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.
Function key tricks for Windows and Mac
Function Fn keys on your keyboard, though neglected, have a special role to play in Microsoft Office. Sometimes they combine with Ctrl, Alt or Shift keys to provide certain functions. Here’s how to use Fn keys when they’re on smaller laptop keyboards or totally missing! Plus how Microsoft Office’s help is no help at all […]
Complete Function Key features in Microsoft Word
Here’s a complete list of the Word Function Key features from fast access to Help, jumping around the document, doc panes, spelling, grammar and managing field codes. Let’s discuss in detail the functionality of the F-keys labelled F1 through F12 on your keyboard. F1 – Help, field jump F2 – move, Print Preview F3 – […]
Epsilon lower ε or upper case Ε symbols in Office and more
Insert the Epsilon upper case Ε, and Epsilon lower case ε symbols in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Epsilon (uppercase Ε / lowercase ε) is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet. The uppercase isn’t commonly used outside of the Greek language, due to the similarity to […]
Upside-down ¿ or Spanish Question mark in Word
The inverted or Spanish question mark ¿ is available in Microsoft Word, regardless of language setting. There’s even an in-built shortcut. ¿ is most commonly used in Spanish for the start of a question sentence. This guide is mostly for people without a Spanish keyboard or who only occasionally need the inverted question mark. See […]
Excel Mobile Read Aloud in iPhone and iPad
Make Excel mobile for iPhone or iPad read aloud a workbook. Great for double-checking figures from a printed source. The options aren’t very good but we’ll explain what might be possible. Excel 365 does not have a Read Aloud or Speak feature similar to Word for iPhone/iPad let alone Word for Windows. The same goes […]
Capture full size still images from video
Grab high-res still pictures from movies and videos to insert into Office documents or emails. We’ll show you how to capture or grab a proper, full size, high-resolution still image from a high quality video file then paste that picture into an Office document or Outlook email. Why do this? Sometimes a video turns out […]
PowerBI reports direct and live in PowerPoint
It’s now possible to insert a PowerBI report directly into a PowerPoint slide, finally resolving a long-standing customer demand and glaring omission. The PowerBI report has filters and pivots to adjust the display directly. The data is live in both Edit and Slide Show modes. Microsoft calls this Interactive Data “Storytelling” which seems a bit […]
Outlook for Mac now free for everyone – really, truly
Outlook for Mac is now available to all, no payment or subscription required. It combines email, calendar and contacts in the one app. Anyone with a recent Mac computer can install Outlook for Mac for email, calendar and contacts from the App Store. All the common and most less-common email accounts are supported. Microsoft’s own […]
Replace confidential text with filler in Word
Here’s how to replace private or confidential text with ‘filler’ nonsense or anonymous text in a Word document. Handy for getting help with Word formatting or numbering problems where you can’t share the real document to an outsider. This is often a problem for legal workers or others with privacy considerations. It’s hard to ask […]
Five changes to make Microsoft Office saves more reliable
Losing recent work on a document is really frustrating so here are a few tips to make Office document saving more reliable, with less risk of loss if the computer or Office programs crash. A few changes to Microsoft’s defaults can mean lower blood pressure for you. Save AutoRecover every … minutes The default setting […]
Make the ultimate PowerPoint Handouts with Word
The ultimate in PowerPoint Handouts aren’t made in PowerPoint at all. Link a presentation to handouts in Microsoft Word, where you have all the powerful Word formatting features available to you. You’re forgiven for not knowing this option existed, because it’s not immediately obvious and you need to go several steps down in menus before […]
Add circled lower case letters in Word, Excel and more
Insert lower case letter with circles ⓐ to ⓩ in Microsoft Office, Word, Excel, Outlook etc. Officially they are called Circled Latin Small Letters. Circled small letters in different fonts Only two common Office fonts have double circled digits Segoe UI Symbol and Calibri. Here’s how the symbols look in both fonts plus the Unicode Hex […]
Rainbow shape and Rainbow text in Office
The rainbow shape with multi-color effect is possible in text, shapes and images for any Microsoft Office documents including Word and PowerPoint. With a few changes you can make a rainbow for documents or slides. Rainbow Text Effect Insert | WordArt choosing whichever preset is closest to what you want. Select the text and go […]
Rainbow gradient or effect in Office, Word or PowerPoint
A rainbow in Office is a custom gradient effect available for Shapes including WordArt borders and many elements in Word, PowerPoint and other Office programs for Windows or Mac. We have the exact colors, positions and options to use for a great rainbow. All the Office preset gradients are single-color effects however it’s possible to […]
Make a transparent shape to mask a photo in Word, PowerPoint and more
Here’s how to mask a photo with any Microsoft Office shape or icon and do it with full control over what appears from the original image. We’ve already explained two simple ways to crop a photo to a shape or fill a shape with some options to move and resize each element. This method has […]
Beware OneNote .one files as virus carriers
Recent investigations have revealed some worrying truths about the risks in opening OneNote notebooks, a surprising fact about .one files, some bad news and good news. Criminals are increasingly sending out nasty OneNote .one files in emails, taking advantage of another Microsoft security ‘blind spot’. OneNote Embedded File Abuse from Nicholas Dhaeyer at NVISO Labs […]
