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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Many new emoji are now in the official Unicode list but we’ll have to wait for them to appear in Word or Outlook emails. After the Unicode Consortium ratifies additions to the vast character list, it takes some time for Microsoft, Apple and others to add the emoji to their fonts. The 2019 Emoji list […]
We’re delighted to announce something new at the Office Watch bookstore. Beating Bots, Spies & Cock-ups is all about safely and securely sending files and documents. Keeping your personal and business information private on the Internet. suits Windows and Mac, Office 365, Office 2019, Office 2016 and earlier We all send personal information over the Internet. […]
Apple and Microsoft have come to terms and now you can buy an Office 365 ‘subscription’ plan from the Apple App Store. Why do such a silly thing? We’ve seen a lot of hype about Office 365’s arrival in the App Store. Commentators almost hyperventilating with excitement including the phrase ‘rejoicing throughout the land’ apparently […]
Windows 10 Mobile will end support in December 2019, the latest in a long line of failed attempts by Microsoft to produce a smartphone version of Windows. Smartphones with Windows 10 will continue to work, of course. So will the Office apps for Win 10 Mobile. But there’ll be no more security patches, features or […]
Pantone has announced its Color of the Year for 2019 but before you run off to grab color swatches, here’s how to get it in Microsoft Office – Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. The color of 2019 is <drum roll> ….. Living Coral … As usual what’s more amazing than the color is the description from […]
The late and much missed musician Prince wished to be known by single character symbol called ‘Love Symbol Number 2’. Here’s how to enter that unique symbol in Word, PowerPoint or Microsoft Office generally. There are various methods suggested on the Internet, we’ve narrowed then down to one excellent option (SVG graphic) two others that […]
The new iPad Pro’s announced today by Apple come with an extra cost to use Microsoft Office. Office Mobile apps for iPad are usually free for everyone. There are some extras for Office 365 customers but most of the app features are available for all comers. But the new iPad Pro’s, like their predecessor Pro […]
Microsoft has added the Dictation feature to the browser based versions of Word and OneNote. You can speak and words will appear in Word/OneNote using the cloud ‘speech to text’ feature. Source: Microsoft Dictation is already available in Word 365 for Windows. Office for Mac users have a ‘voice to text’ feature available in the […]
Office for iOS (iPhone / iPad ) is getting the Icons or SVG support already available in Word 365 for Windows. Icons now available to Office iOS Insiders on the Insert tab. There are 500 to choose from … Source: Microsoft Available in the Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for Android. Icons are really SVG […]
Excel for Android is getting the ability to insert numbers and text from a picture. Insert | Data from Picture is now available to Office for Android Insiders and will rollout to the public in coming months. It’s OCR (Optical Character Recognition) specialized for Excel. Source: Microsoft You can get a similar result by taking […]
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Office apps for Windows 10 have been sidelined by Microsoft with no new features planned. Bad news for anyone still using a Windows Phone. The Windows 10/Mobile apps will continue to work but no more features are planned. This ‘no more features’ decision appears to apply to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, […]
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 […]
The August Insiders update for Word and PowerPoint for Android have improved Zoom features plus another option is entirely missing! We’ve tested these features to see how they really work, assuming the promoted features are there at all. Office Watch hasn’t taken Microsoft at their word. We’ve tried out the software to see how the […]
Here’s a quick look at some of the modest Excel tricks we used to make the Schengen Visa Calculation worksheet. Table Making the itinerary list an Excel Table lets us make use of some features. Formatting It’s a lot easier to format as a table with banded rows. We’ve turned off the Table | Filter […]
Android users can get some extra features like Word count and landscape editing of PowerPoint slides in the July 2018 updates to Office for Android apps. Version 16.0.10325.20043 of the apps are now available. Most likely, Google Play will update your device automatically. Word Count in Word for Android The document word count appears as […]
There’s a somewhat confusing range of parts inside Microsoft Teams, here’s a guide to things like Teams, Channels, Chats, Wiki and other goodies. In How Microsoft Teams fits together we explain the Microsoft Teams structure from an teams. The Best Way to learn Microsoft Teams Dive in and try it. Teams is a collaboration service so […]
We’ve said for a long time that buying direct from Microsoft is the most expensive way to buy their hardware or software. Redmond has found another way to trick more money from customers buying a Surface product. When you choose a Surface Go from the Microsoft Store, Microsoft adds TWO products to your online shopping […]
Let’s have a hype-free look at Microsoft’s new Surface Go tablet, Microsoft’s pricing tricks, how to buy and which model. Also your Microsoft Office options with the Surface Go. What is it? Surface Go is clearly targeting the Apple iPad with the advantage of being able to run ‘real’ Microsoft Office. Photo from Microsoft. Retail […]
