Newsletter Archives

• How to dig into Excel files using the Office XML file format

  Posted on May 27, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.22 • 2024-05-27

  OFFICE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  The tools built into Excel assume colleagues might make honest mistakes. If you suspect something more nefarious, look in the XML of the file for clues.

  Last time, I looked at what’s inside an Office document. In essence, it is a package of different files that contain both the content and the formatting of your document, kept together in what is effectively a ZIP file.

  For Excel, this file collection also includes a lot of information about how a spreadsheet was put together.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.22.0, 2024-05-27).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Office Excel, File Formats, Newsletters, Office, Office Open XML, XML

• Understanding Office document formats

  Posted on April 29, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  OFFICE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Inside every Office file is a hierarchy of formats and XML markup.

  If you understand these structures, you can use that knowledge to extract information directly from most Office app files.

  When Word, Excel, and PowerPoint first came out, they stored documents in proprietary binary file formats, with text, styles, page layout, and multimedia all encoded in the same file. That was fairly efficient: the binary file is compact, and there’s only one file to copy per document when you want to move it around or share it with someone.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.18.0, 2024-04-29).

  Office Excel, File Formats, Newsletters, Office, Office Open XML, Open XML SDK, PowerPoint, Word, XML

• Making the most of Signal on Windows

  Posted on March 25, 2024 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  PRIVACY

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Signal is much more than just a phone app: you no longer have to give anyone your phone number, and you may not even need a smartphone for it.

  Last week, I looked at why you would want to pick Signal for secure messaging with real privacy and full end-to-end encryption — on your PC rather than just on your phone.

  In fact, besides giving you the same secure messages and group chats on your desktop as on your phone, Signal for Windows also gives you some extra features you won’t find in the smartphone app.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.13.0, 2024-03-25).

  Privacy Newsletters, Signal, Signal for Windows, SMS, tips, WhatsApp

• Secure messaging on Windows with Signal

  Posted on March 18, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.11 • 2024-03-18

  PRIVACY

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Signal is a smartphone secure-messaging app that also works in Windows. Here’s why you want it, and how to get started.

  Sometimes you need to send a message that you can be certain will stay private. Perhaps a friend urgently needs a place to stay while you’re out of town, and you must give them your alarm code (and maybe tell the neighbor who has your spare key how to recognize them).

  Or perhaps you want to discuss a medical condition, or something that’s perfectly legal but might still get you into trouble at work, such as whistleblowing or staging a protest.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.12.0, 2024-03-18).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Privacy Instagram, Mastodon, Newsletters, RCS, Signal, SMS, Twitter, WhatsApp, X

• Save time with AutoCorrect!

  Posted on March 4, 2024 at 02:43 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  OFFICE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  You can make AutoCorrect more useful by adding your own corrections and copying those to wherever you need them.

  Whenever you mistype one of several dozen commonly misspelled words while using Word and other Office apps (and even the Office Web apps), Office automatically corrects your spelling.

  Fortunately, AutoCorrect is a lot less aggressive than in the early days of Word, when a major investment bank famously found itself referred to in correspondence as “Goddamn Sachs.” And unlike smartphones, where you must rely upon spotting and then reversing embarrassing automatic text corrections before you send the message, Office gives you complete control over what gets corrected.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.10.0, 2024-03-04).

  Office AutoCorrect, MS Office AutoCorrect, Newsletters, Office, OneNote, Proofing, Spellcheck, Word

• Edge Workspaces for work and play

  Posted on February 5, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.06 • 2024-02-05

  By Mary Branscombe

  Given how often we all share links to webpages, it’s past time for some tools to manage that better. Workspaces is Microsoft’s latest attempt to share and organize Web links with a group of friends or colleagues.

  Tab groups in the Edge browser are great for organizing yourself, especially now that you can sync between your different desktop devices. But they don’t help with organizing Web links you need to send to someone else, or the ones other people send to you.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.06.0, 2024-02-05).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Browsers Edge, Microsoft Edge, Newsletters, sharing, Tabs, Web Browsers, Workspaces

• How to manage tabs in Edge

  Posted on January 15, 2024 at 02:44 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  BROWSERS

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft’s browser has multiple ways to manage, group, and share tabs.

