Microsoft Adaptive Accessories: One-minute review

Microsoft has been leading the proverbial charge for accessible technology for a while now, and the Microsoft Adaptive Accessories continues that trend. 

This line of PC peripherals feature four products, each with its own unique properties and purposes. We have the adaptive mouse along with a separate mouse tail and thumb support; the adaptive hub that works as a hybrid remote and keyboard that also connects and controls other devices; and the adaptive D-pad controller that can also be turned into a dual button and joystick controller.

Each product is 3D printed and is meant for easy disassembly and reassembly in order to combine different pieces together to create new gadgets, with the adaptive hub as the control center helping to manage all those specialized macros. Of course, you can set macros for each device on its own but the hub makes it easier to organize and even set unique profiles.

Because each device is 3D printed, the material used to build them is plastic, but the quality is still pretty solid and each one is Bluetooth compatible. However, these devices do have a learning curve, especially when it comes to setting unique macros for them. And while the official Microsoft page does have an FAQ on how to use them, it would have been more useful to include instructions in the packaging itself.

Once you start to learn the ropes of customizing your accessories, it becomes much easier and you realize just how complex and flexible the programming is for them. Not to mention how simple it is to physically customize them with different parts in order to better suit the needs of the user.

Microsoft Adaptive Accessories: Price and availability

• How much does it cost? Adaptive Mouse: $45 (£44 / AU$83); Adaptive Mouse Tail and Thumb Rest: $15 (£15 / AU$28); Adaptive Hub: $50 (£58 / AU$110); Adaptive D-pad: $40 (£39 / AU$73).
• Where is it available? Available now
• Where can you get it? Available in the US, UK, and Australia

Microsoft has ensured that these adaptive accessories are available in multiple regions, including both the UK and Australia. The Adaptive Mouse is $45 (£44 / AU$83), with the bonus Adaptive Mouse Tail and Thumb Rest costing $15 (£15 / AU$28). The Adaptive Hub is $50 (£58 / AU$110), and the Adaptive D-pad Button is $40 (£39 / AU$73).

And while the pricing itself isn’t too bad, it’s still a little on the steep side for those who may not have a surplus of funds to purchase the base accessory and the customization pieces. But it’s also important to consider that the tech going into these devices isn’t cheap, and neither is the build quality, despite being 3D-printed items.

• Value: 4.5 / 5

Microsoft Adaptive Accessories: Design and features

• Well-designed
• Material is affordable but not cheap
• Plenty of ports and Bluetooth compatible

The Microsoft adaptive accessories are 3D-printed, which makes both the materials and designs pleasantly simple. The devices are lightweight and small, making them easy to transport around. And yet they surprisingly don’t have that cheap plastic feel to them that plagues similarly small products, with well-made and sturdy forms and well-integrated tech. 

The main devices are in all-black but some of the extra add-ons are in different and bright colors that work well to signify each accessories’ purpose. The add-ons, like the mouse tail and thumb support, are just as lightweight and well-built as the main accessories.

Each accessory has a USB Type-C port for charging and connecting, as well as Bluetooth capabilities when paired with smart devices, laptops, or PCs that are also Bluetooth-compatible. The adaptive hub also has several ports including three Type-C USBs and five 3.5mm switches.

• Design: 5 / 5

Microsoft Adaptive Accessories: Performance

• Easy to attach add-ons to main device
• Macros feature a host of options and combinations
• Works with smart devices too

The full suite of Microsoft adaptive accessories is able to combine with various other add-ons, allowing them to be customized to best suit the needs of the user. For instance, the adaptive mouse itself is flat and keeps the wrist flat as it’s moved, which is perfect for those with carpal tunnel syndrome or other conditions that require the wrist to be held still. 

But other add-ons, like the mouse tail and thumb support, attach quite easily to the main device. The parts are fitted well and are of solid quality, so even if you put a bit too much pressure on them the pieces never feel on the cusp of breaking. 

The adaptive D-pad is handy for both work and play, with the base design made for those with limited movement to either assign macros to each direction, and the add-ons letting you transform it into a joystick or dual button setup.

As for the macros themselves, they work quite well, allowing you to essentially create and assign simple strings of instructions to each of these adaptive accessories that range from repetitive mouse or keyboard strokes to opening up various applications. 

There’s definitely a learning curve to setting and navigating all the possible options, as well as learning how to assign them to different profiles that can be switched between. The adaptive hub is a little more complex as well since it’s used as the base between several accessories and up to three profiles.

Our only issue is that due to the complexity of setting up these macros and even combining some of the add-ons with the accessories, there should have been clear instructions packaged with each device. Microsoft does have a surprisingly robust set of demonstrations and instructions, as well as a Disability Answer desk that includes American Sign Language and additional 3D-printing options from Shapeways. 

But some people may need those hard copy instructions with large print and pictures in order to better understand how to put together the accessories and create macros for them, something that feels like a major oversight for a product designed for people with disabilities.

• Performance: 4.5 / 5

Should I buy the Microsoft Adaptive Accessories?

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Microsoft Adaptive Accessories: Report card

How we test

We pride ourselves on our independence and our rigorous review-testing process, offering up long-term attention to the products we review and making sure our reviews are updated and maintained — regardless of when a device was released, if you can still buy it, it's on our radar.

Read more about how we test

• First reviewed December 2022

First introduced in 2007 for Mac, Apple Numbers is the iPhone maker's answer to the best-selling Microsoft Excel. It's part of the iWork suite that also includes Pages and Keynote. Like those other apps, Apple Numbers is only offered on Apple devices, including Mac, iPad, and iPhone. However, there's also a web-based solution available to anyone with an iCloud account and a browser. 

Its clean looks and ease of use have always been a strong selling point for Apple Numbers. But, unfortunately, because it's not available on Windows or Android, its usefulness is limited to only a handful of users. 

Apple Numbers: Plans and pricing

Apple once charged for Numbers and the rest of the iWork suite. However, since 2017, the apps have been entirely free to use across multiple devices. In addition, Apple's iMovie and GarageBand also became free at the same time. You'll find Apple Numbers preinstalled on Mac and iPad; you can download your free copy for iPhone on the App Store. 

Apple Numbers: Features

As any Microsoft Excel user will tell you, that software title uses tables as its primary container with other media types thrown in as optional add-ons. By contrast, Apple Numbers takes a free-form "canvas" approach where tables are just one of many types of media you can place on a document. This difference is reasoning enough for long-time Microsoft Excel users never to make the switch. And yet, Apple Numbers doesn't target those users. Instead, it's focused on creative types, students, and everyday home users who want to create eye-opening, sometimes splashy, documents that happen to include tables in most cases. As Apple explains currently on the Numbers webpage, with the app, "Everything adds up. Beautifully."

With this in mind, different features stand out about Apple Numbers that make it worth considering starting with its many templates. 

Like its companion app, Apple Pages, Apple Numbers offers a range of mockups you can use to begin a new document. These take different forms, including personal finance, business, and education. Once you select a template, even a blank one, you can quickly add your information and make adjustments. It's also possible to create templates as starting points for future documents. Better still, you can access them on any device using iCloud. The many pre-packaged templates include ones for keeping track of net worth, shared expenses, there's even a travel planner and many more. 

One of Apple Numbers' newest and most valuable features is reimagined forms. With a new setup, forms are much easier to create and customize. In addition, forms are available across multiple devices and look especially impressive on iPads, where digital form creation is perhaps most needed. 

Moving on, although Microsoft Excel has more built-in functions, Apple Numbers isn't lacking here. It supports hundreds of functions, and the app's intuitive controls make it possible to perform complex calculations in just a few steps. You can also quickly explore patterns and trends with the Pivot Tables data analysis tool.

Meanwhile, iPad users with an Apple Pencil will find value from the handwriting tool that's built into every iWork app, including Apple Numbers. Scribble automatically turns your handwritten numbers and data into typed text. Imagine using this tool with digital forms that end-users might be asked to fill out at a school or organization — no typing required. 

One of the biggest reasons to embrace Apple Numbers as an Apple-exclusive user is its integration with other Apple devices. Whether you're moving between iPad and Mac, iPhone to the web, etc., your documents are accessible and secure at all times — as long as you save the documents to iCloud. For example, you can start a Numbers document on your home MacBook Air, make edits on your iPad, then back again. As long as there's an internet connection, the data automatically syncs. 

It's also essential to understand how Apple handles collaboration and document sharing in Apple Numbers. It's effortless to share content among other Apple users. You can now, for example, add a file to a shared iCloud Drive folder for viewing and editing among a team. The comments option makes it possible to see everyone's edits in real-time. Add comments or reply to others to create threaded conversations. 

You can also share Numbers documents with Microsoft Excel users. To do so, however, you'll first need to convert the file in Numbers. 

Finally, there are Smart Categories. The tool allows you to organize and summarize tables to provide additional insight quickly. For can use Smart Categories, for example, to group data by different values and date ranges. From there, it's just a matter of adding a few steps to create charts of the summarized data. 

Apple Numbers: Interface and in use

Like other iWork apps, Apple Numbers doesn't get bogged down with something like Microsoft's tired Ribbon. Instead, you'll find the different options through a minimalistic toolbar and optional sidebars. This setup works because it's highly intuitive. For instance, even new users will understand what options are available under the toolbar's Insert, Table, and Chart headings. The same goes for the sidebar Table, Cell, Text, and Arrange tabs. 

Apple Numbers: Support

Apple provides adequate support for Numbers through its website. There is also an active Apple Numbers community online, and Apple Books offers various guides, including many that are free. 

