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.
Microsoft breaks 365 Family licenses
Last Thursday wasn’t great for Microsoft 365 Family customers who were kicked out of their legitimate Office apps because of a bug in Microsoft licensing servers. We’ll explain when happened over nine hours and what you can do if it happens again. It’s become an all too familiar story. A Microsoft update of their cloud […]
Microsoft cloud services move to a new domain for a good reason
Microsoft has moved cloud services to a special domain .cloud.microsoft which is a good thing that gives us all a little more confidence in their online services. Microsoft’s services are a dreadful jumble of domains, mostly .com but also some .net. And there’s no consistency with Sharepoint and ClipChamp having its own .com (sharepoint.com clipchamp.com) […]
Microsoft lies to hide their ‘theft’ of Skype Credit
Microsoft is restoring to lies and obfuscation to hide their decision to take unused Skype Credit money rather than give refunds or credits. Microsoft is trying to trick customers by saying that their Teams product replaces Skype – which is simply not true. Skype has two major features, only one is replaced by Teams: Microsoft’s […]
Adding a message to a PowerPoint ‘envelope’
Here’s how to make a message (letter or card) to make it ‘appear’ from a PowerPoint envelope graphic. This message can be personal or professional, depending on your preference. In Make your own Envelope graphic for PowerPoint we showed how to make an ‘open envelope’ graphic in PowerPoint with some clever use of the Office […]
Make your own Envelope graphic for PowerPoint
An envelope graphic—crafted entirely in PowerPoint! It’s a versatile design element that works for both personal and professional needs. Whether you’re communicating with customers, making special announcements, or enhancing presentations with a creative touch, an envelope icon is a powerful visual asset. It can also be used effectively to showcase images in business presentations. We’ll […]
Check out Kermit the font
Microsoft 365 has introduced ‘Kermit,’ a new typeface specifically crafted to make reading more accessible and enjoyable for young audiences. Kermit the font aims to address the challenges faced by early readers, including those with dyslexia but has uses for everyone. Developed in collaboration with the type design studio Underware Kermit font is a casual […]
Copilot in Office – grumbles and ‘modest proposals’
Copilot could become a ‘toxic brand‘ because of pushy way Microsoft is adding it to Microsoft Office. We have some ‘modest proposals’ for how Microsoft can improve their AI offering and keep paying customers onside. Or, put another way, some grumbles about the way Microsoft is force-feeding Copilot to its Microsoft 365/Office customers. Why ‘Copilot’ […]
Stop Accessibility icons in Word margins
Maybe you’ve seen the little blue men appearing in the margins of your Word documents? They are Accessibility Recommendations and, yes, there is a way to get rid of them. There are two ways to hide these little creatures, both take a little digging. Right-click on any Accessibility icon then the … menu button on […]
Copilot Search now on the Word title bar
Copilot is now appearing on the Microsoft Word title bar as part of the combined search and help, now called “Copilot Search”. The Copilot ‘ads’ for blank documents keep changing too. In the latest Word 365 Insiders builds the Search box (which combines Find, Help and broader Searches) is now labelled ‘Copilot’ and starts with […]
Stricter requirements for mass mailings to Microsoft mailboxes
Stricter requirements are coming on mass mailings to Microsoft hosted mailboxes including Outlook.com. The new rules also affect anyone with a Microsoft managed Inbox. Any organization (domain name) sending “over 5,000 emails daily” will have to comply with new rules from 5 May 2025. At the same time, Microsoft is changing how ‘unverified’ emails are […]
Important changes for your Microsoft and Outlook.com email
Emails you want to see might end up in Junk Email as Microsoft imposing new standards to ensure emails are legitimate. Microsoft isn’t allowing any way to bypass their new rules for emails you want. The new standards apply to senders but there are important and less well promoted effects for anyone using Microsoft hosted […]
Paste Text Only, Word shortcut change and confusion
Paste text into Microsoft Word without unwanted fonts, colors, or styles can save time and frustration. There’s a (relatively) new keyboard shortcut to do that directly. This guide breaks down all the changed keyboard options made to make room for a Paste Text Only shortcut in Word on Windows and Mac. New Paste Text only […]
Office help on the right-click menu ‘Search the menus’
There’s a little undocumented surprise on the right-click menu. Tucked away at the top is ‘Search the menus’ help. Sadly the underlying help system is still woefully inadequate. Right-click in a document (Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook) and the top item isn’t ‘Cut’ but a “Search the menus” box. This is different from the main […]
Upload a phone image to Copilot chat
Microsoft has introduced a new feature allowing users to upload images directly from their mobile devices to Microsoft 365 Copilot. A nice trick but there are other ways to do the same thing, including two from Microsoft itself! The idea is to streamline tasks such as transcribing handwritten notes, summarizing charts, and digitizing receipts. Copilot […]
Excel Value Tokens – what are they good for?
Excel is getting Value Tokens but what are they good for? Do they add any ‘value’ or are they just a ‘token’ extra? The ‘Value Token’ appears in the formula bar when you select a data linked cell e.g. Stocks, Currencies, Geography or custom data types. According to Microsoft “This enhancement provides a clear visual […]
Does Microsoft Word understand new English words?
The Oxford English Dictionary has a list of new English words for 2025. We’ve checked to see if the Microsoft Word dictionary understands all these new terms. Some of the ‘new’ words are very familiar (‘load’, ‘class’ or ‘terror’) but with new meanings. Others are quite new (‘gigil’, ‘ludraman’ or ‘shweshwe’). We put them into […]
