Why is there a vending machine on the Office ribbon?
There’s a new generation growing up who see the Office ribbon differently from their parents. To some young people a floppy disk icon looks more like a vending machine! Check out this icon on the older Office ribbon …. To you, me and most people it means ‘Save’ because that’s a floppy disk. Specifically, a […]
Why does smooth scrolling matter in Excel?
Excel is (finally!) fixing an annoying display problem with a change to smooth scrolling for large cells. Display of worksheets has always been on a ‘snap to cell’ basis meaning you scroll down or across to see a full cell or row at a time. That mostly makes sense for sheets with cells with one or […]
Redo tricks in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Redo is the often-forgotten partner to Undo. It’s mostly used to ‘undo an undo’ or reverse the last ‘Undo’ action but ‘Redo’ has other uses in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. In most cases, you use the redo button to revert to a previous state. For example, if you used the undo button within your […]
Check out the powerful Periodic Table template for Excel
Excel and Wolfram have teamed up to produce a handy interactive Periodic Table Template, useful for those searching for an introduction to chemistry, or a handy guide for study. The table lets you easily access information on elemental properties, chemical compounds, diagrams and more. You can download or open the template in your browser here. […]
Excel the full history of rows and columns
How many rows and columns does Excel have now and in the last 25 years of Excel for Windows and Mac? All the talk about 64-bit versions of Office has raised the issue of maximum rows and columns in Excel. A few readers seem to believe that 64-bit Excel will have more rows or columns […]
Six choices for removing formatting and more in Excel
Excel has six different choices for removing content, formatting, comments or everything from cells. Five are on the ribbon plus another hidden away. Plus three useful keyboard shortcuts, one obvious and two very obscure. Home | Clear On the right of the Home tab is a selection of five ‘Clear’ options under the little eraser […]
Make better Office SmartArt by adding pictures
There are several ways to add images into an Office SmartArt graphic; the official Microsoft way plus some others that aren’t usually mentioned for Word, PowerPoint and other Office apps. In the introductory piece, Much better lists with SmartArt , we looked at the SmartArt basics which are much the same in Word, Excel and […]
Much better lists with Office SmartArt
SmartArt is available in all Office desktop programs for Windows and Mac. They let you turn a plain boring text list into something more compelling and understandable. SmartArt works and options do vary between the programs, especially PowerPoint. Office for Mac menus look a little different but the primary features are there. This article is […]
How to open a mystery file with no extension
What can you do with a file attachment that has no file extension? Sometimes you get a file, probably an email attachment, that has no file extension. Without something after the dot/period (.doc .docx .xlsx .pptx etc.) Windows doesn’t know what program to use. This is most likely to happen with files sent from Mac […]
Changing text and icons on Office Quick Access Toolbar
Improve your Word, Excel, Outlook or PowerPoint Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) beyond the small changes allowed by Microsoft directly. This works in all modern Office for Windows including Microsoft 365, Office 2016/2019/2021/LTSC. You’ll be able to shorten the overly long text labels or change icons (because too many are the same) with a short list […]
New look for Microsoft 365 and Office 2021
From Tuesday 5 October 2021, a new look is be available to Microsoft 365 and Office 2021. Don’t worry, it’s not a major change. Everything on the tabs, ribbon and dialogs remains exactly where they are. Microsoft grandly calls it a ‘visual update’ we call the changes ‘a new coat of paint’. 5 October is […]
Office 2021 prices now revealed plus ‘generous’ extras
Microsoft has confirmed the prices for Office 2021 to consumers and announced some ‘extras’ which aren’t really anything new and, in one case, self-serving for Microsoft. Office 2021 prices Office 2021 is the new perpetual license, single payment or non-subscription version of Microsoft Office. The replacement for Office 2019. It has fixed features compared to […]
New and better features in Office 2021 and Office LTSC
Here’s the new and improved features in Office 2021 and Office LTSC which apply across all the major apps; Word 2021, Excel 2021, PowerPoint 2021 and Outlook 2021. We’ve checked Microsoft’s list of new Office 2021 features against the actual software. See all about Office 2021 for Windows & Mac plus The good and bad in Office LTSC There are stock images, icons […]
Exponential calc choices and trap in Excel
There are two exponential function options in Excel. Like many things in Excel, what looks simple has some traps for the unwary. We’ll explain why the Power() and ^ don’t always give the same or even correct result. Exponentiation is an operation in mathematics, written as an, involving the base a and an exponent n. […]
Excel data types like Stocks, coming to Search box
The Search box in the title bar of Excel 365 is getting access to Stock and other linked data types with Word 365 and PowerPoint 365 promised soon. You’ll be able to find and insert linked data direct from the top Search box. The modern Office Search box doesn’t just find text in a document. […]
How to use XMatch() in Excel
XMatch() function in Excel locates an item in an array or range of cells, then returns its position relative to the item. It’s similar to XLookup() which returns the cell value while XMatch returns a relative position in the array. Syntax =XMATCH(lookup_value, lookup_array, [match_mode], [search_mode]) Arguments Lookup_value – the value to find. Lookup_array – the range/table to search […]
