Microsoft 365 – the subscription / annual fee plan for Microsoft Office on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android.
Includes Word 365, Excel 365, PowerPoint 365, Outlook 365 and many other ‘365’ programs, apps and services.
Add opening and closing music for a PowerPoint presentation
Would you like some music to play before your PowerPoint ‘show’ begins? Most people do this by playing music separately from PowerPoint then clumsily switching over when they start speaking. There’s a better way. The more elegant method is adding repeating music to an opening slide. Add the audio file then change these options on the ribbon at […]
Play audio only when clicked on a PowerPoint slide
Audio on a PowerPoint slide can be played when you click on the audio icon on a slide. Choose the audio icon then on the Playback pane, choose Start: when clicked on. You can have multiple audio tracks on a slide, each one plays when you click. This slide has two sound effects for either a correct or […]
Microsoft 365 Family plus $50 bonus, but be quick
Amazon is offering Microsoft 365 Family for the standard price of $106 but throwing in a $50 gift card to sweeten the deal – making the net price $55.99 for 12 months instead of the usual $99.99. But you’ll have to be quick. The deal is still working on Wed. 1 Dec at 1pm New […]
How do you pronounce Omicron? Ask Microsoft Office!
The Omicron variant is spreading across the world and so are questions about how to pronounce the word. A simple job for Microsoft Office 365’s Read Aloud. Just type Omicron into Word then go to Review | Read Aloud or choose the word and press Ctrl + Alt + Space … either way will start […]
Discover who is sharing your Microsoft 365 Family plan?
If you’re the owner of a Microsoft 365 Family plan how can you find out who the plan is shared with and control their access? Microsoft 365 Family plans can be shared among six people, after a while it can be hard to remember who you’ve shared with and exactly which email address (Microsoft account) […]
Microsoft’s waffle about the Office ‘new look’
The Coming Soon pane in Office 365 is supposed to help people use upcoming features. For the interface changes, the pane is just marketing waffle and misdirection straight from an advertising copywriters desk. Click on the Coming Soon megaphone shows this pane with the option to “Try the new experience” There’s nothing in the text […]
Inside the new look and defaults in Office 365
The look of Microsoft Office 365 for Windows is changing with new features beyond the simple design changes. Here’s what you can do with the new look, mostly changes to the Quick Access Toolbar and important changes to Office default settings. Note: what you see in Office 365 might not match our description. The Office […]
Approximately Equal or image of ≒ in Word and Office
How to insert the Approx Equal or the image of symbol ≒ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Approximately Equal To or the Image Of ≒ symbol is commonly used Japan, Korea and Taiwan to indicate two values are approximately equal, but not exactly equal. How Approximately Equal ≒ looks in different fonts. Here are some examples […]
Really fancy and clever Drop Caps in Word
Drop Caps are very old fashioned, there’s space left for them in the oldest printed books in the world, the Gutenberg Bibles. You can do the same thing, a lot more easily, in Microsoft Word. In this Office-Watch.com article we’ll go beyond the simple ‘how to’ for Drop Cap. There’s the basic settings supplied by […]
Fast typing the same thing across many Excel cells
Sometimes when you are filling out the cells in an Excel worksheet, the same thing must be written repeatedly. There’s a fast way to do it using a surprising Excel shortcut. Luckily, there’s an easier shortcut around it. Previously we have spoken about Auto Fill hidden tricks in Excel, but you might not be aware of this simple trick. Firstly, […]
Common Sound effects for PowerPoint
A PowerPoint presentation sometimes needs that extra oomph, such as an occasional sound effect. Here are a few common ones that you’ve heard from movies and TV shows. You can use them as a trigger sound, or novel background noise. It’s all about the sounds: Wilhelm Scream – stock sound effect used in several TV shows and movies, originally from the […]
Make your Mouse Cursor easier to see in Windows 10 and 11
A very small set of mouse cursor options is included in Windows 11, but they are fairly simple and basic. Perhaps you’d like something easier to see? A larger or more colorful mouse pointer? There are options to change the colour of your mouse, and even adjust the size, however if you wanted to add some more fun or […]
Fancy Themed Mouse Cursors for Windows 10 and 11
Make your extra fancy mouse cursors using a feature buried in Windows 11, Windows 10 and earlier Windows too Download mouse pointer themes for free, from sites like Open Cursor Library. Microsoft has made the option to change your Pointer Icons a little tricky, it takes a few steps, but is fairly easy to manage once you’ve downloaded your theme. As Microsoft has left little creativity when it comes to cursor themes, it’s important […]
Nine hidden tricks for Auto Fill in Excel
Typing or formatting cells of repetitive data can be very boring, but Excel has an Auto Fill feature to make it easier by automatically filling in data for you. We thought we knew Auto Fill, but just found nine surprising and useful tricks. Auto Fill goes beyond simple incrementing numbers or dates which is what […]
Print selected part from a Word document
Microsoft Word can print the selected parts of a document, not just the whole document, Select the part of the document you want to print. Word won’t let you print separated selections (made using the Ctrl key). Go to File | Print (or Ctrl + P) and from the Settings list choose Print Selection. The […]
New Prime Number is too big for Excel
In 2013 they discovered a new Prime number but not for Excel. The GIMPS project has discovered a new prime number – that’s a number that can only be divided by itself and one. The new arrival is a bouncing bonny number 257,885,161-1 which is 17 million digits long. Prime numbers aren’t just mathematical curiosities, they […]
