Cartoons without People you can add with Office 365
It’s called Cartoon People in Office 365 but there are plenty of non-human graphics available to use either on their own or as part of a combined graphic. See also How to find more Cartoon People in Office 365 to see the human side of this feature for Word 365, Excel 365, PowerPoint 365 and […]
Why is there a vending machine on the Office ribbon?
There’s a new generation growing up who see the Office ribbon differently from their parents. To some young people a floppy disk icon looks more like a vending machine! Check out this icon on the older Office ribbon …. To you, me and most people it means ‘Save’ because that’s a floppy disk. Specifically, a […]
Get 77 more Halloween pictures for Microsoft 365
Microsoft has added 77 more images to their Office 365 Stock Images collection, just in time for Halloween. Just a few days ago, searching for ‘Halloween’ at Insert | Pictures | Stock Images showed just four pictures in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. Stock images or premium content now in Microsoft 365 They’ve now added […]
PDF and SVG previews now possible in Outlook
Microsoft PowerToys have fixed a glaring omission from Outlook, Windows and the Edge browser. PowerToys now lets Outlook preview PDF, Markdown and SVG attachments in the Reading Pane. For too long, the main way to get an Outlook preview of a PDF email attachment was to install the whole Adobe Acrobat Reader software. The same […]
Make your own, better paper checklist in Word
Word has many options to make simple checklists that you can print out and tick with a pen (ink or digital). Plenty of formatting choices for the shape of the tick ‘box’, it’s color and size. There’s a simple shortcut to re-order the list. Previously we’ve discussed how to make an interactive check list in […]
Redo tricks in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
Redo is the often-forgotten partner to Undo. It’s mostly used to ‘undo an undo’ or reverse the last ‘Undo’ action but ‘Redo’ has other uses in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. In most cases, you use the redo button to revert to a previous state. For example, if you used the undo button within your […]
Why Word has a problem with an open dialog box
Back in 2010 an Office Watch reader drew our attention to this Microsoft Knowledge Base article 2008277 (update: after we published this article the KB article was totally removed by Microsoft). “Error message “The command cannot be performed because a dialog box is open” when opening a Word file from outside of Word” It’s was curious […]
Using the Source Manager for citations in Word
An essential part of Word’s citations and bibliography feature is the Source Manager dialog – here’s how to, er, manage the Source Manager. Open the Source Manager from References | Citations and Bibliography | Manage Sources. There is a Current List (at right) which is saved in the current document. On the left if the […]
Understanding Citations and Sources in Microsoft Word
The workload of students and academics has been made a lot easier with the arrival of Citation features in Word. They are useful for everyone, not just in academia. Citations are individual references to source material you’ve quoted in your document. A Bibliography is a list of citations and sources used in your document. Word […]
Word’s Similarity Checker warns about plagiarism
Microsoft Word’s ‘Similarity Checker’ compares Word document text with online sources. That can warn the writer / student or reader / teacher about plagiarism or accidental copying. Word Similarity Checker uses Bing search to compare the text with online sources. It shows a percentage of text similar to text found online. It’s an extension of […]
All your Clear Formatting options for Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word has three different keyboard shortcuts to clear formatting, each with its own special variation on how to remove things like bold, italics etc. from text. Choose from Ctrl + Space , Ctrl + Q or Ctrl + Shift + N depending on exactly what you want to remove and what to leave behind. […]
How to clear all formatting in Office documents
Sometimes text formatting can get confusing in Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher and OneNote. There are several ways to clear the additional formatting and return to original settings. The formatting styles in your text can be easily restored to their default settings by clearing all formatting. Users can waste a lot of time trying to change […]
Five ways to make summary or paraphrasing of Word documents
There are many online tools that will summarize or paraphrase a long Word document into something shorter and more readable. These five tools also have other uses. Originally, Word 2007 had an Auto Summarize feature, but it was dropped in Word 2010, so Word users will need to rely on external paraphrasing services. A paraphrase […]
Premium Stock Images now in Office for Apple devices
Good news iOS users, if you’re a Microsoft 365 subscriber, you now have access the premium content library. Take your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint creations to the next level with thousands of royalty-free images, icons, stickers, and illustrations. Here’s how it works Tap Insert | Pictures | Stock Images on your iOS device, then choose the visuals that […]
Make better Office SmartArt by adding pictures
There are several ways to add images into an Office SmartArt graphic; the official Microsoft way plus some others that aren’t usually mentioned for Word, PowerPoint and other Office apps. In the introductory piece, Much better lists with SmartArt , we looked at the SmartArt basics which are much the same in Word, Excel and […]
Much better lists with Office SmartArt
SmartArt is available in all Office desktop programs for Windows and Mac. They let you turn a plain boring text list into something more compelling and understandable. SmartArt works and options do vary between the programs, especially PowerPoint. Office for Mac menus look a little different but the primary features are there. This article is […]
