All about Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and earlier versions.
Password Protected file sharing links with OneDrive
An overdue and very welcome addition to OneDrive for Office 365 customers is password protected sharing links. Until now, you could send a link to a OneDrive stored file or folder but there was no control over who used that link. If the link ‘escaped’ to other people, they could download or even edit the […]
Files Restore for all Office 365 customers with OneDrive protects from ransomware
Microsoft has extended their OneDrive Files Restore feature to all Office 365 customers, not just their business users. It’s a simple way to recover files that have been lost, in particular if you’ve been caught in a ransomware attack. Ransomware will encrypt all the files on your computer and network so you can’t access them. […]
Office 365 hosting an increasing target for hackers
The increasing popularity of Office 365 hosting has a downside; targeting of the platform by hackers. Just like Microsoft Office software, the wide deployment of Office 365 means it becomes a large target for baddies to try infiltrating. They are succeeding. A report from Beazley Breach Response Services suggests that attacks against Office 365 are […]
Worrying new data sharing options in Microsoft Office
Office 2016 for Windows or Mac has an inconsistent set of privacy and diagnostic data options depending on exactly which Office variant you have, your ‘Insider’ choice and even the toss of a coin! Microsoft’s intention is clear … they want more information about how you use Word, Excel and Powerpoint to the extent that […]
New ‘Pro’ fonts in Windows 10
New and improved ‘Pro’ fonts are a lesser known part of the April 2018 update to Windows 10. You can install, free, updated alternatives for Windows standard fonts like Arial, Georgia, Gill Sans and Verdana. Windows 10 now supports ‘Variable Type’ fonts where a single font file contains many variations like bold, italic, regular, condensed […]
SharePoint / Office 365 innovations
Sharepoint hosted by Microsoft Office 365 continues to get more features with a few indicating changes coming to broader Office products. Changed Opening Pane The Office.com pane is changing with a ‘Recommended’ section that lists items that Microsoft’s Artificial Intelligence thinks you should see. Discover shows documents other staff are working on, including new documents […]
Compulsory MS Office training for North Carolina lawyers
The North Carolina State Bar is proposing attorneys get an hour of computer training, including Microsoft Office, as part of their annual Continuing Legal Education (CLE). Only one US State, Florida, has a computer component of their current CLE. Amazing! In Florida, lawyers have to get three hours of technical training every three years. That’s […]
500 million downloads of Word for Android – is that really a big number
Microsoft Word for Android devices has achieved a seemingly impressive milestone, 500 million downloads. Is that ‘half a billion’ number truly big when compared to the number of Android devices in use? We’re inspired by the wonderful More or Less program and podcast from BBC Radio 4 to ask the question ‘Is that a big […]
Nerd Alert: Office build numbers change format
This might rate as the most nerdy Microsoft Office news item of the year … Microsoft is changing the build number format for Office from four significant digits to five. Please try to contain your excitement … The current MS Office for Windows public release has a version/build like this: Version 1804 Build 9226.2156 – […]
Patch now – Hackers exploiting Windows 10 via Microsoft Office
One of the recent security patches from Microsoft is being actively exploited by hackers hoping to trap people who don’t update their computer quickly. The security bug can use an Office document to infect your computer. The security hole is in the Internet Explorer browser and the VBscript engine. It affects Windows 7 onwards plus […]
Security bug patches in Office for May 2018
Another month, another set of security bugs in Microsoft Office. It’s Microsoft’s version of Groundhog Day. The May 2018 dump of patches involves 102 updates covering: Office versions from Office 2010 to the latest Office 2016 Core Office features Word Excel Sharepoint and Project server. Most people don’t need to do anything. Windows and Office […]
Build 2018 announcements for Office users
The Microsoft Build conference has many promises and announcements of future technologies. They aren’t things you can use right now and some of them are familiar from Microsoft conferences in years and decades past. The demos are very impressive and looks really easy. The reality of development and use is often a lot harder and […]
Office 2019 in preview and other news
Microsoft is now previewing the next version of Office for perpetual licence/one-time payment customers. The changes in how Office is sold and updated mean this isn’t the big news it once was. We have info on what’s in Office 2019, release date and reduced support. Most people now buy Office as a ‘subscription’ or annual […]
PowerPoint banned at Amazon – Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos doesn’t like PowerPoint or any other slideshow system at Amazon meetings. That’s what leapt out at us from his 2017 Letter to Amazon shareholders (published in April 2018). “We don’t do PowerPoint (or any other slide-oriented) presentations at Amazon. Instead, we write narratively structured six-page memos.” Those memos are read silently at the […]
Google about to release pointless Android feature
Talk about being behind the times. Google is reportedly about to release an SMS Replacement called Chat. Chat is an attempt to modernize SMS beyond simple text messaging. It will have group texts, videos and images, typing indicators and read receipts. Chat isn’t an app, it’s part of the Android operating system replacing the current […]
Checking a Word mail merge for bad names or test strings
In the UK there’s been a lot of laughs and some red faces about a money raising letter ‘signed’ by the Conservative Prime Minister to a ” Mr Youmustbe F*ckingjoking ” and sent to a pensioner. It’s easy to laugh but anyone who has done large mailings knows that it’s a case of “There but […]
