All about Microsoft Office for Apple Mac. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook on macOS, Microsoft 365 for Mac, Office 2021 for Mac and earlier versions.
Add the missing Draw with Touch option to Office
Here’s how to force the ‘Draw with Touch’ button to appear in Word, Excel and PowerPoint when it doesn’t show up automatically. ‘Draw with Touch’ is an Office option to let you draw with a finger or stylus on a touchscreen. It should automatically appear on the right of the Draw tab with a touch-enabled […]
Fast Fill Sequential lists or rows in Excel
There’s a fast way to Fill cells with sequential data into a list or rows without dragging the mouse. The Series command can insert all sorts of lists for dates, weekdays and numbers. It’s very handy for users that need to fill a large number of cells. Those that use the fill command within the […]
Four great Excel Cell Styles that will light your way
Excel provides some handy pre-selected styles that you can apply to your cells. Here’s a selection of styles that we use, improve from Microsoft’s bland defaults and will light up your worksheets. These are excellent for distinguishing headers from data, classifying data, or showing the function of each cell (calculations, output, notes, etc.) Cell Styles […]
Making QR codes step by step for Office
Making QR codes is quite simple, all you need is a simple online code maker and by following our step by step guide you’ll have it set-up in no time. We’ll show how to make QR codes for web links and even easily sharing Wifi settings. Nowadays, QR Codes are widely used thanks to COVID, […]
How does Microsoft Word handle non-binary grammar like they?
Microsoft Word has a powerful grammar checking system but how does it handle changes in English usage like the rise of non-binary or non-specific pronouns like ‘they’ and ‘them’? We took put sample words and sentences in Word to see how ‘woke’ it is. As a bonus, we’ll explain Pibling and Nibling that are already […]
Three more Word date and time options
Aside from inserting the current date or time, Microsoft Word has some other useful choices for inserting dates automatically. The date/time the document was created, last saved or last printed. Header / Footer In a Word document header or footer, the same Insert Date options and shortcuts apply as in the main document. There’s an […]
Morse Code font for Word or PowerPoint
Back in 2015 the US government made an important decision in favor of ‘net neutrality’ and got a quick complaint back in Morse Code! Here’s how to add Morse Code dots and dashes to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or other Office app. Verizon issued a press release complaining about the FCC’s decision. The company could make […]
White Right backhand pointer 👉 in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the White Right backhand pointer 👉 into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. It’s officially called “White Right Pointing Backhand Index”. White Right Pointing Backhand Index 👉 symbol is great for signs, simple hand graphics in slides or an alternative bullet in lists. There’s also […]
Excel Paste Special with math operations
Excel’s Paste Special feature can be used to modify multiple numbers at once. Paste Special is more commonly used to paste only values or formatting, it has other tricks to offer. We’ll show you firstly how to multiply numbers in Excel by using Paste Special then add, subtract and division. Addition and Multiplication are easy […]
Word Style inheritance made clear and simple
Styles in Microsoft Word would be very cumbersome if you had to set up each one individually. To make it easier, styles have inheritance. A new style is usually a copy, linked to an existing style with just some changes to selected items. Here’s an example of inheritance in a simple Word document. This is […]
Why choose Body Text vs Normal style in Word
There are good reasons to avoid the Normal style for the main text in a Word document and use the hidden ‘Body Text’ style instead. The standard Microsoft Word document structure has Headings (Heading 1, Heading 2) … with paragraphs of text in the Normal style. It sounds good but, as usual with Microsoft Office, […]
Excel’s Rank/Rank.EQ function to show order, first, second etc.
Excel has a way to rank a series of values, showing which is top, middle and bottom. As usual, what appears to be a simple thing has extra features to cope with the real world like equal placings. Here’s a simple ranking. As you can see, Excel has ranked the Value entries from 1 to […]
Excel rankings with ordinal numbers, joint, equal and more
Here’s a look at two things that you’d expect Excel to handle quickly and easily, but doesn’t. Showing a ranking of items with equal ranks shown (3rd equal etc) and ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc) or ordinal names (first, second, third etc). All are possible in Excel but strangely not provided by Microsoft directly. […]
Joint vs Equal rankings with Excel’s Rank() and Rank.EQ()
If you’d like to be really clever with Rank/Rank.EQ in Excel, here’s how to show different words for joint rankings (only two with the same rank) or equal rankings by three or more. It’s a small difference but can make your reports or merged documents look a lot more professional. Use the Choose() function to […]
Ordinal Numbers in Excel, 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc.
You can show ordinal numbers in Excel; 1st, 2nd, 3rd. Sadly, it’s not as simple as you’d think. The ‘Ordinal Rank’ column, 1st, 2nd etc you’d expect to be provided by Microsoft, but it’s not. There’s no in-built function nor a number format. After all, Excel has many different number formats already, so ordinal numbers […]
How to avoid the Gill Sans font controversy in Windows and Office
The work of Eric Gill is controversial these days, for good reason. Microsoft Windows and Office have fonts based on Gill’s work so users might need to think twice about using Gill Sans and similar fonts. Gill Sans MT and Gill Sans Nova are supplied with Windows and Office but are becoming stigmatized. Those fonts […]
