Technical Level : Basic
Summary
MS has sorta created a "suggestion box" site separate from the "answers.com" forum, for users to suggest changes and new features. I'm not quite sure why they need a separate forum, but they appear to be listening to it.
It is similar to the “smiley”/”sad” face buttons you may have seen in the pubic beta versions of Office and Windows. But by using UserVoice you can see when others agree with you and in some of the site if MS has taken notice and is acting on the suggestion
Details
I said that MS sorta created a Suggestion Box site. That is because if you look at all of the links you'll see that they are very random in quality and design and even in naming. Makes it hard to find some of them. One of them (windows) even gives you a limited number of "votes". When you run out of votes, you have to "unvote" and existing idea to vote on a new one. Or start using a different email to log in ... <sigh>
If you go to UserVoice to make a suggestion from a Answers forum question, it is a good idea to copy the link from Answers into the UserVoice suggestion, and visa versa. That way anyone who finds one, can easily find the other.
In a question on the Answers.com forum I have seen responses from MS employees that indicated that they are reading and reacting to the suggestion box ideas, ie:
And here it is, the "black swan", a real live "reply" from MS to a feedback I voted/commented on:
The feedback was created July 2015, this reply came Oct 2019 (speedy service ... <g> )
Now I've seen independent "proof" that someone at MS does at least seem to look at the suggestions:
PowerPoint Feedback and UserVoice: Does This Go Anywhere?
When you are making a suggestion, look for other similar ones. If you find one, "Vote" for it. You can also add a comment to emphasize specifically why you need it.
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But first, Other ways to Send Feedback to MS Developers
I have created another wiki that describes the other 2 Feedback options available to you, the Windows 10 Feedback Hub, and the in Application Feedback commands.
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MS uservoice.com sites:
Some of these sites have options for the various versions of each application, ie Desktop vs Oneline vs Android vs Mac etc.
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Here is a list of the uservoice sites I've identified (so far):
<updated 2020 07 18>
- Word - http://word.uservoice.com/
- 365 Video - https://office365video.uservoice.com
- Azure https://feedback.azure.com/forums/34192--general-feedback.
- Bing Ads – http://bingads.uservoice.com
- Bookings - https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/314907-microsoft-bookings/
- Education -https://edu.uservoice.com/
- Accessibility Feedback- https://microsoftaccessibility.uservoice.com/forums/307429-microsoft-accessibility-feedback/category/317296-microsoft-edge
- Enterprise Library –
http://entlib.uservoice.com
- Excel - https://excel.uservoice.com/
- Forms - https://microsoftforms.uservoice.com
- Microsoft Web Matrix – http://developer.uservoice.com
- Multilingual App Toolkit – http://multilingualapptoolkit.uservoice.com
- MSDN Developer Network - http://feedback.msdn.com/ This resolves to the MS Docs site
- Office Developer Platforms – http://officespdev.uservoice.com
- One Note - http://onenote.uservoice.com
- OneDrive -
https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/262982-onedrive-Locked no new suggestions, can view existing ones 2021 01 24
- Outlook Online - https://outlook.uservoice.com/ home page that links to pages for various devices
- Outlook Web Access - https://owa.uservoice.com/forums/224789-owa-for-devices-suggestion-box
- Planner - https://planner.uservoice.com
- PowerApps - https://planner.uservoice.com/forums/330525-microsoft-planner-feedback-forum
- Power BI - https://ideas.powerbi.com/ideas/ (requires a business or school account to sign in, rude!)
- PowerPoint - http://powerpoint.uservoice.com/ home page that links to pages for various devices
- PowerPoint Online - https://powerpoint.uservoice.com/
- PowerShell - https://windowsserver.uservoice.com/forums/301869-powershell
- Sharepoint - https://sharepoint.uservoice.comhome page that links to pages for various devices
- Skype Business - https://www.skypefeedback.com/
Feedback for Skype for Business - Skype Consumer: use the community feedback boardon skype,
or the feedback option in the Skype help menu:
See https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA12333/how-can-i-send-my-usability-feedback-to-skype - Sway - http://sway.uservoice.com/
- Teams- https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com
- Teams- https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public
- Visio not found so far
- No "UserVoice" for Windows. Make suggestions via the Windows Feedback app
No "UserVoice" Windows Phone. Make suggestions via the Windows Feedback app
- Word - http://word.uservoice.com/home page that links to pages for various devices
UserVoice Improve Feedback Management - https://feedback.uservoice.com/forums/1-general-feedback/suggestions/39355108-create-a-home-site-for-all-ms-uservoice-subsites
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UserVoice Homesite
Product feedback managementsoftware for growing SaaS companies
A single, centralized product feedback solution that gives you everything you need to gather, aggregate, analyze, and follow through on feedback from customers and internal teams.
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.Suggestion
When you post comments / suggestions it is best to limit each submission to one issue. That way replies can be specific to that idea. And it makes it easier for MS to assign a submission to a specific development group or person.
