All about Microsoft Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and earlier versions.
Mica with Microsoft Office, how to get it & should you care?
Office 365 for Windows is getting the Mica effect in a coming release for Windows 11 users. What is Mica? How will affect Microsoft Office users? We’ll explain Mica ‘material’ (Microsoft’s pretentious noun), show you what it does and how (little) it matters to Office users. Also how to get it (short answer: wait). Microsoft […]
Quick Access Toolbar nasty surprises in the new look Office
The Office 365 / 2021 for Windows “new look” is mostly about the Quick Access Toolbar with some nasty surprises and confusion, especially for novices. Let’s dig into the detail of the QAT changes, “fix” it to suit you and how the changes aren’t finished yet and not fully thought through. By default, there’s NO […]
Approximately Equal To ≅ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the Approximately Equal To ≅ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Approximately Equal To ≅ symbol with a curvy line above the usual = symbol is commonly used within Mathematics to refer to approximate equality between two values, congruence or isomorphism. Not to […]
Excel Charts are better looking with pictures
Excel Charts can be even better looking by completely replacing those plain color blocks with pictures. We’ve already shown how to overlay an Excel Chart with an image now we’ll replace the block with a picture. Although commonly differentiated by differing colors like this, how about we look at different images instead? First, click on the plot area within the column, here we’ve selected the brown ‘Car Payment’. This will display […]
Word: get a list of styles in a document
Word lets us down when it comes to viewing a document’s styles and how they link together. The only way to see a detailed list of styles is to Print them! In the print pane, choose the drop-down list under Print All Pages and scroll down until you see the little known ‘Styles’ option. (Tip: […]
Thunderbirds are go, get the look in Word and Office
Thunderbirds are go! They live on in Microsoft Office, ready to serve as a retro look in your Word documents or PowerPoint slides. The passing of Gerry Anderson was sad news. Mr Anderson enthralled millions of kids (and more than a few adults) with his groundbreaking shows like Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, UFO and, […]
How to make a smaller email or document
Here’s some suggestions for making a Word, Excel or Powerpoint document smaller. Also useful for Outlook emails. We’ve had readers occasionally asking how they can ‘shrink’ a document until it’s under some arbitrary size limit. Why even worry about the file size of documents? Much of the time, the file size isn’t a concern. Modern […]
Workaround for styles with table cells in Word
There’s a limitation in Word’s Table Styles; no individual cell styles within a Word table We’ll explain the problem and several options to workaround it. Along the way it’s a chance to dig into some interesting parts of Word and Office and make them do things that might not have occurred to you. There’s a […]
Microsoft 365 / Office 365 busting (or not) some myths
It’s time to collect some feedback and questions from Office Watchers for a little Microsoft Office 365 myth busting, or not. Even after eight years of ‘subscription’ or annual payment Microsoft Office there are still misunderstandings about some parts of how modern Office works and how ‘subscription’ Microsoft 365 software is different from the traditional […]
Save sales tax on Microsoft Office 365 and more
It’s possible to save even more on Microsoft Office 365, software downloads and ebooks. Here’s how. Microsoft, like many online retailers, charges US state sales tax for virtual products like Microsoft 365 subscriptions or Office 2021. That can add up to 7.5% to the cost of an Microsoft 365 subscription, maybe more. Sales Tax is […]
Easy to see Text Cursor choices in Windows 11 and 10
Windows lets you make the text cursor stand out on your screen. Additionally, you can edit the text cursor thickness to improve its visibility in Word, Outlook and anywhere you type. Changing the cursor is especially helpful in finding your place in Word. With the optional Text cursor indicator preview, the typing position is very […]
Extra Drop Cap trick using online pictures in Word
If you want even more flair with your Microsoft Word drop cap letters, why not take advantage of the Microsoft online images range? See Simple Drop Caps Word for the basics of Word Drop Caps and Fancy Drop Caps in Word for a lot more. Click where you want a drop cap letter to appear and navigate to “Insert […]
FindTime – a new way to schedule appointments in Outlook
Garage, Microsoft’s test lab, has released FindTime, a new way to arrange meetings via Outlook. With FindTime, you can check other people’s calendars to find free time for an appointment. Propose some times via email for people to vote on and see the results. Source: Microsoft This might seem familiar. Outlook users in an organization […]
Play audio only when clicked on a PowerPoint slide
Audio on a PowerPoint slide can be played when you click on the audio icon on a slide. Choose the audio icon then on the Playback pane, choose Start: when clicked on. You can have multiple audio tracks on a slide, each one plays when you click. This slide has two sound effects for either a correct or […]
How to save $50 buying Office 2021 Home and Student
Amazon is selling Office 2021 Home and Student for $50 off the regular price. There’s also a discount on Home and Business (including Outlook). Office 2021 is the latest perpetual licence or non-subscription version of Microsoft Office. It was released only a few months ago. Office 2021 Home and Student The Home and Student bundle […]
Microsoft 365 Family plus $50 bonus, but be quick
Amazon is offering Microsoft 365 Family for the standard price of $106 but throwing in a $50 gift card to sweeten the deal – making the net price $55.99 for 12 months instead of the usual $99.99. But you’ll have to be quick. The deal is still working on Wed. 1 Dec at 1pm New […]