Apple Numbers: The competition

Undoubtedly, nearly the entire world uses Microsoft Excel when it comes to spreadsheets. Apple understands this, and it's why it doesn't specifically target business users for Numbers. 

Microsoft Excel and Apple Numbers are still not the only options available. Google Sheets, like Apple Numbers, is another free option. There's also Zoho Sheet, LibreOffice, and more. 

Check out the best spreadsheet software and the best free office software.

Apple Numbers: Final verdict

There are two ways of looking at Apple Numbers and where it fits into the spreadsheet universe. First, if you're exclusively using Apple products and plan on collaborating only with Apple users, Numbers is a terrific choice. And because it's free, you have nothing to lose. 

Everyone else is almost certainly going to be using Microsoft Excel, reluctantly or otherwise, and that's fine. Unlike Apple Numbers, Microsoft Excel is available across multiple platforms, including Windows, Mac, and mobile, making it ideal for most of the planet, especially those looking to do complex calculations that require many functions. It's not free, however, which is something those without a corporate account will have to consider. 

We've also featured our Microsoft Excel review and a full iWork review.

First introduced in 2005 for Mac, Apple Pages is marketed as an easy-to-use word processor that serves as a basic desktop publishing solution. Apple Pages for iPad arrived in 2010 with a handheld version launching a year later for iPhone and iPod touch. 

Over the years, Apple Pages has picked up various features such as more templates, object insertion such as charts, and the ability to play video and audio files directly from the document. The most recent software update, in September 2021, added instant translation into up to 11 languages, more collaboration tools, and more. 

Apple Pages: Plans and pricing

It wasn't that long ago when Apple charged for the iWork suite, including Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. Since 2017, however, the suite has been entirely free to use across multiple devices, including Mac, iPhone, iPad, and the web. In addition, Apple's iMovie and GarageBand also became free at the same time. 

Apple Pages: Features

Word processing apps are all the same at the core in many respects. They all, for example, make it possible to write documents using fonts and page sizes of the user's choosing. Most solutions also do an impressive job of allowing end-users to insert various objects in documents such as images, shapes, charts, and others. 

Move beyond the surface, and Apple Pages' unique features become apparent. Four distinct features especially stand out, starting with its long list of available templates and ending with its conversion tools.

Since first being introduced over 15 years ago, Apple Pages has always been known for its beautifully designed templates. Arranged into multiple categories, the template selector highlights the many mockups, including letters, stationery, resumes, among others. These templates are easy to customize and are often updated with each new app release. You can use any of these templates to start a new document or begin from scratch. It's also possible to create templates to use as starting points for future documents. Better still, you can access them on any device using iCloud. 

Apple's flair for creativity isn't limited to the Pages templates. The app is also packed with incredible ways to make the text your own by filling it with color gradients or images. For a document as a whole, consider adding photos, galleries, videos, charts, audio clips, math equations, and much more. 

The slick integration between various Apple devices is another can't miss feature of Pages. Whether you're moving from Mac to iPad, web to iPhone, etc., you can take comfort in knowing your documents are accessible and secure at any time as long as they're being saved to iCloud. For example, you can start a document on your home iMac, then make edits in class on your iPad. Do you want to add an important point on the fly? Pick up your iPhone and make tweaks at any time. Thanks to the new Screen View on iPhone, the content looks perfect even on the smaller screen, making reading and editing very easy.

This brings us to another critical Apple Pages feature: document sharing and collaboration. Although the iWork suite is rightly criticized by many for not being available on Windows and Android, Apple makes it amazingly easy to share content among other Apple users. You can now, for example, add a Pages document to a shared iCloud Drive folder and create and share books, then get them published to Apple Books.

Throughout the sharing, turn on comments so you can see everyone's edits. Additionally, add comments or reply to others to create threaded conversations.

Moving on, although native Pages documents can't be opened outside of the app, over the years, Apple has made it easier to convert files to other formats. These include PDF, EPUB, and yes, Microsoft Word, and more. Although the iWork suite is rightly criticized by many for not being available on Windows and Android, Apple makes it amazingly easy to share content among other Apple users. You can now, for example, add a Pages document to a shared iCloud Drive folder and create and share books, then get them published to Apple Books.

Throughout the sharing, turn on comments so you can see everyone's edits. Additionally, add comments or reply to others to create threaded conversations.

Moving on, although native Pages documents can't be opened outside of the app, over the years, Apple has made it easier to convert files to other formats. These include PDF, EPUB, and yes, Microsoft Word, and more. 

Apple Pages: Interface and in use

If you're familiar with Microsoft Word, and you almost certainly are, you've experienced Microsoft's Ribbon. Providing cluttered access to everything the top-selling word processor can do, the Ribbon centrally sits at the top of the app. It automatically adjusts its viewable tabs based on what you're doing at the time.

Apple Pages takes an entirely different approach. Instead of a ribbon, you'll find a somewhat vacant toolbar and optional sidebars. The minimalist approach carries over to Apple's Numbers and Keynote. The setup works because of the intuitiveness of it all. Even first-time users know, for example, what's likely to be discovered under the toolbar's Table, Chart, and Media links. The same goes for the Format link that opens a feature-rich sidebar where you can adjust the document style, layout, and more.

Apple Pages: Support

Apple provides iWork support through its website. You can also find a robust community of Pages users in the same location. Free user guides are offered on Apple Books. 

Apple Pages: The competition

Beyond Microsoft Word, there are many free and paid word processor solutions available. These include LibreOffice Writer, WPS Office Free Writer, and others. 

When it comes to word processing solutions, there's truly nothing better than Microsoft Word, which is available across multiple platforms, including Mac, Windows, and mobile. Adobe's In Design is also much much than Pages for desktop publishing. 

Check out the best free word processors and the best word processors for tablets.

Apple Pages: Final verdict

If you only use Apple devices and don't need to share documents with non-Apple users, Pages is perhaps the best solution. Its interface is intuitive and minimalistic by design. Plus, its sharing capabilities are impressive. And because it's free, you have nothing to lose. 

On the other hand, business users, including professional creatives, will need to look elsewhere for better tools and increased compatibility. 

We've also featured our Microsoft Word review and a full iWork review.

As many businesses move towards a paperless office, the best document management software is designed to make storing and managing all of your files easy and efficient, both offline and online. Security, accessibility, and usability are all important to consider when choosing the right document management software for your business.

In our Canon USA Inc review, we look at the document management solutions they provide and how their offering compares to the biggest competitors on the market.

Canon USA Inc: Plans and pricing

Like many companies offering document management services, Canon provides customized solutions. The lack of standard packages means that you’ll need to contact Canon for a quote, where pricing and solutions will be based around your business size and needs.

Plans can include cloud storage solutions, content management tools, workflow management systems, integrated security solutions, and remote user services like scanning and printing.

Canon USA Inc: Features

Canon’s document management packages come with an impressive selection of features that  are perfect for small-to-medium-sized businesses. 

All of their software is provided by third parties. For example, they use technology by Therefore for the storage, scanning, and management of documents, while mxHero is used to scan and store emails, along with any attachments.

Mobile and remote working

One of the strong selling points of Canon’s software is its secure accessibility from mobile or remote devices. Mobile printing and scanning are both supported and, even more importantly, these options are secure—you don’t need to worry about sensitive data being transferred. In fact, Canon’s software is used by a couple of government bodies, which should give you peace of mind. 

Automated filing

Saving documents in the right place is quick and easy with the intuitive scanning system, whether using a physical scanner for hard copies or filing attachments directly from emails into cloud-based storage. 

The software can recognize barcodes, invoice numbers, and predetermined keywords to file documents correctly. Emails can also be automatically filed or archived along with their attachments. Searching for documents after they’ve been saved is similarly easy. 

Document workflow management and analytics

Set up digitized rules for document filing to manage and automate your document workflow, prompting users when they need to take specific actions to complete tasks. Analytics tools enable you to see where inefficiencies lie in your workflow—observe which tasks are taking too long and use the data to customize your software further to automate those needs.

Canon USA Inc: Interface and in use

The user interface is modeled on Windows File Explorer, so it should be straightforward for Windows users. Files can also be accessed directly through File Explorer, rather than through a separate system, which makes navigation user friendly.

Many of the functions are integrated into your existing systems and automated, including the backing up of emails and attachments. A lengthier setup—choosing your settings, keywords, and other rules for printing and filing—is required to ensure that this automation is used to maximum effect, but after the initial work, it will save you time.

Canon USA Inc: Support

Canon users can contact the Canon support team on the phone or via email. There’s no good support advice directly on the Canon website, but you’ll find more thorough information on the websites for the two third-party software solutions it offers. 

With mxHero products, you’ll have access to a thorough FAQ page. If you can’t find what you’re looking for then a ticket system is in place to speak directly with someone from the team. 

Users of Therefore products have access to an extranet with advice on how to use their products. You’ll be directed by the Therefore team to Canon’s support team for any unanswered queries about this system.

Canon USA Inc: Security

Canon’s software offers ways to track and manage access to sensitive information and to control the printing of sensitive documents. The Canon team will customize security settings for your hard copies and electronic documents to suit each of your departments’ needs. 

Authentication software, such as One Login, Azure Active Directory, Open ID, and OKTA, is supported to provide an extra layer of access security. Customized system permissions and audit trails provide additional security. For email backup services like mxHero, there are in-built Intrusion Detection Systems which monitor for malicious activity or policy violations. 

However, despite all of Canon’s bold claims about award-winning security, there is a disappointing amount of detail on how it plans to keep your data safe.

The competition

Canon’s document management software lacks the exciting integration options of competitors like Docuware, which can be connected to over 500 third-party apps. Canon's software integrates best with Microsoft products and cloud software such as SharePoint. 