PS
I suspect there are more, but there is no single “master” page that shows all of the sites, and not even any/adequate cross links between the sites. I actually found several just by changing the app name. How does the average user get from the "command prompt" to the name "wpdev" (sounds more like a WordPerfect, aka WP, site <grin> ). I couldn't
So if you find any more, please post a reply to this wiki so i can add it to the list for others to use.
Note: none of the tags really fit so I had to make do.
Public Voice . . .
If you want to take your issue to the general public you can try a petition site like this one:
https://www.change.org/p/satya-nadella-microsoft-what-computer-users-want-changed-in-windows-10
That petition was started by a online Windows reporter. Surprisingly, MS did react to this petition and other protests about the change in policy that eliminated of details about Windows Updates in Windows 10.
UserVoice Suggestions I've Followed that have been Acted On!
Make Power Pivot available in all versions of Excel
https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/9018823-make-power-pivot-available-in-all-versions-of-exce
<snip>
started · AdminExcel Team [MSFT] (Admin, Office.com) responded · May 22, 2018
Hi all,
I’m happy to announce that your input has had another direct impact on the product. In this case, a decision has been made to have Power Pivot be available in all Windows editions (“SKUs”) of Excel! This means the Business, Home, Standard, etc.. all of these will have Power Pivot. As your comments have indicated, Power Pivot has moved from targeting a specialized audience to generally useful capability for working with data in spreadsheets. As such, it makes sense to make this as broadly available as possible.
We have started rolling this change out with the April Current Channel updates (Builds 9330 and beyond). I’m also happy to announce that these SKU changes will be reflected on the upcoming 2019 version as well.
Thank you for pushing for this!
Ashvini Sharma
PM Manager
Excel
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Bring back all of the old grammar checking rules - https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10009743-bring-back-the-valuable-style-checking-tools-that
Back out change to make pen Ink default
MS Is working on this issue
341 total votes as of Feb 26, 2016 – Mar 2016 MS pushed out a Windows Update to at least partially fix the problem
30 votes - https://office.uservoice.com/forums/285186-general/suggestions/12473571-have-some-way-to-turn-inking-off-for-machines-usin Office in General
52 voteTo using Surface Pro 4 Pen as a mouse in PowerPoint 2016 instead of inking - PowerPoint
106 vote Use the pen as a mouse - Word
153 vote let pen usage toggle between inking and pointer - Excel
My personal "favorite" suggestions (I hope some of you will vote for them too)
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Please, can we have the default tab stop signs back to the ruler!!! (Word teacher in trouble) https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/9921564-please-can-we-have-the-default-tab-stop-signs-bac
Add a way to update all fields in a document https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/11685894-button-for-updating-all-fields-in-the-entire-documHThe initial suggestion is to add a button, I added a comment to add an “Option” to auto update all field codes (on assumption that documents are no longer all printed, may files are “e-documents” only.
Office 2016 does not properly use Windows 10 Application title bar color selection https://office.uservoice.com/forums/285186-general/suggestions/15476307-office-2016-does-not-properly-use-windows-10-appic
Reinstatement of the option to Pin Folders at: https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/12582018-restore-pinned-folders-in-save-options-in-all-offi
Recently Used List Sort order: Date vs Alpha as of Oct 14 2016
543 vote https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10261443-recent-files-pane-in-excel-2013-was-pretty-good-b
Excel Suggestion “Under review” Nov 25, 2015 (wow, fast action) – Excel Done in October 2016 YAY!
QAT buttons not showing custom images https://office.uservoice.com/forums/285186-general/suggestions/12512571-qat-buttons-not-showing-custom-images
Bring back Picture Manger to the Office 2016 Bundle
https://office.uservoice.com/forums/285186-general/suggestions/12498702-bring-picture-manager-back-to-office-bundle
As of July 4 2017 there are 279 votes (and 69 comments)
115 Bring Picture Manager back to Office bundle
057 Unhappy about Microsoft Office
Picture Manager being removed from the Office Suite.
031 Totally stinks that Office Picture
Manager was removed! Why? So many of us are heavy photo users and used that as a key feature of Office
007 Please bring back Microsoft Picture
Manager for use on Windows 10 (Office 2016)!
006 bring back office picture manager right away.
005 MS Picture Manager is missing from Office
2013
002 Bring back MS Picture Manager! It was
just right - not too complex, but very useful!
001 Bring back MS Office Picture Manager
001 Please bring back the good old picture
manager. Known from Office 2003 up to Office 2010.
001 Make Picture Manager available on Office
2013
Onedrive -
put somewhere to see how much space I've used and
how much I have
https://onedrive.uservoice.com/forums/262982-onedrive/suggestions/7760340-put-somewhere-to-see-how-much-space-i-ve-used-and
As of July 14, 2016, on only just the first 3 search result pages on “much” 75 Votes total
30 votes put somewhere to see how much space
I've used and how much I have
4 vote Show how much storage left and used
9 votes Show how much storage is left on the
OneDrive app
1 votes to tell me how much space is left
1 votes Ensure how much space available is
clearly shown in realtime
6 votes it will be good to show how much space
has been used and how much space is still available
2 votes t should be available in the app how
much free memory has been used, and how much still available.
