Visio is adding a really useful tool for web site developers – wireframes. Web wireframes are a way to create a rough draft or mockup of a web page. Each page element can be dropped onto a web page, standard or mobile. Source for all images: Microsoft There are Visio shapes for a wide range […]
Office Watch has a presence on Facebook, finally, https://www.facebook.com/OfficeWatch/ Our new Facebook page has the very latest Office related news posted to it as soon as we publish. Go to https://www.facebook.com/OfficeWatch/ and click Follow to see our posts in your timeline. Admittedly, we’ve been slow to adopt social media. We’ve focused on quality Office journalism, […]
Some readers know that Peter Deegan (our editor-in-chief) is an eclipse chaser. The USA eclipse next Monday will be his tenth Total Eclipse of the Sun. Here’s his tips and links for anyone heading for the totality zone and for people who can’t make it. A total eclipse of the Sun is definitely worth seeing. […]
The New York Times has a nifty new calendar of upcoming space related events including eclipses, meteor showers, launches etc. Here’s how to add the NYT Astronomy and Space Calendar into Outlook software. The service is directly linked to Google and Apple iOS devices (iPhone / iPad ) with Outlook software and Outlook.com relegated to […]
Outlook can link to external, shared, calendars and copy any updates to that calendar. Like many parts of Outlook for Windows, it hasn’t changed much for many years. An Internet calendar can be for public events, holidays, sporting fixtures etc. They aren’t a one-time copy, you can setup Outlook to check for updates to the […]
Amber Rudd, the British Home Secretary was tricked into an email exchange with someone posing as her own communications chief. It’s very embarrassing because Ms Rudd is responsible for cyber security as well as MI5 (the UK equivalent of the US FBI). The Minister was using an Outlook.com account which is pretty amazing, even for […]
Microsoft is changing the names of the various Office 2016 for Windows releases (Office 365) including Insider editions. They say it’s ‘simplified’ but we’re not so sure. Insider Fast level becomes just ‘Insider’ Source: Microsoft While the old Insider Slow becomes Monthly Channel (Targeted) – how that’s ‘simplified’ is anyone’s guess. The new name does […]
Can you believe it, PowerPoint is 30 years old? Originally called ‘Presenter’, in 1987 it was renamed to ‘PowerPoint’ by Robert Gaskins. Later in 1987, Microsoft bought the software out of petty cash (i.e. $14 million). 22 May 1990 was the first release of Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, the birthday that Redmond officially recognizes. In […]
The Microsoft Office Championships are done for 2017 with talented young people from all over the planet among the winners. We have the full list of winners. The competition is for students 13-22 years with categories for Word, Excel and PowerPoint in 2013 or 2016 versions. Outlook, Access, Visio and Publisher don’t get a spot. […]
India has seen Office 365 prices go up by almost 18% since the start of this year, a combination of both Microsoft and the Indian government grabbing some money. According to ndtv.com Office 365 Home cost 4,199 rupees last year, now the same product costs 5,450 rupees! How did that happen? Microsoft takes 10% more […]
Office users often want a second screen, especially when using a laptop. We’ve discovered Duet, an efficient and elegant way to use an iPad as an extension screen for a Windows or Mac machine. Mac users get the bonus of the new ‘TouchBar’ for older Macs. Duet impressed with the useful resolution and power saving […]
Where does Outlook hide its main data files? The .PST or .OST files which have your email, calendar, contacts and more. Outlook data files can be anywhere on your computer, but the default location is usually in a hidden folder: \Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook \Users\<username>\Roaming\Local\Microsoft\Outlook The location can vary a lot, depending on the Outlook version, Windows version, […]
A common Windows Indexing / Search problem is Outlook itself. Windows Search stops while indexing Outlook data and never reaches the end. Here’s some suggestions on how to fix it. An indexing problem means your Outlook data can’t be searched or not everything has been indexed (partial search results). Even if Windows Search says it’s […]
The British Library has a collection of over a million copyright free images for use in Word documents and PowerPoint presentations. They are on Flickr and a good place to start is the albums. A few that caught our eye are: Women of the World Illustrated Letters and Typography – perhaps for unique Drop Caps? […]
Calibre, the invaluable ebook and e-reader management software, has improved. It now has Microsoft Word document conversion to and from MOBI, EPUB and other ebook formats. Until recently, Calibre could convert from Word .docx files to make .mobi (Kindle) or .epub (other readers) or many other formats. With version 3, Calibre can now convert ebook […]
