Excel’s Stock data type gets wonderful update
Insiders (Fast or Slow) will start seeing a major change to the date information they get from the Excel Stock Data type. All Excel for Windows ‘Insiders’ can try out the Stock and Geo data types. They are a new way to get external information into Excel without the hassle of data connections. Date Format […]
Exploring the Office clipboard
The Windows clipboard is quite limited but there’s a better one hiding inside Microsoft Office for Windows. It can collect more items, paste in any order and be cleared when you like. We’ll also show how to keep the sometimes annoying pane out of the way. You’re about to hear more about the clipboard because […]
Office hacks come faster than ever before
A new report from Sophos shows how hacking via Office documents has changed of lot in 2018 with new attacks coming much faster than in the past. Microsoft’s assurances that a security bug (sorry ‘exploit’) hasn’t been used ‘in the wild’ doesn’t mean a lot. Office document hacks made in bulk The people who find […]
Significant improvements in Office 365 Home, Personal and University
Microsoft has announced some truly important improvements in what you get with Office 365 Home, Personal and University plans. The Home plan will be available for six family members instead of five. How Microsoft calculates use of Office software is changing and for the better. All these changes apply from 1 October 2018 onwards for […]
UK residency or Statutory Residence Test (SRT) – an Excel worksheet
After our recent Excel worksheet for visitors to Europe we were asked for a similar one to help people stay onside with the UK Statutory Residence Test (SRT). This is a test to decide if someone is a UK resident for tax purposes. Depending on the situation, a person can be in the UK for […]
August 2018 security fixes for Office and Windows
“More of the same” in August 2018’s round of security fixes for Microsoft products including Windows, Office, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Overall there a sixty security flaws fixed this month alone, including two ‘zero-day’ bugs not previously known to the public. We’ve all become accustomed to this never-ending stream of security fixes for known exploits. […]
Big Word 2016 update in the August 2018 updates for Office
There are a dozen bug fixes for the Windows versions of Word 2016 buried among the non-security updates for Microsoft Office this month. And an extra feature for PowerPoint 2016 and 2013 for Windows. We’ll look at this important Word 2016 update first before listing the other bug fixes for Office 2016 and Office 2013 […]
New name for ‘Office 2016’ for Windows and maybe Mac too
Microsoft seems to be moving towards a name change for ‘Office 2016’. They haven’t announced anything directly, but their documentation is changing for Windows and perhaps Office for Mac as well. If you’re confused, don’t feel bad because Redmond isn’t making it easy. They are moving gradually towards naming Microsoft Office as a service instead […]
Make a custom ribbon tab for Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook
Here’s how to make a custom ribbon tab in Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook and how Microsoft has left customers shortchanged for the last decade. We’ve already talked about customizing the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) for certain documents. You can make the QAT adapt according to the document you’ve opened. Alas, that’s not possible […]
Excel Stock and Geography features reach ‘Slow’ Insiders
The truly interesting Excel live Stock price and Geography data feeds have reached the next release stage, ‘Monthly Channel (Targeted)’ better known as ‘Slow’ Insiders. Stock and Geo data types are now in Excel 2016 for Windows, Office 365 subscribers who have chosen the ‘Monthly Channel (Targeted)’ Insiders release. Version 1807 (Build 10325.20030) or later. Stock […]
Why bother with Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams truly is for everyone, now there’s a free plan available. Of course it’s aimed at businesses, ‘coz that’s where the money is. But with Teams now available free it’s open for small business and non-business uses. Small business Small or even tiny business can use Microsoft Teams for specific projects like a new […]
What is Microsoft Teams?
Microsoft Teams or rivals like Slack or Workplace by Facebook, aren’t really anything new. They are a combination of (probably) familiar online services into a single system. In corporate speak, Teams is a cloud-based set of team collaboration tools and services combining workplace chat, meetings, notes, and attachments. So much for that gobbledygook. Bringing chat […]
How Microsoft Teams fits together; organizations, teams, channels, apps and people
When you first go into Teams it’s a confusing jungle of terms and options. As usual, Microsoft assumes we’ve all been born knowing how their software is arranged. It’s not as difficult as it looks … once you get the structure or logic of Microsoft Teams. Wrap your head around Microsoft Teams with this article […]
What’s inside Microsoft Teams; teams, channels, chats, wiki, files, apps, tabs, sites
There’s a somewhat confusing range of parts inside Microsoft Teams, here’s a guide to things like Teams, Channels, Chats, Wiki and other goodies. In How Microsoft Teams fits together we explain the Microsoft Teams structure from an teams. The Best Way to learn Microsoft Teams Dive in and try it. Teams is a collaboration service so […]
Microsoft Teams now available free … at last
It’s taken Microsoft some time but their collaboration service Teams is now available for free to all comers. The popular collaboration service, Slack, built its business on their free offering. Many businesses adopted Slack after discovering their staff had setup Slack groups of their own. A lot of short term projects, startups, etc use Slack […]
Google Drive supports Microsoft Office encrypted files – sort of
Google has updated their Drive app to support preview of Microsoft Office documents with password encryption. Here’s how it works online and in the Google Drive app. In early 2017 the browser-based part of Google Drive let you preview password protected Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Only preview of Office documents is available, not open […]
