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.
Excel merge arrays into a single array with VBA
Until late 2022 an annoying omission from Excel and VBA was a simple way to combine or merge arrays into a single array. Here’s how to do it with VBA for older Excel releases. Excel 365 for Windows and Mac now have HStack() and VStack() which will combine dynamic arrays or ranges. The VBA method […]
Six workarounds when your keyboard breaks
Your deadline is in four hours, you’ve got pages to write and BAM! a letter key breaks on your keyboard …. What do you do? There are at least six different workarounds available in Word, Windows and Mac. A broken key happened to Colin Chambers, a University of Buffalo student when a drink spilled on […]
Sentence spacing in Word – one, two or don’t bother?
Is there one space or two between sentences? Word lets you check the sentence spacing or ignore it completely. It’s a useful option for those of us who learnt on manual typewriters where double sentence spacing was standard. Switching to single spacing is hard for your fingers to remember. One Space or Two People can […]
‘Punctuation required with quotes’ in Microsoft Word
‘Punctuation required with quotes’ is the most commonly changed Microsoft Word grammar and style setting. It checks is for the location of commas etc. when used with a quotation. Here’s two similar sentences to demonstrate: In US usage, the sentence punctuation mark go inside the quotation marks. In standard British /Commonwealth usage, the comma is outside […]
Why Word’s Alphabetical order is different from a dictionary
Which version of alphabetical order does Microsoft Word use? I thought that alphabetical order was, well, alphabetical order. That’s what I was taught at school and apparently I was taught wrong. There are at least three ways, two used by dictionaries, another by Microsoft and that’s for English alone! Reading Sue Butler’s delightful book ‘The Aitch […]
Sharing Outlook appointments – the right way
There’s a right way and wrong way to send invitations from Outlook. ” I tried your tip about sending calendar appointments to other people but it doesn’t work. I write an email invitation then add a calendar item. The receiver doesn’t see the Accept, Decline etc buttons above the message, instead they have to save […]
Outlook for Mac gets ‘View Source’ plus a big dose of humbug
Sometimes Microsoft gets over-enthusiastic about some ‘new’ feature. Other times they treat their customers like fools. Redmond chose the latter approach to promote a mere ‘catch up’ feature in Outlook for Mac. We were intrigued by this boast on an official Microsoft Twitter account about a new Outlook for Mac feature. “ Easily check to […]
Lambda – strange name for a really good extra in Excel
Excel users are rightly interested in Lambda() a very powerful addition to Excel. Lambda lets you create user-defined functions without VBA. No need for .xlsm files with all the security concerns they entail. A long formula can be written once then referenced anywhere in the workbook by a short name of your choosing. User-Defined Functions – […]
Watch your sort and other Excel traps for the unwary
Sorting numbers in Excel looks easy but there’s traps if you’re not careful. Let’s look at an example of sorting gone wrong, how it’s easy to do but also fix. Finally how modern Excel has several features to warn you not to fall into a common mistake. This table popped up on Twitter (original source […]
Ctrl+F6 mystery revealed in Excel
The Ctrl+F6 shortcut in Excel doesn’t behave the same way as Word or PowerPoint. It changed a few years ago to behave differently from what most Office users expect. Ctrl + F6 will switch (cycle through) the open windows in Word or PowerPoint. It’s a quick way to move between different documents/slides. Since Windows doesn’t […]
Handwrite into docs on Office apps for iPad
Handwrite direct into Office apps for iPad, converting your writing into text right away, courtesy of the iOS Scribble feature. What you’ll need, how to setup and the new thing to look for on the Draw tab of the Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps. Microsoft has integrated the Scribble feature into some Office for iPad […]
“Word Window” in trouble with Microsoft
Microsoft has dropped down hard on a UK teacher with a little bit of plastic helping dyslexic students read. It seems the company can’t learn from past mistakes. “Word Windows” is a small plastic reading tool which makes a little window so readers can focus on a word or letters without distraction. All great until […]
Deceptive ads now in Outlook mobile apps
Microsoft is now showing deceptive, disguised ads into Outlook Mobile apps for Apple and Android. There are ways to, partly, get rid of the ads. The ads appear for people using the free Outlook mobile apps, not Microsoft 365 subscribers like this: The ads appear in the Inbox or the ‘Other’ messages if using the […]
Get the Game of Thrones look in Word and PowerPoint
Here’s how to get the Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon look in Word documents and PowerPoint slides. Plenty of people have borrowed the Game of Thrones or GoT look, including a certain US President. All these uses are contrary to various trademarks by HBO. Despite legal complaints there are many ‘tip of […]
Understanding the \s switch in Word’s {SEQ} code
The \s n switch inside the { SEQ } field code isn’t easy to understand so here’s an example of how it resets numbering after a Heading style. Use {SEQ \s n } to restart numbering from 1 after a chosen Heading style. E.g. { SEQ Identifier \s 1 } to reset after Heading 1 […]
Why do old addresses remain in Outlook?
Old email addresses or people have an annoying habit of appearing in Outlook, even after you’ve deleted the address or person from the Contacts list. Here’s why obsolete emails keep appearing and how to remove these unwanted and dangerous strays. Here’s an example of Outlook’s problem with ‘sticky’ and unwanted addresses or names. Make a […]