Jacob Brogan launches a deserved broadside on Microsoft Word’s grammar checker in Slate. ” Microsoft’s grammar and style tools aren’t helping writers understand their work, just arbitrarily imposing anemic pedantry on them. “ He gives practical examples of mistakes in the latest ‘Editor’ English grammar checker. Replacing ‘the majority of’ with ‘most’ is OK but […]
PowerPoint has been used for many things and how you can add romancing to the list. Twitter user @velzzb was asked for first date suggestions. As a helpful Microsoft Office user, he replied in the form of PowerPoint slides … as you do. For his trouble, he got blocked by the guy who asked! But […]
The free office suite, LibreOffice, has released with better Microsoft Office compatibility and a sly dig at their bigger rival. LibreOffice 5.4 has its own Open Document Format (.odt etc.) which is similar to Microsoft’s .docx format. LibreOffice can work with both formats. v5.4 has improvements in the Microsoft Office document compatibility. They’ve also streamlined […]
If Windows / Outlook indexing isn’t working properly, there’s a buried tool that should help identify the problem. We’ll show you where this tool is and what to do with the information it has. It’s the Event Viewer, Windows logging of what happens on your computer. Windows Search notes its actions in the Event Viewer […]
Microsoft has released Visio Online, a browser based version of Visio to what they call ‘public preview’. Visio is the diagramming component of Microsoft Office. It’s goes way beyond the simple SmartArt flowcharts and graphics possible within Word, Excel or PowerPoint. Source: Microsoft Visio automatically links shapes and connectors. As you move a shape the […]
WhatsApp can still work on the same account if you change the mobile number or SIM card. You can even move your WhatsApp account to a different smartphone. You might think that a WhatsApp account is tied to your phone number, but that’s not true at all. WhatsApp (like other messaging services) sends an SMS […]
Here’s how to delete whole pages or rearrange the page order from a PDF document without paying for PDF editing software. A lot of people never need PDF editing software. Making PDF’s is easy using Microsoft Office or the ‘Print to PDF’ feature in Windows. Simple editing, like deleting pages or rearranging the order of […]
Typing on a little Smartphone screen is a pain and happily there are PC desktop, Mac and tablet extensions for both WhatsApp and Signal. There are ‘big screen’ options to read and send WhatsApp and Signal messages from a larger screen. A Windows PC, Mac computer or a tablet device (iPad, Android etc). Source: WhatsApp […]
Lost in the ‘news’ about Paint is the confirmation that Outlook Express is dead. Like the Norwegian Blue Parrot it’s going to join the choir invisible. Microsoft will be dropping Outlook Express from the supplied programs in the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators update. Outlook Express is finally getting removed. It’s long since been replaced […]
Paint is gone, it’s not gone yet and then it’ll survive – Microsoft Paint spent some time in limbo. The headlines were confused and sometimes downright wrong. After the dust had settled, Paint was given a long term life. Microsoft Paint has been around for over 3 decades. There are many, better, drawing programs out […]
Why are there no Windows 10 Live Tiles that work with Microsoft Outlook? Why doesn’t Windows ‘play nice’ with Outlook, when they are made by the same company? Live Tiles are those animated blocks on the Start Menu which, in theory, can display latest messages, contacts and calendar items. The Start Menu also acts as […]
“Word Processing is Dead” makes for a snappy op-ed headline but it doesn’t tell the whole story. The Australian Financial Review has tales of Word woe from the legal community. Badly formatted contracts, especially inconsistent numbering, is the bane of many organizations. “…work was done by dedicated operators with expert training. But this is 2017, […]
The improved Accessibility Check in Word 2016 for Windows (Office 365) can be some help in the problem of inconsistent levels or numbering. Messed up numbering is an issue in contracts and other legal documents. Go to File | Info | Check for issues | Check for Accessibility and scroll down to the tips section. […]
Microsoft Office can read aloud, talk or speak the text of documents to you. It’s possible in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote. Computer speaking text is mainly suggested for various disabled users under the ‘Accessibility’ name. But ‘Speak’ is also useful if you’re just tired of reading the screen or are proof-reading from another […]
On Macintosh computers, the speaking is entirely done by the macOS not Office for Mac To enable speech to text, go to System Preferences | Accessibility and look for the Speech option. Speak selected text when the key is pressed – lets you choose a shortcut key.
