The BBC has released some high-quality images from their famous TV shows to be used as online meeting backgrounds or in PowerPoint slides. Pick from Doctor Who (old or new), Fawlty Towers, Yes Minster, Match of the Day, Eastenders and more. Consider using these BBC TV backgrounds in PowerPoint for
The official Star Wars web site has some pictures that you can use as virtual backgrounds for your Zoom or Teams online calls. Also great for PowerPoint slides. Go to https://www.starwars.com/news/star-wars-backgrounds , click on an image to open the full version then right-click on the picture and choose ‘Save image
There are shortcuts that automatically format bold and italic text in Word. The same shortcuts and more work in WhatsApp texting as well. There are now four more formatting options; bullet lists, numbered lists, quotes and inline code. AutoFormatting Bold and Italics as you type In Microsoft Word and Outlook
Someone send you an audio or video file but it won’t play? There’s free software that can play any video, audio or music file, pretty much. VLC is a free, reliable and widely used audio and video player https://www.videolan.org/ it’s available for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android and Linux. You
Here’s a fun web site that will play office background noises to your home office or online meeting. https://imisstheoffice.eu/ is part game, part ambient noises. Hard to believe there’d be a time when you’d miss the ambience and noises of the office? Click on items to see what happens, some
There’s a simple trick to make WhatsApp send full size, original pictures instead of smaller versions that WhatsApp usually sends. Sending the original, unchanged picture is better for display on larger screens and especially for editing the image. It’s best to have good resolution pictures in Word and especially PowerPoint
Here’s the types of documents you can send with WhatsApp plus a trick for sending ‘non approved’ file types or larger files. A long time ago, WhatsApp’s ‘document support’ would only let you send PDF documents. (strictly speaking, any file with a .PDF extension). Happily, that’s been expanded to a
Taking an image of what’s on your computer screen is something everyone with a computer should know; novice or experienced. Here’s a guide to some of the many screen shot options and shortcuts available on Windows, Mac, Apple iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Why? More people should use screen shots when
There’s no way to stop someone copying a picture of your signature (or any image) but there are some tricks to stop the image being misused. Thanks to Office Watch reader, Tim P. for the excellent question: “I liked your article on inserting signatures. In relation to inserting a picture
There are some nifty tricks to inserting a picture of your signature into a Word or other document. Tips that make the result look realistic and professional. We’ve already explained the many ways to get a picture of your ink signature into Office. Now you have a picture of your
Adding your signature or signing a document digitally is possible in different ways using Microsoft Word or other Office programs. Before we start, let’s clarify some terminology because ‘signing a document’ can mean several things in the computer world: Adding a signature to a document. Inserting a copy of a
Make WhatsApp send and receive the original, full size picture on Android devices for editing and viewing on larger screens. Usually, WhatsApp sends a small version of an image not the full size original but there’s a simple workaround. Find out more at Make WhatsApp send full size, original photos iPhone
Usually, WhatsApp sends a small version of an image not the full size original. Here’s how to send the proper picture on iPhone for editing and viewing on larger screens. In short: send the image using the Document option instead of Camera! Also for Android! Send a full size, original
There are many online tools that will summarize or paraphrase a long Word document into something shorter and more readable. These five tools also have other uses. Originally, Word 2007 had an Auto Summarize feature, but it was dropped in Word 2010, so Word users will need to rely on
Qantas, the Australian airline, as released some nice background images for virtual meetings, calls and beyond. Though some of the picture choices are strange. There are photos in the cabin, outside and cockpit (especially nice because public access is barred these days). The preview doesn’t do the images full justice,
Here’s new suggested backgrounds for Teams, Zoom or other calls, dug out of Microsoft’s not always illustrious past. In other words, they are trying to rewrite the history of Clippy, again. Clippy The new Clippy image is part of Microsoft’s ongoing revisionist history. This campaign seeks to convince people that
There’s a major gap between Meet Now in Teams and Skype which means you’ll want to keep both. Also two other features in Skype but not Meet Now plus another reason that Microsoft doesn’t like talking about. Meet Now is Microsoft’s newer computer-to-computer calling and virtual conferencing service. It’s linked
WhatsApp desktop extensions (Windows and Mac) can now make and receive voice or video calls. Until now the desktop apps where limited to texting and sending attachments. If you use WhatsApp (or Signal), the desktop extensions are really great. Instead of pecking away on a tiny screen, you can type
News that WhatsApp is sharing more data with Facebook (the owner) has led to a stampede of people moving to more private alternatives. But which – Signal or Telegram? Secure messaging is an important way to safely and quickly exchange any type of file or document. Even if you’re not
The famous Bodleian Library in Oxford is a lovely place to work and now you can pipe that ambience into your ‘Work from Home’ area. More than a few Office Watch articles are written in libraries including the old British Library Reading Room (alas been closed for some years), the
Modern Word has a powerful ‘Speech to Text’ option ‘Dictate’ which works a lot better than similar options in the past. If you’d tried and been disappointed with dictating into Word, it’s time to give it another try. Dictate is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers with Office 365 software
A few quick notes if you’re buying a Chromebook to use with Microsoft Office. 4.5 ways to use Microsoft Office on a Chromebook ChromeOS is essentially the Chrome browser running in a separate device. Any web site or web based application that can run in the browser will work on
How to make a computer setup suitable for the elderly or infirm. Something that’s simple ‘turn on and it’ll work’ and needs little or no action by the recipient or their carers. Bill Chubb wrote to us with his solution for keeping in touch with his wife in a nursing
Anyone who has tried to buy a webcam knows they are now expensive or there’s a long wait for delivery. There’s a very cheap alternative to a webcam that you can use today for very little money and the camera could be better than separate camera. We weren’t surprised to
