Use these handy Excel formulas for circle and sphere calculations! Whether they’re a distant memory from school days or a recent discovery, you can easily compute them using Pi (π), or as Excel dubs it, PI(). Many formulas rely on Pi 𝜋 so Excel has a simple function Pi() which
We mourn the passing of Woody Leonhard, Office Watch co-founder, on 8 March 2025 at age 73. Back in 1996, Woody Leonhard and Peter Deegan teamed up to create “Woody’s Office Watch” (the precursor of Office Watch) as a way to spread accurate and detailed news about Microsoft Office. Woody
Sometimes it hard to know if Microsoft is suffering from ‘cognitive dissonance’ or deliberately treat their customers like fools that will accept anything the company says, no matter how nonsensical it is. Captain Worf has some words of wisdom … More that a few Office Watch readers asked about this
The reason Microsoft Word prefers ‘corporate speak’, phrases and language but there is more than one way to change Word’s grammar and style suggestions to suit you. Quite often on social media there are complaints about Microsoft Word’s grammar and style suggestions like this one. “MS Word suddenly dislikes the
Check out this headline ‘ramen’ font that looks great and has a clever name – Times New Ramen. Seine Kongruangkit made a font from photos of noodles, nifty use of Photoshop and an undying love of Ramen noodles <g>. Times New Ramen – you have to love it, just for
Shapes, images, and other items can be grouped together and often should be in Word, PowerPoint and other Microsoft Office apps. When you group shapes or objects, you can move, resize, rotate, flip them all at once, as if they were a single object. If you’ve ever had trouble moving
Microsoft will stop Publisher 365 software working completely on the October 2026 deadline, not just end support. They will aggressively ‘kill switch’ Publisher for Microsoft 365 subscribers. Microsoft now says the Publisher in Microsoft 365 will completely STOP WORKING on 13 October 2026 or It was believed that Publisher would only
Microsoft is ending their Publisher desktop publishing product completely. Here’s the vital details you need to know, including how to keep your Publisher software after the end date. Publisher is Microsoft’s desktop publishing software that’s been available since 1991 mostly as part of some Microsoft Office bundles but also sold
With Skype ending what are the choices for making cheap phone calls, especially saving money on international calls? The ability to link computers and devices to regular phone numbers is something that Skype excelled at. You could call phone numbers from a device or setup a phone number that people
The new Outlook for Windows has what Microsoft calls “Mail Merge” which could be useful but bear NO relation to the standard Word/Outlook “Mail Merge” to send many emails. In the new message Options for Outlook (new) is an enticing button “Start Mail Merge” but don’t get too excited. This
Don’t be scared of Master Documents – just very, very careful. Master Documents is useful and sometimes essential but it’s not the most stable or reliable part of Microsoft Word. What is a Master Document? In Microsoft Word, a Master Document is a Word document which has links to other
Microsoft is dumping most of their Skype service in May 2025, ending a very useful option for people around the world, especially who use a regular phone for communication. Here’s the ending timeline, an important extension for Microsoft 365 customers and alternatives (official and others). Skype has been around since
Back in 2015 we were amazed and dismayed to discover a privacy gap in Microsoft Office. Seven years later Microsoft has done nothing to fix or warn customers about. The problem is with images inserted into Office documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). The image ‘meta-data’ including GPS coordinates are retained with
Advanced Data Protection, the best security option for Apple iCloud is now blocked for UK customers. A real blow to individual privacy and citizens’ rights but there are options for our British friends to keep their files safe. Advanced Data Protection is Apple’s option to fully encrypt data saved on
Microsoft is testing a free version of Office for Windows with limited features, an important requirement and ads to ‘pay’ for the software. It’s three Microsoft 365 for Windows apps but with restrictions on what it can do and where documents are saved. If you download from this page at
Is there a way to use Microsoft Word’s “Master Document” feature with OneDrive? No, but only because Microsoft won’t fix it. Master Documents in Word won’t work on OneDrive. You might think that after all of Microsoft’s efforts to get customers using their cloud storage, the company would make sure
Why does moving Documents to OneDrive (a so-called “Backup”) stop Outlook from working with PST files and what can be done to fix it? It’s a bug in Outlook (classic) but easily fixed. This is a long-standing bug in Outlook (classic) which Microsoft shows no interest in acknowledging, let alone
Why do some Windows folders, like My Documents, move to OneDrive, seemingly without permission or warning. Microsoft wants everyone to put all their files on OneDrive or SharePoint for organizations. Sometimes the company gets sneaky and tricks people into making the switch. Many people swear they didn’t ask for their
Here’s how to stop Copilot prompts appearing in your documents, sheets and slides. Microsoft 365 customers are now seeing “Copilot Clutter” appearing in their Microsoft 365 apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint. There is now a way to Disable Copilot available to some Microsoft 365 customers A Microsoft executive expressed surprise
Microsoft has rolled out a new AI credits system for its Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers. It’s a fixed monthly limit on Copilot AI features across all Microsoft applications. They are a key part of the HUGE changes to Microsoft 365 but somewhat overlooked in the media coverage. What
Choosing the cheaper and Copilot/AI-free Microsoft 365 Classic plan might seem like a good idea but beware the hidden traps in that choice. Plenty of online ‘experts’ are urging Microsoft 365 Personal or Family customers to switch to the Microsoft Classic plans (Personal or Family) option because its: Before changing
What to do if you see one of those ‘square barcodes’? How can you convert that into something useful like a web link or phone number? You see them in ads, signs, billboards, test and trace signs and even menus – little square blobs like this: What are QR Codes and how
QR Codes are those funny little boxes you see in apps and signs. They were once a bit unusual but COVID have made them part of our lives. You can add them to your Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents. Scan that code with your smartphone camera and it’ll read information,
Adding barcodes and QR codes into Word documents and mail merges is remarkably easy though hidden from view for no good reason. There are two unlisted field codes that drop barcodes or QR codes into a Word document. No need for special fonts, calls to web sites, VBA code or