1 votes add a space bar! Not a space bar like
the keyboard, but one that says how much space you've used and how much you have left!
5 votes would be nice to see how much space
I have available on my onedrive.
1 votes show how much available space you
have left and percentage left available
2 votes Add a feature to tell the user how
much space is left on OneDrive
2 votes Add remaining space in hamburger menu,
it's much easier to see it there.
1 votes SHOW ME HOW MUCH SPACE I HAVE LEFT ON MY
APP
1 votes can you make it easier to see how
much storage space remains?
1 votes Have a pie chart telling you how much
storage you have used
1 votes I think a feature should be added
to onedrive that tells you how much space you've used out of how much u have. EX 50.47mb/100.00gb
1 votes Have an easy to find icon that shows
the size capacity of the account and how much has been used
1 votes I hope you will create an option
to see how much space you have available from the phone.
1 votes very simple just show how much storage
is left as new files are uploaded to the cloud
2 votes data useage, ie how much data have
we used of cloud allowance and a start page to show that with quick links
1 votes I think there needs to be a storage
meter or something to tell people how much of their storage limit the have used
1 votes The app needs a place that informs
the user how much total storage space is being used (a feature of Dropbox).
Petition to MS President to allow Windows Home users control Windows Updates https://www.change.org/p/satya-nadella-microsoft-what-computer-users-want-changed-in-windows-10 (The matching UserVoice site has been discontinued by MS)
Don’t want Office 2016 tied to Userid -
https://office.uservoice.com/forums/285186-general/suggestions/10517283-allow-activation-without-the-need-of-a-ms-mail-acc
Actually there are multiple threads with same point. As of Feb 1 2016 there are 785 votes on this question in multiple suggestions
ALLOW Activation without the need of a MS mail account.
386 votes
Office 2016 OEM without LiveID account 138 votes
Office 2016 Activation and installation without an email account
172 votes
return to the same process for activating Office 2016 that was used for
all previous versions of Office. No "Live" accounts!
26 Votes
The Office 2016 Activation process is impossible for business's that purchase
Microsoft licensing OEM. 70 votes
Activation without a live account. 7 votes
Need Office 2016 activation WITHOUT a Microsoft account!
6 votes
Allow Business Admin Portal to manage Office 1-time payment licenses toohttps://office.uservoice.com/forums/285186-general/suggestions/11448504-allow-business-admin-portal-to-manage-office-2016
Improve Highlightinghttps://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/9389778-improve-highlighting
Make the full spectrum of colors that are available in Shading also available in Highlighting. I often use Highlighting to mark important or unusual text streams and I would like to search for particular colors of Highlighting .
Visio 365 monthly specifically for Consumer licenses - https://office.uservoice.com/forums/285186-general/suggestions/10936428-visio365-monthly-for-consumer-365-users-and-oth
Recreate the single text margin around page like 2010 and earlier - http://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/9253599-bring-back-classic-text-boundaries- Marked as “under Review”, so there is some hope … <grin>
Restore Radial Menu to OneNote
439 votes total Feb 20 2016
148 votes Include radial menu in desktop
onenote
20 votes Radial Menu -
183 votes Bring back the radial fly out menu in
the W10 Store version of OneNote -
42 votes Bring back Radial Menu
and Camera insert in Windows 10
16 votes- Bring back Radial Menu for Windows
10 App
25 votes- Keep the
OneNote Windows 8 UI over the Windows 10 Beta UI
plus a bunch more pen requests
OFFICE- Get Back Older OneNote App with Radial Menu and Document Scanning / OneNoteMX / OneNote MX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP5Y0c7-Qvg
Note: Click on “Show More” in the YouTube description to see the OneDrive download link!
The “Setup.bat” file uses PowerShell to “sideload” OneNote MX.
Download and install desktop OneNote http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-onenote/does-anyone-have-a-link-to-enable-me-to-download/a96d5463-3f5c-44df-8f5b-fa5c10257e54
The download link: https://www.onenote.com/download
Ignore the misleading message "OneNote is already installed on Windows 10" and click the right link to the desktop version
Add mind mapping to OneNote - https://onenote.uservoice.com/forums/327186-onenote-for-windows-windows-phone/suggestions/6160979-mindmap-functionality?page=4&per_page=20
Custom installation from Office 365 (2016) / Return MSI installer option - https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/264636-general/suggestions/9939513-custom-installation-from-office-365-2016
Word 2016 Style Pane bug -mouse pointer wrong https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/11196345-word-2016-style-pane-corrupt-or-buggy-after-update
Add Power Pivot back to Access (and to Excel in all bundles) https://access.uservoice.com/forums/319956-access-desktop/suggestions/10284183-add-pivot-charts-back-to-access
Add BI/Power Pivot back to Excel in all bundles - https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/9018823-make-the-power-bi-family-Power Pivot-Power Query
'Worksheet' Tabs to Word https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10024812--worksheet-tabs-to-word
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