Newsletter Archives

• Ten stunning features in Microsoft Word

  Posted on October 2, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Microsoft Word has been around for so long, it’s easy to forget how great it really is.

  If you ask Microsoft about great Word features, they’ll drag out a list of recent innovations (starting and ending with “AI” and plenty of “cloud” in between). My own “stunning features” are things we take for granted, with some tips to make better use of them.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.40.0, 2023-10-02).

  Microsoft 365 Art, Collaboration, Indexes, Newsletters, Styles, Voice input, Word

• Where to store your OneNote notebooks

  Posted on August 22, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.34 • 2022-08-22

  ONENOTE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  OneNote is meant to be one place for all your notes, but even though it’s great to have one location to look at all your notes, you might want to have a bit more control about where those notes are actually stored.

  For many users, it might seem as if you didn’t have a choice: unless you’re using the Windows desktop version of OneNote and you paid for a license, your notebooks must be stored in OneDrive. That’s what allows them to sync onto any device you use — PC, Mac, iPhone, Android, or anything with a suitable Web browser.

  But even though your notebooks must be stored in OneDrive, they don’t need to be stored in the same OneDrive account you use for other things on that device. You can even open notebooks that are stored in someone else’s account, if they share them with you.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.34.0, 2022-08-22).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  OneNote Collaboration, Microsoft Accounts, Newsletters, OneDrive, OneNote, Synchronization

• Solo collaboration: Office’s untold advantage

  Posted on July 25, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.30 • 2022-07-25

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Modern Office app “collaboration” features are hyped by Microsoft for businesspeople to share a document. But all those features — comments, tracking, versioning, and multi-computer access — are available and useful for solo, personal work, too.

  Using the collaboration tools on your own is an easy way to become confident with those features without embarrassing yourself — nobody is looking over your shoulder. The same tools are useful to help you manage a complex document by leaving notes and reminders to yourself. The also help you recall deleted text and access the latest version from wherever you are.

  I’ll focus on Word in this article because it has the most comprehensive collaboration features. The same tips apply generally to Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, and even a little bit for Outlook.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.30.0, 2022-07-25).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Collaboration, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office, Newsletters

• All the stuff to use or ignore in Teams

  Posted on October 4, 2021 at 02:43 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Get a grip on Teams by exploring its “nuts and bolts,” including what to ignore, what’s compulsory, what’s possible, and why some people move away from Teams to get things done.

  Teams is confusing because Microsoft has thrown everything except the proverbial kitchen sink into it. Even people who’ve used it for a while get a little lost. Microsoft doesn’t help by making some elements compulsory — with no way to remove, hide, or even rename them. There’s a wide range of Teams apps that can be useful but also add to the confusion.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.38.0 (2021-10-04).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Collaboration, Microsoft 365, Office 365, Teams

• Still emailing documents?

  Posted on September 13, 2021 at 02:43 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Online collaboration with Microsoft 365 is a lot easier — and faster, too.

  Document collaboration is now possible and practical in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. By “practical,” I mean that the features work well in the real world, not just in Microsoft marketing’s fantasyland. Let’s look at the basics of using Office sharing with other people and, especially, with yourself.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.35.0 (2021-09-13).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Microsoft 365 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Collaboration, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office

• MS Word and Google Docs now play nicely together

  Posted on August 19, 2019 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  PRODUCTIVITY

  By Lance Whitney

  Just because you need to edit and share documents with someone who uses Google Docs doesn’t mean you have to renounce Word. It’s easy to work in both worlds. Here’s how.

  You’ve always used Microsoft Word to create and edit your documents. Over the years, you’ve become comfortable with its many tools, capabilities, and peccadillos. But now you need to collaborate with others who rely on Google’s productivity apps.

  Does that mean you have to adopt Google Docs as your default word processor? Not at all!

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.29.0 (2019-08-19).

  Office News AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Collaboration, Google Docs, sharing, Word