Starting with the Excel Subscriptions Manager
Here’s what to do once you’ve downloaded our Excel Subscriptions Manager to organize the many subscriptions now available. After opening there’s a few things to do first: Currency prefix Change the currency if $ doesn’t apply e.g. change to STG ₤, Euro € etc. We’ve made that easy with two Excel styles CurrCalc (the blue […]
Year of the Rat in Microsoft Office
It’s the Chinese Year of the Rat, to celebrate in Word, PowerPoint or Office generally is easy with an Icon or Online Pictures search. Not interested in the Chinese New Year? These same tips apply to many other events or festivals. Rat Icon Insert | Icons has many graphics including a Rat or Mouse icon. […]
Office 365 ‘Save as Picture’ is nothing new
A ‘new’ Office 365 feature is ‘Save As Picture’ to save Office objects like shapes, icons, images and charts as a picture. It also comes with a mystery because this ‘new’ feature isn’t new at all in Office 365 and Office 2019. It’s a useful little trick, right-click on any Word, Excel or PowerPoint object […]
Star Trek Logo with variations in Office, Word or PowerPoint
There are many ways to edit a logo or graphic in Microsoft Office; recolor, outline, shadow, reflection plus Shape options. All demonstrated here using the Star Trek logo ready for Word, PowerPoint or Excel. We’ve found the iconic logo in the best form to use in Office. Even if you’re not interested in Trek and […]
Framing pictures, graphics, logos in Word and PowerPoint
Microsoft Office, especially PowerPoint and Word, have simple and easy ways to ‘jazz up’ a simple image, flag or logo with one of the many framing options. Instead of just copying a graphic into a document or slide, try one of these variations. They retain the original image but give it a different look. Note: […]
Is Excel more useful than algebra?
One of the sillier online debates is an argument about the usefulness of algebra and other maths skills in a world where Excel is available on almost any screen. To us this is silly because it’s not a simple either/or choice. It’s about balance, a concept that’s not fashionable these days, sigh. This all started […]
Microsoft clarifies cloud service privacy, is it enough?
Microsoft has updated their Online Services Terms to clarify some privacy issues but concerns remain. They’ve also added yet another document to the confusing mix of legalese customers are expected to understand. Back in August 2019 the Dutch Ministry of Justice released a report that recommended against using Office online or Office apps because Microsoft […]
NSA discovered security bug that can affect Microsoft Office
The US National Security Agency (NSA) discovered a serious security bug in Windows and, for the first time, told Microsoft so the company could fix it. That bug could also affect Microsoft Office or other programs. It’s important to update your Windows 10 asap, that’s not our opinion, it’s the US government. The NSA found […]
Two ways to stop Office automatic updates
Here are two options to stop Microsoft Office for Windows from automatically updating itself and why you might want to do that. Office for Windows All versions of Office that have current support (currently Office 2010 and later) get: updates to fix bugs in the software patches to stop security bugs that might allow access […]
Academic / Financial year planner for Excel
He’s done it again, David Peel has quickly made up a new version of his Excel Year Planner that starts the year from any month you choose. Great for academic years (start in August) or financial years (e.g. Aussie start in July). The year selector is top left of the main worksheet. Change the starting […]
New Edition: PivotTables and PivotCharts from scratch
PivotTables and PivotCharts from scratch in a new edition strips away the techobabble so you can make your own PivotTables and make sense of any list of numbers or information. We do that with plenty of step-by-step instructions and, crucially, Excel worksheets you can open and try for yourself. Understand PivotTables by looking at expert examples, tinkering with the setup to […]
More Excel alternatives to nested IF statements
Nested IF statements can be hard to understand and manage but there are alternatives which can be easier to handle, fix and change. We’ll start with the relatively simple example we used for demonstrating IF and nested IF. =IF(C2>89,”HIGH DISTINCTION”,IF(C2>79,”DISTINCTION”,IF(C2>69,”CREDIT”,IF(C2>49,”PASS”,”FAIL”)))) This example has only five levels of nesting, we’ve seen nested IF’s with many, many […]
Dynamic Arrays now in Excel for iPhone and iPad
Microsoft has added Dynamic Array functions to Excel for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and done it in an uncharacteristically low-key way. Dynamic Arrays are now available across all Office 365 platforms; Excel 365 for Windows and Mac, Excel for Android, Excel Online (web) and now Excel for Apple devices. That’s an important milestone that Microsoft […]
Office apps for Windows 10 Mobile end support now and in 2021
The Office apps on Windows 10 Mobile devices have now ended main support and will end security updates, hotfixes and support in 2021. It’s an unsurprising announcement and another death notice for the failed Windows 10 Mobile platform and phones. Source: Microsoft, from happier days when Win10 phones were ready to take over the world […]
Office apps and the Fluid framework
In a recent blog post Microsoft explained some of their thinking behind the redesigned Office mobile apps like the new ‘all in one’ Office app. The company has done a lot of research into the way people use their mobile devices, including the many people who only use a smartphone with no laptop or desktop […]
Pantone 2020 color of the year in Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Pantone has announced its Color of the Year for 2020 here’s how to get it in Microsoft Office – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook etc. The color of 2020 is … Classic Blue Source: Pantone As usual what’s more amazing than the color is the description from the ‘Pantone Institute’. Classic Blue is: reassuring thought-provoking dependable […]
