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, […]
Pantone’s 2025 color ‘Mocha Mousse’ in Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Pantone’s color of the year for 2025 is “Mocha Mousse”. You can use that exact color in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Designer using the Hex/RGB color code. And we’ll look at the flowery prose that’s become a hallmark of this annual promotion. The color of 2025 is … Mocha Mousse We make fun of […]
Make your own London Tube sign for Word or PowerPoint
The famous London Tube Roundel or station sign is easy to recreate for Word, PowerPoint or other Office apps. The best way to do this is SVG graphics in Microsoft 365, Office 2024/2021/2019/2016. SVG’s let you change the colors and set the text easily. They don’t have to be a railway sign. Use the roundel […]
How to add Bates Numbering to Word documents
Bates Numbering is tricky in Word. We’ll explain how to add this special numbering system to Word documents and why it’s not recommended in most situations. What is Bates Numbering? Bates Numbering is a way to add a fixed number or serial number system to each page of a document. It’s often used in legal, […]
Four different ways to copy a list of file names or folders
There are many ways to get a list of file names and folders, here’s four simple ways including one that might be a surprise. Copy from Explorer In Windows Explorer, select the files you want then right-click and choose “Copy as path” or Ctrl + Shift + C. The list includes path. If you don’t […]
Select a vertical column of text in Word
Yes, Microsoft Word lets you select vertical (up or down) text blocks. Most text selection in Word involves selecting horizontally – selecting a line or a paragraph of text. Sometimes, though, you need to select a vertical slab of text. To do that, hold down the Alt key while you click and drag your mouse […]
New London Overground line colours in Office
Here are the exact colour codes and new names for the ‘Overground’ lines in London, plus how to add a thick double line in Office documents just like on a Tube map. The changeover is happening in late November 2024. Some old rail lines in London were coloured Orange on maps and just called ‘Overground’. […]
Office widgets come to Mac computers
The existing Office app “Recent documents” widgets for iPhone and iPad are now available on Mac computers. There are widgets for Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word. Each app has four widget options from small (one file) to a six file with thumbnails ‘extra large’ choice. The fastest way to find the Office/Microsoft 365 widgets is […]
Share your Office documents from Dropbox
OneDrive isn’t the only choice for sharing Office documents. Dropbox can also share Word, Excel or Powerpoint documents including real-time collaboration. The Dropbox and Microsoft Office integration allows users to open, edit, and save Office files directly from Dropbox. Use either Office apps on the web (Office Online) or modern Office/Microsoft 365 desktop apps. You […]
About the Copilot shortcut in Word, even Microsoft gets confused
The Copilot shortcut key in Word is unusual, so much that even Microsoft gets confused. We’ll look at the peculiarities in what seems like a simple keyboard shortcut. Office Watch reader, Fred J. from Wilmington let us know about this Microsoft social media post “Click ALT + I and ask Copilot to help” As Fred […]
Word ‘AI free’ cure is worse than the disease
Social media is spreading a false ‘tip’ that’s supposed to stop Microsoft spying on your work in Word and Excel. The suggestion might not work at all and worse, it’ll stop important Office features from working at all. And Microsoft is NOT spying on Word, Excel or PowerPoint for their AI. The ‘tip’ is supposed […]
