All about Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and earlier versions.
Lovely Wallpapers from Microsoft – old and new
Tucked away in a little known part of Microsoft’s web sites is a lovely collection of wallpapers (or PowerPoint backgrounds) with new and old, nostalgic designs. Including a 4k rendering of the famous Windows XP wallpaper . Go to https://wallpapers.microsoft.design/ to see all the wallpapers. At first some in full-page versions but scrolling past that […]
Search improvements in Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Microsoft is again changing the way Search works in Microsoft 365 and also (surprise!) Office 2021 to expand the results beyond the document or Office features. Now you can search for definitions, media and even web results from the top bar of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The most recent announcement is about Office 365/2021 for […]
2023 Spelling Bee champs vs Microsoft Word
Our annual look at the words that challenged the Scripps Spelling Bee champs to see how many are recognized by the spell check in Microsoft Word. 2023 wasn’t a good year for Word with a disappointing score that would shame some 14 year olds. Here’s a selection of the last round words from the 2023 […]
Three ways to prepare for a Microsoft 365 email outage
What can you do if there’s an outage or breakdown in Microsoft 365 email cloud services? If you’re prepared, you can continue working and communicating until Microsoft fixes the outage. Microsoft 365 breaks down occasionally, so do other online services. These outages have and will happen to even the best of cloud services. You can […]
Microsoft outages hurt lots of paying 365 customers
Microsoft Outlook and Teams had a horror Monday (and now into Tuesday) with cloud service outages affecting many paying and unhappy customers. The peak trouble was around 11am (US Eastern time) Monday 5th June. UPDATE: As we type this, there’s a new Exchange Online (Microsoft 365 hosting) outage. According to Microsoft “Users may be intermittently […]
Add Power symbols to Word, PowerPoint and Office
Insert the official Power on, off, sleep or standby symbols in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft Office apps. Either via a font or graphics. These power symbols are not directly supported in either Windows or Mac. That’s surprising because the symbols are commonly used on appliances and in software. They are international standards and […]
Excel formula: get percentage discount
Use Excel to figure out the percentage discount or increase, for example the difference between the original and sale prices. We’ll show you the Excel formula and some practical tricks beyond the official answer. Percentage discount formula The basic formula is: (Original – Sale) – to figure out the difference between old and new amount […]
Get 25% off on Microsoft 365 Single/Personal from Amazon in Europe
Amazon’s European sites are offering good deals on Microsoft 365 Personal (in Deutsch “Microsoft 365 Single”) The best deal is around €4.35 a month. We’ll look at each offer, figure out which is best and how to avoid the traps. We’ve found similar good deals for the six-user Microsoft 365 Family Our links are to […]
Get up to 30% off on Microsoft 365 from Amazon in Europe
Amazon’s European sites are offering good deals on Microsoft 365 Family (for 6 users) including an unusual offer we’ve not seen before. The best deal amounts to just €5 a month which you can use to extend an existing Microsoft 365 Family plan. We’ve looked at each offer, figured out which is best and how […]
A new Word feature is really Microsoft’s insult to customers who won’t move to OneDrive
The latest Microsoft 365 feature is an insult to customers who won’t obey. For years Microsoft has been pushing customers to save everything to their OneDrive cloud storage using many tricks, but this latest ‘smart reminder’ is blatant and insulting to paying customers. Smart Save Reminders The feature is called ‘Smart Save Reminders’ but should […]
HP Plus is an expensive way to stop your HP printer working
It’s one thing for a printer maker to add expensive and limited ink ‘subscriptions’ but HP have gone way too far by permanently disabling a printer if the customer stops the monthly plan. And there’s excessive monitoring of how you use your printer. HP+ Smart Printing System (aka HP Plus or just HP +) seems […]
All the left pointing hand symbols in Word and Office
Word and Office have several left “pointing hand” symbols available in some fonts. Here’s the Unicode options explained and shown. We’ve also looked at the options for All the RIGHT pointing hand symbols in Word and Office Want more arrows or pointers? Check out all 200+ Arrow or Hand pointing symbols and more in a […]
Right arrow → symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert the Right arrow → into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. The official Unicode name is ‘Rightward Arrow” → but it can be called ‘Right pointing’ ‘Right facing’ or just ‘Right Arrow’. Want more arrows or pointers? Check out all 200+ Arrow or Hand pointing […]
All the right pointing hand symbols in Word and Office
Word and Office have several right “pointing hand” symbols available in some fonts. Here’s the Unicode options, index, backhand, sideways in white or black, all explained and shown. Want more arrows or pointers? Check out all 200+ Arrow or Hand pointing symbols and more in a searchable list. Index, Backhand or Sideways? The Unicode system […]
Microsoft Word vs Spelling Bee quiz
How does Microsoft Word’s spell check work against ten difficult or unusual words from a New York Times spelling bee quiz? What’s in a Word is an interesting quiz of words used in past Scripp’s Spelling Bee’s and, as usual, we’re interested in how many of the words are recognized in Microsoft Word’s spelling. Word […]
Three ways to run an Office macro direct, from the ribbon or toolbar
There are three main ways to run a macro in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook). From the Macros list, from a button on a ribbon or from the Quick Access toolbar. We previously spoke about how to install an Office VBA macro, here’s how a macro can appear on the ribbon or Quick […]
