Yen ¥ symbol in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Type the Yen ¥ currency symbol into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Yen is used for Japanese currency and the Chinese Renminbi / Yuan. Microsoft Excel also offers the Yen symbol for Mongolia even though the tögrög currency uses another symbol. ¥ symbol is easy […]
Murphy Brown look in Word or PowerPoint
Recreate the Murphy Brown TV show’s look as a design inspiration for Word and PowerPoint – the fonts, colors and lines. You may not want to use the exact look of the Murphy Brown title card, but it’s a starting point for design variations of your own. We’ll show how to make a similar look […]
Make a List or Table of tables in a Word document
Word can generate a list of all the tables in a document. Like a Table of Contents, this list of tables or Table of tables can include page references or links to each table. A Table of tables can be useful for creating a proper appendix or reference within more formal documentation. It can be […]
Handwriting fonts for literacy skills
Suggested fonts including “handwriting fonts” to help teach writing recognition and improve literacy. Office Watch reader Wim V saw our article on Avoiding Comic Sans and wrote to us about a use for Comic Sans and other fonts used in teaching literacy. Some fonts can be used to teach people how to recognize and write different […]
How a deleted Word document caught a serial killer
A Word document and a floppy disk caught a serial killer back in 2010. There are still lessons for anyone wanting to keep their personal or business data confidential. Known as the ‘BTK killer’, he murdered 10 people in Kansas between 1974 and 1991. The murderer was finally caught in 2004. He liked sending notes […]
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 […]
8 ways to make better Word Table Styles
Here’s eight better but simple table formatting options not available from Microsoft Word’s Table Style gallery. Word’s Table Style gallery is a tempting selection of table formats but it doesn’t show you all the options to make your table look good. Some of these variations are right there on the ribbon, others are buried a […]
Do you know all five style types in Microsoft Word?
There are five different types of style (collection of formatting settings) in Microsoft Word. There’s three styles for text plus Tables and List styles. Paragraph styles Originally, Word only had paragraph styles. Styles could only be applied to an entire paragraph. Any changes to an individual word or phrase had to be done individually. Get […]
Two ways to make Body Text style appear in Microsoft Word
There are two ways to reveal or un-hide a hidden style, most commonly “Body Text” style. There’s the long-winded Microsoft approved method and the faster way. By default, Body Text style in Microsoft Word is ‘hidden until used’. That seems like a Catch-22, its not visible until it’s used but you can’t use the style […]
Modifying Body Text style in Microsoft Word
The default ‘Body Text’ style in Word needs some changes to suit your needs. Here’s some suggestions for things to alter or check to make sure they suit your, er, style. Can’t see a Body Text style? See Make Body Text style appear in Microsoft Word Body Text style can be different The default Body Text […]
Show Unicode number for a character in Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word has a simple and quick way to reveal the Unicode value or character number for any letter, symbol or emoji using the Alt + X shortcut. As you may know, each character shown on a computer is really a number. There’s an accepted list of symbols called Unicode which lists thousands of characters […]
Two Ways to Change Word’s Opening Paper Size
Two ways to change the default or opening paper size for Microsoft Word documents. Change to Letter , Legal, A4 or any other paper size. These two options haven’t changed for many years. The fundamentals haven’t changed since the very first Word for Windows. This will change the paper size when you choose New | Blank document […]
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 […]
Change the Paper Size in Microsoft Word
It’s very easy to change the paper size in Microsoft Word, whether just for a single document, or change the default paper size for all your documents. You don’t always want to use the same paper size for all your Word documents – different types of projects require different paper, and different parts of the […]
Booklet printing with or without Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word has a booklet printing option but there’s a simple alternative if it’s not working or you’d like options not available in Word. Here’s how to booklet print in Word and also a simpler alternative. Word’s Booklet Printing is done in the document (Layout | Paragraph | Page Setup | Multiple Pages | Book […]
Add a fast keyboard shortcut for any Word style
Add a keyboard shortcut for any Microsoft Word style including Headings and Normal style. A shortcut is faster than clicking on the ribbon anytime you want to apply a style. For commonly used styles it’s easier and faster to use a keyboard shortcut. Microsoft even supplies a few with Word, but not enough. The in-built […]
