Broken Vertical Bar ¦ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the Broken Vertical Bar ¦ in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Broken Vertical Bar ¦ symbol was sometimes used in computing. These days there’s no specific use for the broken vertical bar but it’s good to keep in mind as a design alternative to […]
Office docs to avoid at all costs, the old formats
There are types of Office documents that you should NOT open, even if they come from someone you trust. Here’s the full list of file extensions for the older Office document formats which are much more likely to be ‘malicious’ docs from hackers and criminals. We’ve talked about the risks of receiving hacked documents using […]
What Exchange Server ‘HAFNIUM’ attacks mean to you
Microsoft Exchange Server software has been comprehensively hacked over the last few months, focusing on US systems but spreading across the world. What happened, who needs to act now and what everyone should watch out for. Exchange Server is the mailbox technology used by many, many companies around the world. Most public and private organizations […]
How Important and Star Gmail messages appear in Outlook
In Gmail online, messages can be tagged as ‘Important’ or ‘Star’, clicking the little arrow or star next to a message. Important and Star are treated very differently in Outlook for Windows. Flags in Outlook – Starred in Gmail Gmail has a ‘Star’ option for messages, just click the star icon on the message list. […]
How Gmail Labels and Categories work with Outlook
Gmail has a very different way of organizing mail to the Outlook/Microsoft system of folders. Gmail’s Labels, Important and Categories have different or no meaning in Outlook for Windows. Labels Gmail has Labels which are tags that can be applied to messages. Outlook shows those labelled messages as if they are in separate folders which […]
Even more Gmail settings in Outlook… select or Subscribe Folders
You can choose which mail folders are synchronized with Outlook but you won’t find this option with the rest of the Gmail account settings in Outlook. Instead go to the heading of the Gmail account in the folder pane, right-click and choose IMAP folders. Subscribed folders Let’s stop for a little IMAP terminology. Folders that […]
PowerPoint crashes fixed with February 2021 bug patches
PowerPoint 2016, 2013 and 2010 users need these bug fixes from Microsoft to prevent the program crashing. The bug might happen opening a presentation with a diagram – ouch. There are two updates needed to fix the bug, one for Office generally and for PowerPoint itself. PowerPoint 2016 KB4493164Office 2016 KB4493189 PowerPoint 2013 KB4493169Office 2013 […]
More changes for Word’s Spelling and Grammar
No need to right-click to see spelling and grammar suggestions in Word and Outlook 365. It’s changing so only a single left click will show the suggestions, corrections and more. On the downside, fewer options are initially displayed. Useful features are now multiple clicks away and hidden from view. It’s part of Microsoft unstated policy of […]
Outlook settings you need to ‘fix’ for Gmail accounts
The default Gmail settings in Outlook need some attention because, frankly, they aren’t very good. Once you’re add Gmail to Outlook for Windows, there are settings to fix or check. This article explains the important Outlook settings for Gmail accounts, where they are, what they mean and which ones to change for a better Outlook […]
Connect Outlook with Google’s Gmail
Outlook for Windows can connect to Google’s Gmail here’s the simple setup available in Outlook 365 and 2019. It’s just the start of a longer process that Microsoft doesn’t openly explain to customers, starting with an important limitation. Free Gmail – no calendar or contacts Outlook for Windows only synchronizes Gmail email for Gmail free […]
Two new Microsoft Office bundles coming in 2021
Microsoft has announced two ‘perpetual licence’ or non-subscription versions of Office that will be released later in 2021. Both continue Microsoft’s unstated but bleedingly obvious attempts to push customers to annual ‘subscription’ payments. Here’s what Microsoft has disclosed so far with an explanation of the continued reduction of value for perpetual licence purchasers. To replace […]
‘Spy Pixels’ email epidemic, the good and the bad
‘Spy Pixels’ is the new name for a common tracking method used in commercial emails. We’ve written about them many times over the 20+ years of Office-Watch.com, the only new thing is the name. What are Spy Pixels? So called ‘Spy Pixels’ are tiny images (1 pixel only) linked in an email. They are invisible […]
Seven new languages for Word & Outlook Dictation
Microsoft has announced seven extra languages added to their ‘speech to text’ Dictation feature in Outlook and Word. The new languages announced are: Hindi Russian Polish Portuguese (Portugal) Korean Thai Chinese (Taiwan) Your milage will vary As a cloud service, the available languages will vary. It depends on the version of Microsoft 365, where you […]
Inside new Natural Language Search for Outlook
Microsoft is hyping natural language searches in Outlook for Windows and Mac, so we dug down to see how it works and for whom. There’s a lot of ‘gotchas’ overlooked in the boasting. According to Microsoft, Outlook now has better searches: “With Natural Language in search, you simply type the way you would ask a […]
Currency ¤ Symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
How to insert the Currency ¤ or scarab symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Currency ¤ symbol is used to denote an unspecified currency. It’s the generic sign you could use if the correct symbol isn’t available. It doesn’t seem to be used a […]
Apple Privacy tags don’t tell the whole story with Office
Apple’s new Privacy tags sound like a great idea but they rely on the honesty of app makers (Ha!) The simple labels can cover an enormous amount of privacy intrusion in Microsoft Office and Outlook mobile apps. The Washington Post is behind a paywall but the ‘general tenor of his spray’ is that each developer […]
