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 Conditional Formatting, beyond the presets
Excel has some nifty and simple options for color highlights the extremes in a list of values. It’s called Conditional Formatting and you can do all sorts of clever things with it. First let’s look at the simple presets that Microsoft has given us, some of the obvious choices they’ve left out and how to […]
Make a PivotTable direct from PowerBI data
It’s now possible to make an Excel PivotTable directly from PowerBI data in Excel 365 for Windows and Excel on the web. Microsoft PowerBI is a cloud-based data accumulation then reporting and visualization (dashboards etc). BI stands for “Business Intelligence”. PowerBI is a separately licensed product for businesses so it’s only available if your organization […]
Microsoft Office license info coming to Windows
Windows 11 is getting a way to view your Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and Office 2019 licence details within the Windows Settings app. At Windows Settings | Accounts | Your Microsoft account … it shows a lot of the details from the Office.com account web pages. Windows 11 for Microsoft Office users is your independent […]
Three Microsoft Word modes now on a single menu
Microsoft Word has many different ways to view a document and now three primary options are available on a single menu; Editing, Reviewing plus Viewing which is a simple ‘read only’ mode to stop accidental changes while reading. The new menu appears on the top-right between the existing Comments and Share buttons. Editing The standard […]
Elizabeth Line designs for Word, PowerPoint and Office
The Elizabeth Line (aka Crossrail) is now open in London, a major new tube line crossing the city. Here’s the roundel and color scheme for the new line in a format ready for Word, PowerPoint and Office. The same design elements can be used for any other London Tube line (real or imaginary) or totally […]
“Gaps” or missing features in the New Outlook
What Microsoft euphemistically calls ‘gaps’ in the beta release of the New Outlook should really be called ‘enormous chasms’ of missing features and core functions. Let’s look at what Microsoft admits is missing plus other obvious omissions. As the supposedly ‘new’ features of the New Outlook are being hyped, these are basic features not yet […]
Otter 🦦 emoji in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the fun Otter 🦦 emoji into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Otter 🦦 emoji represents a light-brown otter (a member of the weasel family) on its back with its paws held together. But the emoji can just be used for a bit of fun. […]
Dictation (speech to text) is now in OneNote
OneNote is finally getting the Office Dictation (speech to text) feature that’s already in other Office programs. That’s in addition to the long-standing Look for Dictation in OneNote for Windows Home tab, way off at the right-side. Also, in OneNote in a web browser … Dictation and Read Aloud in Office is our comprehensive guide […]
First look at the new Microsoft Outlook – New Outlook
A first look at the new “New Outlook” which Microsoft (deliberately?) leaked ahead of an official announcement. It’s interesting but with one major and very disappointing omission. This article has been updated now “New Outlook” (as it’s now called) has been released to Office 365 Insider users. As you can see, it looks like the […]
Two ways to try New Outlook
There are two ways to try New Outlook — either as a Office 365 Insider on the beta track or direct download (Intel and ARM based devices). Here’s how to do it and the hidden ‘gotchas’. Beware the New Outlook because it’s VERY crippled. Only Microsoft hosted commercial or education mailboxes are supported – no […]
Interesting and ‘new’ in the New Outlook
Let’s look at the good or at least interesting parts of the New Outlook that Microsoft are calling ‘new’. As we’ll explain, Loop Components, fast @document links, My Day, Board views, RSVP options, pinned messages and Sweep aren’t really new. We’ve already noted the severe limitations in New Outlook, core technologies that should not be […]
Beware the new Outlook for Windows
Microsoft has released a new Outlook for Windows which is so limited that we feel it’s necessary to warn people about trying to use it. Beware! Even for Insiders on the ‘beta’ channel this new Outlook is no replacement for the real Windows version of Outlook – not even close. As usual, Microsoft pushes the […]
Two ways to open a OneDrive document in Microsoft Office
There are two different ways to access a Microsoft Office document that’s saved on OneDrive. We’ll explain both and why it’s sometimes important. Microsoft’s OneDrive stores documents on servers. Programs (like Office) can open those files directly from the cloud service. Or the OneDrive app can copy (synchronize) files from the cloud to your “local” […]
Six ways to number lists in Excel
Excel doesn’t automatically number lists but there are at least six ways to add numbering depending on your needs and how the list appears. Numbering is important but can be annoying when you’ve got a large dataset. If it’s small, it’s easy to number it manually or by an auto-filling sequence. But if it’s inconsistent […]
Duck 🦆 emoji in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Add the Duck 🦆 emoji into Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Duck 🦆 emoji represents the quacky bird with webbed feet. The emoji is usually depicted as a Mallard. Sometimes used as a substitute for the f-word, because of iPhone’s tendency to autocorrect to the obvious […]
What can you put in your email address?
A simple question – what characters can you put in an email address? Like many things to do with the Internet the answer isn’t as simple or direct as you might think. We’ll look at what makes a valid email address, both in theory and in practice. A simple question – what characters can you […]
