Use narrow margins in Word to save paper
Reduce the number of pages in a Microsoft Word document and save paper, one option is to make the page margins narrower. Do that with a single click and change back to normal margins with another click. Narrower margins can make a surprisingly large difference to the number of pages. For example, we ‘shrunk’ a […]
Table Border Painter make tables easier in Word
Tucked away on the far-right of Microsoft Word’s Table Design tab is the Border Painter, a useful little tool to let you copy existing cell borders to other parts of a table. Border Painter saves the trouble of manually changing the table or cell border settings. Instead, just copy an existing border and paste the […]
The trick to add background image to Word table
When it comes to inserting a background image into the Microsoft Word table, it’s possible with a little trickery. It’s not ideal but quite easy. We’ll show you how to insert a picture background into a Word table. You’ll need to be aware that it can likely go wrong when the document formatting changes, unfortunately […]
Inside Word’s Language tools
Microsoft Word’s language tools are more than just red or blue squiggly lines. There’s help to choose alternative words, alternate languages, check and improve grammar, hyphenate documents and even test the document for readability. You may think you know all about the language tools, but Word always has a few extras tucked away to surprise […]
Smiling Face with Open Mouth and Cold Sweat 😅 emoji in Office
Add the Smiling (grinning) Face with Open Mouth and Cold Sweat 😅 into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Smiling (or grinning) Face with Open Mouth and Cold Sweat 😅 emoji is normally used to express a close call, or nerves / discomfort. It’s just one […]
Grinning Face with Smiling Eyes 😁 emoji in Word, Outlook and Office
Insert the Grinning Face with Smiling Eyes 😁 into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. Grinning Face with Smiling Eyes 😁 emoji is used to express joyfulness, excitement, or happiness. It’s similar to Grinning Face 😀 but with different eyes that are meant to be ‘smiling’. It’s just […]
Microsoft reverses Office macro blocks without telling customers
Without any warning, Microsoft stopped their new macro blocking system (called MOTW or Mark of the Web). Now Office for Windows is less secure without customers getting any warning. UPDATE: the whole ‘on again, off again’ saga continues. On 20 July 2022, Microsoft resumed rollout of the MOTW and Office macro blocking. Back in February, […]
Microsoft Word’s problem with Resume or Resumé
How to type the words Resumé or Resume in Microsoft Word or Outlook plus some problems and software anomalies that arise. This article is an example of what happens at Office-Watch.com. A seemingly simple question like “How to type Resumé instead of Resume “ uncovers various strange things in Microsoft Office such as typing contextual […]
Show markup and comments in PDF made from Word
How to make document comments and markup appear in a PDF version of a Word document plus some options available to control what appears in the PDF copy. Modern Word documents can contain a history of the changes made, especially in a shared/collaborative document. There’s also comments made by people alongside the text. Here’s a […]
Two ways to add Gradient or Rainbow text or background effects in Word
Add a bit of zing to your document, Word has a fun little feature that allows you to add color gradients or rainbow effects to your text, the background of a text box or inside an Office shape. The rainbow effect is a bit gaudy but demonstrates the possibilities of more subtle gradients. The rainbow […]
Inside Microsoft’s “Top Grammar Mistakes” in Word
Microsoft once published a list of “Top Grammar Mistakes” in Microsoft Word, but what’s really going on with that list and the technology behind it? Unlike others, we’re not content just to copy Microsoft’s 2017 list. We’ll show how the grammar checks really work in the latest Word. One of Microsoft’s ‘common mistakes’ was NOT […]
Fast highlighting using two keyboard shortcuts in Word
There are two keyboard shortcuts to highlight text in Word, for some reason Microsoft has hidden the main one and the alternative has an annoying inconsistency. All the regular Office shortcuts should be in the tooltip label that appears when the mouse is hovered over a button. But the Highlight shortcut Ctrl + Alt + […]
Inside Listnum field tricks in Word
Use the ListNum field in Word to insert sequential numbers, letters or legal numbering anywhere in a document. ListNum is the way to number or order items in ways not possible with the standard numbered or multi-level listing features. Just for starters, use ListNum to number things within a paragraph, instead of separate lines. Or […]
Grinning Face with Big eyes / Smiling Face with Open Mouth 😃 emoji in Office
Add the Grinning Face with Big eyes aka Smiling Face with Open Mouth 😃 into Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook. Both in Office for Windows and Office for Mac. “Smiling Face with Open Mouth” is the official Unicode name for the 😃 emoji. It’s commonly labelled Grinning Face with Big eyes and is used […]
Stop Word’s grammar ‘help’ once or always
Despite appearances, Microsoft Word’s Grammar and Style checks are not compulsory. There are simple but somewhat hidden controls to turn off the blue underline or dots for selected tests. This article explains how to selectively turn of Microsoft Word’s “Grammar and Refinements” checks either once only or for all your documents. Over time you can […]
Follina patch now available but questions remain
Microsoft has released a fix for the ‘Follina’ security hole in Windows which was being exploited via hacked Office documents. We explained the Follina hack and long delay before Microsoft finally acknowledged the problem. The security hole is in Windows or specifically the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool (msdt) but it’s generally spread via a hacked […]
