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.
The latest Office ‘Insiders’ names changes
Microsoft can’t help themselves when it comes to naming their ‘Insiders’, ‘Preview’ or beta test versions. The names change for no good reason and timing is different for each platform rather than all Office apps changing at the same time. The latest changes are for MacOS, iOS (iPhone/iPad) and Android devices. They’ve happened months after […]
Now there’s Stock videos for your PowerPoint slides
Short Stock videos are coming to PowerPoint 365 slides and backgrounds. Instead of searching the web or making your own little videos, they are now available from PowerPoint itself. All the videos are short (around 10 seconds) and automatically loop by default. Here’s four of them as a sampler .. They seem intended as backgrounds […]
Easy video backgrounds in PowerPoint
Adding a video as the background of a PowerPoint slide is surprisingly easy. You might expect that it requires special features but it doesn’t. There are some tricks to know if the slide gets muddled up. A true PowerPoint slide background has to be still a solid color, gradient, pattern or picture. But the layer […]
The slow way to the end of Excel
Some people have way too much time on their hands …. and this was pre-lockdown! Hunter Hobbs decided to find out how long it takes to scroll down to the very bottom row of Excel. That’s row 1,048,576. It only takes a moment and two keystrokes to get there, but Hunter decided to take ‘the […]
Putting a Command on the Quick Access Toolbar
The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) is located on the left side of the Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook title bar. You can add commands, options and even symbols for easy and quick obvious access By default, the QAT only has Save, Undo, Redo and Touch/Mouse commands but you can cut down on unnecessary keystrokes by placing […]
Reader’s suggestion for typing a tick in Office
A quick way to type a ü tick or check mark character in Word. Another great Autocorrect suggestion from Morris B. ” … the one that I have found the most useful is to replace ‘./’ with a tick (wingdings 252 – or wingdings 254) “ Using the fullstop/period is a clever Autocorrect prefix since […]
Quickly add any special characters in Office
One of the eternal questions to Office Watch is about adding characters to an Office document. Symbols and characters not on the keyboard. The most common requests are for adding currency symbols like Pound £ Euro € or Yen/Renminbi ¥ but can also include the @ symbol which can, even these days, be missing from […]
All you need to know about Microsoft Office and Big Sur MacOS
Apple is releasing a new version of MacOS, for all Mac computers, called ‘Big Sur’ or version 11. What does that mean for Microsoft Office compatibility and stability? Big Sur is the latest MacOS operating system (version 11) for Mac computers. It’s rolled out from 12 November but you can decide to switchover when you’re […]
Is Microsoft Office ready for Apple Silicon Macs?
Apple’s new Macbook’s use a totally new type of chip, the M1 or Apple Silicon. What does that mean for Microsoft Office and other programs? We’ll explain what Apple Silicon Macs are and why they are better. Microsoft Office compatibility with the new machines (it’s messy at the moment) and whether to buy an Apple […]
Inside the new Designer for Microsoft Word
Designer, a quick formatting feature in PowerPoint is now available in Microsoft Word. Here’s how to find and use the new feature. Word’s Designer works a little differently to the PowerPoint Designer but the basics are the same. A side-pane offers some templates that will reformat the entire document. Some Microsoft clever coding (they call […]
New Apple emoji available now but be careful
The new Apple iOS 14.2 adds 117 new emoji to use but be careful now you use them because not even all iPhone and iPad can handle them, let alone non-Apple devices. We explain how they work, how the emoji appear on receiving devices and include a full list of the newcomers. The new emoji […]
How to get ‘Plus’ email addresses, the new feature in Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com
Plus + , disposable or instant alias email addresses are now available for Microsoft 365 hosted mailboxes and Outlook.com accounts. Here’s how to get this useful email trick for your mailbox. Outlook.com All Outlook.com accounts have plus addresses automatically. It was introduced to Hotmail (‘as was’) back in 2013. It’s such an ‘old’ feature, many […]
Get the most from Plus addresses in Outlook
Outlook for Windows/Mac has features that work well with email plus or disposable addresses. Plus addresses let you make sub-addresses that come to the same mailbox see What are email Plus addresses and how to use them for details. Outlook Rules with plus addresses Most Outlook Rules are based on the senders address but there […]
Copyright © tricks for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Tricks for typing the Copyright © into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Copyright © symbol isn’t on any keyboard but is so commonly used that there are special shortcuts available to type © Copyright © in Word and Outlook The Copyright © has an inbuilt […]
Office sales help another great financial result for Microsoft
Microsoft first quarter 2021 earnings received a big boost from the move to remote working and the COVID-19 crisis. Though the company was careful not to credit the global pandemic for their success. The headline results for the quarter to 30 September 2020, compared to the same period in 2019: Revenue was $37.2 billion and […]
Illustrations, new graphics in Microsoft 365 Windows and Mac
Illustrations are a new graphics option coming to Microsoft 365 that supplements the existing Icons with a wider range of visual aids for documents, emails, worksheets and slides. They’ve appeared, without any mention, in preview versions of Microsoft 365 for Windows (version 13415.20002) and Microsoft 365 for Mac (v16.43 20102102) On the same dialog box […]
