People working with Microsoft 365’s suite of applications have a reason to rejoice. Soon they will be able to work together on projects seamlessly without leaving the opened app. Microsoft Loop is what makes this possible.
The most exciting part of this app is Loop Components. It works independently and supports most 365 apps (hopefully in the future).
So, let’s look at its workings and how you can integrate this into your workflow.
What is a Microsoft Loop Component?
Microsoft Loop is an app designed with collaboration in mind. You can create documents that many team members can work on simultaneously at a time. These documents can be linked together, which will then behave like a web app.
Inside these documents, you can add lists, checkboxes, take votes, comment on sections, take input from team members, and so on. To make the document pop out, there is the option to add images and icons.
But what makes Loop stand out is Loop Component.
You can turn sections of a document into individual blocks that act as live-interactive elements, even when they are placed on a supported Microsoft 365 app. Users can then interact with it and edit the component right from there.
And it updates the information automatically. Once you have shared a loop component, you can see which users are interacting with it, and the updated data is shown right in the section where you have shared it.
How Loop Components Can Help You Collaborate Better
An example would be great to understand this better.
Let’s say you are doing a new marketing campaign for a new product. You have some ideas, but you need more from your team members. While a traditional shared document can perform the same task, you need the team to submit the responses immediately.
What you can do is create a Loop Component on your Marketing Teams chat and share it. It can have some checklists, a table to add ideas, and a voting section to see which ideas are gathering more attention.
Your Team members will then submit their opinions right from the chat window. It will feel as if they are interacting with a Teams UI element. Once they are done, their username will show up next to the respective data.
If you are working with a remote Team, Loop Components stands out even more. The real-time collaboration, co-authoring, and working on a shared doc make it so useful.
How to Use Microsoft Loop Components
You can create Loop Components in Microsoft Loop (obviously). In addition, the Office 365 suite of apps (Teams, Outlook Web and Word Online) also supports adding Loop Components from their respective interfaces.
Let’s look at each one of these services respectively.
On Microsoft Loop
Let’s create a doc that collects all info for our Marketing Campaign. It will have a checklist, some background on what the document is about, a voting section, and an idea bucket.
Follow these steps to create a Loop Component using Microsoft Loop:
- Go to loop.microsoft.com and log in to your account.
- Click on a document in the left tab to open it. If you want to create a new doc, click on the + icon and select New Page.
- Give this doc a name and set a cover image to it.
- Now click on the / Here you will find all the components that you can add to your document. I will add a table, checklist, and voting table to my doc.
- After adding all the elements, select the part of the document and click on the More options icon.
- Select Create Loop Component. You will see a blue border appear, which means that section is now a Loop Component.
- Now click the Copy Component icon.
You can paste this on the body of an email in Outlook web or in the message thread of a Teams chat. It will appear as a Loop component in the same way as you formatted it. Right now, it also supports Word Online, but I was unable to add the implement the loop component inside a Word document.
Once you send it, the recipient can interact and send their opinions right from the mail.
The loop component is saved inside OneDrive with the same email address. You can edit or make changes to it from here if you want. Loop will sync the changes automatically wherever you have sent those components.
On Outlook
You can also add a Loop component to your email if you use Outlook Web. The desktop app is not supported right now, but that can change with future updates.
There are almost all the elements present, similar to the standalone Loop web app. Just choose which you want to add and fill in the sections. The Loop file will be saved in your Onedrive after you have sent the email.
Let’s see how you can add a loop component on Outlook Web:
- Open outlook from your browser.
- Click on New Mail.
- Fill in the Recipient and Subject field.
- Now click on the email body. Note how the Loop Component icon has stayed disabled until now. This is because you can only add a Loop Component inside the body of the email.
- Click on Insert > Loop Components.
- Add the elements you wish to enter. As of now, you can add Lists, Checklists, Paragraphs, Tables, Task Lists, Q/A, and Voting tables.
- Fill in the Loop component accordingly. Here I have created a simple To-Do List for my team.
- Click the Send button when everything looks polished.
You can send this loop component to different email domains such as Gmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. But the ability to interact with it only works on Outlook right now.
On Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams also support adding a Loop component to the Teams chat. Chats with individuals and groups are supported right now.
These steps will add a Loop component to a Teams chat:
- Open Teams.
- Click on Chats in the left tab.
- Select the group you need to send the Loop Component and click on it.
- In the chat window, click on the Loop Component icon.
- Add the element you wish to enter. You can add lists, Checklist, Paragraph, Table, Task List, Q/A, and Voting Table.
- When you have finished adding the element, press the Send button.
Your colleagues can now edit the loop component and voice their opinions without leaving the Teams chat.
On Word Online and Microsoft Whiteboard
My Office 365 account did not allow me to add any Loop Component to a document using Word Online. But there are videos on Youtube that show others are able to do so. This means Microsoft is rolling out this feature in batches. So, you could add a Loop component to a Word document if your account supports it.
When Loop comes out of beta, this feature is going to be widely available to everyone. It’s just you have to wait a bit.
The same is true for Microsoft Whiteboard. Loop Components works on it for some people. But everyone does not have access right now.
Loop Component will be particularly useful with Microsoft Whiteboard. As it is a collaborative tool in itself, you can pin a component on a dashboard or within the chat window. I have seen the demo videos shared by Microsoft, and it looks to be a great prospect for the future.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you use Loop Component on One Note?
No, OneNote does not have support for Loop Component as of May 2023. This can change if Microsoft updates this in the future.
What is the Microsoft Loop component in Excel?
Microsoft Excel does not have Loop Components built in. Only Word, Outlook, and Teams seem to be supporting it right now.
Conclusion
This article covers all the apps on Microsoft 365 ecosystem where you can get Loop Component working. While not all the apps support it, the situation is bound to improve with time.
Hope you had a great time reading this informative piece.
And with that said, it is time to bid you goodbye.