The latest Microsoft financial results mark an important milestone in the way we pay them for Office software. “For the first time, Office 365 Commercial revenue surpassed revenue from our traditional licensing business.” – Amy Hood, Microsoft CFO. More cloud money MSFT got more money from Office ‘subscriptions’ than from one-time ‘perpetual’ and other traditional […]
The Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for Windows 10 computers are hiding from the Microsoft Store. Here’s how to get them. Word, Excel and PowerPoint have ‘mobile’ versions that run on Windows 10 devices for full PC’s, tablets and Windows phones. Here are the links you need, since Microsoft has hidden them. Word Excel PowerPoint […]
Microsoft’s annual giveaway of ebooks is on again. Thousands of free downloads, including Office related ebooks. The full list is on the Microsoft blog. We’ve copied the Microsoft Office related titles into a easily searchable list below. Most are in PDF format with a few in MOBI (Kindle), EPUB or XPS format. Modesty (almost) […]
The Irish are talking about ‘pink text’ used in a court ordered apology. Text that’s so faint it’s almost impossible to read. Here’s how to do it and post on a web site. TheLiberal.ie site was ordered to apologize for copyright breaches and did it by posting an image of the required text in light […]
Yet again, Microsoft has released buggy patches for Office and Outlook. We have details of the faulty patches and the bugs they’ve added to Outlook. This time it’s Outlook users who have the hassle and time-wasting dealing with Microsoft’s bungling. All these security updates cause bugs in Outlook, various versions. Of course, Microsoft won’t admit […]
There are many ways to save money on buying or renting Microsoft Office / Office 365 here’s just some. Don’t auto-renew, Home Use program, Military discount, University, School / Education and never, ever buy from Microsoft directly. You don’t have to be a special person to get a discount. Having a pulse and making a […]
Microsoft’s test area ‘Garage’ has released a PowerPoint tool which promises to translate into multiple languages your speech to accompany a presentation. Presentation Translator translates your spoken remarks and posts them as subtitles on the slide deck. Source: Microsoft Source: Microsoft It does more than show subtitles on the big screen. Audience members can use […]
Excel is main focus of this month’s security patches from Microsoft. It’s a familiar story, so Microsoft recycles their stock phrases from similar security lapses in the past. A ‘specially crafted’ document can cause a ‘memory corruption’ in Office. The July 2017 patches fix not one, but two separate design errors in Office. All supported […]
Word 2013 has a new non-security update for our Dutch friends … but what it does is a mystery. In typical Microsoft fashion, all they’ll say is that KB3213567 “… improves some translations for the Dutch version of Word 2013. “ which could mean almost anything. It doesn’t appear to be changes to the Dutch […]
A political corruption row is brewing in Pakistan with questions about Word and the Calibri font. We dug into the Office Watch archives for more info than simply checking Wikipedia. A report into possible corruption by the Prime Ministers daughter, suggests that some documents were faked. The documents are dated in 2006 but use the […]
