files saved to OneDrive or SharePoint. In this tutorial, I’ll show you the easiest and quickest way to access the files that are most important to you, all from one source—the Microsoft 365 dashboard in Microsoft Edge. It’s the quickest way to get back to work.

You must have Microsoft 365, OneDrive and Microsoft Edge.

SEE: Microsoft 365: Your guide to the latest features, tools and cost (TechRepublic)

How to display the Microsoft 365 dashboard in Microsoft Edge

To start, sign-in to your Microsoft account using Edge. To do so, open a new tab in Edge. If you’re a regular Edge user, the new tab will be familiar to you. The browser offers a search bar, pinned sites, and a newsfeed with articles relevant to you or your organization, unless you’ve turned off that feed.

Figure A doesn’t show any articles because I set the display to Focused. You can access this setting by clicking the Settings gear. The Microsoft 365 tab is in the menu at the bottom. Depending on your setup, it may be in the middle of your page.

If you don’t see Microsoft 365 in the menu, and you have more than one account, make sure you are in your Microsoft account. If not, switch to it by clicking the Microsoft icon in the top-right corner and choosing your Microsoft account, as shown in Figure B.

Click the Microsoft 365 tab to display the dashboard, which displays tiles for Microsoft 356, SharePoint, upcoming events in Outlook, and other pinned applications. Scroll down until you see the most-recently used files list (Figure C). If you use Google Docs, the setup resembles that dashboard.

How to use the Microsoft 365 dashboard in Microsoft Edge

The most recently used files sort to the top for quick access. You can open a file in the web app or in the desktop app. You can also share a document or execute most tasks via the dashboard. Closing the file takes you back to the dashboard, which is perhaps the icing on the cake. One of the things many users find frustrating is going back and forth between open apps. The dashboard eliminates a lot of clicks by always being open and ready to go.

If you need to open one of the Microsoft 365 apps, click the App Launcher in the top-right corner. When you’re done, close the file and return to the dashboard. You can even open Microsoft Mail this way.

If you don’t care for the layout, click the Layout gear and change it. As you can see in Figure D, mine is set to Informational. This layout shows the newsfeed only if you click My Feed in the menu.

How to sort the files in Office.com

At the bottom of the dashboard, click the More in Office.com link. You’ll see the same files but with a few filters, as shown in Figure E. They’re self-explanatory, but the Favorites tab will display pinned files. If you have a more recent update, these filtering tabs are on the dashboard.

How to troubleshoot the Microsoft Edge dashboard

If you sign in to your Microsoft account and still don’t see the Microsoft 365 tab in the menu, there are few things you can do:

• Make sure you’re online.
• Ask your Microsoft 365 administrator to enable it for you.
• Repair Edge using the Windows Control Panel. You won’t lose any of your bookmarks or profile settings.

Start your day at the dashboard in Edge

The Microsoft 365 dashboard in Microsoft Edge  has all the files you work with and the applications you need ready and waiting in one place. When you’re done with a task, you can hop off right on to another. You never have to leave the dashboard or open another application.

In other words, the dashboard eliminates tedious and time-consuming tasks. Not only do you have quick access to your files, but you can access shared files just as quickly. You can even pin files to the top of the list for easier access. There may be days when you never leave the Microsoft 365 dashboard in Microsoft Edge.