Templafy also blows Canon out of the water with its compatibility to any device. It’s better designed to handle the varied demands of modern businesses and is one of the most adaptable document management systems out there. In comparison, Canon’s loyalty to Microsoft provides certain limitations for companies using alternative operating systems and software.

Final verdict

While Canon’s document management solutions offer comprehensive features and solid security, there are better options on the market for enterprising and innovative businesses. The company does exactly what it says it will, and it does this well, but there’s little to excite with Canon’s offering.

In a world where many businesses are operating online, we feel that Canon’s document management system needs to integrate with more applications outside of the Microsoft portfolio if it wants to remain competitive. 

However, if you don’t care about third-party app integration and you simply want document management software that’s secure, well-rounded, and designed to increase your business’s efficiency, then it’s a good option.

If you’ve found Google Docs to be completely out of whack in the past few days, you’re not alone, and we now know what’s causing the problem. Luckily, the solution could be as simple as switching off your adblocker.

Several users of Google Docs and Google Slides have had significant issues – ranging from botched text wrapping, where words seemingly ran off the document, to text overlapping, which left Docs and Slides illegible.

Google Drive’s product manager, Remy Burger, confirmed on Twitter that the problem was due to changes made by AdBlock and EasyList, adding that “unfortunately it’s out of our control”.

If you’re using the AdBlock browser extension, or one that uses its blocklists, an easy workaround is to either whitelist Drive, Docs and Slides, or simply disable your ad blocker until a more permanent fix arrives.

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AdBlock later wrote on Twitter that it looked as though the problem stemmed from one of the primary filter lists on its service and that it was working on a fix.

Later, it asked users to update their filter lists as a solution. On the company’s Twitter account, AdBlock wrote “filter lists update automatically, but you can force it by going to filter lists > update now in the AdBlock menu.” This can be found in the Advanced section of the adblocker's setting's pane.

Other users have reported that using Docs and Slides in Incognito mode also solves the problem, though this is likely because the ad-blocking browser extension doesn’t work while incognito.

The issue also appears to mostly affect those using Chrome, so you can also try opening Google Docs or Slides in another web browser as a quick fix.

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OpenOffice and LibreOffice are the two main options if you’re looking for free office software. And, you might not be sure which one is the best for your needs.

You need to consider a few things, starting with whether you actually need desktop office software. After all, anyone with an internet connection can get access to Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, which provide a lot of the same productivity without having to download anything. Not to mention, they save everything to the cloud automatically. You don’t have to worry about losing a document, backing it up, or emailing it to yourself.

But, if you regularly make presentations and spreadsheets and need more advanced features to fine tune your work, desktop software is the only way to go. And, if that describes you, you’ll find that LibreOffice and OpenOffice are among the best options available. Additionally, they’re open source software, meaning their code is publicly available, and are free to download and use.

It’s difficult to choose between OpenOffice and LibreOffice since they share a lot of similarities. But, they do have some distinct differences, which we’ll explain in this article.

Updates

One of the biggest differences between Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice is the frequency of releases. LibreOffice is updated much more frequently than Apache OpenOffice, which means you'll receive new features and bug fixes more quickly.

The frequency of updates means there's also more potential for bugs in LibreOffice, but any that do appear are likely to be resolved quickly.

Tools

Both LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice offer essentially the same set of apps (Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base and Math), but LibreOffice also includes a tool called Charts. As its name implies, this is a small application specifically for creating charts and graphs, ready to be imported into other documents. Handy for presentations. 

Language support

 If you're multilingual, it's worth noting that Apache OpenOffice offers more in terms of flexibility when it comes to languages, letting you download additional language patches as plugins. If you choose LibreOffice, you'll need to pick one language at the start and stick with it. 

Templates

If you often need to make presentations, LibreOffice has the edge in terms of the number (and quality) of slide templates available. Both software suites offer plenty of user-made designs to download, but LibreOffice's selection of pre-installed options is far superior to OpenOffice's.

Design

LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice are almost identical. The functional differences are very minor; for example, the sidebar in OpenOffice Writer is open by default, whereas in LibreOffice it's closed.

LibreOffice does look a little more modern thanks to its larger icons and leaning towards subtle pastel hues, but it's nothing that'll affect your everyday work.

Supported file types

This is likely to be the biggest deciding factor for many people. Although both LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice can open and edit native Microsoft formats DOCX and XLSX, only LibreOffice is able to save to these formats.

If you're going to be sharing documents with people using Microsoft Office, LibreOffice might therefore be the better choice.

• What's the best free office software?

It might now be 10 years old, but Microsoft Office 10 is still an excellent office suite, and is still a popular choice – particularly for people who are working from home and don't have the benefit of regular software updates from a company IT department.

Now, however, support for Office 10 is coming to an end, and users of the venerable software will need to look elsewhere for their text document, spreadsheet and presentation editing needs.

While you'll still be able to use your old versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel after the deadline, you'll be doing so at considerable risk as Microsoft will no longer provide security updates and customer support for the software.

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This is a particular issue for office software due to macro viruses, which are a type of malicious software written in the same language as macros used to perform repetitive or complex tasks (Visual Basic for Applications in the case of Microsoft Office). 

If you download and try to open a file containing a VBA macro, you should see a message informing you and giving you the option to enable the macro if you're confident it's safe, but there's always a chance that you (or someone else who uses your PC) may click 'OK' by accident.

If a particularly major security vulnerability is discovered in Office 2010 (related to macro viruses or something else), there's still a chance that Microsoft might make an exception and release a fix (as it did in 2019 when a serious bug was discovered in the long-defunct Windows XP), but there's no guarantee.

Out of Office?

If you're not sure whether you're currently running Office 10, you should be able to tell next time you open a document. If you're using the decade-old software suite, you'll see a warning bar advising you that support is about to end.

There are a few ways to solve the problem. You could keep using Office 2010 anyway (though as we've said, this is a risky move), you could upgrade to Microsoft Office 365 (which is a subscription service that will provide you with regular security and other updates throughout the year), or you could start using Microsoft Office Online, which is free.

If you don't mind breaking away from Microsoft, you could also switch to a free, open source office suite like LibreOffice or OpenOffice. The choice is yours.

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Google Docs, Slides and Sheets are finally getting their own dark mode, long after other key apps like Gmail, Chrome, and even the Google Play Store.

Writers at 9to5Google delved into the Android app's installation file (also known as its Android Package, or APK) last week and discovered assets for the dark theme, but now it seems like the design is nearly ready for launch, with new prompts that will be displayed to announce its arrival.

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At the moment, when you open one of Google's office apps, you're presented with a bright white page and surrounding interface, regardless of whether you're using your phone's system-wide dark mode. That can be a bit hard on the eyes, particularly if you need to catch up on a little work at night.

Darker documents

With the new themes enabled, all of the apps' controls (including the recently opened document screen) will be changed to a dark gray color.

The backgrounds for Docs and Sheets will also change from white to black (with a convenient preview button that will let you see how they'll look in light mode), but it seems that blank presentation slides in Slides will remain white regardless of your settings.

As 9to5Google notes, that's probably because design is a much more important part of a slideshow, and you'll often want full control over how each slide looks. You wouldn't want to create a stylish presentation that looks completely different when you share it with a colleague/

The assets for the new theme are present in the latest Google Docs, Sheets and Slides APKs, but won't be available to try until Google activates them server-side. Judging by past experience, rollout is likely to take a few weeks to complete, but we'll let you know as soon as it begins so you can check it out for yourself.

• The best free office software of 2020

Smart Compose is a tool for Google Docs that predicts which words and phrases you'll type and offers to finish them off for you. It's handy, and can be a real time-saver as it 'learns' your writing habits, but Microsoft has now gone one better with a feature for Microsoft Word that can re-write whole sentences for you.

Rewrite, which first appeared at Microsoft's Build 2019 conference, started life as a tool that would suggest better ways to phrase snippets of text. Using it was a simple matter of selecting a fragment of text, right-clicking and selecting 'Rewrite suggestion' from the context menu.

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As MSPowerUser reports, Microsoft has now upgraded Rewrite with the ability to rewrite entire sentences. The process for doing so is exactly the same as before, and offers three types of suggestions: improve fluency, concise phrasing, and improves readability.

Suggested changes to your sentence are highlighted in purple. Just click the one that'll make your point clearest to your readers and it'll be changed instantly.

Write here, write now

As Microsoft explains in a blog post, the feature is currently only available for users of Word on the web, and requires a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription. It only works in English for now, but hopefully other languages will be coming soon.

Microsoft is canvassing users' opinions on Rewrite, and you can share your thoughts by selecting the 'Give feedback' link that appears below the list of suggested alternative sentences.

• The best free office software 2020

Google Docs has received a major update that could tempt you to ditch your regular word processor for good. Autocorrect is now rolling out to all users, and Smart Compose is arriving for anyone with a G Suite subscription, helping you work faster by guessing what you're going to type next.

Both features are being introduced gradually, so don't worry if you can't see them yet; they should arrive in the next few weeks.

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Smart Compose first appeared for Gmail in 2018, automatically suggesting the next few words of a sentence based on what you've already typed. It 'learns' from your writing habits, and the results can become uncannily accurate over time.

The suggested phrasing appears in gray, and you can either hit 'Tab' or right-click to accept it. Alternatively, you can simply continue typing to ignore it. You can also choose to deactivate Smart Compose if you don't find it useful (or it makes you question whether you're actually a robot).

Write here, write now

As 9to5Google notes, autocorrect made its debut in Gmail too. It works well, but if Google picks the wrong word, you can hover over it to reveal an 'Undo' button.

