Microsoft has announced (indirectly) that Microsoft Office 2024 will be released in October 2024. Don’t buy Office 2021 now, better to wait until Office 2024 is released to get some more features for the same price. This nugget of news came via a Microsoft update announcement to administrators about the
Here are two ways to quickly make up list or tables of fake data to use in Excel worksheets. Use them to test a workbook or code. GenerateData.com There are a few websites that can make fake lists, we prefer https://GenerateData.com for its simple interface and many options. Just some
The Workplace Discount Program (formerly Home Use Program) offers 30% discounts on Microsoft 365 to employees of many organizations and government agencies. Here’s how the Workplace Discount Program (WDP) works, the tricks and traps. What is the Workplace Discount Program – WDP? Organizations (companies, governments etc.) that have Microsoft 365
The Windows Snipping Tool has a nifty little redaction shortcut that’s an undocumented secret. The Snipping Tool is available in Windows 11 and 10, the redaction feature (Microsoft calls it “Text Actions” is in Snipping Tool v11.2308.33.0 and later. Use Microsoft Store | Library | Updates to get the latest
An often-repeated myth says that Word’s spelling or proofing language default is locked into the Windows language setting. Officially that’s not true and never has been since the first Word for Windows in 1989. In practice there’s a bug in Word which is why this persistent myth keeps being repeated.
Excel 365 has two new translation functions to identify language from text or translate text from one language to another. Let’s see how the work, some problems and unknowns. New in Excel 365 are: DetectLanguge() to identify the language of the text supplied, hopefully correctly (see below) Translate() converts text
The Microsoft 365 Insiders blog is ending, sorta. kinda. Really, it’s just moving to another part of the Microsoft.com web site. For the last five years, the Microsoft 365 Insiders blog has been the place where the company boasts about new and changed features in the Insiders or beta versions
Many people are moving away from Evernote due to the high prices. Here’s the simple way to migrate all Evernote notebooks to Microsoft OneNote. Why move from Evernote? Evernote’s pricing has risen to unrealistic levels. The cheapest paid plan “Personal” is now US$129.99 which is more expensive than Microsoft 365
Having trouble changing Microsoft Word defaults? The ultimate way to change defaults is sure to work. It’s has been around since the very early days of Word and works for Outlook too! We often hear from people having trouble changing Word’s opening (default) settings for a new document. Various places
Word can spell and grammar check in many languages, here are three ways to switch the language settings plus how to turn off the pesky automatic language switching. Microsoft Word has language settings that can apply to a whole document or just selected text. This is vital for multi-language documents
There’s a simple but not so obvious way for Excel to take a list of values and show them grouped into segments or groups. As an example, here’s the results of a class exam with their scores grouped into blocks of 20. It’s done with a tricky use of PivotTables
We went hunting for koalas in Microsoft Office. Found more than 18 of the cuddly marsupials for Word, PowerPoint or Outlook. There are emoji, Office icons, SVG, online images and more making a colony or cling of koala (either can be the collective noun for koala). None of the endangered
“Temping” is a staple and sell-out each year at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It makes clever use of Microsoft Office, and we were lucky enough to get a ‘behind the scenes’ look. The show is a unique blend of interactive technology and narrative storytelling, where the solo audience member takes
Paid Copilot plans have some innovations in the Word 365 interface with a better way to Make Changes to text plus more paste options too. These changes are in Word 365 public releases linked to a paid Copilot plan. We found them in v2407 build 17830.20138 with Copilot Pro. Auto
A PDF file made from Microsoft Office or Windows may not look right because of an ongoing PDF bug with variable fonts. It’s been around for years with no sign of a fix. The problem arises when variable fonts are in documents exported to PDFs (either Save As … or
Microsoft 365 for Windows might crash while someone is just typing (you read that right). All the Office apps, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook or OneNote can be affected according to Microsoft, which knows about the problem and offers some workarounds. The problem is caused by an out-of-date language pack which
Clipchamp, Microsoft’s video editor is now boasting background removal which is great for tricks like adding a watermark or ‘bug to a video. But there’s some limitations or ‘gotchas’ to watch out for. Add an image to a Clipchamp timeline, right-click then choose ‘Remove Background’. Wait a few moments and
There are quicker ways to use the View Zoom slider in Microsoft Word and one little-known trick that works in other Microsoft Office apps, Excel and PowerPoint. Plus a related Windows volume tip. Scroll to View Zoom Hover the mouse pointer over the Zoom slider (bottom right in Word, Excel
This is how to change Word’s Zoom to your preferred Zoom settings instead of the defaults. Ray R writes … “I have been having some vision problems lately and have found that using Word’s zoom dialog to increase the displayed font size without changing it in the document or email
Understanding the difference between the United Kingdom, Britain, and England can be quite confusing. Here are some “simplified” “diagrams that might clarify things. Use this or make a SmartArt version for your PowerPoint or Word document. The late Michael Flanders had warning about usage of the terms. If it’s something good then
Excel 365’s Linked Data Types are technically impressive. However, the reliability of the data is a problem Microsoft doesn’t talk about. We discovered mistakes with the data without actively looking for them. In general, the data sources are ‘scraped’ from sites like Wikipedia which explains some, but not all, of
Some imported Outlook calendar items can’t be changed, here’s why and how to make the imported appointment editable. Understanding issues with an Outlook imported appointment can help you manage calendar inconsistencies. Usually an imported appointment (via a downloaded .ics file) can be edited just like most Outlook calendar items. Often
Zoom has a browser-based word processor to their Workplace range with some interesting features including what they call the Magical Key. Zoom Docs word processor aims to enhance productivity within its collaborative environments. Zoom Docs is designed to be used within Zoom group calls and many of the templates reflect
Microsoft says that the new Outlook for Windows is now generally available, but everyone should ignore that. Outlook (new) isn’t truly ready. It lacks vital features and has serious security shortcomings which are likely to frustrate anyone who relies on it. On 1 August 2024, Microsoft declared that Outlook (new)
