Connect Services to Microsoft Account

Microsoft provides many online and desktop programs that let you do so much -- you can edit and create Office files, run an entire Operating System known as Windows, and also store and share files. In today's connected world, all these programs need to link to external "services" for sharing and using your personal documents. So what are these services? Well, most of these may be something you use everyday such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, etc. Microsoft also has its own services such as OneDrive from where you can use files which are saved online, and Skype through which you can make calls.

These services help you when they are connected to your Microsoft Account. For example, if your Flickr account is connected, then you can add pictures from Flickr right inside PowerPoint -- or even insert Flickr pictures into your Sway presentations.

In this tutorial we'll show you how you can connect to these services:

1. Make sure you first sign into your Microsoft Account, then access your Profile page. Figure 1, below shows the Microsoft Account Profile page.
   
   
   Figure 1: Microsoft Profile page

In Figure 1, above you can see that two services, Skype and Messenger are already connected, as shown highlighted in red. To add more services click the Add hyperlink, shown highlighted in blue within Figure 1, above.

2. This will open a page with list of services which can be added, as shown in Figure 2.
   
   
   Figure 2: Add accounts page

Look closely and you will find that each service displays the programs they can work with.

3. For this tutorial we chose to connect to Flickr. Click on the Flickr logo or the hyperlink, shown highlighted in red within Figure 3. Also note the list of programs that Flickr will work with, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 3.
   
   
   Figure 3: Choose the service
4. This brings up the Yahoo! Sign In page, as shown in Figure 4. Why does a Yahoo! page show up? That's because Flickr is a service that's owned by Yahoo. Now type in your Yahoo! username and password. Then click the Sign In button to complete the connection process.
   
   
   Figure 4: Sign into Yahoo
5. This connects Flickr to your Microsoft Account. In Figure 5, below you can see that the Flickr icon (highlighted in red within Figure 5) can be now seen within your Profile page.
   
   
   Figure 5: Flickr service added

Similarly you can connect other services to your Microsoft Account.