Microsoft is rolling out a ‘patch’ to Windows 7 which is really a series of annoying ads for Windows 10. The ads are reminders that Win7 support ends in mid-January 2020 as encouragement to buy Windows 10. Here’s how to stop the patch or the ads it installs. See Microsoft starts ‘reminders’ for Office 2010 and […]
Soon Windows 7 and perhaps Office 2010 users will start seeing on-screen reminders that support for the two products is ending with sales pitches for Office 365 and Windows 10. Windows 7 support, including security updates, ends on 14 January 2020. Office 2010 support, according to Microsoft, ends ‘shortly thereafter’. It’s actually 9 months later […]
What can you do when Outlook won’t connect to a new mailbox no matter what you try? Long time Office Watch reader, Phil, found himself with an especially stubborn Outlook which would not connect to his new mailbox. He’s changed Office 365 mail servers so had to reconnect Outlook to the new mailboxes for him […]
Thanks to everyone who tried out Microsoft Forms by filling out our example survey. Here are the results. Our form was mainly an example of what’s possible in Microsoft Forms as part of Microsoft Forms – a quick look and sample We took the opportunity to get a better idea of what Office software our […]
Microsoft Forms can export survey/quiz results to an Excel workbook, here’s how to do that easy and efficiently. The current method of getting Microsoft Forms results into Excel isn’t very elegant. Surprisingly, it doesn’t make use of Excel’s excellent data import and update features. At the moment, you have to download an Excel worksheet with […]
Continuing our look at Excel tab/worksheet listing here’s a fully automated alternative with more control and filtering. See Make Excel tabs list in a worksheet Automatic worksheet/tabs list in Excel Fit more tabs across an Excel workbook There are many VBA code samples on the Internet, we’ve taken one we like and added some extras based […]
Does Excel have enough significant digits for Pi in the inbuilt Pi() function? Modern computing can calculate Pi to 3.14 trillion digits which is a good trick but even extreme situations only needs Pi to 15 significant digits. What’s extreme? How about interplanetary travel? JPL/NASA calculate the paths of probes to Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and […]
Word can check if you use a single or double space after a sentence (fullstop/period) but how can it be changed single space to double throughout a document? The Sentence Spacing settings (single, double or don’t care) is in Word’s Grammar settings see Sentence Spacing in Word. These days, sentences more commonly separate with a […]
Word can check if you use a single or double space after a sentence (fullstop/period) but how can it be changed throughout a document? Make all sentences end with a single space instead of double spaces, triple or more. The Sentence Spacing settings (single, double or don’t care) is in Word’s Grammar settings see Sentence […]
Usually, WhatsApp sends a small version of an image not the full size original. Here’s how to send the proper picture on Apple iPhones for editing and viewing on larger screens. In short: send the image using the Document option instead of Camera! A similar trick is possible in WhatsApp for Android. ‘Document’ will send […]
Make WhatsApp send and receive the original picture on Android devices for editing and viewing on larger screens. Usually, WhatsApp sends a small version of an image not the full size original. Find out more at Make WhatsApp send full size, original photos iPhone too! Send a full, original image by WhatsApp for iPhone In short: send […]
There’s a simple trick to make WhatsApp send full size, original pictures instead of smaller versions that WhatsApp usually sends. Sending the original, unchanged picture is better for display on larger screens and especially for editing the image. It’s best to have good resolution pictures in Word and especially PowerPoint presentations. Choose the send option […]
With help from major retailers, Microsoft has new ways to make people pay more for Office 365 Home or Personal. Amazon and Best Buy now offer Office 365 renewals charging full price for the first and later years. Ever since Office 365 plans started, Microsoft has enticed people with low prices in the first year […]
Excel for Android has a new trick, converting photos of tables or other documents into worksheets. As usual, some conditions and limitations apply to Insert Data from Picture that are overlooked in the usual hype. The idea is simple, take a photo of a table or grid in a document then Excel will convert it […]
Among the usual grab bag of non-security updates this month is an important Access 2016 update and bug fix for Outlook 2016 This patch only applies to Office 2016 with a stand-alone .msi installed – NOT Click to Run installs. It’s a single patch KB4462214 that applies to both Outlook 2016 and Access 2016. Access […]
Updated Microsoft Office 365 icons have started appearing in the preview ‘fast track’ Office 365 for Windows and we could not be more excited. No … not really. When it comes to changed Office icons; if we were more apathetic, we’d be in a coma. Office 365 icons for Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint on […]
Microsoft has released a browser based version of Skype. It’s great news but maybe not for the reasons Redmond expects. Skype on the Web is an alternative to the bloated and annoying Skype for Windows or Mac. What is Skype for Web? It’s Skype with most of its standard features running on a web page. […]
An automatically updated list of all worksheets or tabs in Excel but there are ‘gotchas’ which aren’t often mentioned. We’ve already talked about fitting more tabs on the screen or making a manual list of tabs/worksheets. Now we’ll take the next step and make an automatic list of worksheets that will update as the workbook […]
Make your own clickable list of workbook tabs in an Excel worksheet to workaround the small number of tabs that can fit in a single line. See Fit more tabs across an Excel workbook for some suggestions to squeezing more across the single line available. Those suggestions work to make a bit more space available […]
