Excel 365’s new Stock data type has the potential to be really great. Here’s how to report problems to Microsoft so they can fix them. Real people read the bug reports, especially for a new and developing feature like Linked Data Types. The bug reports help Microsoft staff identify problems
A truly interesting new Excel feature is now going public. Stock and Geography are the first two Linked Data Types (LDT) that bring stock prices and geographic info direct into Excel 365. Stock data type gives you information on stocks and indexes from over 60 global stock exchanges. No messing
Microsoft has released four security patches that all Outlook for Windows need to protect from newly discovered bugs. The patches apply to Outlook 365, 2019, 2016, 2013 and 2010 for Windows and are available today. The four Outlook security bugs are related. They involved a hacked .RWZ file that could
A previously theoretical way to misuse Office documents to infect your computer is now ‘in the wild’ and Microsoft isn’t interested in stopping it. Last week we told you about a new way for Office documents to get malware onto your computer. Cymulate discovered that the Online Video feature could
The latest ‘Insiders Fast Track’ Outlook for Windows has an interesting but somewhat incomplete new feature for managing appointments called ‘End appointments early’. It’s an overall setting at File | Options | Calendar | End appointments and meetings early. There are ‘end early’ choices for meetings: Less than one hour
A little side-trick for converting text dates to Excel dates is replacing the text separator. Excel lets you replace text within the selected cells only. If the text dates are in the correct order (e.g. m/d/y ) but use the wrong separator for your Windows regional setting (e.g. m-d-y ).
A badly managed switch to Office 365 made it hard for staff and passengers at London’s Victoria Station. An uninstall message for Office 2010 appeared over the important platform display. The Register reports that the platform status displays, not the main board were hard to read because an Office 365
Yet another breakdown of Office 365 servers makes like difficult for customers. Users were unable to login with their Office apps or to Microsoft hosted Exchange Servers. It’s not clear how widespread the problems were. It happened on 31 October 2018 but took twelve hours to repair. That’s a disappointingly
Office 365 enterprise customers will soon receive tips emails from Microsoft directly and without ‘opting in’. Microsoft calls them “helpful product training and tips” but aren’t being greeted with the enthusiasm that the company might be expecting. They’re reported to be starting on 29 November 2018 to all Office 365
Speed Running, a gamers pastime has come to Microsoft Word. Finding ways to type the numbers 1 to 100 in the fastest time. If you’re unfamiliar with speed running, as we were, it’s playing and recording a pass through a game aiming to complete as fast as possible. Someone came
Changing an Excel formula into the values is amazingly easy. It’s just a copy and special paste. Another way to think of it is deleting the formula but leaving the results in the cells. Select the cells. In this case from our article on converting text cells into Excel dates.
The new iPad Pro’s announced today by Apple come with an extra cost to use Microsoft Office. Office Mobile apps for iPad are usually free for everyone. There are some extras for Office 365 customers but most of the app features are available for all comers. But the new iPad
It was inevitable that scammers would start using Office 365 as the basis for email scams, here’s what to look out for and how to avoid any dangerous web links. The scams are similar to the fake emails that pretend to come from banks and other large companies. They try
The 2018 Scrabble World Championship is over. How does the Microsoft Word spell check fare against the Scrabble champs? Microsoft Word has slightly different dictionaries for many English language variations (US, UK, Australian etc). Word’s English dictionaries different from the official Scrabble dictionary. Among the words in the final rounds
A judgement from the US Court of Appeals turned on the Word Count feature in Microsoft Word and how it differs from the rules for court submissions. Most courts have rules about the length of submission which, in this case, were accidently exceeded. The plaintiff is representing himself (‘pro se’)
Adding or subtracting months in Excel is easier with the Edate() function. As you probably know, Excel uses whole numbers to calculate dates. Add 1 to an Excel date adds a day. How to add a whole month? How to make Excel jump a whole calendar month? For example from
Various ‘news’ stories going around promising a trick to getting Office 2019 for free … don’t believe it. We know a way to get Office 2019 cheap, but not free. Maybe these ‘Office 2019 for free’ stories are deliberate clickbait or horribly ill-informed, either way they’re quite wrong. As often
Microsoft has released Office 2019 for Windows or Mac to the Home Use Program. Just $15 gets qualifying employees Office 2019 Professional Plus for Windows or Office 2019 Home and Business for Mac. The Home Use Program (HUP) is part of the Software Assurance package for Volume Licence customers. Employees
Coming to Word 365 for Windows are more Ink Editor gestures plus a pop-out pane to explain the gestures available. Ink Editor is on the Draw menu. It’s a way to use a digital pen to edit existing text. For example, draw a squiggly line through some words to delete
Microsoft Office for Windows is gradually changing the software name to Office 365 . It’s being done slowly, almost by stealth but it’s happening. Keen eyed readers have noticed a gradual change on the Microsoft web site and software. We first mentioned it back in August 2018 but the software
We’ve added more to Real Time Excel, our comprehensive guide to adding the latest information into Excel easily and automatically. Real Time Excel already has in-depth coverage of Linked Data Types, a new and truly interesting addition to Excel for Windows. On 15 October 2018 we added a bit more
An Australian university has developed a font that will help you remember what you read. It sounds like an April Fool’s joke, but the font is real and works in Office for Mac or Windows. Sans Forgetica was made at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Unlike most fonts, Sans Forgetica
Adding email, calendar and contacts Live Tiles to the Windows Start Menu would seem like an obvious thing to do. Here’s how you can workaround to do it. On the Windows 8 and 10 large Start Menu are ‘Live Tiles’ which are updated to show the latest information. Some of
As Douglas Adams said, Don’t Panic. There are problems with the Windows 10 October 2018 major update but they won’t strike you if you’re careful. The October 2018 update has been suspended by Microsoft after reports that documents/files were being deleted during the update process. Not good at all. The
