Microsoft celebrates 25 years of the software suite. Microsoft quietly celebrated the 25th anniversary of their Office suite on 1 August 2014 but were they being a little ‘previous’ in their celebrations? While Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Windows were around on 1 August 1989, were they sold as ‘Microsoft Office’ or only as separate […]
Microsoft confirms Office across devices, including Android. There has been plenty of unquestioning press reports from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2014. Statistics and commitments are quoted without much consideration for their worth. The good news is another commitment to Microsoft Office ‘cross platform’ meaning, for the moment, not just Windows and Macintosh. Here’s one […]
What is Delve and what does it mean for Microsoft Office? At the recent Microsoft conference there was mention of Microsoft Delve. But what the ?^%$ is ‘Delve’? It’s an enhanced search tool for your documents and online info. Not just standard Office documents but also videos, audio, links to web sites etc that are […]
A guide to getting more life and value from your printer. The Guardian has a nice little guide to maintaining an inkjet printer and saving money. We’ve never had good experiences with recycled ink or toner cartridges and have always found their quality to be poor. But others swear by recycled/refilled cartridges so if you […]
Join the list of testers for future versions of Microsoft Office. Microsoft has opened their waiting list for people to test future versions of Microsoft Office. Businesses and individuals can apply here http://prereleaseprograms-public.sharepoint.com/ There’s no guarantee you’ll be selected nor which version of Office you’ll be offered (Office for Windows, Mac, iPad. Maybe the upcoming […]
How can you tell which type of Office 2013 installation you have? Office 2013 comes with two quite different installation methods. Ideally there should be no difference between the two but the latest patch bug only affects some users with one type of installation called ‘Click to Run’. Since there’s some differences between the two […]
A simple solution to uninstall problems with Office 2013/Office 365. If you’re trying to uninstall Office 2013 you might get some unhelpful error messages like: Couldn’t uninstall OfficeWe’re sorry, Office couldn’t be uninstalled. Please try uninstalling Office again. ‘Try later’ isn’t a very useful suggestion. How much later? A minute, an hour, a day? Office […]
A look at the latest rumors for Office 15, Office Gemini and Windows 9. All manner of rumors about Microsoft Office with varying degrees of reasonableness. Here’s what’s on the rumor-vine at the moment. The next desktop version of Office ‘Office 16’ (wrongly called ’15’ in some reports). is said to be in ‘Technical Preview’ meaning […]
Behind the latest attempt to make Surface popular. Microsoft has announced Surface Pro 3, the latest incarnation of their tablet device. This time the focus is on replacing traditional laptops with something that has the power of a laptop but also portability of a tablet. There’s a larger 12-inch screen with various Intel Core options. […]
A new way to publish PowerPoint presentations with videos, web pages and quizzes. Office Mix is a way to turn a Powerpoint slide deck into what Microsoft calls an ‘interactive online lesson’. It’s squarely aimed at the educational market. The idea is to expand a PowerPoint presentation into a full online lesson containing: The presentation […]
Or survey gives results that suit those paying for the survey. It’s an old PR trick, put together some report or survey that will get lots of free publicity for the company that’s footing the bill. It’s easy copy for overworked journos so you can’t blame them for using them. Microsoft has done it themselves. […]
Don’t know why or how but a useful message appears in Word 2013. We were working away in a local café today, minding our own business when this appeared atop our Word 2013 document “Missing Proofing Tools The document contains text in Portuguese (Brazil) which isn’t being proofed. You may be able to get the […]
OneDrive for Business customers get a 4,000% increase. Microsoft continues to push their cloud services with a big jump in available storage in OneDrive for Business from a default of 25GB to 1 Terabyte. It’s a whopping increase intended to put pressure on Google, Dropbox, Box etc to compete or drop out of the race. […]
Discounts available for buying Office 2013 We’ve said it for years, when it comes to buying Microsoft Office never, ever, pay retail. There’s always discounts available for the same software and license. Sadly and probably deliberately there’s few discounts available for buying Office 2013, as opposed to renting or ‘subscribing’ to Office 365. Office 2013: […]
As promised, there’s now a cheaper Office 365 option. Microsoft has now released Office 365 Personal, a lower cost rental option for Office software. The ‘Personal’ subscription/rental option costs US$6.99 per month (US$69.99 a year) plus any state taxes. For that you get: Use of the current Office software for Windows or Mac on ONE […]
A smart move by Microsoft, but not a big deal. A clever move from Microsoft today, having their Office Online web sites added to the Google Chrome App Store. That’s led to excited headlines like “Microsoft Office hits Google’s Chrome Web Store” which will please Microsoft. Sure, you can now go to the Chrome App […]
Just to reassure you … Office-Watch.com has no problem from the HeartBleed bug. Our Office-Watch.com book store customers might be wondering if their online details are at risk from the Open SSL HeartBleed security gap. Many web sites with SSL have been quickly patching their server software, but not all need to. The Office-Watch.com online […]
We’re delighted to announce a brand new title from Office Watch. Office for iPad: The Complete Guide is now available. After the success of Office 2013: the real startup guide we decided to do something similar for the newest incarnation of Microsoft Office, released just over a week ago. Office for iPad has NO help […]
Some advice on what to do about Office 2003 and Windows XP on the 8 April expiry. Office 2003 Office 2003 won’t stop working on 8 April 2014. There’ll be no more security updates or patches, but the software will continue to work. All past Windows XP patches and service packs will continue to be […]
An Office 365 Home package now allows five tablet app installs – though you’d not know it. A change to Office 365 Home subscription allowances was made with the release of Office for iPad. Until recently, a Office 365 Home package was limited to 5 mobile devices. Each mobile app was counted against a 5 […]