Tabs in an Excel workbook can easily be hidden away on that single line. Here’s some tricks to fit more visible workbooks or workarounds when the tab list is way too long. Here’s the common problem with too many worksheet labels and not enough width. The three-dots at either end are the clue to the […]
A long-standing and unpatched problem in Office provides a stealthy doorway to other security problems in Office with Equation Editor already being targeted. Mimecast discovered an undocumented behavior in OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) which is a doorway into security bugs in Office. It isn’t a security problem on its own, instead it’s a sneaky […]
Microsoft has released a new version of their overall Office app for Windows 10 with the usual fanfare and unquestioning hype. We’ve had a look at the app and it’s hardly worth the trouble of installing. Office app is said to be a portal for Office users but it’s mostly a promotional app for Microsoft […]
Microsoft Forms is the latest cloud service to join the Office 365 stable. It’s still a Preview service, not full formed, but it’s working and interesting. We decided to take a look and give you a sample Form to try. Forms is a way to make online questionnaires, quizzes or surveys then add the data […]
Wanna jump in and see a Microsoft Forms in action? We’ve made a sample Microsoft Form one for all our Office Watch readers to try. Below is the embeded version (using an <iFrame) or click here to see it on a separate page. Our simple form serves three purposes. The first two questions are serious. […]
How to insert the Registered Trade Mark ® currency symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Registered Trade Mark ® not to be confused with the Unregistered Trade Mark ™ symbol Registered Trade Mark ® codes These are the important code numbers or values you’ll […]
Type the Trademark ™ TM symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Trademark ™ TM symbol is, strictly speaking, called the Unregistered Trademark symbol. Its counterpart is the Registered Trademark ® Trademark in Word and Outlook The Trademark ™ sign has an inbuilt shortcut in […]
Let’s look at the basic options for making a Table of Contents (TOC) in a Word document. The basic TOC options haven’t changed for a long time. The look of the dialog boxes and galleries changed with Word 2007 however under those superficial features, the fundamentals are the same. Table of Contents is very easy […]
Like many things in Microsoft Word, there is more than one way to add a PDF file into a Word document. From a simple link to another file to converting the PDF into a Word document. Here’s three ways to add a PDF into your Word document. In most cases you’ll link to a PDF […]
Inserting a link to a PDF (or any other file) into a Word document or email is easy to do. All you need is the web link to the PDF and paste it into your document or email. The key question to ask is ‘Where is the PDF located or saved to?’. Next question is […]
Color fonts are coming to Microsoft Office and Windows but progress is slow and patchy. Here’s a quick summary of color fonts and the occasional, erratic support in Outlook, Word and other Office programs. What are color fonts Since the beginning of Mac and Windows we’ve had single color fonts. Usually black but can be […]
What are Home Use Program (HUP) customers charged after the first year of discounted Office 365? If you dig deep enough into the fine-print it seems that the discount does apply for renewals, despite what Microsoft’s own checkout says! The more we dig into the new Office Home Use Program, the more confusing and conflicting […]
Many OneNote users would like to save their notebooks on their computer and not OneDrive. Saving a notebook to a local folder is possible. It might become impossible in the years ahead. OneNote 2016 for Windows supports saving a notebook to any folder. OneDrive is the only notebook option in other OneNote apps (including OneNote […]
Transform in Word 365 for Windows converts a document into a versatile web page hosted by Microsoft on it’s Sway service. It’s also available from Word Online but only for school or work accounts. What Sway Transform is NOT Word’s Transform is promoted as converting a Word document to a Web Page but it does […]
Word for Windows has three options for saving a document to a web page, Web Page, Single Web Page or Web Page, Filtered. Here’s a look at all three and how to choose the best option for you. What you choose depends on how much similarity you need between the Word document and the web […]
Type the Yen ¥ currency symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Yen is used for Japanese currency and sometimes other currencies like the Chinese Renminbi / Yuan. ¥ symbol is easy on some keyboards but for most there’s no specific key for Yen. Word […]
The Australian prices for Office 365 with the Home Use Program (HUP)discount are a simple 30% discount on the Aussie retail prices. Office 365 Home (retail AUD$129) HUP price $90.30 Office 365 Personal (retail AUD$99) HUP price $69.30 Thanks to Office Watch reader, Geoffrey G. for the local price info. Visio and Project Professional trap […]
The Microsoft Office Home Use Program (HUP) is a great way to save on Office 365 or Office 2019 for employees of many companies, organizations, governments and even some military personnel. Here’s details on the savings possible with the recent changes to the HUP. What’s changed? The Home Use Program (HUP) is changing to the […]
Here’s who can qualify for cheaper Office 365 Home or Personal under the revised Home Use Program and how to get the lower prices. Employer qualification Your employer must have a Microsoft Office Volume Licence agreement with Software Assurance Maintenance (SAM). If Office is widespread in your organization it’s likely they have a volume licence, […]
The new Home Use Program offers 30% discounts to employees of many organizations which have Volume Licence agreements with Software Assurance for Microsoft Office. Here’s what we know about how the new Home Use Program works, the tricks and traps. Office 365 plans with Home Use Program Both retail Office 365 plans are available at […]
How to insert the Pound £ currency symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. £ symbol is easy on a UK keyboard but for other keyboards there’s no specific key for Pound. Pound is used for British Pounds Sterling and also other ‘pound’ currencies like […]