All about Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and earlier versions.
How to turn off the Copilot icon in Word 365
The Copilot icon in Word 365 is annoying clutter in the left-margin of Word documents. Customers expect a way to remove it and there’s a lot of misinformation that wastes time. First the bad news … There’s no way, at the moment, to disable or hide the left-side Copilot icon in Word that looks like […]
The big difference between what Excel shows and what Excel knows
Understanding the difference between Excel’s stored value for a cell and its displayed value is important. It happens a lot and can make a big difference to the results. Back in the day we detailed a bug in Excel 2007 where the wrong number appears on the screen yet Excel ‘knows’ the right value for […]
Australian prices of Microsoft 365 up by over 30%
Australians are now paying up to 31% more for Microsoft 365 after the prices were quietly raised. A limited Copilot trial is now included. Both the Microsoft 365 Personal (one person) and Family (six people) plans have risen in price. Microsoft 365 Personal now AUD$159 Microsoft 365 Family now AUD$179 The 31% increase in the […]
Adding Action Buttons to PowerPoint
A PowerPoint action button is a shape you can add to your slides, allowing you to hyperlink to another slide or webpage, play a sound, or trigger other actions. It’s an easy way to add interactivity and navigation to your presentation with very little effort. It’s also a way to control the presentation within […]
How to get the official Porsche color in Word and Office
How to get the official Porsche color “Turbonite” in Microsoft Office for Word documents, PowerPoint slides and more. The color has been announced by Pantone with the code PMS-2336-C. Porsche Turbonite is described in the usual flowery terms by Pantone: Turbonite color codes It’s easy to apply the Turbonite color to Office documents using these […]
Google Gemini makes better AI images
Google has improved their Gemini AI system for better images with their Imagen3. Here’s how it works and how it’s changed from earlier Google AI systems. Use these AI images for Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents. All these images are made with the free version of Google Gemini. There’s a paid Pro version too. Shop […]
Get more from your Keyboard: How to Turn the Caps Lock Key Into Something Useful (or Disable It)
If you often hit the CapsLock key by accident,sending part of your text into unwanted ALL-CAPS mode, you’re not alone. But rather than letting it stay a nuisance, you can repurpose it or disable it altogether. Stop accidentally turns CAPS ON when you don’t want it. On Windows or Mac you can remap CapsLock to […]
Remake your own photos for Halloween
Microsoft Designer has a simple way to take a photo and turn it into something scary or spooky for Halloween. We’ve already explained about Designer’s Restyle Image option that converts a photo into a graphic in a style and additions you choose. Use it at Halloween to transform a photo of children or grandkids. As […]
Excel blooper history – mistakes by users and Microsoft
Excel is now 40 years old and it’s capable of some amazing things. Let’s not forget some of the mistakes made by users and serious bugs by Microsoft along the way. First a reminder of some Excel bugs and how Microsoft never seems to learn from their mistakes. Excel bug adding rows and columns Back […]
Halloween icons and symbols for Word, Powerpoint and more
Quickly add a Halloween ghost, pumpkin, witches’ hat and more to your Outlook email, Word document or PowerPoint slides which have many in-built icons, graphics and pictures to enhance your “All Hallows’ evening” Icons, Stock Images, Stickers and Illustrations are all available in Microsoft 365 for Windows or Mac. Some Icons are also available in […]
Spice up Halloween with Microsoft Designer
Microsoft Designer makes it easy to create a unique and personal little graphic for Halloween, full size with animation, sticker or clipart Office Watch shows you how to use Designer for Halloween and some of the little tricks needed to make Designer work better. It took only a few minutes to make this small, personalized, […]
Get Microsoft 365 for less money
There are simple and legal ways to save money on consumer Microsoft 365 plans, either Personal or Family. Don’t give Microsoft more money than you have to. Microsoft 365 is NOT a normal subscription Microsoft 365 Personal or Family plans are different in three, potentially, money saving ways: A Microsoft 365 consumer/retail subscription isn’t like […]
RandArray – Excel’s best way to get random numbers
My ‘go to’ way to get random numbers in Excel is the new-ish RandArray because can do everything that Rand() or RandBetween() can and more. RandArray() fills cells with random numbers for as many rows and columns as you want. It’s in Excel 365, Excel 2024 and Excel 2021. The most basic version of the […]
Great PowerPoint heading with picture fill
Adding a picture to PowerPoint text background look great and is easier than you might think. Even better, are many hidden options to adjust the image and position it exactly as you want. Curious about how to create text effects like in the image below? Look no further—if you have PowerPoint, you can easily do […]
Clock is ticking for Office 2019 and Office 2016 users
Here’s what you need to know now there’s only a year left for Office 2016 and Office 2019 before their official support ends. End of Support On 14 October 2025, Microsoft will stop making security and bug fixes for Office 2019 and Office 2016 for both Windows and Mac. Office 2019 only has five years […]
Feed in Microsoft 365 is ending soon
The Feed feature on Microsoft 365 for business is ending in just a few weeks. It’s being replaced by a less helpful AI feature that doesn’t always help. The Microsoft Feed feature will retire starting November 1, 2024. the Feed feature will be retired from the Microsoft 365 app, affecting https://www.microsoft365.com and https://www.office.com , as […]