Xi upper Ξ or lower case ξ symbol in Word and Office
Insert the Xi upper case Ξ, and Xi lower case ξ symbols in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Xi (uppercase Ξ / lowercase ξ) is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet. The symbols are used within various contexts. The uppercase letter is often used in pure […]
Bad bug week for Microsoft email and Outlook.com
Microsoft hasn’t had a good week with their hosted email with two breakdowns of Exchange Online and Outlook.com services. One stopped emails in and out, the other prevented messages from being read. Both Exchange Online (Microsoft 365 hosted email) and Outlook.com run on the same or very similar systems. Usually a reported problem with one […]
What’s so special about the Bahnschrift font?
Bahnschrift is a Windows font which is a little special and not fully compatible within Office. We’ll explain why it’s special, the extra care needed and the workaround. While it’s listed as an Office Cloud Font, Bahnschrift was originally included with the 2017 ‘Creators’ update of Windows 10. So, it might already be installed for […]
Have your say on Word’s new default font
Microsoft has decided that Calibri is getting a little tired, so it’s asking customers to vote on which font will replace it. Calibri has been the default font since Office 2007. It’s familiar to most people whether they realise it or not because it appears in many Word documents. The two fonts, Calibri (body text) […]
Beware using the new iPhone and iPad emoji
The new iOS 14.5 has hundreds of new emoji but beware using them in emails and documents because they can look very different on other computers. We have examples of how a simple emoji can look very different in Word or Outlook. The new version of iOS for iPhone and iPad includes even more emoji. […]
Office 2019 for Windows – all the facts, prices and warnings
Here’s all about Office 2019 for Windows – the facts, prices and shortcomings. There’s a matching page about Office 2019 for Mac. Before you get too excited Do NOT buy Office 2019 if you have Microsoft 365 like Microsoft 365 Family (formerly Home), Microsoft 365 Personal or an enterprise plan. In other words, you pay for […]
Office 2019 for Mac – all the facts, prices and warnings
All about Office 2019 for Mac the facts, prices and warnings. There’s a matching page about Office 2019 for Windows. Before you get too excited Do NOT buy Office 2019 if you have Microsoft 365 plan like Microsoft 365 Family (formerly Home), Microsoft 365 Personal or an enterprise plan. In other words, you pay for […]
Office 2021 for Mac, your preview first look
Your first look at Office 2021 for Mac with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, which is now out in public preview, showing off some of the new features. There’s only a Mac Office 2021 preview, no Office 2021 for Windows preview. Perhaps because there’s a few more innovations in a comparison of Office 2019 to […]
Office LTSC public preview now available
A public preview of the next perpetual licence Microsoft Office is now available. Called Office LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel) it’s for volume customers only. Here are the options and how to get the preview. Office LTSC is the clumsily named non-subscription version of Office for organizations with volume licence agreement. See Office LTSC, first […]
Office LTSC, first look images
Here’s a first peek at Office LTSC for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher and OneNote which is now out in public preview showing off some of the new features. Office LTSC in it’s current preview is underwhelming, to put it mildly. But that’s what Microsoft is aiming for. Office LTSC (Long Term Servicing Channel) for […]
Suggested Replies secrets in Outlook for Windows
Suggested Replies are coming to Outlook 365 for Windows. As usual, there are details that Microsoft has ‘forgotten’ to mention but we at Office Watch aren’t so forgetful! In the Outlook reading / preview pane, possible replies can be displayed. Or Microsoft’s cloud systems have scanned the message and offered suggested replies. As we’ve seen […]
About Unicode, fonts and symbol codes
Confused about Unicode, code-points and other techie details about inserting symbols? Here’s how it works and can work for you in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other apps. Like many things in modern computing, you mostly don’t have to know the details of how things work. But occasionally things don’t work the right way and then […]
April 2021 updates for Office 365, 2019 and 2016 – Windows
Details and warnings about the April 2021 security and non-security updates for Office 365, Office 2019 and Office 2016 for Windows. There are some side-effects to watch out for. All these update will, or have been, pushed to your computer already. We’ve included a tip on how to force an update to the latest release. […]
April updates for Office 2016, Office 2013 and 2010
Here’s all the security and general bug fixes for April, aimed at Office 2016, Office 2013 and Office 2010 for Windows. Most customers will have their Office updated automatically unless you’re one of the cautious who wait a little while to see if there’s any bugs in the bug fixes. See Why updating Office is […]
Double Vertical Bar ‖ in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
How to insert the Double Vertical Bar ‖ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Double Vertical Bar ‖ symbol is used to represent norms in mathematics, (for example ). It can also be used to signify parallel lines. It can be used as a visual […]
Who is suing Microsoft for millions over Office licencing?
Here’s an interesting switch, a UK company is suing Microsoft over their licencing rules for Office. Usually it’s Microsoft suing others about licences, not the other way around. ValueLicensing is claiming UK₤270 million (US$370m ) in damages from Microsoft for trying to squeeze out the second-hand licence market. Organizations that upgrade their software licences, are […]