You'll find that autocorrect is enabled by default in Google Docs, but you can disable it by selecting 'Tools > Preferences' and unchecking the relevant box.

• Is Google working on a new operating system called 'Pigweed'?

Want to know how to create a drop down list in Microsoft Excel? Well, we’ve got you covered. Creating a simple drop down list in Excel might sound a bit intimidating at first, but it’s actually very simple. It’s so simple, in fact, that even an elementary school kid can do it – all it takes is a few quick clicks of the mouse.

That’s the beauty of Excel and spreadsheet applications like it. Their existence is to make what would be otherwise complicated tasks so much easier to do and much more accessible to even those who are not very computer savvy.

Creating a drop down list is as easy as pie, regardless of your Excel skill level. There’s a more technical process, but we’re only covering the easy methods. Whether it’s for your small business or for work, you’ll master soon enough how to create a drop down list in Excel.

1. How to create a drop down list in Excel using existing data

In this first method of creating a drop down list in Excel, we’re working under the presumption that you already have a working list of items you want to use in your drop down list, already entered in your spreadsheet.

Step 1. Select the cell for your drop down list.

Make sure that this is the cell you want to use for the drop down list, so you won’t have to adjust later.

Step 2. Go to the Data tab then click on Data Validation.

This opens the Data Validation dialogue box.

Step 3. In the Settings tab, select List under Allow. Be sure to tick off the In-cell dropdown, if it isn’t checked already.

Step 4. Click on the Source field. Then click and drag your mouse pointer over all the cells that contain the items you want to use for your drop down list. 

This selects those cells all at once and automatically fills in the Source field with the data you need for your drop down list. 

Step 5. Click OK. 

2. Creating a drop down list in Excel by manually entering items

Using the second method, you don’t have an existing list in your spreadsheet to work with so you will be entering the items manually. To do that, you just need to follow the steps above until Step 4.

Step 1. Select the cell for your drop down list.

Step 2. Go to the Data tab then click on Data Validation to open the Data Validation dialogue box.

Step 3. In the Settings tab, select List under Allow. Be sure to tick off the In-cell dropdown, if it isn’t checked already.

Step 4. Click on the Source field. Then enter every single item for your drop down list, separating each item by a comma.

Step 5. Click OK.

3. How to create several drop down lists at once

If you want to create several of the same drop down list all at once, you’ll be happy to know that the process is just as easy as creating a single drop down list. The only difference is that you’re selecting several cells – the cells you want your drop down lists in.

Step 1. Select the exact cells you want to use for the drop down lists.

Step 2. Go to the Data tab then click on Data Validation to open the Data Validation dialogue box.

Step 3. In the Settings tab, select List under Allow. Be sure to tick off the In-cell dropdown, if it isn’t checked already.

Step 4. Click on the Source field. Then click and drag your mouse pointer over all the cells that contain the items you want to use for your drop down list. If you’re entering the items manually, simply enter every single item, separating each item by a comma.

Step 5. Click OK. 

It’s worth noting that there are other, perhaps trickier ways, to do this. You can use Excel formulas, for example, to create a simple drop down list. You can even create a dynamic drop down list that can easily be extended when necessary. But, that’s a tutorial for another day.

Images credit: Michelle Rae Uy

It’s in your best interest to find out how to lock cells in Excel, especially when you’re often handling complicated or extensive Microsoft Excel worksheets at work. After all, handling a spreadsheet with several rows and columns, not to mention hundreds of filled in cells, can get a little confusing. And, mistakes can happen – someone could accidentally drag one cell over the other or one person could delete the contents of a cell without noticing.

Whether it’s those or it’s simply you not wanting the rest of the team to make changes to a particular column or row, knowing how to lock cells in Excel will come in extremely handy sooner or later. Luckily Microsoft designed its whole Office suite very meticulously  – so that every single detail is covered, including allowing users to lock individual cells for protection without fuss. 

We’re here to show you just how easy it is. Here’s how to lock cells in Excel, whether you’re a Windows 10 user or a macOS supporter.

1. How to lock cells in Excel

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Windows 10 or a macOS user. The steps on how to lock cells in Excel are pretty much the same, even if the interfaces might look slightly different. Just follow our instructions below, and you’ll be locking those cells like a pro in no time.

Step 1: Select all cells in the worksheet. 

By default, Microsoft Excel has every single cell on a new worksheet set to lock. This doesn’t mean that the cells are not editable at default; only that if you decide to lock the whole worksheet, you can do so quickly and without the added steps.

If you need to lock only a few specific cells in your worksheet, you need to make sure first that then the whole sheet is unlocked.

Step 2: To unlock the whole sheet, right-click on Windows 10 (two-finger tap on macOS). Then click on Format > Protection. Deselect or uncheck “Locked” and click OK.

Essentially, this unlocks every cell on that worksheet.

Step 3: Select all the individual cells you want to lock.

You may select entire rows or columns, or specific cells. To select specific cells that are not next to each other, hold down the Command key on macOS or Control key on Windows 10 as you select every cell individually.

Step 4: On one of the selected cells, right-click on Windows 10 (two-finger tap on macOS). Then click on Format > Protection again. 

Step 5: This time, tick off “Locked” and click OK.

This tells Excel that you want those specific cells to be locked. This step, however, doesn’t exactly lock the sheets. To lock those sheets, you still have to tell Excel to protect the worksheet.

Step 6: On the main menu, go to the Review tab and click Protect Sheet.

A dialogue box will open to let you select a few options and also set a password. Set a password, if you need to.

Step 7: Only tick off “Select unlocked cells” and uncheck everything else.

This effectively locks the cells you’ve selected, but also leaves everything else unlocked for editing.

Images credit: Michelle Rae Uy

Google Docs is finally getting a feature that writers yearn for: a live word count that's easily visible and updates in real time as you type.

Until now, it was only possible to see your running word count by diving into the Tools menu, or hitting either Ctrl+Shift+C or Command+Shift+C for Windows and macOS respectively. It was annoying, and meant breaking your concentration mid-flow.

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• Take a look at our Google Drive for G Suite review

Now, Docs is one step closer to being a fully-fledged word processor. The addition of a live word count might seem small, but it's enormously useful. 

“We’ve heard that displaying this information is helpful to users working on docs that require minimum or maximum word count,” a Google spokesperson wrote in a 20-word statement of the obvious.

To activate it, navigate to Tools > Word Count > Display Word Count. Clicking the word count will display additional information, including the page count, the number of words in a highlighted chunk of text, and the character count (with or without spaces).

Word up

If you're a G Suite user, you should see the word count pop into the bottom of your Google Docs window very soon. Google has already begun releasing it for users on the Rapid Release schedule, and it should start to appear for everyone else from September 23 onwards.

The company hasn't yet announced when live word counts will be coming to free Google Docs users, but hopefully it won't be long. We're counting down the days.

• The best free word processor 2019

Via The Verge

The Document Foundation has released a major security update for free office software LibreOffice, which helps protect against macro viruses. If you're running a version of LibreOffice older than 6.2.5, you should upgrade to the latest version now.

Macro viruses are commonly spread in office documents, and begin a series of actions when the document is opened. As The Register reports, unpatched versions of LibreOffice, three vulnerabilities meant is was possible for certain macros to run silently when you opened a document without giving you the opportunity to stop anything suspicious.

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• Microsoft Office vs LibreOffice: everything you need to know

The vulnerabilities involved a feature called LibreLogo, which is designed for teaching programming. By typing commands using the simple Logo programming language, you can control a 'turtle' graphic and move it around the document. It's a fun introduction to coding, but led to a chain of problems.

The first issue was that the Logo commands were converted to the Python language without proper safety checks to make sure nothing malicious got through. The second was that all of LibreOffice's built-in macros were flagged as 'fully trusted' regardless of your chosen security settings – including LibreLogo, which is optional but installed by default). The third and final problem was that LibreLogo sent arbitrary Python code in the document to be interpreted – not just explicitly typed commands.

Keep your PC secure

Together, these three vulnerabilities meant that if you received a document containing malicious Python code, it would run automatically when you opened it without asking for confirmation.

Files carrying a macro virus are often sent as email attachments, so always be skeptical of any attachments you aren't expecting, even if they look benign and are a file type you recognize.

LibreOffice should be set to check for updates automatically by default, but you can check your settings by clicking Tools > Options > LibreOffice > Online Update. Here, you can also select whether the software should check for updates daily, weekly, monthly, or whenever you're connected to the internet.

When an update is available, an icon will appear in the menu bar. The update will begin downloading straight away if automatic updates are enabled; if not, you'll need to click it to start the process.

• Check out our guide to the best free anti-malware software

Microsoft Office and LibreOffice are both excellent office suites, but how can you be sure which is right for you? On the surface the two look very similar, but there are some important differences to bear in mind when making your decision.  

Price

LibreOffice is free to download and use, even for commercial purposes – no strings attached. Because it's open source software, you can also download and edit the source code, should you wish to.

You can buy a one-time license for Microsoft Office, but a Microsoft Office 365 subscription offers the best value. There are different tiers available, depending on your needs, with options for business and personal users.

Microsoft Office 365 is also available free for students and educators, and with a 30% discount if your employer is park of Microsoft's work scheme.

Cheap copies of Microsoft Office found on sites like eBay are illegal, and might be in violation of the End User License Agreement (EULA).

Programs

One of the key considerations when you're choosing between Microsoft Office and LibreOffice is the programs on offer.

LibreOffice includes Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Base (databases), Math (editing formulas) and Draw (vector graphics).

