Using Skype with Microsoft Office
Skype can be integrated into collaborating on Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents. It’s not officially part of Microsoft Office collaboration but is easily done. It lets you work on a document while talking to other collaborators at the same time. Like this … This works with any modern version of Office or really any program […]
Remote Access options to control a distant computer
There are several free options to access one computer from another. You can see the screen, type and mouse from a remote location, just as if you were in front of the real computer. Access work computer from home computer Use desktop computer from a laptop or tablet Interact with laptop machine from a desktop […]
Collaborate remotely on documents, spreadsheets and presentations
Working on an Office document can easily be done between many people no matter how far away they are. Most organizations will have some way to share documents remotely If not, there are clever options available. Instead of exchanging documents (we’ll get to that in a moment), save the document in a cloud location that […]
Prepare your computer for isolation or quarantine
There are many free tools available to make work and life continue if your movements are limited. Things you should do to prepare for a possible ‘work from home’, ‘no school’ or at worst ‘quarantine’ or ‘social isolation’ of some type. We know what we’re talking about because Office Watch has been working remotely for […]
Ignore Microsoft’s opportunistic marketing, Teams is not for everyone
Microsoft is cunningly pushing Teams as part of its COVID-19 preparedness recommendations. But Teams isn’t the best option for everyone, far from it. Promoting Teams is good for Microsoft and their sales partners but not necessarily their customers. At Microsoft.com there are now special banner ads promoting Teams as the solution for ‘working remotely’, clearly […]
Starting with Document Collaboration in Word, Excel or PowerPoint
Microsoft has been talking about document collaboration for a long time but now it’s available to everyone with a recent version of Office and OneDrive. So here’s a simple guide to opening the same document at the same time on multiple computers. You don’t need two people to try out document collaboration. You can try […]
Share a cloud stored document from Microsoft Office
Here’s how to share a Microsoft Office document that’s saved on a compatible cloud service like OneDrive or Dropbox. All you need is Office 365/2019 or 2016 for Windows or Mac. Document collaboration works in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Sharing a single file via cloud storage is a lot faster and less trouble than exchanging […]
A better Side-by-Side document view for Windows and Mac
We highlighted Word 365’s Side to Side view but there’s another side-by-side viewing trick that works for any two windows on either Windows or Mac. Side by Side or Split View is great for many situations. No fussing about switching between windows or getting lost with all the open application. For example, Word on one […]
Complete Excel NetworkDays() solution with holidays & vacations
Excel’s NetworkDays() and NetworkDays.Intl() need more help to cope with realistic situations with public holidays and more than one vacation. Annabelle Almer started looking at NetworkDays() & NetworkDays.Intl() and we ended up deep down a geeky rabbit hole trying to get the functions working in realistic situations. The functions work, as advertised, but trying to […]
Excel making list of days between two dates
Making a list of all the days between two Excel dates is possible in various ways, manually, an Excel 365 formula or some VBA code. We need a way to make a list of all the dates between a start and end date. Use this to make a list of all vacation days for a […]
Enter Numbers Starting with Zero in Excel
If you’ve ever tried to enter a number starting with zero into an Excel spreadsheet, you will have had the frustrating experience of finding that as soon as you exit the cell, the zero disappears from the front of the number. Here’s how to stop Excel from ‘helping’ you when it’s not wanted. Because zero […]
Fixing Office confusion and other hassles on Windows Start menu
The Start Menu on a new Windows 10 has Microsoft Office icons which are badly labelled, misleading and setup to promote Microsoft’s corporate agenda. We’ll explain what Microsoft has done and how regular Office users can make the Start Menu better. Make a Start Menu that suits you, not Microsoft. A new or reset Windows […]
Office all-in-one app for Apple iPhone and iPad
Last week we said it would not be long before Microsoft released their Office app for Apple devices and, sure enough, within a few days Office ‘all in one’ for iPhone and iPad is out. The app is a combination of Word, Excel and PowerPoint plus other tools into a single app. Individual Office apps […]
Office ‘All in One’ Mobile app – the video!
Microsoft has released a video to promote the Office Mobile ‘all in one’ app for Apple and Android. It’s big on fancy graphics but almost no useful information. There are lots of fancy colors, bouncing bubbles and even Office logos turning into balloons then exploding … all for no good reason. There’s more info in […]
Pete Buttigieg – a Microsoft Word guy
Apparently nothing can escape the touch of US politics*. Even Microsoft Word and PowerPoint got dragged into the latest Democratic Primary debate. It all started with Elizabeth Warren describing Pete Buttigieg’s health plan as ‘just a PowerPoint’. Buttigieg responded with the ad-lib that “I’m more of a Microsoft Word guy.” Which isn’t bad as an […]
Multiple Holiday lists in Networkdays()
Here’s a limited solution to the problem of excluding multiple holidays or vacation lists to use in NetworkDays() or NetworkDays_Intl() and a request to Microsoft for an improvement in the function. NetworkDays() or NetworkDays_Intl() is OK if you only have to deal with one list of public holidays or one vacation. But in the Real […]
