Newsletter Archives

• Using Office apps with non-Microsoft cloud services

  Posted on April 7, 2025 at 02:45 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.14 • 2025-04-07

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  OneDrive and SharePoint aren’t the only cloud storage options available. There are others that will work inside modern Office apps, some with far superior security and privacy capabilities.

  Anyone who has read my past articles will know that I’m no convert to Microsoft’s “everything in the cloud” zeal. Cloud storage has uses for some documents and situations but not necessarily for everything, despite Microsoft insistence.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.14.0, 2025-04-07).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft 365 Box, Dropbox, Newsletters, Office, OneDrive, ProtonDrive, SharePoint

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Get Office Copilot now — without paying

  Posted on September 2, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  It’s possible to get many of the AI features promoted for Copilot without paying Microsoft $30 per month.

  What you’ll get is less streamlined than in the paid product, but it’s still approachable. Besides, the paid version isn’t yet anywhere nearly as good as the hype.

  In this article, I’ll explain some of the ways you can use free Copilot with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. You’ll be able to experiment and thus gain an appreciation for whether paid Copilot Pro or Copilot for Microsoft 365 are worth the cost.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.36.0, 2024-09-02).

  Microsoft 365 ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Copilot Pro, DALL-E, Generative AI, Google Gemini, Meta AI, Newsletters, Office

• Can Office and Windows play nice on ARM computers?

  Posted on August 19, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Peter Deegan • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT 365

  

  By Peter Deegan

  ARM-based computers are about to move from a nerd niche to a mainstream product with the arrival of Copilot+ PCs and the increasing popularity of Mac computers.

  What are the compatibility issues for running Windows apps, especially Microsoft Office, on this very different hardware?

  Though Windows and Office look the same on both ARM and Intel computers, their CPUs are fundamentally different. Under the hood, there are big differences in the software layers between the hardware and what you see on the screen. It’s a bit like the difference between a petrol and an electric car — both look and are driven the same, but they have hugely different engines and mechanics.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.34.0, 2024-08-19).

  Microsoft 365 Apple Silicon, ARM, Newsletters, Office, Office on Mac, Windows on ARM

• 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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