Newsletter Archives

• Mail Merge magic in Microsoft Word

  Posted on March 17, 2025 at 02:42 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Mail Merge is found under the Mailings tab in Word, but that title hides the extent of what the feature can do.

  Yes, it can combine any list of people, places, or things with a document to make letters, documents, emails, envelopes, labels, directories or lists — in bulk.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.11.0, 2025-03-17).

  Microsoft 365 Excel, Mail Merge, Newsletters, Office, Word

• 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

• 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

• Microsoft 365 vs. Office 2024 — which to buy?

  Posted on November 4, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.45 • 2024-11-04

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Comparing Microsoft 365’s subscription/rental to the single-purchase, perpetual-license Office 2024 “boxed” product is not quite the same as comparing apples to oranges, but it’s certainly not easy.

  I’ll try to present the facts and burst some myths so you can make your own decision based on your situation. I’ll also give my recommendation with reasons and concerns. See Is Office 2024 worth getting excited about? (AskWoody, October 14, 2024) for my overview of the latest perpetual-license Office.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.45.0, 2024-11-04).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Excel, Newsletters, Office, Office 2024, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word

• Is Office 2024 worth getting excited about?

  Posted on October 14, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  The new single-purchase, non-subscription version of Microsoft Office, released just a few weeks ago, is a replacement for Office 2021 and Office 2019.

  Those with a Microsoft 365 plan need not think about Office 2024, because the latter has a smaller set of features than the subscription version of Office.

  In this column, I’ll discuss what’s in Office 2024 and what it doesn’t include — and some features that Microsoft is uncharacteristically quiet about. I’ll also mention where to buy it for less.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.42.0, 2024-10-14).

  Microsoft 365 Access, Excel, Newsletters, Office, Office 2019, Office 2021, Office 2024, PowerPoint, Word

• User interface annoyances

  Posted on September 9, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  

  By Will Fastie

  The user interface for Windows 11 is changing almost monthly, and sometimes even more quickly.

  It’s not clear why, nor are the benefits of the changes explained. Many of the changes arrive silently and are noticed only when something doesn’t work as expected.

  Here are a few of my personal aggravations.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.37.0, 2024-09-09).

  Windows 11 Excel, File Explorer, Newsletters, Office 365, OneNote, Outlook, User Interface, Windows 11, Windows Lock Screen, Word

• What cheeses me off: Microsoft Office edition

  Posted on July 29, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  Having endured and written about Microsoft Office for more than two decades, I offer my list of annoyances and timewasters in Microsoft Office, especially Word.

  I came up with my top ten annoyances without breaking a sweat. Some are deliberate choices made by Microsoft to advance its own agenda or save money. Others have appeared over time as Microsoft has ignored the changing reality for its customers.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.31.0, 2024-07-29).

  Microsoft 365 Excel, Microsoft 365, Newsletters, Office, Outlook, Word
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