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.
Three Microsoft 365 features have disappeared
Some features have been dropped from Microsoft 365 Family, Personal and other plans. Wolfram data types in Excel and so-called ‘Partner Benefits‘. As usual the announcement was full of marketing euphemisms and didn’t tell the whole story because a third feature (Excel’s Money template) discontinued on the same date. Three Microsoft 365 features were dropped on […]
Beware unpatched Windows and Office security bug
Microsoft is warning about a security bug in Windows and Office that has no patch (yet) but is being publicly exploited. We’ll explain what to look out for and how to protect yourself. It appears to be (yet another) security hole in Windows which allows unauthorized code to run on a computer. It’s from a […]
Get the right Barbie color for Word, PowerPoint and Office
Barbie (the doll, not the Aussie BBQ) is everywhere at the moment so we’ll explain how to select Barbie Pink in your Word documents, Excel sheets and PowerPoint slides. There’s no one Barbie Pink but a selection to choose from. We looked around various official sources for the toys and movie trying to find the […]
How to find emoji in Microsoft Word and the bugs to avoid
Finding emoji or any high value Unicode symbol is difficult in Microsoft Word because of bugs in the software. We’ll explain the only reliable way to find emoji and the problems with the features that should work, but don’t. We’ll start with the best answer we can find. It’s not a perfect solution but it’s […]
More Word Find / Search tricks
Some more Microsoft Word Find tricks. Select and Find, finding blank lines, search for special characters/emoji, find a certain font or formatting plus wildcard options. This article follows on from our introduction Find pane search secrets in Word Select and Find If you select some text in a document then use the Ctrl + F […]
Put text around a shape, square or circle in Microsoft Word
How to put text around an object; image, chart, shape or other Microsoft Word object. Continuing from our look at putting Word text vertically, at an angle or curved Text around a Box Putting text around a box requires four separate text boxes, positioned and grouped around the object. Here’s a chart with four text […]
How to set vertical text, an angle or a curve in Word
Word isn’t limited to horizontal text, with a little digging on the ribbon you can put text vertically, at an angle, on a curve or even around a shape or picture. And in Put text around a shape, square or circle in Microsoft Word we’ll look at: From the Office-Watch.com archives there’s also Reverse, Mirror or Flip Text […]
Moai 🗿 or stone statue emoji, 3D model and more in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Add the Easter Island stone statue (Moai/Moyai) 🗿 symbol, 3D model or photo into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Moai 🗿 symbol represents the famous stone statues of Easter Island. It can be used to show a deadpan, ‘straight face’ or ‘stone face’ (literally) expression. […]
Easy charts and summaries in Excel
There are many ways to visually explain a list of values with different types of Excel Charts and other trickery. We’ve already looked at the numerical or statistical ways to summarize a list of values. Now let’s visualize the data in various ways available easily in Excel. There are various charting options available which can […]
Eight SUM functions in Excel … and more
Everyone knows the SUM function in Excel but that’s just the start, there are eight SUM() functions (and more) for adding up numbers in different ways. SUM() SUM is one of the first functions taught to newcomers. It’s as old as Excel itself (older because SUM was in the first spreadsheet program, Visicalc) In its […]
Why there’s three font locations in Windows 11 and 10
With the sale of fonts via the Microsoft Store and cloud fonts there’s now a complication in the familiar way fonts are managed in Windows 11/Windows 10 and how Office for Windows handles new fonts. There are now three different locations that fonts can be saved. For as long as anyone can remember, all Windows […]
Outlook and Office might be blocked by anti-virus software
A Windows 11 update might stop Outlook or other Office apps from working because of a conflict with anti-virus software. The trouble started with KB5027231 a Windows 11 update released 13 June 2023 which, among other things, fixed a file copying bug. 15 days later Microsoft admitted there was a bug in the bug patch. Not […]
Images in Excel Cells – at long last
At long last, there’s a way to insert an image into a single Excel cell called Place in Cell. No problems with floating images etc, just a cell with a picture which resizes with the cell size. Adding images to Excel sheets has always been confusing because they weren’t directly related to a single cell. […]
Office background noise for you or an online meeting
Here’s a fun web site that will play office background noises to your home office or online meeting. https://imisstheoffice.eu/ is part game, part ambient noises. Hard to believe there’d be a time when you’d miss the ambience and noises of the office? Click on items to see what happens, some tips. Have some fun, leave […]
How Big Can a Microsoft Word Document Really Be? Limits Explained
How large can a document in Microsoft Word actually get? While most users never hit the upper limits, Word does have technical size restrictions that can affect performance, file stability, images, and long reports. Here’s what you need to know about maximum Word document size, file limits, and how to avoid slowdowns or crashes when […]
Telephone receiver 📞 emoji in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert the Telephone receiver symbol 📞 into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Telephone receiver or handset 📞 symbol can be used on a letterhead or sign where a phone number is shown. There’s an emoji in the Unicode standard plus two Microsoft Office Icons. How […]
