All about Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and earlier versions.
July Office updates include a real worry
The July 2025 security bug fixes list plugs another 137 problems found in Microsoft software. Some are really serious and need patching right away for all Microsoft 365 and Office users. BitLocker also gets some security fixes. This months load of Microsoft Office security updates includes a fix for a series of “Remote Code Execution” […]
Request more access to a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file
There’s a new feature in Microsoft 365 Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for the web to request elevated permissions directly within the application. Anyone with view-only access can ask for higher editing or reviewing rights without leaving the document. Microsoft, as usual, buries an important condition deep in their promotional blurb so we’ll put it up-front […]
Direct Send is a huge Microsoft security lapse that’s finally being fixed
For years, Exchange Server has a feature which can be used to infiltrate organizations. Only now that Direct Send is being exploited is Microsoft finally acting to warn customers and provide a way to turn it off. In other words, Microsoft is “closing the barn door after the horse has bolted” </cliche> Direct Send is […]
The Grammar Mistake Microsoft Word Still Doesn’t Catch — And Why It Matters
There’s a mystery English grammar rule that any native speaker knows but probably can’t explain. It’s the order of adjectives before a noun (e.g why “Brown Big Cat” is wrong). The Microsoft Word grammar checks for this rule but doesn’t always ‘see’ or fix it. Adjective order is a mystery to most native English speakers, […]
Add the US Flag into Word, Excel or PowerPoint
Add the US National flag “Old Glory” “The red, white and blue” into Office documents, Word, Excel or PowerPoint, then use some Office picture tools to enhance the image. Learn how to properly get and use the US Flag in Word Excel PowerPoint for your presentations and documents. The same help can be used for […]
Why can’t AutoSave work with a macro in a Word or Office document ?
Autosave in Microsoft 365 and Office is one of the more frustrating features with annoying limitations. One of them is not automatically saving any macro-enabled Word, Excel or PowerPoint file. We’ve talked before about how Autosave is used to push customers into using OneDrive to save documents. Autosave could work for all files, not matter […]
Transcript can now trim Clipchamp videos
Clipchamp has a clever new feature that makes editing videos a lot easier and faster. Instead of trimming the video, just delete parts of the transcript, Clipchamp will do the rest. Clipchamp can already make a text transcript from the audio of a meeting or conversation. Microsoft Word can also convert prerecorded audio into a […]
ARM 32-bit ending for Microsoft 365
There are a lot of changes coming for Microsoft customers in October but there’s one that might be overlooked. Support for Microsoft 365 ARM-based 32-bit applications will conclude: Feature updates stop in October 2025 or . Security updates end in December 2026 or . Most Arm versions of Office are 64-bit applications. The end of […]
OneNote Clipper to replace Pocket
OneNote Clipper is a quick way to save a web page so you can read it later. It can replace Pocket, the lovely clipping service that’s about to leave us. Pocket, the ‘read it later’ service, is ending on July 8, 2025. Pocket is/was a ‘ready it later’ service to tag a web page for […]
PowerPoint Placeholders: Smarter, Sleeker, Simpler
Discover PowerPoint placeholders — designed to make slide creation faster, easier, and more visually compelling. With smarter prompts, broader media support, and customizable layouts via Slide Master view, placeholders help you create polished, professional presentations with minimal effort. In PowerPoint, placeholders are those built-in boxes that make adding stuff like text, pictures, charts, or videos, […]
Microsoft 365 on Windows 10: Support Extended—But Only for Security Updates
Microsoft has quietly shifted their position on support for Microsoft 365 on Windows 10, when Win10 ends support in October. Now Microsoft 365 for Windows get partial support on Windows 10 for a few more years … but there are some big unknowns. How to get Windows 10 support for another year, until October 2026. […]
How to turn Copilot on or off for each Microsoft 365 app
Take control of Microsoft 365 by learning how to enable or disable Copilot in each app—Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. This guide provides step-by-step instructions to customize Copilot settings per application and explains why sometimes you can’t turn it off. Copilot integration into Microsoft 365 is a mess. Microsoft is focused on adding more […]
Don’t like Word’s Resume suggestions? Turn it off!
Instead of complaining about Word’s Resume style suggestions. Turn it off! It’s easy to do, here’s how. I often see social media posts bitching about a Grammar or Style suggestion given by Word. There are plenty of problems with Word’s Grammar and Refinements feature, but this one is an easy fix and it’s right there […]
How many Copilot AI Credits do I have?
Some Microsoft 365 consumer plans come with a monthly allowance of “AI credits” but it’s hard to find out how many are left. The AI credit balance does not show up in the Microsoft 365 apps nor Windows 11 account information. It should be there and maybe Microsoft will eventually get around to it but […]
Copilot chooses Excel data a bit smarter
Microsoft has given Copilot in Excel 365 some smarts to choose the table or cells to work on. Previously, Copilot relied on the user’s selected cell to determine context, often defaulting to the nearest structured table. We explain how it works in the real world and the important limitation. Enter the new context inference capabilities. […]
Adding a cheaper Microsoft 365 to your account
Ever since Microsoft 365 consumer plans have existed, you’ve been able to buy them cheaper from other retailers to extend your subscription. Here’s the simple steps to extend your subscription with a product key bought for less money, When you buy from another retailer, you should get a product key which is a 25 character […]