A Microsoft Office 365 personal subscription includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive (with 1TB storage) and Outlook. PC users get Publisher and Access as well, though Mac fans will miss out.

File compatibility

Of all the free office suites available, LibreOffice offers the best file compatibility around. Its tools can import and export all the most common file formats, including Microsoft DOCX, PPTX and XLSX. it also supports a wider range of non-Microsoft file formats than Office 365.

However, it's worth bearing in mind that documents won't always look exactly the same in LibreOffice as they do in Microsoft Office programs. This is partly due to Microsoft's use of its own fonts, and partly due to difference in the way data is interpreted and rendered on-screen.

For most purposes this won't be a problem, but if you frequently share files with people who use either LibreOffice or Microsoft Office, you might find it more convenient to stick with the same office suite as them to ensure you're all on the same page.

User support

If you choose Microsoft Office, one of the things you're paying for is the customer support. Microsoft provides a help app that can lend a hand with common problems, and there's an online chatbot that can provide solutions too. If the automated systems don't provide the answers you need, there's phone and live chat supporrt with real Microsoft technicians.

Microsoft has published a set of guides for helping you carry out common tasks using Microsoft Office as well, which can be enormously helpful.

If you choose LibreOffice, you'll be relying on the goodwill of Community Assistance – but there's a lot of it. You'll find a wealth of information in the LibreOffice Wiki, Ask.LibreOffice provides a ticketing system where you can submit queries (and read answers to other users' questions), and there's an IRC channel for live chat. 

The important thing to remember is that, although LibreOffice's support is excellent, it's all dependent on volunteers donating their time and expertise. The Document Foundation is under no obligation to provide support, and you may have to wait longer for a reply than you would if you were using Microsoft Office. 

Understandably, there's no phone support for LibreOffice, which might be an issue if you're looking for software for your business.

Collaboration

With Microsoft Office 365, multiple users can share files via OneDrive, and collaborate on the same document with real-time chat.

There's no equivalent feature for LibreOffice, so if you're looking for a free office suite for collaborative working, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides should be your first port of call.

Cloud services

If you opt for LibreOffice and want to store your documents in the cloud, you'll have to piece together your own system (understandably, The Document Foundation can't provide free server space for LibreOffice's millions of users). This doesn't have to be complicated, though, and a service like Dropbox makes it easy to sync files to the cloud by saving them in a dedicated folder on your PC or Mac.

You can also sign up for Microsoft OneDrive without being an Office subscriber, or check out one of our other recommended free cloud storage providers.

If you opt for a Microsoft Office subscription, things are much more straightforward, because Microsoft OneDrive is built right into each program and is the default save location for all new documents. A Microsoft Office 365 subscription also gives you more storage space than a free OneDrive account.

Platforms

Microsoft Office 365 is available for Windows and Mac, with mobile apps for iOS and Android (the latter of which will also work with Chromebooks). There's also Microsoft Office Online, which offers pared-down versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint in any modern web browser.

LibreOffice is available for Windows, Mac and Linux, with a portable version that can be installed on a removable storage device. However, there are no apps for working on smartphones, tablets and Chromebooks, with the exception of LibreOffice Viewer for Android, which uses the same engine as the desktop software to let you read documents. There's also a remote app for controlling slideshows made with LibreOffice Impress.

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Most of us – whether students, office employees, artists or scientists – utilize Microsoft Office, and more specifically, Microsoft Word, in our daily lives. It’s practically everyone’s go-to software suite for productivity, and for good reason. Its roster of applications are extremely reliable and very powerful productivity tools that serve many purposes.

Yet a huge percentage of its users don’t realize just how powerful they are. Let’s take Microsoft Word, for example. While it is designed to make word processing feel more like a stroll on the beach rather than a tedious task with its buttons, automated functions and shortcuts, many users barely know – let alone, use – most of them. And so they end up taking too many steps and a longer time than necessary to do the more complex tasks.

When deleting a page in Word, for example, some users end up giving their mouse or backspace button a bit of a workout, all because they aren’t aware that there’s a more seamless way to do it.

If you’re one of those folks, you’ve come to the right place. Today, we’re going to show you several more efficient ways to delete a page in Word, whether you’re a Windows 10 or a Mac user, because honestly, your backspace key needs a vacation.

How to delete a page in Word on Windows 10

There are a couple of easier ways to delete an entire page in Word. Mind you, there’s no button you can just click on to magically delete a page. As useful as that would be, we’re sure Microsoft has its reasons for not making that available. Still, there are better, not to mention more professional, ways other than holding your backspace key.

Method #1: Go To function

Microsoft Word’s Go To function lets your cursor jump, instead of scroll, to a page, section, line or footnote you specify, primarily to save you time. Think of it as teleportation – instead of you walking to a store to buy a soda, you simply disappear from your current location and appear at your destination.

When you want to delete a page in Word, the Go To function not only ‘teleports’ your cursor to the page you want to delete, but it also lets you highlight the contents of the page, essentially priming it for deletion.

Step 1: On the Home tab, click on the Find drop down button and select Go To. Or simply press Ctrl+G.

This should open the Go To tab in the Find and Replace dialog box.

Step 2: Type in the page number in the Enter page number text box and click Go To.

There, you can jump to the page you want to delete by typing in its page number. If you don’t know its specific page number, you can also type in + or – to jump from the page you’re currently on to the page you’d like to delete. For example, if you’re on page 1 and the page you’d like to delete is four pages down, you simply type +4. Then click on the Go To button. Doing so will take you to that page you specified.

Step 3: Type “\page” then click Go To to highlight the whole page. Click Close once highlighted.

Typing the text “\page” in the Enter page number text box and clicking Go To essentially highlights the entire page you wish to delete.

Step 4: Press backspace or delete to delete the page.

When the whole page has been highlighted, you’re free to simply press the backspace or delete button once. This effectively deletes the whole page.

Method #2: Navigation Pane (for blank pages)

Using the Navigation Pane’s Thumbnails Pane tab allows you to preview and quickly scroll through your document’s pages by giving you access to their thumbnails. This feature lets you breeze through your document, quickly locate the page you want to delete and double click on it so you can jump to the actual page.

This method is especially useful when you inadvertently created a bunch of blank documents, whether by accidentally holding the Space Bar or adding a page break. The Navigation Pane lets you easily determine which pages are blank and therefore need deletion.

Step 1: Go to the View tab and tick off the Navigation Pane box or simply press Ctrl+H and click on the Pages tab in the Navigation Pane.

Opening the Navigation Pane, usually tethered on the left-hand side of the application window, and clicking on the Pages tab will display the thumbnails of your document pages in order.

Step 2: Scroll through the pages, then find and double click on the blank page you’d like to delete.

This should take you to the beginning of the selected page.

Step 3: Press Ctrl+Shift+8 to show the paragraph marks. If it’s an extra paragraph (or five) that caused the blank page to appear, simply press delete until the page is completely deleted, which shouldn’t take a lot of time. If the blank page was caused by a Page Break, simply select page break and press backspace.

How to delete a page in Word on Mac

Deleting a page in Word on Mac is very similar to when you’re doing it on a PC. There are, however, a few glaring differences primarily because of MacOS’s distinct set of shortcut keys as well as the application’s slightly different user interface.

Method #1: Go To function

If you haven’t read the section for Windows 10, then let’s do a quick refresher. The Go To function lets your cursor jump, instead of scroll, to a page, section or line you specify, as if teleporting the cursor to that location to save you time.

The Go To function not only ‘teleports’ your cursor to the page you want to delete, but it also lets you highlight the contents of the page, getting it ready for deletion.

Step 1: On the Main Menu, go to Edit > Find and select Go To. Or simply press Fn+Cmd+G.

This should open the Go To tab in the Find and Replace dialog box.

Step 2: Type in the page number in the Enter page number text box and click Go To.

You can jump to the page you want to delete by typing in its page number. If you don’t know the page number, you can also type in + or – to jump from the current page to the one you’re looking for. For example, if you’re on page 1 and the page you’d like to delete is four pages down, you simply type +4.

Step 3: Type ‘\page’ then click Go To in order to highlight the whole page. Click Close once the text is highlighted.

Typing the text ‘\page’ in the Enter page number text box and clicking Go To essentially highlights the entire page you wish to delete.

Step 4: Press delete to delete the page.

Once the whole page has been highlighted, simply press the delete button to delete the whole page in one swoop.

Method #2: Navigation Pane (for blank pages)

Using the Navigation Pane’s Thumbnails Pane tab allows you to preview and quickly scroll your document’s pages by giving you access to their thumbnails. This feature lets you breeze through your document, quickly locate the page you want to delete and double click on it so you can jump to the actual page.

This method is especially useful when you’ve inadvertently created a bunch of blank documents, whether by accidentally holding the Space Bar or adding a page break. The Navigation Pane lets you easily determine which pages are blank and therefore need deletion.

Step 1: On the View tab and tick off the Navigation Pane box. Click on the Thumbnails Pane (first tab) in the Navigation Pane.

The Thumbnails Pane, which typically appears on the left-hand side of the window, displays the thumbnails of your document pages in order.

Step 2: Scroll through the pages to find the blank page you’d like to delete. When found, double click on it to move your cursor to the beginning of that page.

Step 3: Press Cmd+8 to show the paragraph marks. If it’s an extra paragraph (or five) that caused the blank page to appear, simply select the paragraph marks and press delete. If the blank page was caused by a Page Break, simply select page break and press delete.

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You might also want to check out how to download and use Microsoft Word for free.

Of all the keys on your keyboard, the Menu key – which sits to the right of the spacebar – is likely to be the least used, and Microsoft wants to change that by making it a dedicated Office key.

