Microsoft has a number of free programs that you can use to view (but not change) Microsoft Office documents. USING THE FREE OFFICE VIEWERS Microsoft has a number of free programs that you can use to view (but not change) Microsoft Office documents. In this issue we’ll show you why
What would make an effective ODF plug-in for MS Office? In a previous article we talked about Microsoft’s clever move to ‘outsource’ an Open Document Format (ODF) plug-in for Microsoft Office. Rather than do it themselves, it’s going to be done by an group of outside companies and ODF supporters.
A potentially serious nastie has been released which could affect Microsoft Office users. Over the weekend a potentially serious nastie has been released which could affect Microsoft Office users. There’s NO fix for the security hole in Office which the virus exploits which makes it more serious than a usual
Many readers have asked if Microsoft is trying to stop Office Watch being read! We’d prefer to think not. IS MICROSOFT FILTERING OFFICE WATCH EMAIL? Many readers have asked if Microsoft is trying to stop Office Watch being read! They’ve noticed that our newsletters are sometimes caught in the Outlook
Microsoft has announced a ‘covenant not to sue’ which applies to the Office 2003 formats and will apply to the Office 2007 once the formats are finalized. MICROSOFT’S COVENANT NOT TO SUE Microsoft has always been torn between keeping their Office document formats exclusive to them (which keep people tied
In this article we look at the AutoText, AutoFormat, and SmartTags tabs in the AutoCorrect Options dialog box. MAKING AUTOCORRECT DO THE WORK FOR YOU – PART 2 By Kara Monroe In the last edition of Office for Mere Mortals we looked at the first two tabs of the AutoCorrect
Microsoft continues to bury their head about the forced upgrades of Office being mandated after Redmond lost part of a patent trial. MORE PATENT PROBLEMS Microsoft continues to bury their head about the forced upgrades of Office being mandated after Redmond lost part of a patent trial. Details in last
News on Office for Mac and the effect of the move to Intel-based Macintosh. With Macintosh computers moving to use Intel chips the whole question of software compatibility arises. As usual, we received some questions from concerned Office users and looking at the public statements from Microsoft we find it
Microsoft has a New Years gift to their customers, otherwise known as the Windows / WMF exploit. A few days ago in this newsletter we said that 2006 would be an interesting year – perhaps in the manner of the Chinese curse. Who knew Microsoft would make the curse come
We continue our look at the “Replace” function in Office by examining more advanced replacing techniques. By Michael Barden In the last issue of Office for Mere Mortals we looked at how to search within a document in the various Office programs. There is a lot of hidden power accompanying the
We look at the basics of replacing text, followed by more specifics such as replacing formatting and special characters such as paragraph marks. By Michael Barden In the last issues of Office for Mere Mortals (part 1 and part 2) we looked at how to search within a document in the
Strip away the hype and “Office Live” means very little in the short term for customers. It’s a catchy title but what does it mean? Strip away the hype and “Office Live” means very little in the short term for customers. The announcement of Windows Live and Office Live were little more
CRM v3.0 is about to be released and from what we’ve seen it looks quite good. For some years Microsoft has had a Customer Relationship Management package – CRM but it’s been quite limited. It’s been so limited that we’ve barely considered it worth mentioning here in Office Watch. As
A recent deal between Google and Sun has some people thinking that a web-based version of an office suite is imminent. Google and Sun must have loved the media coverage last week. As soon as it became known that the two companies would make some announcements the rumor mill went
Microsoft have released the Office 2004 for Mac service pack 2. Over on the precursor for Windows Vista / Longhorn (aka Mac OS X) there is a new update. I expect most people will get this update via the Microsoft update service for Mac but if not you can open
Much of the talk about the UI (user interface) has been ill-informed and there’s been something of a knee-jerk reaction against the whole idea. We’ve sat down and spent some hours working with the new interface and think we have a pretty good idea of its benefits and pitfalls. There’s
Ever wondered how web sites put the same headings, sidebars and footer on each web page? For many versions, Frontpage has had a way to do that called ‘Shared Borders’.
After many years, Microsoft has released to the public an update service for all its products, not just Windows. After many years, Microsoft has released to the public an update service for all its products, not just Windows. The new Microsoft Update, which replaces the old Windows Update, has been
We look at the faux printer that comes with Office 2003 plus the Document Imaging Tool that brings the scanning tool (mentioned in part 1) and the imaging writer together into a useful trio. By Helen Bradley and Peter Deegan This is a ‘printer’ that actually saves the document as
It has taken too long but Microsoft has finally released a fix for the ‘slow down’ problem with Tablet PC’s using the 2005 edition of the operating system. It has taken too long but Microsoft has finally released a fix for the ‘slow down’ problem with Tablet PC’s using the
A Windows Server with Terminal Services application server is a great way to make Office available to remote users or staff who only have occasional need of access and don’t warrant installing an entire computer. A Windows Server with Terminal Services application server is a great way to make Office
Intelore has a series of recovery tools for Word, Excel, Access and Outlook plus Project and Outlook Express. There are plenty of tools out there to unlock a password protected document including the long-time Office Watch supporter lostpassword.com but it’s always nice to see new players in a software market. Intelore has
About the rival document formats coming soon … OPENDOCUMENT VS OFFICE 2007 DOCS While most of the talk has been about the upcoming document format change in Office 2007 there are also a competitive set of Office file formats to consider. The OpenDocument format is internationally recognized standard for Office
Adding text to an incoming message might help find it later – especially if the message isn’t clear or comes from an unusual source. After last week’s article, another use for editing an existing email message occurred to us and it relates to the much faster ability to search in
