26 explainers · free · no account
Show me, don't tell me
One idea per screen. A big picture on every screen. Under a hundred and twenty words on the whole page. These are not lessons — there is nothing to follow and nothing to complete, just one small thing to do at the end. They are for the moment before a lesson, when you need to see what the thing actually is.
Each one is a single page. Save it, print it, or open it on a phone with no signal. Nothing is stored and nothing is sent.
The five areas the European Commission named in DigComp 3.0, one page each. Start here if the phrase “digital skills” has never been pinned down for you.
The five areas of DigComp 2.2 drawn once, so the reader can see which one they are worried about.
What digital skills means7 screens · about 3 minutes
Digital skillsInformation and data literacy: searching, judging a source, keeping what you found.
Finding things, and telling what is true7 screens · about 3 minutes
Digital skillsCommunication and collaboration: which channel, who can see it, what you leave behind.
Working with other people online7 screens · about 3 minutes
Digital skillsDigital content creation: making, changing, and who owns it.
Making something7 screens · about 3 minutes
Digital skillsSafety: devices, personal data, wellbeing, and the environment.
Keeping yourself safe7 screens · about 3 minutes
Digital skillsProblem solving: what to do when the thing does not work, and knowing what you do not know.
Getting unstuck7 screens · about 3 minutes
What the subscription actually is, where your files really go, and what your employer can and cannot look at.
A subscription, not a program. What arrives with it and what does not.
What Microsoft 365 is7 screens · about 3 minutes
Microsoft 365OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams are one place wearing three coats.
Where your files really live7 screens · about 3 minutes
Microsoft 365Teams and Outlook: what each is for, what is kept, who can find it later.
A chat is not an email7 screens · about 3 minutes
Microsoft 365What an admin can and cannot look at, said plainly, without frightening anybody.
What your organisation can see7 screens · about 3 minutes
How the pieces sit together, which Copilot you have, and why the same question gives a different answer at work.
One picture: the model underneath, Copilot on top, agents beside it, your data behind it.
The Microsoft AI stack7 screens · about 3 minutes
AI at workThe free one, the paid one, and how to tell which is in front of you.
Which Copilot have you got?7 screens · about 3 minutes
AI at workWhy the same question gives a different answer at work than at home.
What grounded means7 screens · about 3 minutes
The one included with Microsoft 365, and how to ask it for something and get it.
The licensed one: in the apps, what it can see, and what to check before you send anything.
The same assistant in three places, doing three different jobs.
Copilot inside the apps7 screens · about 3 minutes
Copilot at workIt sees what you can already see, and no more. Permissions in one picture.
What Copilot can see7 screens · about 3 minutes
Copilot at workNames, dates, figures. Three checks before anything leaves your hands.
Checking what it gives you7 screens · about 3 minutes
The agents Microsoft ships: what one is, and where to find them.
Somebody else already made it, gave it a job, and pointed it at some knowledge.
What a ready-made agent is7 screens · about 3 minutes
AgentsWhere to find the agents Microsoft ships, and how to tell one from a chatbot. Re-check names before writing.
Where the ready-made ones are7 screens · about 3 minutes
Asking a single site a question, and why your colleague gets a different answer.
Making your own without code, and telling it what to refuse.
An agent that is a file, and what happens when you share it.
It sits in Site Assets as a .agent file, and file permissions decide everything.
A SharePoint agent is a file7 screens · about 3 minutes
SharePointSharing an agent is sharing a file, and the answers still follow the reader's own permissions.
Who can use the one you made7 screens · about 3 minutes
How these are made
Every picture is drawn from six shapes: a box, a line, an arrow, a square dot, a dashed frame and a label. No photographs, no icons, no stock. Green marks the thing being explained, amber marks the thing you do. A page cannot publish until it passes a checker that counts the words, the screens and the colours, and refuses anything without a description on every picture. The method explains why.
The five digital skills areas are quoted from DigComp 3.0, the European Digital Competence Framework, published by the Joint Research Centre on 11 November 2025: five areas, twenty-one competences. Everything about Microsoft was checked against Microsoft Learn on 22 August 2026.
Microsoft renames things often. Where a page teaches a name rather than an idea, it says so. If you find one that has gone stale, it is a mistake and worth telling us about.
Not sure which to read? Find your starting point, three minutes