This is according to prolific Microsoft leaker WalkingCat, who has posted an internal survey from Microsoft which appears to show the company is looking at how it can make that unused key actually useful.

According to the survey, Microsoft is asking respondents if they have used a keyboard with the new Office key on a PC running Windows 10 May 2019 Update, and if they have, how useful they found the new key.

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The survey asks if they used any of the new shortcuts, how Microsoft can improve it, and if users would like to see the Office key on a laptop.

Respondents are also asked to rate the Office key concept.

Making use of the key

It’s fair to say that the Menu key is rarely used by most users – and many keyboard manufacturers often replace it with their own function key – so it’s good to see Microsoft exploring ways of making the key more useful.

However, from the sound of things, it seems like the Office key will only be used for Office shortcuts. That’s great if you’re an Office power user, but if you only dabble in the software – or you don’t use it at all – then that new Office key is going to remain as unused as the Menu key it replaces.

It looks like the Menu key will be coming to Microsoft-made keyboards – if Microsoft does go ahead with it – but there shouldn’t be an issue with non-Microsoft keyboards using the existing Menu key as the Office key in the future – you just won’t get that fancy Office logo.

• These are the best keyboards of 2019

Via MSPowerUser

Microsoft has frozen development of its touch-optimized Office apps. The company stopped developing new features for Windows 10 Mobile last year, and according to The Verge, it has now put its lightweight finger-friendly apps on ice as well.

If you're currently using the lightweight editions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel on your touchscreen device, don't be too alarmed – Microsoft isn't developing new features for them, but it's still supporting them and releasing security updates.

“We are currently prioritizing development for the iOS and Android versions of our apps; and on Windows, we are prioritizing Win32 and web versions of our apps,” a spokesperson said.

Changing priorities

This news – although disappointing – isn't a surprise following Microsoft's announcement earlier this year that it would be cutting back its internal app development teams to focus on making its web browser, Edge, a viable competitor to Chrome and Firefox.

The company is also changing the focus of its Microsoft Store, bulking out its selection of with PWAs (Progressive Web Apps). These are essentially websites that run outside of a browser, and have two major advantages over regular Windows apps.

Firstly, they don't need any platform-specific code, so developers can create just one web app that runs across multiple platforms, and secondly, they are hosted on the developer's own server, so they can be updated directly without a new version being pushed to the app store.

If you want to keep up with the latest Office features, Microsoft recently updated its Office 365 Personal subscription plan to make it a more tempting proposition. You can now install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook on all your devices – both desktop and mobile – and stay logged into them simultaneously. 

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Microsoft has made its Office 365 Home subscription more appealing by upping the number of users who can make use of the subscription, while also massively increasing the number of devices Office 365 can be installed on at once.

Office 365 Home is a subscription service costing $99.99 / £79.99 / AU$129 per year, and includes the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access Office apps. Each user also got 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage space, and 60 Skype minutes each month for ringing landlines around the world.

Previously five users were able to use the same subscription, but the new model allows for six users to share a subscription, while retaining the 1TB per user OneDrive allowance and 60 Skype minutes a month for no extra cost.

Unlimited devices

Perhaps even more usefully, an Office 365 Home subscription now allows you to install Office on an unlimited number of devices, with each user able to be signed in on five devices simultaneously.

This is a big increase over the previous offering, which allowed Office to be installed on just five PCs or Macs, five tablets and five phones.

The subscription changes follow news that Microsoft is also making Office 365 Personal more attractive by allowing subscribers to install Office apps on five devices at once, rather than just a single PC, smartphone and tablet.

It certainly looks like Microsoft is making moves to broaden the appeal of Office 365 subscriptions, which is good news for existing subscribers as well. The changes should roll out automatically in the coming days.

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If you're a Microsoft Office 365 Personal subscriber, you can now install Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote and Outlook on all your devices – both desktop and mobile – and stay logged into five of them simultaneously.

This is a real boon and makes the plan a lot more tempting. Previously, a Personal subscription only allowed you to install the software on one PC or Mac, one tablet and one phone. If you needed to work on any more devices, you'd have to upgrade to the more expensive Family plan.

The update will be rolled out to subscribers automatically over the next 30 days, so you don't need to do anything – just sit tight.

Work it

Office 365 doesn't just offer Microsoft's full suite of productivity software, it also gives you 1TB storage with Microsoft OneDrive, plus various other cloud-based perks. Your software is updated automatically as soon as a new feature becomes available, you can easily share and collaborate with other users, and you get 60 minutes of Skype calls per month.

In addition to regular big fixes and security updates, Microsoft has a raft of new features in the works, including 'intelligent sharing', which will share presentations with meeting attendees, and a new file view for OneDrive that automatically surfaces files you might find useful.

If you've been tempted by a subscription before but put off by the price, it's now much better value.

• OneDrive, OutLook.com and Office 365 just got a whole lot more secure

SoftMaker has released the latest version of its free office suite, SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018.  FreeOffice is one of our top recommendations if you're looking for a free alternative to Microsoft Office thanks to its support for native Office file formats, flexibility and ease of use.

SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 includes three apps: TextMaker for word processing, PlanMaker for spreadsheets, and Presentations for dynamic slideshows. While the previous version could open DOCX, XLSX and PPTX documents, SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 can also save in these formats.

It also supports the older DOC, XLS and PPT file types, plus loss-free ODF files used by LibreOffice and OpenOffice.

Easier switching from Office

The updated FreeOffice suite offers a choice between a classic menu system and Microsoft Office style ribbon. That means there's practically no learning curve if you're making the switch from Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and you can share documents with Office users seamlessly.

SoftMaker has improved FreeOffice's menus too, with extra formatting options available with a couple of clicks (including complex list options in TextMaker and cell templates in PlanMaker).

SoftMaker FreeOffice 2018 is available to download now for Windows and Linux, and is free for both business and personal use.

• Check out our ultimate guide to the best free office software

Microsoft is now rolling out a free preview of Office 2019 for businesses, including new versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote.

Office 365 subscribers already have all the new features – continuous updates are one of the main benefits of the cloud service – but it’s the first perpetual release since 2016.

New features in Office 2019 include the ability to manage icons, vector graphics and 3D images in PowerPoint; funnel charts and 2D maps in Excel; Office 365 groups for Outlook; and a chic black theme for Word.

Cloud first

A preview of Office 2019 for Mac will arrive in the coming months, but Microsoft has already announced that the PC version will be exclusively for Windows 10, pushing businesses still using Windows 7 to upgrade their licenses.

Microsoft is also cagey about the future perpetual version of Office, saying only that: "As standard practice, Microsoft will continue evaluating customer needs and industry trends to determine a plan for future versions of our products and services." By 2022, it might have decided that the future lies wholly in the cloud.

Sadly, the Office 2019 preview isn’t available for home users – only businesses with volume licenses for Office 2016 that are planning to upgrade when the suite launches later this year. Everyone else will have to wait a little longer.

• Not into Microsoft software? Check out the best free office software

The Document Foundation has released LibreOffice 6.0 – the latest major upgrade to the open source free office suite. The new version is available now for Windows, macOS, Linux and the cloud, and new features will be rolled out to the Android edition in the coming months.

“This is the start of a new development cycle,” explained Italo Vignoli, co-founder of The Document Foundation. “We want to make out software easier and simpler for users all over the world. They want to be able to access features easily, including people who are used to Microsoft Office.”

Cleaner navigation

The Document Foundation’s team of volunteer coders have made several changes to make LibreOffice more accessible, and ease the change from Microsoft Office. One of the biggest changes is the Notebookbar – LibreOffice’s equivalent of the Office ribbon – which is now easier to navigate, with a new tabbed option for the suite’s word-processing software Writer.

Writer’s dictionaries are now better at dealing with new words, automatically recognizing words that can be expressed in different forms (as part of a compound, for example).

The default slide size in LibreOffice Impress has switched to 16:9 to suit modern screens and projectors. The Document Foundation has added 10 new templates to suit the new aspect ratio, and updated several existing ones accordingly.

Spreadsheet application Calc has received some smaller but still useful updates, including the ability to export a selection of cells as a PNG or JPG image.

Cloud and mobile

The Document Foundation has brought the cloud version of LibreOffice more in line with the desktop version, adding a Save As function, and adding spell-checking to Writer, Calc and Impress. However, it’s important to note that LibreOffice Online is a server service designed for big companies – not a ready-to-use consumer service like Google Docs or Microsoft Office Online. 

LibreOffice’s old WikiHelp directory has been replaced by Help Online – an improved online support archive with an adaptive design that works equally well on desktop and mobile devices.

A new version of LibreOffice Viewer for Android will be coming soon too, with the ability to create new documents, a tab-based toolbar with formatting options, and the ability to add pictures from your device or the cloud. The release date hasn't been confirmed yet, but we expect to see the new features within the next few months.

LibreOffice 6.0 is available to download now for Windows, macOS and Linux.

• What's the best free office software you can download today?

Microsoft has released a new version of Office 2016 for Mac, introducing new online features that bring it closer in line with the cloud-first Office 365.

Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint now feature automatic saving for documents stored in the cloud – a feature that could stop you losing hours of work to an accidentally closed window or system crash. 

Worried about accidentally deleting a chunk of your document and having the original overwritten? Office's upgraded Version History tool shows a list of changes and lets you roll back to an earlier version.

See who's doing what

Word, Excel and PowerPoint now offer live previews when you're working on a shared document. Flag icons show you where they're working (much like in Google Docs) and you can see what they're typing in real time.

