Microsoft Word isn’t always right, example 3,141,592
Word’s grammar checker is good, very good but it’s not perfect. Here’s the latest example of wrong advice under that blue underline. Office Watch reader, Simone J from Berlin sent us this English language anomaly in Word. “Your Latin and calligraphy skills are some of the best I’ve even seen” It’s the same error in […]
Forget what you’ve heard, Word still has a Thesaurus
Ignore the clickbait headlines and social media experts, Microsoft Word still has a Thesaurus feature. A slightly related feature has gone but Synonyms is still alive and kicking. Here’s Word’s Thesaurus or “Synonyms” still in Word 365 using Microsoft’s example word. And here’s Synonyms in Word 2024, using a more appropriate example word for this […]
How to Disable Copilot in Microsoft 365
Microsoft is slowly adding an option to disable Copilot AI from their Microsoft 365 apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Here’s what you’re supposed to see on your computer, but won’t necessarily. An option to disable Copilot is being rolled out to Microsoft 365 for Windows and Mac. First in Word 365 for Windows and later […]
Copilot Pro brings AI into Microsoft Office
AI technology without limits is available in Microsoft Office with Copilot Pro. AI features are integrated into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for personal customers. Here’s how to get Copilot Pro and the secrets to getting it working. Copilot is Microsoft’s name for their AI based cloud services. They have been around for a little […]
HUGE changes to Microsoft 365 happening now
Microsoft 365 customers around the world are waking up to a new look in their Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook apps. It’s part of Microsoft’s huge changes to Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans which include a very limited Copilot AI service and a big price rise. Microsoft 365 users might first notice these changes […]
Delete or hide comments in a Word document
All your choices for deleting or hiding comments in Word documents. An essential step before sending a document out. Comments in a Word document are really great for making side-notes or even discussions between people working on a shared document. It’s also great for adding your own notes to a document. But there’s some problems […]
Copilot comes to Microsoft 365 with many limits and a high price
Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans are getting Copilot AI integration into their Office apps but it comes with a big price increase and many limits to what people get for the extra cost. Customers in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand have seen massive prices rises in Microsoft 365 Family and Personal […]
Add pictures to Copilot questions
You can now add images to your Copilot prompts / questions in Word and PowerPoint. Why bother with images? Well, they can save you time, help Copilot understand your requests better, and improve the accuracy of its responses. Whether you’re asking about a specific object or scene, images can clarify details that might be ambiguous […]
Word field codes for everyone
Word field codes let you add automation or automatic content into documents. A simple example is the { DATE } field, which inserts the current date into a letter but there’s a lot more possible. Chances are good that you’ve already used field codes and not realised it. Date, PrintDate, Page numbering (current and total […]
Why Word doesn’t always show US and UK spelling correctly?
Microsoft Word’s English dictionaries can be confusing because they don’t always mark incorrect spelling differences between US and UK English (like color/colour). We did some tests with surprising results. English spellings can get screwy as you move between countries and there’s a lot more overlap than many people realize or realise 😁. There are many […]
How to remove words from the Word dictionary
How and why to remove words from the main Microsoft Word dictionary. The Office Exclusion List ensures a red squiggly underline appears to warn you about an unwanted word. Sometimes the supplied Office dictionary has words you don’t want or you’d like a warning about. Here’s how to put the red squiggly line under words […]
Outlook (new) doesn’t mail merge with Word
Outlook (new) for Windows doesn’t support Mail Merge from Word. Just one of the many limitations of that software which is still a work in progress. We’ve heard from a few people that Microsoft has ‘dropped’ mail merge from Word but that’s not true. Word’s Mail Merge has been there for decades and isn’t going away. Outlook […]
Adding your name and other personal words to Microsoft Word
If Word doesn’t recognize personal words such as your name, the name of your hometown or the name of your favorite actor, it flags it as a mistake with the familiar red squiggly line. Here’s how to fix that. You can choose to add your words to the app’s custom dictionary. This is one of […]
Word’s Calculator tricks and problems
Word can do simple calculations because Word for Windows has its very own built-in calculator. Calculate in Word has some nice tricks but also problems and traps. Type a calculation, hit the button (see below) and the result appears in the status bar AND it’s loaded into the clipboard ready for pasting. Calculate is a […]
Get better accuracy from Word’s Calculator
How to get greater accuracy out of Word’s in-built calculator. Recently, we unearthed Word’s hidden calculator. Word rounds its calculator results to two decimal places. This time, we’ll take a look at the two ways to improve the accuracy of Word calculator results. Use an old maths trick or change the Windows settings. Neither trick […]
Word’s Hidden Calculator
You haven’t heard about it? Don’t worry, even Microsoft has no information about this feature, unless you dig way back into its archives where you’ll find that the calculator – which formerly held a prominent position on the Tools Menu – was driven underground in Word 6.0 to make way for the far more cumbersome, […]