  Tools for managing the tabs in your Web browser are nothing new, but Edge has multiple options, depending on whether you want to categorize, sync, or share those tabs. It even has some clever tricks to teach familiar old tab groups — including a long-requested feature which appeared just last week.

  A key aspect I’ll cover here is the difference between groups and collections.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.03.0, 2024-01-15).

  Browsers Edge, Newsletters, Synchronization, Tabs, Web Browsers

• The state of OneNote in 2023

  Posted on December 26, 2023 at 02:44 CST by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  ONENOTE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Progress on the unified Windows version of OneNote has delivered only a handful of new features this year, but the foundations might finally be finished.

  2024 will mark five years since Microsoft restarted work on the desktop Windows client and three years since it decided to cherry-pick some favorite OneNote features for Windows 10 before it reaches end of life in October 2025. Software development always takes longer than expected, especially with the impact of a global pandemic, so I want to look back at the progress OneNote has made in 2023 and then see where Microsoft has been focusing its investments.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.52.0, 2023-12-26).

  OneNote Copilot, Fluid, Loop components, Newsletters, OneNote, OneNote 2016, OneNote 365, OneNote for Windows, User Interface

• Moving from Evernote to OneNote

  Posted on September 11, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  ONENOTE

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft no longer has a tool to help you move from Evernote to OneNote, but there are two utilities that can make it less painful.

  When OneNote was first introduced back in the days of the original Tablet PC, it wasn’t the only app to help you keep track of your notes. Evernote — originally named for its approach of an endless scrolling piece of digital paper, like a toilet-paper roll or till receipt — launched around the same time.

  In light of the recent layoffs of almost everyone who worked on Evernote after the company was bought by Bending Spoons, that name might now look a little ironic.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.37.0, 2023-09-11).

  OneNote Conversion, Evernote, Newsletters, OneNote

• SMB security changes in Windows 11 might affect your NAS, too

  Posted on August 28, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS 11

  By Mary Branscombe

  It’s going to get harder and harder to connect to your NAS as a guest with SMB. That’s a good thing for security, but it could be a problem if your hardware is older.

  The Server Message Block (SMB) network file-sharing protocol lets Windows applications read and write files stored on servers in your network, including Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems. SMB underpins a lot of Windows network technologies, such as Storage Spaces Direct and even network printing. The print spooler is essentially just a file, after all.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.35.0, 2023-08-28).

  Windows 11 Home Networks, NAS, Newsletters, SMB Signing, SMBv1, SMBv3

• More Microsoft Rewards tips and tricks

  Posted on August 14, 2023 at 02:43 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  You can earn points by playing games on Xbox — even if you don’t have a Game Pass subscription — or even by learning about new games!

  Last week, I looked at all the ways you can earn daily and weekly Microsoft Rewards points by using the Bing search engine and the Edge browser. But if you have access to an Xbox, you can earn significantly more points, even if you’re not a regular gamer.

  The number of apps involved depends on where you live and how much you travel, because the Rewards program has become attractive enough to exploit.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.33.0, 2023-08-14).

  Microsoft Bing, Edge, Loyalty Programs, Microsoft, Newsletters, Rewards, Travel, Windows, Xbox

• Make the most of Microsoft Rewards

  Posted on August 7, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Mary Branscombe • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.32 • 2023-08-07

  MICROSOFT

  

  By Mary Branscombe

  Microsoft will give you points for using Bing, and more!

  Welcome to this first of a two-part series on how to earn rewards points, where to spend or donate them, and how to maximize your earnings.

  You can view the Rewards program as a bit of a bribe to use Microsoft’s search engine and browser, or you can see it as getting your share of the advertising money Microsoft earns on Bing and MSN. Every search engine makes money, but only Microsoft shares it with users through what’s now called Microsoft Rewards.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.32.0, 2023-08-07).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Microsoft Bing, Edge, Loyalty Programs, Microsoft, Newsletters, Rewards, Windows
• « Older Entries

  Newer Entries »