Each app has received its own updates as well. PowerPoint will highlight slides that have changed since you last saw them so colleagues can't slip in sneaky edits without you noticing, and Excel has a host of new charts and functions.

Most interestingly, Outlook now integrates more closely with Google services, letting you manage your calendar and contacts within the app.

Office 2016 vs Office 365

Microsoft Office 2016 is the latest version of Office available as a one-off purchase. When Office 2019 is released later this year, Office 2016 users won't get it automatically; they'll have to pay again if they want to upgrade.

Office 365 is the same software, but paid for via a monthly or annual subscription. It includes extra online storage via OneDrive, ongoing tech support and automatic updates. Office 365 users will get all the new features of Office 2019 as soon as it's released as part of their subscription.

• Looking for a cheaper option? Check out the best free office software

The 2018 edition of SoftMaker Office is now available to download as a free public beta, giving you an early look at the suite’s new features. If you’re looking for an alternative to Microsoft Office 

SoftMaker Office comprises four key elements: TextMaker, Presentations and PlanMaker (for text documents, slideshows and spreadsheets respectively). The suite also includes an expanded version of the Mozilla Thunderbird email client for managing your messages and tasks.

One of the biggest changes for 2018 is a completely updated interface, which lets you choose between ribbon and toolbar interfaces. There’s also an optional Touch Mode, which features larger, tap-friendly icons and menu entries. 

SoftMaker Office uses DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats natively to ensure documents open display and behave correctly if you’re making the change from Microsoft Office, or sharing documents with people who still do.

The public beta is currently available for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows systems, and versions for macOS and Linux are on the way. Just register with your name and email address to start the download and receive a product key, which you’ll be prompted to enter when you start the software for the first time. The Windows beta expires on 14 November.

Download SoftMaker Office 2018 public beta

If you’re looking for an alternative to Microsoft Office that’s free forever, check out SoftMaker FreeOffice.

• Check out our guide to the best free office software

It's easy to make small typos when you're sending an email, posting to social media, or filling out a form online. Sometimes it doesn't matter, but there are occasions when little slip-ups are embarrassing.

Grammarly is a convenient little browser extension for Chrome that acts as a second pair of eyes, checking your writing for mistakes before you click 'send'. Rather than just checking your spelling, Grammarly also looks for things like missing apostrophes and incorrect hyphenation that would otherwise be missed.

The basic version of Grammarly is free, and will check all text typed into your browser. For more advanced assistance, Grammarly Premium highlights stylistic issues and vocabulary enhancements. Premium subscriptions start at US$11.66 per month (about £9, AU$15).

Download here: Grammarly

Download of the Day is our pick of the best free software around – whether it's useful, fun, or just plain silly. If you have any recommendations, please send them to downloads@techradar.com.

WPS Office Free is a remarkable Microsoft Office alternative, replicating its overall appearance and fundamental functionalities. It offers a word processor, presentation software, and spreadsheet, and all are freely accessible, albeit with some advertising tied to specific features. Notably, this office suite exhibits seamless compatibility with Microsoft document formats, providing a seamless user experience.

The cloud integration is a truly remarkable feature of this software. While the 1GB of free storage space may appear limited at first glance, it can actually be incredibly useful for storing a variety of small files, especially text documents. These documents, such as notes, reports, articles, and scripts, typically don't require a lot of storage space. With 1GB of free cloud storage, you can easily store a significant number of text files without worrying about running out of space.

Then, there’s also the portability and accessibility, which allows you to access your text documents from anywhere with an internet connection. This means you can work on, edit, and share your documents from any device, whether it's your laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

We also appreciate the collaboration and sharing as the cloud also facilitates seamless collaboration on text documents. You can easily share your documents with colleagues, friends, or family members, allowing for real-time editing and feedback.

Finally, there is the backup and data protection for storing your text documents in the cloud that provides an extra layer of protection against data loss due to accidental deletion, hardware failure, or device theft. Your files are securely stored in the cloud, ensuring that you can recover them if needed.

Overall, while 1GB of free storage may seem limited for storing large files like videos or audio, it's an incredibly valuable asset for managing and storing text documents. With the cloud integration, you can enjoy the convenience of accessing, editing, sharing, and protecting your text documents from anywhere, anytime.

Other enhancements, like converting PDF files into Word format, elevate WPS Office Free above other free office suites. Additionally, its remarkably low system requirements make it exceptionally suitable for installation on even the oldest Windows PCs.

For those who prefer working on the go and utilizing cloud storage, this software suite offers iOS, Android, and Linux versions. With a wide range of supported languages, it provides incredible versatility.

WPS Office Free: User experience

If you're accustomed to Microsoft Office's recent iterations, WPS Office Free will instantly feel like home. Its intuitive ribbon interface and well-organized tools and options mirror those of Microsoft Office, making it easy to transition between the two. The thoughtful design ensures that you won't spend an eternity searching for the setting or tool you need. Moreover, with its light system requirements, even users with older or less powerful computers can experience swift performance and smooth operation.

Key features of WPS Office Free's interface include:

• A clean and modern design that is easy on the eyes.
• A ribbon interface that organizes tools and options into logical groups, making it easy to find what you need.
• A customizable Quick Access Toolbar that allows you to tailor the software to your specific needs.
• A status bar that provides information about the current document, such as the page number, word count, and language.
• A help system that provides comprehensive documentation and tutorials.

WPS Office Free's interface is designed to be efficient and user-friendly, allowing you to focus on your work without having to worry about the software getting in your way.

The only downside to WPS Office Free is the occasional advertisements that must be endured to gain temporary access to certain features. However, this is a small price to pay for an otherwise exceptional software suite.-----While WPS Office Free offers a plethora of impressive features, there is one minor drawback that users may encounter. Occasionally, advertisements may appear, requiring users to watch them in order to gain temporary access to certain premium features. While this may be inconvenient at times, it's important to consider that WPS Office Free is a freemium software suite, meaning that it provides a substantial range of features without requiring a monetary investment. In the grand scheme of things, enduring the occasional advertisement seems like a small price to pay for an otherwise exceptional software suite.

It's worth noting that the advertisements in WPS Office Free are generally unobtrusive and do not hinder the overall user experience. They typically appear as small banners or pop-up windows that can be easily closed or dismissed. Additionally, the frequency of these advertisements is relatively low, so users can enjoy extended periods of uninterrupted work without being bombarded with ads.

Moreover, it's crucial to recognize the value that WPS Office Free offers in terms of its features and capabilities. The software suite includes a comprehensive word processor, spreadsheet application, and presentation software, all of which are compatible with Microsoft Office formats. This compatibility ensures seamless collaboration and exchange of documents with others who may be using Microsoft Office. Furthermore, WPS Office Free provides a wide range of advanced features, including cloud storage integration, real-time collaboration, and mobile apps, which greatly enhance productivity and convenience for users.

WPS Office Free: Final verdict

At the end of the day, while the occasional advertisements in WPS Office Free may be a minor inconvenience, they should not overshadow the exceptional value and functionality that the software suite offers. For users seeking a free and feature-rich office suite, WPS Office Free stands out as a top choice, providing a compelling combination of powerful tools and ease of use. 

We feature the best free office software.

Anyone with an interview to transcribe, a long essay to write, a speech to caption, or other typing needs has likely wished at some point that they could turn their words, or someone else's, into text in an instant. 

Voice recognition software like Nuance's Dragon programs do have the power to turn speech into text, albeit often for a steep price, but now Microsoft is bringing its own app to the table, and it's called Dictate.

More an add-on than a standalone application, Dictate allows users to add text to Word, PowerPoint, and even Outlook just by speaking into a microphone, ditching the need for any third-party software. 

The app comes as part of Microsoft Garage, the company's studio for experimental applications that include other projects like the one-handed Word Flow keyboard, the news-aggregating News Pro, and even a facial recognition AI that identified dog breeds. 

In addition to supporting the spoken word in over 20 languages, Dictate can also provide real-time translation for what you say into one of 60 different languages. English speakers can also use special commands like 'new line' or 'delete' for extra control over what goes from their mouth onto the screen.

Dictate is available now for download online for both 32- and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Office for Windows 8.1 or later. Just be sure to keep an eye on Dictate's accuracy – 'dictated, but not read' isn't as valid an excuse for typing errors, as it was back in the 20th century.

• How to use Windows 10

Office 365 will soon be able to schedule your appointments in a flash thanks to Microsoft's acquisition of chatbot startup Genee.

Genee, which has only be around for two and a half years, is a digital assistant that books appointments, set reminders, and can even reschedule meetings on the fly using simple commands from your phone or computer.

Though the smart scheduler is sure to have its uses in Office 365, it hasn't been made clear exactly what role Genee will play for Microsoft's workplace suite.

"As we continue to build new Office 365 productivity capabilities and services our customers value, I'm confident the Genee team will help us further our ambition to bring intelligence into every digital experience," writes corporate vice president for Microsoft Outlook and Office 365, Rajesh Jha, in an official release.

According to Genee co-founders Ben Cheung and Charles Lee, the service in its current form will shut down September 1. While current Genee users will no longer have their reminders and schedule sent to them, any entries the program has already put into their calendar will still continue to exist.

It's still a mystery exactly how Genee will augment the Office 365 experience, we can't help but think the startup might wind up working on Microsoft Bookings - Microsoft's own scheduling service that the company rolled out just last month.

• Office 365 not for you? Check out these alternatives

If you use your Mac or PC for word processing, creating and editing spreadsheets or putting the finishing touches on a slideshow presentation, you need a suite of office applications that come with all the tools you need to create some impressive documents, and LibreOffice is one of the best options.

