Word documents might write themselves and more
Microsoft is working on extending OpenAI features like ChatGPT to help people write Word documents based on a short suggestion. And there’s a lot more possible given Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, even a koala poem ‘written’ by Dorothy Parker. Office Watch has been looking at ChatGPT’s ability to write Office VBA programming code (with mixed […]
Up arrow ↑ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
How to insert the Upwards arrow ↑ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. The upwards arrow ↑ symbol is used for various purposes. It can notate a mathematical symbol for ‘undefined’, for very large integers or in medical notation it can mean increased. Of course, there are plenty of uses in graphics and design elements especially […]
More adventures with Office VBA and AI
Get ChatGPT or Copilot to show working Office VBA code to select and open a Word, Excel or PowerPoint document. It’s an example of how to work with ChatGPT to get the code you need and its limitations. In episode 1 of this saga, Office Watch showed how to use ChatGPT to make sample Office […]
Excel – how to make and use a checkbox
To make data entry simpler in Excel, form controls such as checkboxes can be added. A checkbox can be used to select or deselect an option. Checkboxes are useful for forms that have multiple options. The trick is using Excel’s Developer tab which holds the checkbox control. See How to get the Developer Tab in Office apps Insert a Checkbox in […]
Sigma upper Σ or lower σ case symbols in Word and Office
How to insert the Sigma upper case Σ and Sigma lower case σ symbols in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Sigma (uppercase Σ / lowercase σ) is the eighteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. In mathematics, the uppercase sigma symbol is used as an operator for summation, […]
Double Dagger ‡ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert the Double Dagger ‡ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Double Dagger ‡ symbol is used to mark a third footnote after the asterisk and dagger in a Word document. How Double Dagger ‡ looks in different fonts. Here’s some examples of how Double Dagger […]
Choices for formatting fields in Word Mail Merge
How to change the look of Word mail merge data like dates and dollar amounts to exactly what you want to see in the documents. Nancy M asks: “I try to merge data (such as amount, PO#, to whom, as well as the date) from an Excel database. In the Excel database the amount cells […]
Percentages that look right in a Word Mail Merge
How can you put percentages into a Word mail merge? There are several methods including the one we like because it’s reliable and simple. Following our article on importing Excel data into a Word mail merge, here are the options for using percentages. Excel might show a percentage but the number stored is a fraction. […]
Faster SumIFS in Excel 365 for Windows
Microsoft has made some ‘under the hood’ improvements to the combo ‘IF’ and ‘IFS’ functions like SumIFS(), SumIF(), CountIF() to make them faster than before. Just don’t believe Microsoft’s excessive boasts. The functions themselves behave the same but they now have a cached index for the range. That index is retained for any later combinations […]
SUMIFS Excel SUM with filters galore
Consider switching to SumIFS, it’s much the same as the older Excel function, SumIf() but easier to expand as your needs change. It can add up values according to more than criteria like a name and date range. We’ve talked about SUMIF and how its parameter order is a little strange. SumIF has filter/criteria first […]
Type Infinity ∞ symbols in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type Infinity ∞ and similar symbols into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. In Office for Windows and Office for Mac you can enter Infinity, Incomplete Infinity, Tie over Infinity and Infinity negated. Infinity ∞ symbol is used for anything that has no end or boundless. Of course, it’s in mathematics where Infinity was first […]
Installing older Office on Windows 11
Can Office 2007 and other older versions of Office (Office 2010, Office 2013) be installed on Windows 11? What are the licensing, activation problems? How about moving documents? There are four issues to consider; licencing, compatibility, support/patches and migrating documents: Officially only these versions of Microsoft Office are supported on Windows 11: But that’s just […]
Installing older Office on Windows 10
Can Office 2007 and other older versions of Office (Office 2010, Office 2013) be installed on Windows 10. What are the licensing, activation problems? How about moving documents? Eileen G asks a common question to Office Watch: “I got a new HP desktop computer, but can I install the old MS orig office, “Home and […]
Dagger † symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert a Dagger † into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Dagger † symbol is used to indicate a footnote if an asterisk has been already used. Footnotes and Endnotes in Word Formatting Footnotes and Endnotes Dagger is a different look (depending on the font) but […]
What’s changing or ending in 2023 for Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office has plenty of important changes and end dates coming in 2023, starting with two in January. Here’s a list of what Microsoft has in store for their paying customers. Microsoft 365 app coming in January 2023 The Office mobile app (the ‘all in one’ app) is being changed and renamed to become the […]
Even more Airplane and related symbols in Microsoft Office
There are a lot more airplane symbols available in Microsoft Office including ones for landing, takeoff and even pilots. Also how to get plane graphics for specific models like a 747 Jumbo. If you know where to look, Office has plenty of ‘airplane’ related graphics beyond the simple Airplane ✈ symbol in Unicode. Office Icons […]
