Microsoft has finally added their Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI) into the Office 365 programs, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint. This technology is designed to check VBA and other programming code when it’s opened and before running. It’s a runtime check separate from any document scanning done by Windows Defender. Source: Microsoft AMSI was first released […]
Office 365 ProPlus customers can keep running older versions of Windows longer after a change of heart by Microsoft. Windows 8.1 will be supported for Office 365 ProPlus through January 2023. That means both Windows 8.1 and Office 365 ProPlus now have the same end of support date for Windows 8.1. Office 365 ProPlus will […]
Microsoft is extending availability of cloud services like OneDrive, Skype for Business and MS hosted Exchange for Office 2016 perpetual licence customers including Office 365 ProPlus At the moment, Office 2016 single-payment and Office 365 ProPlus would be blocked from OneDrive, Skype for Business and Microsoft supplied Exchange Server after 13 October 2020. This does […]
The Windows clipboard is quite limited but there’s a better one hiding inside Microsoft Office for Windows. It can collect more items, paste in any order and be cleared when you like. We’ll also show how to keep the sometimes annoying pane out of the way. You’re about to hear more about the clipboard because […]
Finding out the computers local time zone offset in Excel is possible with a little VBA magic. We’ve included a full working example of how to get the ‘nn hours from GMT’ setting from Windows into Excel. The need for the current UTC/GMT time and offset is becoming more important as Excel improves its external […]
Finding out the current UTC / GMT time in Excel is possible with a little VBA magic. We’ve included a full working example. Excel has two functions to give you the current date TODAY() or current date and time NOW() but it’s the local time as set on your computer. Often the worksheet needs either […]
A new report from Sophos shows how hacking via Office documents has changed of lot in 2018 with new attacks coming much faster than in the past. Microsoft’s assurances that a security bug (sorry ‘exploit’) hasn’t been used ‘in the wild’ doesn’t mean a lot. Office document hacks made in bulk The people who find […]
After a lot of talk and promises, Office Insiders are getting a look at the proposed Outlook for Windows single-line or Simplified Ribbon for Office 365 customers. As usual, there’s good news and bad news in the interface change. Though it’s early days and there’s still time for changes. Don’t Panic There’s no reason to […]
The upcoming license changes to Office 365 Home, Personal and University is another step in Microsoft’s move to selling services not software. From 1 October, Office 365 Home, Personal and University users can install Office software on unlimited machines. For full use of the software you’ll have to sign-in to your Microsoft account (linked to […]
There are limited options for entering the current date and time into PowerPoint slides, notes and handouts. PowerPoint doesn’t have field codes like in Word, so Microsoft seems to have shoehorned in some field like features. Insert Date and Time in slide On the Insert Tab, right side there’s an Insert Date & Time button. […]
Outlook has only one date and time related feature in email messages. As you may know, Outlook’s email editor is really Microsoft Word with limited features. On the Insert tag there’s a Text | Date & Time option which opens the same dialog as in Word. Update Automatically inserts a field code, just like in […]
Each Word document has various hidden data fields and some are called mapped content controls. They let you set some text or date in a document which is automatically repeated any other place in the document that has the same control. Mapped Content Controls are an alternative to other ‘repeating text’ options like Bookmarks. The […]
A small collection of non-security patches for Microsoft Office in September 2018. As usual, all these updates should come to you automatically. Non-subscriber / perpetual licence users can download individual patches if necessary but auto-update should handle it for you. Outlook 2016 The update for Microsoft Outlook 2016 introduces the following improvements: Fixes a crash […]
The new Office 365 licence system makes you sign-in to Office software from each device. How can that work if your computer is offline and can’t connect to the Internet? See Significant improvements in Office 365 Home, Personal and University and Office 365 now counts your sign-ins not installs Several Office Watch subscribers have asked if they can […]
The upcoming changes to Office 365 mean a big boost for Office 365 Personal customers. They’ll get a lot more for their annual fee to Microsoft. At the moment, Office 365 Personal allows a single user to install Office on (quoting Microsoft). “1 PC or Mac, 1 tablet and 1 phone (including Windows, Apple®, and […]
Office 365 counts logins not installations This is a big change to Office licenses. It’s a totally new way of counting and limiting use of Microsoft Office. As long as there’s been Office, licences have been based on installations of Office. A single Home or Personal plan user is allowed to install one copy of […]
Lots of praise for Microsoft’s changes to Office 365 Home, Personal and University allowing anyone to use up to five Office instances at any one time. As usual, there’s a downside that’s lost in all the hype. These changes are another example of why Microsoft is pushing annual rental for Office (they call it ‘subscription’ […]
The Office 365 licensing change should let virtual machine users try out more test versions of Office than in the past. From 1 October 2018, Office 365 customers can install Office on as many computers/devices as they like. The licence limit switches to the number of Microsoft account logins from Office rather than the installs. […]
The upcoming release of Office 2019 for Windows or Mac has some Office 365 customers wondering when they’ll be able to get Office 2019. That’s easy: Office 365 customers already have Office 2019 and a lot more! Office 2019 for Windows or Mac is a separate version of Office from what’s available for Office 365 […]
Aside from inserting the current date or time, Microsoft Word has some other useful choices for inserting dates automatically. The date/time the document was created, last saved or last printed. Header / Footer In a Word document header or footer, the same Insert Date options and shortcuts apply as in the main document. There’s an […]
