Two faster ways to insert an image from the web into Microsoft Office
There are two quicker ways to insert an image or graphic from the Internet or web page into a Word document, Excel sheet, PowerPoint slide or Outlook email. The method most people are taught is to save an image to their computer then Insert | Picture | from this device to select that file. That […]
How the Background Removal Tool in Office really works.
The Background Removal Tool in Microsoft Office lets you neatly delete the background of images with just one click. It makes the photo subject stand alone with a transparent background. We’ll explain how remove background really works, it’s not quite as simple as Microsoft’s demonstrations make out. Windows 11 Paint is getting a ‘Remove Background’ […]
Change a picture to a custom color in Office
Don’t miss this often overlooked Office trick, changing the color of an image or graphic in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Outlook. We did this in our article about inserting Prince’s ‘Love Symbol Number 2’ in Office documents. The image is available in various formats but always black, not purple. As usual, there’s more to color […]
All about “Please check your network connection and try again” errors
Many of us have seen the error message “Please check your network connection and try again” when the Internet is definitely available. What does this Office or OneDrive error message really mean and what can you do to fix it? This error message appears in Microsoft Office help and other places like OneDrive. “Sorry, something […]
Using OpenDocument in Microsoft Office
OpenDocument is another set of file formats for word-processing, spreadsheets and presentations. It’s an international standard that’s supported by Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Office. OpenDocument vs Microsoft Office docs While most people use the modern Microsoft Office document formats (.docx .xlsx .pptx etc) there’s a competitive set of Office file formats to consider. The OpenDocument […]
Microsoft 365 gets better Open Document compatibility
Microsoft 365 is updating their OpenDocument format support to v1.4 which will improve compatibility with other software like LibreOffice. OpenDocument Format (ODF) is the International Standard for saving documents (ISO 26300 if you’re keeping score). It’s similar to the Microsoft Office formats in their basics of being XML based with ZIP compression. After initially joining […]
Bald Eagles aplenty in Microsoft Office
There are ten different bald eagles in Microsoft Office alone, as icons, stock images or even a 3D model, plus many other sources for photos and graphics online. We’re focusing here on the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) which is native to North America and a US National Symbol. There are many collective nouns for eagles …. […]
Add Video background to text, objects in PowerPoint
It’s easy to get a video background to a shape, graphic or text in a PowerPoint slide, once you know the ‘secret sauce’. Here’s two examples we’ll show how to make in this article. One uses an Icon/SVG, the other is text, both with a video background. There are various ‘how to’ guides on the […]
How to select more than one Office document to open
How to choose more than one Microsoft Office file or document to open at the same time. One of the frustrations about the ‘pane’ interface in Office for Windows is the failure to include all the features that customers were accustomed to from the standard File dialog boxes. Microsoft added new and useful features like […]
Make a Jigsaw Puzzle in PowerPoint
Make your own jigsaw puzzle in PowerPoint to gradually reveal a photo or logo hiding underneath. We’ll show how to make the pieces plus a download sample PowerPoint file for our loyal subscribers. You can use a jigsaw puzzle PowerPoint slide as a powerful storytelling tool, ideal for illustrating how different parts of a story […]
Goggles 🥽 emoji in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Put on the Goggles 🥽 symbol/emoji into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Goggles 🥽 symbol is used for safety signs or maybe an alternative to the Glasses or Eyeglasses 👓 symbol How Goggles 🥽 looks in different fonts. Take a screen shot of this table […]
Beware the unexpected when copying an image from Word/Office
When you’re copying an image out of an Office document something unexpected happens that you should be aware of. The size (height/width) of the copied image is NOT the original size (i.e the size of the stored picture) – which is what you might expect. The image is copied according to the displayed dimensions in […]
Make monsters and pipes with this clever font
Here’s a clever and innovative font that lets you make unique monsters or pipe connections for Word, PowerPoint or anywhere else you need something a little different. Office Watch has a complete list of the Teranoptia font symbols for easy reference. Teranoptia is a font that uses letters and some other symbols to create fantastical […]
Face with rolling eyes 🙄 emoji in Word, Outlook, Office
Face with rolling eyes 🙄 symbol is one of the more popularly used emoji, also known as ‘Eye Roll’ or ‘Yeah whatever’. Here’s how to type it in Microsoft Word, Outlook and Office. Not to be confused with the ‘Rolling on the floor laughing’ 🤣 or ROFL emoji or other eye emoji:Eye 👁 emoji in […]
Changes to PDFs made by Microsoft Office
Microsoft is making some changes to PDF files made from Microsoft 365 apps to improve accessibility for screen readers. The announcement is a mix of recent changes with some long-standing features added as if they are also new. A newer Microsoft PR trick that manages to fool (too) many. PDF’s on Apple Mac, iPhone, iPad […]
It’s official – Calibri beats Aptos in font poll
A recent poll commissioned by Microsoft confirms the widely held suspicion that people prefer the Calibri font over the new Aptos fonts pushed into Microsoft Office. This comes from a Twitter/X poll run by the Microsoft run @Microsoft365 account. The previous Office default font, Calibri, handily won the poll with 36.3% of the votes. We’ve […]
