Bharat or Bhārat (India) in Microsoft Word
The alternative name for India is Bhārat and that term is now being used, somewhat controversially, by the government. How does Microsoft Word handle “Bharat” and what are your choices for either using the word or not. Even if you’re not interested in the name change, it’s a practical lesson in what’s possible in the […]
Microsoft’s font substitution for Aptos really sucks
Microsoft’s alternatives for the new Aptos fonts range are very poor. In some cases, the substitutions make no sense at all. We’ve looked at what happens if a document with Aptos fonts is opened Office 2016 and earlier versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Aptos fonts are the new default for Microsoft 365 and […]
Discover Office Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 11 and 10
There are some keyboard shortcuts to open or switch to Office apps in Windows 11 and Windows 10, if you have enough fingers! They are all based around the Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Win combo plus a letter. That might seem like a keyboard shortcut for an octopus but it makes a little […]
Copying images from Designer to Office documents
Unfortunately, copying an image made in Designer isn’t as simple as it should be. Here’s how to grab images made with Designer to use in your own Office documents. Don’t wait, start using Microsoft Designer now It’s easy to paste an image into Designer. Just copy the image from your app (like Word or PowerPoint), […]
Gun 🔫 emoji in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert the Water Pistol or Gun emoji 🔫 into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. AND how to make the ‘gun’ point to the right. Water Pistol 🔫 symbol is the only ‘gun’ style symbol in the emoji collection. It’s officially called ‘Water Pistol’ but searching […]
Ten ways to Reverse, Mirror or Flip Text in Microsoft Word
There are at least ten ways to ‘reverse’ ‘mirror’ or ‘flip’ text or images in a Word document. Horizontal, vertical, reversed, combined or any angle you like. When people say those terms they can mean different things so we’ll look at many options and how to do them. Also along a curve, but that’s a […]
More uses for the Office Exclusion Dictionary
Office Watch readers suggest some more uses for the Word/Office Exclusion Dictionary. As Office-Watch.com explained recently, the Office Exclusion dictionary can be used to take words out of the main dictionary. In other words, to ensure a word gets the red squiggly line. We had some suggestions for using the exclusion dictionary and our readers, […]
Surprise! Office 2021 & Office 2019 has the all Aptos fonts
An undocumented surprise for Office 2021 and Office 2019 customers. The new Aptos fonts are automatically installed in Office 2021/Office 2019 even though Microsoft insists they are for Microsoft 365 only. However, there’s a crucial difference and strange anomaly between how Aptos fonts work in Office 2021/2019 vs Microsoft 365. According to Microsoft the Aptos […]
Fun Eyes 👀 symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the fun Eyes 👀 symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Eyes 👀 symbol / emoji is a bit of fun for documents and PowerPoint slides. How Eyes 👀 looks in different fonts. Eyes is available in symbols fonts like Segoe UI Emoji and Segoe […]
Make Cloud Fonts available to all programs, not just Office
Microsoft 365 / Office 2021 Cloud Fonts are only available in Office programs … that’s the official line unless you know the trick to make the fonts available in other Windows or Mac apps Cloud Fonts can be selected and installed for Word 365/2021, Excel 365/2021, PowerPoint 365/2021, Outlook 365/2021 and Publisher 365/2021. You might […]
Word’s symbol substitution, the good and the bad
A few years ago, Microsoft quietly added a little Word trickery to make it easier to Insert Symbols and not get the dreaded blank box or box with question mark. Here’s what Word does and how to workaround the, sometimes unhelpful, fix. Back in the olden days of Word 2007 and before, it was possible […]
Ballot Box with Ballot 🗳 emoji in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert the Ballot Box with Ballot 🗳 symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Ballot Box with Ballot 🗳 symbol can be used for any situation around voting or choice. For example to decorate this PowerPoint slide. How Ballot Box with Ballot 🗳 looks in […]
Aptos & Microsoft fonts, what can you legally do with them?
What are the legal limits on fonts supplied by Microsoft in Windows or Microsoft Office? Is there anything special for the Microsoft 365 only Aptos fonts? A few readers have asked us about the font license rules that apply to fonts provided by Microsoft. Can the fonts be embedded in documents or PDF’s for portability? […]
Statue of Liberty 🗽 emoji in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Insert the Statue of Liberty 🗽 symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. “Lady Liberty” has symbol/emoji plus stock images, SVG icons or 3D models. How Statue of Liberty 🗽 looks in different fonts Two standard Windows fonts have the Statue of Liberty symbol, Segoe UI […]
Finding more SVG or Icons for your Office documents
There are a lot more Office Icon or SVG graphics available than the ones in Microsoft 365, Office 2021 or 2019. Jazz up your documents, emails or presentations with a wider range of graphics than the (overused) ones that come with modern Word, Outlook or PowerPoint. Microsoft 365, Office 2021 and 2019 have Icons which […]
Font embedding problems in Office
Word and PowerPoint have options to embed a font into the document, so why doesn’t it work? In theory you can select the ‘Embed fonts’ option for a document / presentation and all the necessary fonts will be included in the document. That means the fonts will appear, as the doc/slide maker intended, when opened […]
