The Python Editor for Excel is a welcome innovation of the Microsoft Garage project making editing and debugging Python code in Excel a lot easier. Python Editor add-on for Excel mirrors the functionalities of renowned integrated development environments (IDEs) using the code management system behind Visual Studio Code. Sample code
Here’s how to get the new Microsoft Designer app for iPhone and Android smartphones. Also how to share designs between the mobile app and the full Designer web app. Get the Designer app Go to https://designer.microsoft.com/install and scan the QR code provided on that page That will open the App
It seems possible that Office 2021 is really installing Microsoft 365 with the license details controlling what features are available. In some cases, it’s an important difference to keep in mind. A few bits of information suggest that there’s more commonality between Office 2021 and Microsoft 365 than you might
There are some interesting and useful changes coming to Read Aloud in Microsoft Word. More voices and languages, reading speed and (at last!) text scrolls as it’s being read. The current Read Aloud settings are limited. Review | Read Aloud then click the little ‘cog’ icon. That’s changed in some
Images can now be included in Excel PivotTables which not only makes for better looking PivotTables but more interesting Slicers too. A great contribution from Office Watch reader “AllanC” in New Zealand. With pictures in a PivotTable you can easily make cute slicers like this to show one record (person)
Microsoft is changing more than just the font in Microsoft 365, there are also default color scheme and even line changes coming too. Here’s all the proposed changes and how to reverse them. New Default Fonts We’ve already talked about the new default fonts, Aptos and Aptos Display. New default
Microsoft Excel has caught up with the needs of investors by adding automatic refresh of Stock prices and Currency data. Office Watch will explain what’s now possible and its limitations. Don’t get too excited, we’ve waited so long and when Microsoft does respond, the auto-refresh options don’t go far enough,
Like to know some more about your Microsoft 365 for Windows software license? How long the Office apps will run without an Internet connection? Here’s how to see that hidden license info, how it’s changed and a little good news too. Microsoft 365 software occasionally checks with Microsoft servers to
Here’s how to find out what type of Microsoft Office 365 licence you have with details hidden from the usual About dialog box. We recently showed it’s important for for perpetual non-subscription versions of Office like Office 2021 or Office 2019 to know if the purchase is Retail/Volume or OEM.
For all the changes Microsoft has made to Search (aka Tell Me), they continue to ignore one basic that would make Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook a lot easier to work with. Here’s some examples of how Microsoft Office search badly needs fixing. Search (formerly called “Tell Me”) usually appears
Microsoft is making Clipchamp available to their Microsoft 365 commercial customers after limiting access to consumer users for too long. As usual, Microsoft’s announcement has many ‘fine print’ details to annoy paying customers. Clipchamp is Microsoft’s online video editing service. It’s been available to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family customers
There’s a nice little Excel function that will calculate the rate of return on any asset like a stock or fund including income/dividends with purchases and sales over time. The secret sauce is XIRR() a function which calculates an internal rate of return with uneven interest or dividend payments. In
Can you scan a picture or document directly into Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook? Certainly, but these days we’re spoiled for choice and have fantastic features like using a smartphone as a simple scanner. Back in the day, you could click a button in Word 2003 to scan a document
There’s a bug in the latest release of Outlook 365 for Windows (Microsoft 365) which makes saving attachments slow to a crawl. Microsoft has a workaround to consider, if you’re desperate. The problem occurs when saving attachments to a network folder directly. There’s a long wait looking at this dialog
Excel’s new AI functions, under the Copilot branding, have started to appear in some public releases. Here’s the full list with syntax of all six AI functions. The functions have started appearing in some Excel 365 for Windows, Insiders Beta (version 2308 build 16708.20004). Not all Insiders see the same
Here are samples of the five new fonts available for Microsoft 365 and Office 2021 customers one of which has become the new default font, but under a different name – Aptos. Did we say five? … there are really 10 new sans-serif fonts. Each of the five newbies come
Barbie (the doll, not the Aussie BBQ) is everywhere at the moment so we’ll explain how to select Barbie Pink in your Word documents, Excel sheets and PowerPoint slides. There’s no one Barbie Pink but a selection to choose from. We looked around various official sources for the toys and
Everyone knows the SUM function in Excel but that’s just the start, there are eight SUM() functions (and more) for adding up numbers in different ways. SUM() SUM is one of the first functions taught to newcomers. It’s as old as Excel itself (older because SUM was in the first
At long last, there’s a way to insert an image into a single Excel cell called Place in Cell. No problems with floating images etc, just a cell with a picture which resizes with the cell size. Adding images to Excel sheets has always been confusing because they weren’t directly
Stability.AI now has a quick and easy way to expand or extend an image. Using AI, it can take an existing image to make a larger version. Unlike other options like OpenAI’s Outpainting, ‘Uncrop’ is quite simple to use. Whatever you call it; Uncrop, Outpainting, extending etc, it’s a useful
Microsoft Designer now has a nice Erase tool to remove unwanted parts of an image. Finding Erase is a little tricky, we’ll show you where it’s hiding and how to get the most from Erase. Erase lets you remove parts of an image. It’s not on the main image toolbar
We’re delighted to announce that our popular ebook Windows 11 (June 2023) for Microsoft Office users has been updated to accompany the latest mid-2023 “Moment 3” changes to Windows 11 itself. New Chapters Two new chapters have been added to the 1,000 page book plus other changes to reflect the
Tucked away in a little known part of Microsoft’s web sites is a lovely collection of wallpapers (or PowerPoint backgrounds) with new and old, nostalgic designs. Including a 4k rendering of the famous Windows XP wallpaper . Go to https://wallpapers.microsoft.design/ to see all the wallpapers. At first some in full-page
Microsoft is again changing the way Search works in Microsoft 365 and also (surprise!) Office 2021 to expand the results beyond the document or Office features. Now you can search for definitions, media and even web results from the top bar of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The most recent announcement
