Inside Microsoft Create, the new Office templates site and more
Microsoft Create is a new part of Microsoft 365 that will replace the existing Office templates site and more. Office Watch explains how to use the Create site now, the many categories available and what’s to come. Cut through all the usual Microsoft Hype™ like “ultimate creator launchpad” and the dreadful phrase “uplevel your creative […]
Tilde ~ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the Tilde ~ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Plus an emoji alternative to Tilde. Tilde is used to mean ‘approximate’ as in “ ~30 minutes late”. In maths it means ‘similar order of magnitude’ e.g. “ a ~ b “. Tilde ~ symbol […]
Converting Text with month and year into Excel dates
Ronny, a loyal Office Watch reader asks “OK, I now understand that entering dates in Excel as plain text isn’t a good idea. How do I convert my cells with MM/DD text into proper Excel dates?” It’s a trap for Excel novices. Typing in a date as plain text seems simple and easy … until […]
Easy Visa calculator for European visitors – with Excel
Here’s a handy Excel worksheet for visitors to Europe, including UK citizens. It’ll help you stay within the legal limits for ‘short stays’ by visitors to the EU Schengen zone. Most visitors to Europe are allowed to stay in the Schengen group of countries for 90 days out of the previous 180 days. It’s a […]
Three ways to stop people changing your Word document
Word, Excel and PowerPoint have options to stop people from changing a document, making them ‘read only’ in tech speak. These options protect your documents from unauthorized editing or even reading them at all. There are different levels of protection, they are all under File | Info | Protect Document. While they are mostly talked […]
Insert a signature picture into a Word document
There are some nifty tricks to inserting a picture of your signature into a Word or other document. Tips that make the result look realistic and professional. We’ve already explained the many ways to get a picture of your ink signature into Office. Now you have a picture of your signature, it’s ready to be […]
All the ways to sign a digital document in Word and more
Adding your signature or signing a document digitally is possible in different ways using Microsoft Word or other Office programs. Before we start, let’s clarify some terminology because ‘signing a document’ can mean several things in the computer world: Adding a signature to a document. Inserting a copy of a human written signature into an […]
Stock images or premium content in Microsoft 365
Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint in Microsoft 365 have image and icon libraries plus stock images or ‘premium creative content’. Despite the ‘Stock Images’ name there are four types of extra content; Images, Cutout People, Icons and Stickers. We’re told there are ‘over 8,000’ images and icons with ‘more to come’. Insert Pictures The Insert […]
Plus or Minus sign ± in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the ‘Plus or Minus sign’ ± into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Plus-Minus ± symbol isn’t just used for equations, it’s also used as a shortcut for ‘plus or minus’. In statistics you’ll often see results given as being “ ± 3% ”. How […]
Where is Excel’s Show Changes?
Back in August we told you about the interesting ‘Show Changes’ feature in Excel which tracks not only edits made to a workbook but who made them. Since then eager Excel users have wondered when it’ll appear in Excel 365 for Windows or Mac … and so are we. According to Microsoft’s own documentation, Show […]
Two checkmark or tick ✓ choices in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Check mark or tick has two options, normal ✓ or heavy ✔ to insert into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Checkmark ✓ symbol is used for bullet or check lists and other indicators. There’s also Heavy Check Mark ✔ which looks different, heavier, than the […]
Four X cross ✗ choices in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type one of the four diagonal cross Mark ✗, multiplication or ballot symbols into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. The X or Cross Mark ✗ symbol is used for bullet or check lists and other indicators. It’s the opposite of the tick or Checkmark. There […]
Documents in tabs option for Microsoft Office
There’s a useful and long-standing Office add-on for people who have many documents open at once and prefer them to appear in tabs (like web pages) instead of separate windows. Office Tab switches Microsoft Office for Windows from the usual ‘one document per windows’ view to ‘many documents in a single window’. This can be […]
Save Office images or slides to SVG format
Microsoft Office 365 and Office 2021 let you save images to SVG format from either images/graphics, charts or whole slides from PowerPoint. Originally ‘Save As SVG’ was only in PowerPoint 365 Windows but it’s quietly spread to Word 365, Excel 365 and Outlook 365 as well as the Office 2021 apps. SVG is a scalable […]
Ellipsis … symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the three different types of Ellipsis … marks in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Ellipsis … symbol is used for a gap or break in some text, usually to drop out some irrelevant text or speech. The same applies in maths e.g. 1,1,2,3 …. […]
Comma Ellipsis ,,, in Word and Office
Like it or loath it but the comma ellipsis has arrived ,,, as an alternative to the more common ellipsis with dots. Here’s how to use it in Word and Office. The comma ellipsis is a modern, more casual version. It’s used as a more dramatic, even annoyed trailing off of a thought, compared to […]
