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
2025 is a special number, as various social media posts have pointed out. It can be calculated in some interesting ways like (20 + 25)2 = 2025. Naturally we had to convert these into Excel formulas. 2025 is 45 squared, in other words, a ”perfect square”. This last happened in
Here’s how to find out what type of Microsoft Office licence you have; Subscription, Retail, Volume or OEM and other hidden details of your Office license. For perpetual non-subscription versions of Office like Office 2024, Office 2021 or Office 2019, it’s important to know if your purchase is Retail/Volume or
Outlook (new) for Windows doesn’t support Mail Merge from Word. Just one of the many limitations of that software which is still a work in progress. We’ve heard from a few people that Microsoft has ‘dropped’ mail merge from Word but that’s not true. Word’s Mail Merge has been there for decades
Some last minutes Christmas tips to make personal gift tags, unique for the receiver (especially kids) using avatars or stickers, Plus coloring in pages to keep the littlies occupied. Avatars Put an avatar of the receiver on their Christmas gifts as personal gift cards. Go to the Avatar page on
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
Modern Excel lets you make a whole monthly calendar from just one cell formula. We’ll explain how it’s done with a sample workbook for our supporters. At its simplest, Excel can make a single month like this from a formula in cell A6 which fills all the cells with the
As if there weren’t enough problems with the latest Windows 11 24H2 update, now there’s a bug which can block Outlook with Google Workspace Sync. Microsoft tries ‘passing the buck’ to Google. The bug is in the Windows 11 24H2 update though Microsoft is quick to dismiss the problem as
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,
Keep a close eye on the increase/decrease decimals buttons on the Excel ribbon because Microsoft is changing them without warning. Increase / decrease decimals is a very common Excel feature to change the visible accuracy of a number. For example, choosing Currency or Accounting style (which defaults to two decimal
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
Action buttons in PowerPoint are versatile tools that bring interactivity and control to your presentations. By following a few simple steps, you can insert and customize these buttons to perform tasks such as navigating slides or opening external applications. Incorporating action buttons can greatly enhance audience engagement, making your presentation
The famous London Tube Roundel or station sign is easy to recreate for Word, PowerPoint or other Office apps. The best way to do this is SVG graphics in Microsoft 365, Office 2024/2021/2019/2016. SVG’s let you change the colors and set the text easily. They don’t have to be a
Harness the power of Excel with our Christmas Card and Email Manager! It’s designed to help you manage your Christmas messages—cards, letters, and emails—for both sending and receiving. Download it now and streamline your holiday communication for a limited time. Keep track of which Christmas messages you’ve sent and how,
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
Black Friday means many software deals, on Microsoft 365 and especially Microsoft Office. Here’s how to navigate the treacherous waters of Black Friday sales and ensure you get genuine products without falling prey to fraudulent offers and scams. Recognizing Too-Good-To-Be-True Deals It’s easy to be tempted by offers that seem
