If you find yourself wishing for more than 24 hours in a day, you’re not alone. While I’m no Doctor Strange and can’t bend time, I do have some tips that might make it seem like I can. I’ve found ways to use some pretty nifty Microsoft tools to work faster and smarter, making it feel like I have more time in the day. Stay tuned to discover the best ways to stay up to date with your direct reports and how to analyze numerous documents at once.

Loop has been a lifesaver for me in keeping track of my team’s progress on projects, training, and personal growth plans. As a manager, I must prioritize many workloads, and Loop’s feature of visualizing everything in one place brings me a sense of organization and control.

I have a Loop shared with my direct report where I take notes from our meetings, keep track of the projects they’re working on and with whom, set up a table for their quarterly goal progress, track KPIs, and keep notes/screenshots of praises and wins. This Loop also makes it easy to refresh myself on what my direct reports are working on before our 1:1 check-ins. It also comes in handy for annual review time since all my comments are consolidated in one workspace!

My coworker Carolyn recently showed me that you can create a task list in Loop, which will be reflected in your Microsoft Planner “assigned to me” view. Want to learn more about Microsoft Planner? Corrie Haffly, our Development Team Lead, recently shared her productivity tips about that app.

If you don’t want to start from scratch, this tool has many fun templates. From project briefs to meeting notes and an OKR tracker, Loop has you covered. New features — like the ability to add comments in tables and boards — are always coming out, so stay tuned.

I work on multiple RFPs, each with around 50 pages. Keeping track of the details with this much content is a challenge — Copilot in Microsoft Word to the rescue! I convert the PDF to a Word Doc and ask Copilot specific questions like:

1. How many users require a license?
2. What is the budget for this project?
3. Did it mention a need to support external users?

While some of these questions could be answered by using CTRL-F, there are details I would prefer Copilot to look for rather than just searching keywords. Copilot, with its time-saving capabilities, has been a game-changer, allowing me to process large quantities of documents swiftly.

Balancing multiple priorities can be challenging. By using tech as your sidekick, you can accomplish tasks more efficiently and stay on top of your workload. Try creating a shared team workspace in Loop for more organized notes and collaboration. Don’t forget to try Copilot for Microsoft Word to help you find details within an endless amount of information. Copilot also works with other Microsoft 365 tools; here are 62 use cases of Copilot in M365 to get you started. These tips will supercharge your productivity, so you’ll finally be able to take a breather during hectic days.