Google has updated their Drive app to support preview of Microsoft Office documents with password encryption. Here’s how it works online and in the Google Drive app. In early 2017 the browser-based part of Google Drive let you preview password protected Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Only preview of Office documents is available, not open […]
There are many ways to enter the latest date or time into Excel, depending on exactly what you need. A fixed date/time at the moment you type into the cell or a date/time which Excel updates automatically. This works on Excel for Windows or Excel for Mac. There are combinations to enter date, time or […]
The BBC has released a great collection of over 16,000 sound effects that you can add to your PowerPoint presentations. Use them as a trigger sound for a click on a presentation or as a novel background noise. Sound Effects Galore: Exploring the 16,000 sound effects available by word searches or categories. Chickens – including […]
The BBC Sound effect downloads are in WAV format. That’s a good, high-fidelity and uncompressed format that works in PowerPoint for Windows but it also means a large file size. WAV files aren’t directly supported on Apple or Android devices. Best to convert into MP3 format which is smaller and compressed as well as being […]
The latest Office for Android preview has a few additions that might be of interest. We’re talking about build 16.0.10325.20010, the July 2018 insiders preview that’ll later be available to all Office for Android users. Word Count The document word count should appear as you scroll through the document, alongside the page position and total pages […]
A clever use of Excel is at the end of a paperless class attendance system used by a Filipino teacher. Michael Angelo posted on Facebook how he’s switched to a paperless system for his classes. The same system can be used for classes, one-off events or even to track physical items on loan. All the […]
Transform to Web Page is a new Word Online feature which promises more than it delivers. The deliberate implication of ‘Transform to Web Page’ is that you can save the document to web page to be hosted anywhere. It’s actually a link to Microsoft Sway, another online service. You can’t save a standalone web page. […]
Office Online is a slimmed down version of Word for Windows or Mac. What’s possible in a browser interface is impressive from a technical point of view but it will never compete with Word for Windows or even Word for Mac. Anyone familiar with Office for Mac or Windows should be able to use the […]
Continuing from Your free and standby Microsoft Office alternative: Office Online to start go to https://www.office.com/ , login to your MS account (if not already logged in). Click on the buttons for Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online or OneNote Online. Also, a link to OneDrive where all the Office Online documents are saved. Scroll down […]
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote are always available for you, even if the main Office for Window/Mac are broken or missing. Office Online is the alternative that you have as a standby when regular Office fails or isn’t available. As long as you have a browser and decent Internet connection, you can use Word Online, […]
The ASUS Zenbook Pro series comes with a snazzy touchpad which doubles as an extension toolbar for Microsoft Office. Source: ASUS Instead of a blank touchpad, it’s a small high-res touchscreen that can display icons or even full videos (play Lawrence of Arabia on a tiny, tiny screen!). For Microsoft Office it means that mini-toolbars […]
The news that Microsoft is adding Javascript support to Excel is important for developers and regular Excel user, but also a security concern. Javascript is a programming language that’s used on many web pages to provide the fast interaction we’re used to. Javascript is able to get data from external sources and display in Excel […]
Microsoft has extended their OneDrive Files Restore feature to all Office 365 customers, not just their business users. It’s a simple way to recover files that have been lost, in particular if you’ve been caught in a ransomware attack. Ransomware will encrypt all the files on your computer and network so you can’t access them. […]
With the sale of fonts via the Microsoft Store, there’s now a complication in the familiar way fonts are managed in Windows 10 and how Office for Windows handles new fonts. For as long as anyone can remember, all Windows fonts where in a single folder: /Windows/Fonts But not anymore … Fonts installed from the […]
Microsoft Word for Android devices has achieved a seemingly impressive milestone, 500 million downloads. Is that ‘half a billion’ number truly big when compared to the number of Android devices in use? We’re inspired by the wonderful More or Less program and podcast from BBC Radio 4 to ask the question ‘Is that a big […]
The right-click menu is a powerful part of modern computers. It lets you quickly access options in Windows, Mac and Microsoft Office. Right-click is such a basic part of personal computing that it works even on devices without a mouse! We love ‘stupid’ questions because they’re rarely stupid at all. Yesterday Peter was asked a […]
It’s possible and practical to make ‘handwritten’ notes or edits direct on your Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents. Instead of printing them out and using a pen/pencil, do it on-screen with a digital pen. Here’s a real-world guide to how you can do it, leaving aside the hype and flashy demos. As always, inspiration from […]
