Powerpoint: make your mouse like a Laser Pointer
One of the eye-catching features since PowerPoint 2010 right up to PowerPoint 365 is turning your mouse into a virtual laser pointer. A ‘laser pointer’ transforms the boring mouse pointer to something striking and easier to see on the screen. This is especially useful while delivering presentations as it eliminates the need to carry additional […]
What are .tmp files in MS Office document folders?
If you look in folders that contain Office documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) you might see the occasional .tmp file. What are they? Could they be useful? How to look inside. Can they be safely deleted? The quick answers are: probably Word or Office document remnants, could be handy to recover a lost document but otherwise […]
File menu change for the better in Office 365
A small but very welcome change to the File menu in Office 365 for Windows to handle the overflow at the bottom of the window. It’s one of those changes that Microsoft doesn’t promote or even mention. Maybe because it’s quite small or perhaps because it fixes an embarrassing design flaw. The File menu scrolled […]
Easily apply the same picture format to many images in Word or PowerPoint
Here’s how to apply the same formatting, borders and picture styles to more than one picture or graphic in Word, PowerPoint or Excel. There’s an unexpected and easy way to do it. Picture Format tools don’t have custom styles (Microsoft please note) only the in-built pre-sets. If you want to apply the same formatting to […]
PowerPoint and video – worth another try
PowerPoint has supported video within slides for many versions. Like many things in Office, the promises took many years to become a practical and easy reality. Here’s how to try again … with PowerPoint 2013 or 2016 for Windows. Easy Video Insert On a blank slide you’ll see the insert icons and there’s one to […]
Reference Mark ※ in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Put the Reference Mark ※ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Reference Mark ※ or reference symbol is used in Asian writing (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) like the Asterix * in western languages. It marks some additional notes to text. It’s called komejirushi (Japan) , chamgopyo (Korea) or […]
Why you must use the Microsoft Office Document Inspector
Why you must use the Microsoft Office Document Inspector … and why you can’t completely trust it. The Office Document Inspector is an important tool for anyone who shares or sends out Office documents. It helps prevent legal troubles and personal embarrassment. Inspect Document is only in Office for Windows (not Mac). Microsoft Office 365, […]
Quickly type Euro € sign in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Quickly type the Euro € currency sign into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Euro € symbol is easy on some keyboards but for other keyboards there’s no specific key for Euro. You can [copy content=”€” text=”click here to copy Euro € to clipboard 📋” copied-text=”Euro […]
Two new PowerToys useful for Office users
Two new Windows PowerToys are especially useful for many Microsoft Office users. One is a better way to type accented characters, the other grabs text from images. Quick Accent, Text Extractor and, to a lesser extent, Screen Ruler are all additions to the PowerToys collection that can be useful for Office users. PowerToys are available […]
Questioned Equal To ≟ in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
What is the Questioned Equal To ≟ symbol and how to type in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. ≟ is a question mark above an equals sign. It isn’t properly used in equations but can be useful to show an equation to be solved or […]
Drop PowerPoint slides into Word documents
There are two ways to drop a PowerPoint slide into a Word document. A simple, one-time method or a slightly advanced but dynamic trick which lets the Word document slide change if the original slide is updated. A few months ago we showed how to add Excel worksheets into a Word document. This time we’ll […]
Division ÷ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the Division ÷ symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Division ÷ symbol is an alternative to the / character. Made up of a dash and two dots. ÷ symbol isn’t recommended these days. It’s not universally known and mostly used to mark division […]
Hiding stuff in Word, Excel and PowerPoint
We’ve completed our series on ‘Hidden’ options in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. How to hide text, images, cells, slides etc within documents. Hiding is a useful option and avoids deleting content that might be needed later. It lets you make a different version of a document/sheet/deck without the hassle of maintaining two very similar documents. […]
Apple command ⌘ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
The Apple command ⌘ symbol can be typed into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Apple command ⌘ symbol appears on Mac and iPad keyboards but only as a command option, not as a symbol to type. The ⌘ symbol predates Apple computers. It’s a ‘PLACE […]
Great Periodic Table documents for Microsoft Office
There are some great and editable Periodic Table of Elements options available in Microsoft Office – Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides There are many Periodic Table ‘documents’ on the net but most are PDF’s or images that can’t be changed. We’re looking for editable Word documents and Excel worksheets that you can adapt, […]
North West/Top Left Arrow ↖ in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert the North West or Top Left Arrow ↖ into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. North West Arrow ↖ or “Top Left Arrow” can be used for directions on a map (naturally) or pointing to ‘top left’ in a Word / PowerPoint table or Excel […]