Also updated today … OneNote for iPad Amidst all the hype over Office for iPad there were some other announcements. OneNote for iPad was updated to version 2.2 promising “Beautifully redesigned for iOS 7” and “Photos of whiteboards and documents are now autocropped and enhanced”. See Also Office for iPad, September updates Office for […]
We predict crowds at Microsoft Stores tomorrow. Microsoft Stores are offering a very limited number of people a years worth of Office 365. The first 50 people to arrive at a Microsoft Store on Friday 28th March 2014 with an iPad will get Office 365 (probably Home Premium) for a year. There’ll probably be queues […]
A quick look over the Word for iPad features, Here’s a look at the major features in Word for iPad, looking over the four main tabs. The buttons will be familiar in most cases though the underlying menus/galleries are different and limited compared to Word for Windows or Mac. Shameless plug:Office for iPad: The Complete […]
Tips for beating the rush to get Office for iPad. If you’re having trouble getting Office for iPad on launch day, join the loooong line. Apple is probably having a record or near-record day and it’s hard to get the new apps … but there are tricks available. Don’t try searching in the iPad App […]
When Microsoft feels the need, they read cloud emails. Microsoft has been caught reading private data stored on their cloud servers and it’s all quite legal. In 2012 screenshots of the, then unreleased, Windows 8 had been leaked and Microsoft wanted to know where the blogger had got them. So Microsoft opened up the bloggers […]
Beware of ‘experts’ to toe the Microsoft party line on Office 365 vs. Office 2013. We continue to be amazed at some of the comparisons by ‘experts’ between Office 365 annual rental prices and buying Office 2013 as a one-off payment. Microsoft has deliberately made it hard to do ‘side-by-side’ comparisons. That’s no excuse for […]
Does it matter if there’s an Office for iPad? Only if it’s a decent app that works properly. Microsoft is quietly delighted with all the coverage for a product they haven’t even admitted exists – Office for iPad. First there were stories about ‘internal divisions’ about whether to release Office for iPad and now news […]
Can friends share the cost of an Office 365 subscription/rental? The Office 365 Home Premium has 5 copies Office (Windows or Mac) that can be shared among different people. Could friends pool their money and share the cost of a single Home Premium subscription? Officially no … unless the friends lived in the same household. […]
Where’s the value in Office 365 Personal? Microsoft has announced a new, lower price point for Office 365 subscriptions (rentals). Office 365 Personal will costs US$6.99 per month or US$69.99 a year (plus tax) at first. For that you get: Office for Windows or Office for Mac – one transferable licence. Tablet version of Office […]
A list of Microsoft Office versions and their latest Service Packs. If you don’t have Office 2013, don’t worry, you’re not alone. Here’s a list of the latest service packs for each version of Microsoft Office going back more than a decade. For the recent versions of Office, at least Office 2007 and later, you […]
Don’t get excited about an ‘Office for iPad’ until we see it. The online commentariat was alight with news about the coming Office for iPad. Not much news really, just a rumor that Office for iPad was still ‘coming’ and probably before a version of Office for Windows 8 touch screens. We’ll wait to see […]
A fully updated book now available at the same low price. We’re delighted to say that we have a new, updated ebook Windows 8.1 for Microsoft Office users. The book has been fully revised for Windows 8.1 with these extras added: Updating to Windows 8.1 advice Setup for Office / desktop users Start Menu .. […]
We hear from an Office 365 supporter. We’re received a good note from Office Watch reader Randy H … “ We need to keep in mind when discussing the ‘cost’ of Office 365 that the monthly subscription (rental) includes 5 complete, always current, sets of OfficePro. My Office 365 Enterprise subscription costs $24 per month. […]
Save money, you don’t always need to pay for the ‘Pro’ version of Windows. In Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8, Microsoft has ‘Business’, ‘Professional’ or ‘Ultimate’ versions which, among other features, can login to a Windows domain. This has the effect of forcing organizations to buy a more expensive version of Windows just […]
Amazon has an amazing deal … Windows 8 Pro upgrade for just $1.74 more than the standard upgrade. Who doesn’t like a nice, juicy pricing anomaly? Especially when it’ll save you money. The official upgrade prices for Windows 8 (for users of Windows 7, Vista or XP) start at $120. Add another $80 for Windows 8 […]
How to share your Office licenses around to the family. Late last year, Office-Watch.com told you about then upcoming improvements to Office 365 subscriptions … now we can see how those changes really work. An Office 365 Home Premium subscription has always come with 5 licenses for Office desktop software (Office for Windows or Mac). […]
Moving from MS Office will be harder than politicians think. A Cabinet Minister in the UK government spoke openly this week about dropping Microsoft Office and switching to open source alternatives. Naturally, The Rt Hon Francis Maude MP was more discreet than that, in fact he said “It’s not about banning any one product …”. […]
What it really means for Office 2003 users plus a better countdown to the ‘end’ of Office 2003 and Windows XP Microsoft has a countdown to the end of support for Office 2003 and Windows XP in months, days and hours. We could not resist making our own … Microsoft is counting down to midnight […]
It’s not just Skydrive getting a rename … ZDNET is reporting a possible renaming of Microsoft Office’s cloud services to ‘Office Online’. In this scenario Office Web Apps would become Office Online comprising Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online, OneNoteOnline and Office Online templates. This makes sense because the word ‘apps’ has become linked to […]
Microsoft’s online storage service gets a court mandated name change. Last year, Microsoft lost a court case over the name ‘SkyDrive’ so now it’s being renamed ‘OneDrive’. SkyDrive will be called OneDrive SkyDrive Pro becomes OneDrive for Business Hopefully the switchover will be seamless for users like those who save Office documents. According to Microsoft […]
