It’s one thing for a printer maker to add expensive and limited ink ‘subscriptions’ but HP have gone way too far by permanently disabling a printer if the customer stops the monthly plan. And there’s excessive monitoring of how you use your printer. HP+ Smart Printing System (aka HP Plus
There are three main ways to run a macro in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook). From the Macros list, from a button on a ribbon or from the Quick Access toolbar. We previously spoke about how to install an Office VBA macro, here’s how a macro can appear
HP is getting publicity for their printers in all the wrong ways with two faulty firmware updates. One update stops HP Printers from using non-HP ink cartridges while another update stops some printers working at all! “Dynamic Security” for HP Printers HP’s update to printers add what they call “Dynamic
Microsoft is now looking at the contents of password protected ZIP files stored on OneDrive, Sharepoint and other cloud services. Maybe with honorable intentions but there are serious privacy concerns that haven’t been acknowledged. For a long time, Microsoft’s antivirus and safety systems have opened up compressed ZIP files to
In early January 2023, Microsoft 365 for Windows stopped supporting Windows 8 or 8.1. Here’s the details of what you’ll have to do and a possible workaround. Microsoft 365 for Windows is supported on Windows 11, Windows 10 and, until 2023, Windows 8.1/8. It’s been a little surprising that the
All 20 (yes, twenty!) emblems for the Coronation of King Charles III, the exact colours required and how to use them in Microsoft Office like Word documents and PowerPoint slides. Also how to get an SVG/icon version of the emblem, ideal for modern Office apps and show just the parts
Has your invitation to the Coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla got lost in the mail? Never fear, you can make your own ‘replacement’ <g>. Or more likely use the ornate graphics for some other purpose, not always so serious. Here’s an ‘invitation’ made in PowerPoint with a name
Microsoft Designer is now available to everyone with no wait list. You can make graphics and images using Microsoft’s AI system at no cost … for now. The future pricing of Designer has also been revealed. Until now, anyone could use Designer but there was a wait list for access.
Get the new Microsoft Designer tool now. You can preview Microsoft’s new way to quickly make graphic designs with text and pictures including fancy, original AI generated (aka Dall-E) images. Now NO wait list, just login and start creating. Give Designer a try to add something interesting to a Word
The Smithsonian has millions of images and 3D models available online to add something great and different to Microsoft Office including PowerPoint slides and Word documents. The Smithsonian Institution has been a US cultural, scientific and historical resource for the last 170 years. No visit to Washington DC is complete without
Microsoft Word has vital but hidden options for making a better PDF file from your document. PDF’s made from Word can be smaller than usual for faster sending or to get under size limits that apply to email or messaging services. There are choices for including better navigation (like the
Microsoft has released their version of an AI image maker (like Dall-E) called, imaginatively, Bing Image Creation. We’ll explain how to access and use the preview with some examples of freshly made images and how the Content Warning/Block works. All these images are original, made by Bing Image Creation from
Microsoft Loop is coming for everyone and is now in a public preview of this new way to collaborate online. Here’s how to get into the Loop preview and how to get started exploring this new tech. Loop components are live mini-documents, worksheets or lists that people can collaborate on
An early peek at Microsoft Copilot, a new part of Microsoft 365 that’s so new it’s not yet available to “Insiders”. We’ll carefully look at Copilot in PowerPoint which can make a whole slide deck based on an existing Office document. The ever-reliable Walking Cat has leaked an image and
Outlook for Mac is now available to all, no payment or subscription required. It combines email, calendar and contacts in the one app. Anyone with a recent Mac computer can install Outlook for Mac for email, calendar and contacts from the App Store. All the common and most less-common email
Recent investigations have revealed some worrying truths about the risks in opening OneNote notebooks, a surprising fact about .one files, some bad news and good news. Criminals are increasingly sending out nasty OneNote .one files in emails, taking advantage of another Microsoft security ‘blind spot’. OneNote Embedded File Abuse from
Microsoft’s hints that AI ‘help’ is coming soon to Word, Outlook and other Office apps are for investors not paying customers. Don’t get too excited (or worried) about the immediate future of AI tools into either Search or Office apps. There are problems with current AI offerings and traps for
Excel has three different ways to see a partial formula result to help you locate and fix a problem or understand how a formula works. Two methods have been in Excel for some time and there’s a new tooltip feature. Evaluate Formula The full Evaluate Formula has been around since
Excel has a simple way to understand or fix a complex formula. Evaluate Formula lets you calculate parts of a formula and see interim results that make up the final value that appears in the cell. It’s on the Formulas tab under Formula Auditing. Evaluate Formula isn’t new, just little
There’s a better, more selective way to choose which shapes, images or other objects to ‘Morph’ between slides in PowerPoint 365, 2021 and 2019. Morph in PowerPoint is a way to transition between two slides with a nice smooth effect like this. The Morph transition normally applies to either all
Microsoft has released a quick ‘TikTok style’ video which is strange and not that helpful at showing some good Excel and Office features. We’ll explain what the video is trying to show off (Excel Conditional Formatting) and some more Office tricks too! We found it in one of Microsoft 365’s
2023 is the Year of the Rabbit in the Chinese calendar. There’s plenty of rabbit, bunny and other New Year related images, icons and Chinese character 兔 in Microsoft Office plus advice on the right colors to use for Chinese New Year graphics. Chinese New Year is on 22 January
Here are the best ways to get results from Microsoft Forms into an Excel workbook. Sadly they aren’t the elegant and efficient ways available in modern Microsoft Excel 365, 2021 or 2019 for Windows. We’ll explain how to get Microsoft Forms results into Excel for better filtering and analysis. Then
Microsoft is working on extending OpenAI features like ChatGPT to help people write Word documents based on a short suggestion. And there’s a lot more possible given Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, even a koala poem ‘written’ by Dorothy Parker. Office Watch has been looking at ChatGPT’s ability to write Office