Here’s all the different ways you can quickly insert the current date or time into a Microsoft Word document. There’s the ‘official’ shortcut and the ‘secret’ shortcut with better options than the usual tip. As usual with Word and Office, there’s the simple but incomplete answer that’s commonly given but more useful info when Office-Watch.com […]
Microsoft has announced some truly important improvements in what you get with Office 365 Home, Personal and University plans. The Home plan will be available for six family members instead of five. How Microsoft calculates use of Office software is changing and for the better. All these changes apply from 1 October 2018 onwards for […]
Here’s what we know about the upcoming versions of Office 2019 for Windows. There’s a matching page about Office 2019 for Mac. We’ll update this page as new information becomes available. Before you get too excited Do NOT buy Office 2019 if you have Office 365 plan like Office 365 Home, Office 365 Personal or […]
Here’s what we know about the upcoming version of Office 2019 for Mac. There’s a matching page about Office 2019 for Windows. We’ll update this page as new information becomes available. Before you get too excited Do NOT buy Office 2019 if you have Office 365 plan like Office 365 Home, Office 365 Personal or […]
Microsoft’s Project Natick now has two live camera feeds showing fish around their underwater data centers. One of the big problems for server farms is heat. All those computers generate a lot of heat that must be dissipated somehow. Microsoft’s servers store your OneDrive files, Azure data, run Office cloud features and a lot more. […]
Microsoft is rearranging, rerouting, it’s ‘Roadmap’ for the future of Office into a merged ‘Roadmap’ for Microsoft products including Windows and Office. The Office 365 Roadmap is joining with Windows, Azure and other products to become the Microsoft 365 Roadmap (more like a multi-lane superhighway with complex interchanges) Artists impression of Microsoft 365 ‘roadmap’ Normally […]
Here’s how to improve your Word, Excel or PowerPoint Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) beyond the small changes allowed by Microsoft directly. You’ll be able to shorten the overly long text labels or change icons (because too many are the same) with a short list of images to get you started. Easily turn QAT items on/off […]
Microsoft has released their Whiteboard app for Windows 10. While it’s better than last year’s preview app it has a lot of problems and a fatal flaw which makes it impossible for anyone except those with a childlike trust in Microsoft. We were harsh about the preview version, it was buggy, ill-considered and lacked documentation […]
If you get an error message when trying to activate Microsoft Office, settle in for a difficult time. Microsoft doesn’t make activation easy to understand, let alone fix activation problems. Office activation is where newly installed Office software is authorized by Microsoft’s servers. Without activation the software only has very limited features. For Office 365 […]
When you buy Microsoft Office there’s no CD or DVD with the software to install. The vital thing you’re getting is the Product Key. The Product Key is that the 25 character code which unlocks or activates the software. This applies to both Office 365 ‘subscriptions’ or single-purchase Microsoft Office packages. The Product Key provides: Access […]
The latest Office 2016 Insiders release version 1808, Build 10730.20030 shows off some upcoming additions to Outlook, Access, Project and Visio Outlook – block forwarding in meeting invitations When making a meeting invitation in Outlook, go to Response Options and deselect ‘Allow Forwarding’ to stop that invitation being forwarded to others. ‘Allow Forwarding’ defaults on. […]
After the report of buying illegal Microsoft Office via Amazon (and Amazon’s initially poor response) here’s what to do if you’ve bought an illegal, pirated or at least non-working Office Product Key. Credit Card as separate transaction Whenever possible, pay by credit card. The MS Office purchase should be a separate purchase not bundled with […]
Word isn’t limited to horizontal text, with a little digging on the ribbon you can put text vertically, at an angle, on a curve or even around a shape or picture. In this article we’ll show how to make: Vertical Text Vertical Text reversed Text at any angle Text along a curve And in Put text […]
Continuing from our look at putting Word text vertically, at an angle or curved here’s how to put text around an object; image, chart, shape or other Word object.. Text around a Box Putting text around a box requires four separate text boxes, positioned and grouped around the object. Here’s a chart with four text […]
After our recent Excel worksheet for visitors to Europe we were asked for a similar one to help people stay onside with the UK Statutory Residence Test (SRT). This is a test to decide if someone is a UK resident for tax purposes. Depending on the situation, a person can be in the UK for […]
After the report of pirated / illegal Microsoft Office from an Amazon retailer (and Amazon’s initial refusal to act) how can you protect yourself from a similar problem on Amazon or other sites? Your entitlement to a refund or redress for a illegal product is different depending on whether you buy from Amazon itself or […]
“More of the same” in August 2018’s round of security fixes for Microsoft products including Windows, Office, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Overall there a sixty security flaws fixed this month alone, including two ‘zero-day’ bugs not previously known to the public. We’ve all become accustomed to this never-ending stream of security fixes for known exploits. […]
There’s a series of August 2018 patches under the broad heading ‘Microsoft Office Defense in Depth update’ which seems to be obscure important changes in Outlook 2010 through 2016. ADV180021 is called “Microsoft Office Defense in Depth Update” and “Microsoft has released an update for Microsoft Office that provides enhanced security as a defense in […]
Here’s the sad tale of a Californian woman who bought a pirated copy of Microsoft Office from an Amazon retailer and the hassle she had getting Amazon to do the right thing. There’s a happy ending but only because a local TV station intervened. That’s not an option for all Amazon customers. Cynthia Brizard, a […]
There are a dozen bug fixes for the Windows versions of Word 2016 buried among the non-security updates for Microsoft Office this month. And an extra feature for PowerPoint 2016 and 2013 for Windows. We’ll look at this important Word 2016 update first before listing the other bug fixes for Office 2016 and Office 2013 […]
