Newsletter Archives

• Microsoft 365 changes, and Copilot

  Posted on February 24, 2025 at 02:43 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Microsoft has made huge changes to its 365 consumer plans, including the intrusive addition of Copilot into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.

  It’s the biggest transformation of Microsoft 365 Personal and Family (Home) plans for over a decade. Worse, it’s led to inevitable misinformation and screwy advice on social media.

  These are changes that all Microsoft 365 customers need to understand.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.08.0, 2025-02-24).

  Microsoft 365 Copilot, Excel, Microsoft 365 Family, Microsoft 365 Personal, Newsletters, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

• Microsoft To Do

  Posted on February 3, 2025 at 02:45 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.05 • 2025-02-03

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Microsoft To Do is a vast expansion of, and improvement on, the basic Tasks feature in Outlook apps.

  Instead of just simple text and due dates, To Do has more organization options, sharing of task lists, and steps within a task — plus dedicated Windows, Mac and mobile apps, as well as a Web-based app.

  It’s available to everyone but works best with a Microsoft-hosted mailbox such as Outlook.com or Microsoft 365. There’s also integration into Outlook for Windows (classic and new) and macOS: if you click on the Tasks icon in Outlook, you’ll get To Do.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.05.0, 2025-02-03).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Microsoft To Do, Newsletters, Outlook (classic), Outlook (new), Outlook Calendar, Outlook Tasks, To Do

• A much better way to manage Excel formulas

  Posted on January 20, 2025 at 02:43 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Excel’s Advanced Formula Environment (AFE) is something that, once you get it, you will wonder how you lived without it.

  AFE gives a Visual Studio–like view of a formula and named elements, which is so much better than the formula bar.

  Even a simple formula can be hard to understand, especially if you didn’t write the formula in the first place.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.03.0, 2025-01-20).

  Microsoft 365 Advanced Formula Environment, AFE, Excel, Formulas, Microsoft Office, Newsletters, Python

• Microsoft 365 and Office in 2024 and beyond

  Posted on December 30, 2024 at 02:43 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Let’s do a low drone pass over another year of innovation and hype in Microsoft 365 and Office.

  Amazingly, there were some non-AI highlights.

  As I review what happened in 2024, I’ll also provide a few notes about what to watch out for in 2025.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.53.0, 2024-12-30).

  Microsoft 365 Advanced Paste, Aptos, ARM, Calibri, Copilot, Copilot Credits, Excel, fonts, Newsletters, Office 2016, Office 2019, Office 2024, Publisher

• No, Microsoft isn’t stealing your data to feed Copilot

  Posted on December 23, 2024 at 02:44 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Social media “experts” are touting a false “fix” to stop Microsoft from using your Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files to train Copilot AI. Microsoft has only itself to blame for customers being suspicious.

  According to this rumor, Microsoft quietly turned on a way to scrape Word and Excel documents to train its Copilot AI system. It then suggests a way to “opt out” of this “new” intrusion. Supposedly, disabling the “Connected Services” in modern Office (File | Options | Trust Center | Trust Center Settings | Privacy Options) will stop Microsoft from spying on documents and using them to train Copilot.

  Not true.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.52.0, 2024-12-23).

  Microsoft 365 AI Training, Copilot, Microsoft 365, Model Training, Newsletters, Office

• Stopping the migration to Outlook (new)

  Posted on December 16, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.51 • 2024-12-16

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  And other annoyances.

  Microsoft is trying to get people to switch over to Outlook (new) sooner, but there’s no need to do as Redmond wants. Here’s how the move from Outlook (classic) really works, how to stop a forced migration to the new Outlook until you’re ready, and why the switchover isn’t the end of the older Outlook.

  The immediate issue is that the Windows Mail and Calendar apps are being discontinued on December 31. That should not affect many Microsoft 365 or Office users, who are presumably using Outlook (classic) or some other email software.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.51.0, 2024-12-16).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Microsoft Office, Newsletters, Outlook, Outlook (classic), Outlook (new)

• Outlook (new) for Windows

  Posted on December 2, 2024 at 02:43 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  It’s been a big year for the new Outlook for Windows. Microsoft has removed the “preview” tag and is pushing it hard. But is Outlook (new) really ready for the public?

  A lot has changed since I gave Five reasons not to use the new Outlook; alas, not enough has changed in those key areas.

  Two major Outlook for Windows versions are now available, but they are very different.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.49.0, 2024-12-02).

  Microsoft 365 Classic Outlook, Microsoft, Newsletters, Outlook, Outlook (classic), Outlook (new)

• Microsoft 365 gets “Copilot Lite”

  Posted on November 11, 2024 at 02:43 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Microsoft is offering big changes to Microsoft 365 Family and Personal plans, which may eventually mean price increases for all customers.

  It’s a trial balloon which, if profitable for Microsoft, will be rolled out globally. Let’s look at the important limits on the Copilot feature, along with the significant rise in price. And I’ll also explain why it’s an opportunity for many AskWoody readers to lock in the current Microsoft 365 price and thus save some money.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.46.0, 2024-11-11).

  Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Lite, Microsoft 365 Consumer, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Newsletters
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