All about Microsoft Office for Apple Mac. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook on macOS, Microsoft 365 for Mac, Office 2021 for Mac and earlier versions.
A new way to reach Outlook and Office in a browser
Microsoft has added new web links to access Microsoft 365 mailboxes in a browser as well as some other unpublished new domains to reach Office apps in a browser. The web links are https://Outlook.cloud.microsoft or https://Outlook.microsoft Use one of those links and login to your Microsoft 365 mailbox (e.g. Business, Enterprise or other plan). It […]
A ‘Yes Minister’ Christmas card
A scene from a famous UK sitcom could also be used as a unique and overly literate Christmas card. ‘Yes Minister’ is a famous UK sitcom set in the British Public Service and politics. Sir Humphrey Appleby (played to perfection by the late Sir Nigel Hawthorne) gave amazingly convoluted explanations for the simplest things. This is […]
Five snowflake ❄ symbols in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Five ways to add a Snowflake ❄ symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. There are three snowflake symbols plus two Office icons. Snowflake ❄ symbols are normally used to show, well, a snowflake or generally to indicate cold or snow. Maybe also as a […]
Fix the kerning settings in Microsoft Word and Office
How to use the font kerning settings in Microsoft Office, Word and PowerPoint and fix the default setting for Heading styles in Word. Kerning letters makes a difference as the letters get larger so the setting is more important for headings and titles in Word and PowerPoint. Here’s common Arial font without and with kerning […]
Try out the Meta image maker – Imagine
Meta has joined the ‘text to image’ AI race with Imagine. Here’s how to use it to make interesting pictures quickly and bypass its current limits. There are so many AI tools out there, in particular ‘text to image’ makers, Microsoft has ‘Generate Image’ in Designer and a separate Image Creator as well as the […]
Debug to understand and fix Excel formulas
Excel Labs has just added a nice formula Debug option that helps you understand the steps inside a formula and fix errors. There are already three ways to look inside a formula; Evaluate Formula, F9 to calculate part of a formula and the recent Visual Preview. Now Microsoft’s Excel Labs Advanced Formula Environment has a […]
Check these Excel Power Query settings before it’s too late
There are two important changes coming to Get & Transform (Power Query) in Excel. Both changes are probably already covered by the current setup but you should check any external data links now to avoid an unwanted surprise. These changes apply from 11 March 2024. Microsoft is a little vague about one of them (TLS […]
Secret shortcuts in Microsoft Designer
Microsoft Designer has secret key shortcuts to quickly insert shapes and text boxes without jumping to the side menus. All you need to do is press a single letter key to insert one of these shapes: R – Rectangle (inserts a square) C – Circle L – Line T – Text Each of these shortcuts […]
Notes vs Comments, understand the difference in Excel
Microsoft messed about with Notes and Comments in Excel 365. Here’s what’s happened, name changes, overlapping functionality and how Excel has gone from ‘Notes’ to ‘Comments’ and now back to ‘Notes’ again! There are now two different ways to add text notes or comments into an Excel 365 cell. The choice of Comments or Notes. […]
How to add notes inside Excel formulas
Here are three ways to add an explanation or note within an Excel formula itself, instead of separate notes. The ‘Achilles Heel’ of Excel or any spreadsheet program has always been explaining or commenting of cell formulas. Adding comments is an important part of any code including Excel’s VBA but it’s MIA from formulas themselves. […]
Pantone’s 2024 color ‘Peach Fuzz’ in Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Pantone’s color of the year for 2024 is “Peach Fuzz”. You can use that exact color in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Designer using the Hex/RGB color code. And we’ll look at the flowery prose that’s become a hallmark of this annual promotion. The color of 2024 is … Peach Fuzz As usual what’s more […]
Microsoft 365 browser extension is ‘retiring’
The Microsoft 365 browser extra for Edge and Chrome is being ‘retired’ from January 2024 though not for any good or explained reason. Maybe it’s because Microsoft’s Edge browser has an in-built alternative? From 15 January 2024, there’ll be no more updates or support for the Microsoft 365 browser extension. The extension will disappear from […]
Stop Designer in PowerPoint
Designer in PowerPoint 365 is great, but it can be too pushy and intrusive with the Design Ideas pane popping up too much. Designer risks becoming the new ‘Clippy’! Here’s how to stop Designer appearing until you want it. PowerPoint Designer suggests slide designs based on the content. It’s a cloud service which means there […]
Tricks to get more from PowerPoint Designer
PowerPoint Designer and Design Ideas is the start, not the end, of making a great looking presentation. Some simple changes will make something unique and not obviously copied from Microsoft’s template supply. We’ll show how to dig into the Design Ideas to change individual slide elements a little, or a lot. Not familar with PowerPoint Designer … get the […]
Getting More from PowerPoint Designer
PowerPoint Designer should just be the start of making a great looking presentation. A few manual adjustments will transform Microsoft’s automated suggestions into something awesome and unique. All the design helpers in PowerPoint and Office have the same problem. Everyone uses them and so a lot of slides or docs end up looking the same. Instead of […]
Make PowerPoint Designer better, add some words
PowerPoint’s Designer suggestions work better if you add some words to the slide first. If you add some broad keywords or title, it gives Designer clues for the most appropriate look. Designer uses the text to choose from the many templates available. The words don’t have to appear in the final presentation, just while selecting […]
