Fast access to important Outlook features! The ribbon in Outlook isn’t the only way to efficiently things done. Use the keyboard shortcuts that have been available in Outlook (Windows or Mac) for Microsoft 365 or Office 2024 and many earlier versions. Outlook for Windows Here are some keyboard shortcuts that
Quickly change between Outlook views using these keyboard shortcuts that work for three different Outlook’s, Windows classic and new plus Outlook for Mac. With all the changes in Outlook for Windows or Mac, it’s nice to see that some keyboard shortcuts have survived all the upheavals. This works with both
Outlook for Windows and now Mac have a ‘Recall Message’ option for messages already sent but is now not needed, been replaced or you’ve realized was a mistake. But Recall isn’t all that Microsoft says it is. A ‘recall’ request message either to delete the message or sometimes replace it.
Word’s grammar checker is good, very good but it’s not perfect. Here’s the latest example of wrong advice under that blue underline. Office Watch reader, Simone J from Berlin sent us this English language anomaly in Word. “Your Latin and calligraphy skills are some of the best I’ve even seen”
Calculating a simple percentage increase in Excel seems simple but, as usual, there’s a traps for the unwary. Here’s a smarter and more consistent way to figure out % change. First we’ll go over some basics which you’re welcome to skip … The formula for calculating a percentage change is
Excel has a slightly different order of calculation to the BODMAS rule taught to us at school. Those variations are important and can give a result you didn’t expect. Ray E from Iowa asked about one of those tricky algebra questions that appear on social media and generate heated arguments
Once upon a time there was just one ‘Microsoft Outlook‘ but these days there are at least eleven current programs or services under the ‘Outlook’ name * and two programs called “Outlook for Windows”. That’s before counting past versions that are still supported. You’re totally excused for being confused because
Word field codes let you add automation or automatic content into documents. A simple example is the { DATE } field, which inserts the current date into a letter but there’s a lot more possible. Chances are good that you’ve already used field codes and not realised it. Date, PrintDate,
Microsoft Word’s English dictionaries can be confusing because they don’t always mark incorrect spelling differences between US and UK English (like color/colour). We did some tests with surprising results. English spellings can get screwy as you move between countries and there’s a lot more overlap than many people realize or
How and why to remove words from the main Microsoft Word dictionary. The Office Exclusion List ensures a red squiggly underline appears to warn you about an unwanted word. Sometimes the supplied Office dictionary has words you don’t want or you’d like a warning about. Here’s how to put the
The many different Microsoft Outlook versions have a way to block images linked to emails, that includes the so-called ‘spy pixels’ used by many companies. See ‘Spy Pixels’ email epidemic, the good and the bad You can choose to view pictures in an Outlook email by clicking a button at
If Word doesn’t recognize personal words such as your name, the name of your hometown or the name of your favorite actor, it flags it as a mistake with the familiar red squiggly line. Here’s how to fix that. You can choose to add your words to the app’s custom
Get Economic data or graphs from FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) to load into your Excel workbooks or PowerPoint slides. From unemployment rates to the price of potato chips. FRED has 825,000 data sets for the USA and around the world. Tip: search FRED for your country (Canada, United Kingdom,
Word can do simple calculations because Word for Windows has its very own built-in calculator. Calculate in Word has some nice tricks but also problems and traps. Type a calculation, hit the button (see below) and the result appears in the status bar AND it’s loaded into the clipboard ready
How to get greater accuracy out of Word’s in-built calculator. Recently, we unearthed Word’s hidden calculator. Word rounds its calculator results to two decimal places. This time, we’ll take a look at the two ways to improve the accuracy of Word calculator results. Use an old maths trick or change
You haven’t heard about it? Don’t worry, even Microsoft has no information about this feature, unless you dig way back into its archives where you’ll find that the calculator – which formerly held a prominent position on the Tools Menu – was driven underground in Word 6.0 to make way
How to show currency amounts in Excel with the country and correct currency symbol included. Excel doesn’t support the standard way that different currencies are displayed with their country codes like this: Dig into the Accounting/Currency Formats and you’ll find these among a VERY long list of currency symbol options.
Pantone’s color of the year for 2025 is “Mocha Mousse”. You can use that exact color in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and Designer using the Hex/RGB color code. And we’ll look at the flowery prose that’s become a hallmark of this annual promotion. The color of 2025 is … Mocha
My favorite Outlook calendar view is very useful but most people don’t know it’s there. See today and the next week in one screen. I rarely care what’s happened in the past, I want to see what’s happening in the near future. That’s why my ‘Go To’ calendar view is
Enter the Ctrl + – (minus) shortcut in Excel. This powerful shortcut instantly deletes entire rows or columns without any confirmation. But there’s hidden trickery going on and some misleading info online. Ctrl + – is commonly said to “delete the selected row or column” but, as usual, the reality
Dig into a Microsoft Office document file, such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, and see its inner workings, here’s a straightforward method. It reveals the small files that comprise an Office document, mostly XML files, which you can easily explore with a text editor. Very occasionally it’s helpful or necessary
Yes, Microsoft Word lets you select vertical (up or down) text blocks. Most text selection in Word involves selecting horizontally – selecting a line or a paragraph of text. Sometimes, though, you need to select a vertical slab of text. To do that, hold down the Alt key while you
Here are the exact colour codes and new names for the ‘Overground’ lines in London, plus how to add a thick double line in Office documents just like on a Tube map. The changeover is happening in late November 2024. Some old rail lines in London were coloured Orange on
There’s a hidden trap in Microsoft Excel’s DateDif function that rarely gets a mention and is too easy to overlook. DateDif() is a long-standing Excel function that returns the duration between two dates. It’s not a ‘full’ Excel function because it was added for compatibility with Lotus 123 and has
