All about Microsoft Office for Apple Mac. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook on macOS, Microsoft 365 for Mac, Office 2021 for Mac and earlier versions.
Have your say on Word’s new default font
Microsoft has decided that Calibri is getting a little tired, so it’s asking customers to vote on which font will replace it. Calibri has been the default font since Office 2007. It’s familiar to most people whether they realise it or not because it appears in many Word documents. The two fonts, Calibri (body text) […]
Beware using the new iPhone and iPad emoji
The new iOS 14.5 has hundreds of new emoji but beware using them in emails and documents because they can look very different on other computers. We have examples of how a simple emoji can look very different in Word or Outlook. The new version of iOS for iPhone and iPad includes even more emoji. […]
Great deal on Microsoft 365 in Canada
Thanks to Office-Watch.com reader, Pierre B. we can tell about a good deal on Microsoft 365 Personal or Family, now available from Amazon in Canada. Microsoft 365 Personal cheaper The usual price for Microsoft 365 Personal (12 month, one user) is CDN$79.99, but Amazon.ca has it for CDN$48.99. Here’s the product link. (note, we don’t […]
What’s in the new Microsoft Services Agreement?
Microsoft is updating their Services Agreement, the rules we call agree to live with when using Microsoft’s many services. We found a few interesting things in the changes. The Summary of Changes to the Microsoft Services Agreement is mercifully short. Compared to full agreement of over 15,000 words which is just one part of a […]
Live Sorting & Filtering in Excel: How to Use FILTER() + SORT() for Dynamic Lists
Learn how to create live, dynamic sorted lists in Excel using the powerful combination of Sort()/SortBy() and Filter() functions. In Excel 365 and Office 2021+ dynamic array formulas like FILTER() let you extract a subset of data — and by wrapping that result inside SORT(), you can instantly sort the filtered list in whatever order […]
Office 2021 for Mac, your preview first look
Your first look at Office 2021 for Mac with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, which is now out in public preview, showing off some of the new features. There’s only a Mac Office 2021 preview, no Office 2021 for Windows preview. Perhaps because there’s a few more innovations in a comparison of Office 2019 to […]
Easy and better lists with Excel 365’s Filter()
Filter is another Excel 365 dynamic array formula that’s really useful and far better than similar options in earlier versions of Excel. Just like SORT() and SORTBY(), FILTER() refreshes automatically whenever the source values change. The older pull-down filter and sort choices don’t update properly. Dynamic Arrays also give you the choice to show the […]
About Unicode, fonts and symbol codes
Confused about Unicode, code-points and other techie details about inserting symbols? Here’s how it works and can work for you in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other apps. Like many things in modern computing, you mostly don’t have to know the details of how things work. But occasionally things don’t work the right way and then […]
Comments have changed for the better in Excel 365
Microsoft has been changing the way comments work in Office 365 and now it’s the turn of Excel 365 to get the new-style conversational comments. If you’ve opened up Excel 365 recently you might have seen a notice like this: “ Comments can now be used for discussions. When you put one in, you’ll see […]
Better live sorting in Excel 365
In late 2018, Excel 365 got an important new feature, Dynamic Arrays . Here’s a simple way to use the feature to make your workbooks sort better and automatically. It also fixes a long-standing problem in Excel. We’re going to focus on a very simple and useful part of dynamic array that anyone can use; […]
Double Vertical Bar ‖ in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
How to insert the Double Vertical Bar ‖ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Double Vertical Bar ‖ symbol is used to represent norms in mathematics, (for example ). It can also be used to signify parallel lines. It can be used as a visual […]
Cross of Lorraine ☨ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the Cross of Lorraine ☨ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Cross of Lorraine ☨ symbol was originally a heraldic cross. In more recent times it was used in the global distribution systems, Sabre, Apollo, and Wordspan, as a delimiter in a variety of input […]
Why don’t Outlook calendars and contacts show in Windows?
Windows has some nice features for quickly showing your appointments, calendar and contacts/people lists so why don’t they show that information that’s in Outlook for Windows on the same computer? In Windows 10, clicking on the date/time in the bottom right-corner (the taskbar) you’ll see the monthly calendar and either a ‘Get Started’ prompt or […]
Word’s =Rand() around the World
=Rand.old() is a Word trick which adds common sentences that use all, or most, of the letters in that language’s alphabet. Here’s what Word does in English, French, German, Danish, Polish and many other languages. It’s useful filler text for testing formatting or other Word features just like “Lorem Ipsum …”. The sentence changes for […]
Get more from Mark Index features in Microsoft Word
Behind the simple Mark Index feature in Word are some useful but almost hidden options. These give you many choices for making and formatting your document index. Getting started with indexes in Word? Check out our starter, Simple Indexing in Microsoft Word. Indexes are as much art and judgment as science so there’s always room […]
Easter Bunnies and more in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint etc.
Yes, there are bunnies and other secular Easter graphics waiting for you in Microsoft 365 and Office 2019. Icons and Illustrations (both types of SVG) have some Easter or at least bunny related graphics. Stock Images also have some choices. Religious choices are missing but there are Christian or Latin Crosses available in Office. Here’s […]
