Add the Indian Flag into Word, Excel or PowerPoint
Find and add the Indian flag into Office documents, Word, Excel or PowerPoint, then use some Office picture tools to enhance the image. The same help applies for any other national flag, just look for a different source. Get the Indian Flag Image There are many, many copies of the Indian flag available. We’ve opted for the Wikipedia site because it […]
Gradient and Rainbow Picture Borders in Word and PowerPoint
Word and PowerPoint allow you to not only put a colored border around a picture, instead try a pretty gradient effect for single color or multi-colored rainbow effects. Like most of the fancier border effects, you can access gradient border settings in the Format Picture pane, by going to Picture Format | Picture Border | […]
Microsoft 365 is NOT a big change
A lot of misleading talk about the Microsoft 365 change makes it seem a lot bigger and more of an upheaval than it really is. Time for a reality break … breath regular everyone. Headlines like these are all ‘bollocks’ as the British say, nonsense: Office 365 major shakeup Replacing Office 365 Converting Office 365 […]
Clever tricks with Zoom
Zoom has some clever tricks available to make a meeting more efficient and fun. Virtual Backgrounds, sharing screens, files, chatting on the sidelines, raising your (virtual) hand and changing the boss of the meeting (aka Host). Also an important tip for PowerPoint in a Zoom meeting. Here’s some Zoom tricks we’ve found and used. As […]
Microsoft 365 summary that’s readable!
Here’s a readable and searchable version of the Microsoft 365 summary table that came with Microsoft’s announcement of the rebranding from Office 365 to Microsoft 365. It shows the differences between ‘free’ Office (with a Microsoft account), Microsoft 365 Personal (formerly Office 365 Personal) and Microsoft 365 Family (formerly Office 365 Home). Important limitations on […]
Unpacking a big day for Office 365 / Microsoft 365
Microsoft has dumped a lot of news in a single day. As a result there’s a lot of misunderstanding and, sorry to say, misreporting. Journos not accustomed to Microsoft’s PR tricks have fallen for them. We’ll try to ‘unpack’ what’s been announced into what’s happening now, in the known future or just sometime in the […]
Keep Calm and Wash Hands extras
We’ve added more documents and slides to our template collection, Keep Calm with Microsoft Office with extras like ‘Keep Calm and Wash Hands’. The new designs include useful graphics for coronavirus, biohazard symbol and a hand washing graphic. These and many more Word docs & PowerPoint slides in Keep Calm with Microsoft Office All these are included […]
Download a Warning Triangle in Word and PowerPoint
Here’s a download of the standard but blank Warning Triangle graphic and image ready for Word and PowerPoint. We’ll look at the official warning sign specification as a starting point, then we’ll look at variations based on that. In other words, symbols that look a bit like a warning sign, but different. The official ISO […]
Get ready to Zoom ….
Zoom online meeting software has become very popular with many people joining it for the first time. Here’s how to fully get ready for a Zoom meeting, there’s more to it than the official advice. Two Office Watch readers found themselves asked to join a Zoom meeting at short notice. Neither had heard of Zoom […]
Microsoft cloud servers slow down
Microsoft has quietly announced some minor but important slow down in some of their cloud services including the way real-time edits of Office documents are handled. It’s a wise move given the increased demand for cloud services. Microsoft had an outage on their much-hyped Teams services earlier this week. Like other cloud companies, Microsoft has […]
Using Skype with Microsoft Office
Skype can be integrated into collaborating on Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents. It’s not officially part of Microsoft Office collaboration but is easily done. It lets you work on a document while talking to other collaborators at the same time. Like this … This works with any modern version of Office or really any program […]
No nonsense guide to fixing Windows audio problems – speakers
When the speakers or headphones don’t work on a Windows computer don’t make a noise, fixing the problem can be frustrating. Here’s our no nonsense guide to the problem and finding a fix. The problem with Windows audio Windows audio support is a mess. Anyone who has tried to get a speaker or headphones working […]
Remote Access options to control a distant computer
There are several free options to access one computer from another. You can see the screen, type and mouse from a remote location, just as if you were in front of the real computer. Access work computer from home computer Use desktop computer from a laptop or tablet Interact with laptop machine from a desktop […]
Collaborate remotely on documents, spreadsheets and presentations
Working on an Office document can easily be done between many people no matter how far away they are. Most organizations will have some way to share documents remotely If not, there are clever options available. Instead of exchanging documents (we’ll get to that in a moment), save the document in a cloud location that […]
Prepare your computer for isolation or quarantine
There are many free tools available to make work and life continue if your movements are limited. Things you should do to prepare for a possible ‘work from home’, ‘no school’ or at worst ‘quarantine’ or ‘social isolation’ of some type. We know what we’re talking about because Office Watch has been working remotely for […]
Ignore Microsoft’s opportunistic marketing, Teams is not for everyone
Microsoft is cunningly pushing Teams as part of its COVID-19 preparedness recommendations. But Teams isn’t the best option for everyone, far from it. Promoting Teams is good for Microsoft and their sales partners but not necessarily their customers. At Microsoft.com there are now special banner ads promoting Teams as the solution for ‘working remotely’, clearly […]