The Microsoft Office suite is near ubiquitous, but even though Mac version of Office 2016 released last year, it's still relatively expensive.

While iWork has become free, it lacks some of the features that come with other office suites. LibreOffice, however, is not only completely free, but it's constantly updated with improvements and new features, and contains a host of tools that you'd expect in an expensive software collection.

• Best free software for writing: 10 programs to unleash your creativity

The three most popular programs in LibreOffice are the word processor Writer, the spreadsheet tool Calc and the presentation and slide show creator Impress, and each of these is installed with the suite when you download LibreOffice.

Once installed, you'll notice the layout of the LibreOffice programs are very similar to its competitors, so if you're used to Microsoft Office, or earlier versions of iWork, you will probably find quite a lot of LibreOffice familiar.

The toolbars of Writer, Calc, Impress and the other tools in LibreOffice are pretty similar. You get the new document icon (which takes the shape of the icon for the program you're working on) along with an Open Document icon, Save icon in the form of the good old-fashioned floppy disk, and an icon for sending the document you're working on as an email, exporting it to a PDF file, or printing it.

The toolbars also share familiar buttons for spell and grammar checking, cutting, pasting and copying to clipboard, and undoing and redoing mistakes and corrections.

Underneath this toolbar are buttons and menus for altering the format of text and other objects, such as font sizes and colours. The rest of the toolbars contain buttons for tools that are specific to the LibreOffice program you're using, such as chart and table creations for spreadsheets in Calc, or shapes to decorate slides in Impress.

New documents

Creating new documents is incredibly easy; just click the new document icon or go to File > New and choose what sort of document you'd like to create.

If you'd like help and inspiration when creating a new document, you can access LibreOffice's large library of templates that can help you get started.

To do this, click File on the top menu and select New > Templates. It's blank at the moment, so click the Spreadsheets tab. On the right of the window, click the icon with the arrow. This lets you import templates from the LibreOffice website.

These templates range from budget spreadsheets that you can use in Calc to help you keep your finances in order, professional presentations for you to use in Impress, and leaflets you can create in Writer.

The people behind LibreOffice are The Document Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes open source documents. Because of this, LibreOffice can handle a large range of file formats, which makes it easy to open and edit documents even if they have been originally created in another program.

This not only makes it easy to change from another office suite to LibreOffice, but it also means if you have friends, family or work colleagues that send you a document, you can open it – and edit it – no matter what office program they used to create it.

• Best free Microsoft Office alternatives: 5 suites to save you money

When it comes to the saving process while creating a brand new document, you have a large choice of file types that you can save the documents as – just click the save icon or hit CRTL + S (or Command + S on a Mac) to open the Save dialogue window.

Next to where it says 'Save as type' there's a drop-down list box containing a vast array of file types for you to save your document as, including Microsoft Office formats. The default file types that LibreOffice uses are known as Open Document Format.

For LibreOffice Writer files these file extensions are ODT, for Impress presentations it's ODP, and for spreadsheets in Calc it's ODS. These document types are designed to be as open and flexible as possible, so they can be opened in other programs – for example, you can easily open ODT files in TextEdit on your Mac.

In 2014 the UK Government began considering the use of Open Document Format files for governmental documents thanks to the compatibility of these open file types.

While Writer, Calc and Impress all have all the regular tools we've come to expect from Office suites, there are a number of advanced tools as well.

Advanced tools

In Writer, you can use Mail Merge, which lets you send personalised documents to a large number of recipients quickly and easily. Click Tools in the menu bar and select Mail Merge Wizard to be taken step by step through the process.

There are a number of powerful formatting options in Writer that can also really make your documents stand out. As well as changing the fonts, colour and style of your text, you can add bullet points and numbering, as well as changing the alignment and indentation of the text, all from the toolbar.

Images and movie files can also be inserted into your documents for added visual impact – just open the Insert menu to see Pictures, Movie and Sound… as well as other options. If you're producing a large document such as a dissertation or report, the indexing features of Writer are a huge help.

By using the Style menu on the toolbar you can give your chapter and sections impressive-looking styles that make your document easier to navigate.

Writer can then automatically create a table of contents based on your chapter and section names – just click Insert from the menu bar and go to Indexes and Tables, then Indexes and Tables… to see options for creating a table of contents, as well as indexes and other helpful features.

Once your table of contents is created, you can click on the name of the section, heading or chapter you want, and Writer takes you straight there. You can also easily add footnotes and references to your text – ideal if you're using Writer for academic work.

Calc is similarly well stocked when it comes to features. With a spreadsheet full of data, you can use it to create powerful formulae that manipulate your data. You can also easily change the format of the data you include, so if you have a spreadsheet that deals with your household budget, you can turn the numbers you've entered into your local currency by clicking the icon of a pile of coins on the toolbar.

One of the most useful tools in Calc is the Graphs feature, which lets you create attractive and useful charts and graphs based on the data you select in your spreadsheet. From standard bar and pie charts, to more complex scatter and line graphs, there's a huge choice to help you display results from your data in the most useful and accurate way.

When it comes to presentations and slideshows in Impress, you're going to want to make each slide look as good as possible. Impress makes this easy with a number of useful formatting tools, that include layouts, graphics and colour schemes.

You can add transitions and animations – and even create your own – to make your presentations really stand out. Experiment, and see what works for you. It's fun, and the more you practice, ultimately the better your documents will be.

1. Format text in Writer

To give your documents a bit more visual flair, you can change the font, size and format on part of the text. To do this, select the text you want to format by clicking and dragging the mouse to highlight the words.

You can apply a ready-made style by clicking the menu on the taskbar where it says Default Style. Next to that menu, you see a drop-down list box that lets you select the font. The number next to this menu relates to the font size – change it to a larger number to enlarge the text, or a smaller number to shrink it.

2. Charts and graphs in Calc

One of the best ways to make sense of your important data is by creating a chart or graph for a visual overview, and Calc is great at doing all the hard work for you. Using your mouse, simply select all the cells that contain the data you want to be represented in your graph.

Next, you can click the red Graph icon (the one that's shaped like a pie chart) on the toolbar and a window opens up showing you a range of charts and graphs you can use. You'll notice that, as you click each choice, a preview of your data in the chart appears.

3. Simple formulae in Calc

As the name of the program suggests, Calc is very good at calculations using the data in the cells. Click an empty cell and type '=', which tells Calc you are writing a formula. You can perform simple calculations, such as multiplying the data in one cell by another.

Just type the name of the cell (by its column letter and row number, A2, for example), add an asterisk '*' and then type in the name of the second cell. For division, type in the cell names but use the '/' symbol, and for adding and subtracting use '+' and '–' respectively.

4. Adding transitions in Impress

Adding transitions between slides in Impress is a particularly quick and easy way to give your presentation a more professional edge, plus it makes them more engaging and interesting for your audience to look at.

To add a transition, right-click the slide preview in the left-hand menu and select Slide Transition. A long list of transitions appear in a menu on the right-hand side; just click one to see a preview. If you need to, you can also select Apply to All Slides to make the transition consistent throughout your presentation.

• Prefer Microsoft Office? Download Office 2013, Office 2016, Office 365 for free with these direct links

There's a growing amount of evidence that constantly checking for emails and being on call around the clock is bad for our health (thanks a lot, smartphones). Authorities in France are so worried about levels of worry that they're proposing a ban on business-related emails outside of office hours.

That means no more emailing your sales report at 3am in the morning or even getting back to the head of accounts at a quarter past 6. This week the French government passed a bill that puts the idea one step closer to becoming law.

Under the proposed guidelines, companies of 50 people or more would have to come up with a charter of good conduct: a set of rules that included specific times in the evenings and at weekends when staff would be banned from sending or receiving emails.

A dog's life

"Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work," Socialist MP Benoit Hamon told the BBC. "They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash - like a dog. [Electronic messages] colonise the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down."

Not everyone agrees that the email ban is such a good idea and some resent the government intervention. It could also be difficult to implement - it's possible that workers will simply switch to different tools or methods to stay 'on the clock'.

The bill now goes to the French Senate, where it will be put under further scrutiny before being sent back to the National Assembly to be made legally enforceable. If you're working in France, better clear your work inbox as quickly as you can.

• If you are still checking email, check out the best clients for Windows

Get the lowdown on how to boost your MacBook's battery life:

Update: Office 365 services and other Azure services have now been resumed.

Original story follows below...

If you're having little success accessing your Office 365 email and other Microsoft services, don't worry: it's not just you. Twitter is awash with activity that indicates Microsoft's cloud-based productivity suite is suffering a European outage and has been down for most of the day.

According to Microsoft's Azure status page, the data centres that host Office 365 and other services were hit by disruption at 9am on Thursday morning. In its latest update, Microsoft says that the problem was caused by an Azure Active Directory configuration error and that it's working on an update to fix the issue.

Separate to Office 365, Microsoft has listed other services impacted by the outage. They include: Stream analytics with PowerBI outputs, Azure Management Portals, Azure Data Catalogue Portal, Operational Insights, Remote App, Visual Studio Team Services and SQL Database.

Time will tell if Microsoft will be obliged to rename the service Office 364 following the disruption.

• What's ahead on Microsoft's Office 365 roadmap?

Microsoft made Office free for iOS and Android this week (previously it was free to download but you needed an Office 365 subscription to do more than read documents). Microsoft tried to spin this as something it had basically intended to do all along – instead of, as it likely actually is, a last-ditch attempt to cling to the vestiges of relevancy.

In a move that sounded like nothing so much as a teenager telling you he 'meant to do that' when he screws up a skateboard trick and breaks an ankle, Microsoft's head of Office marketing, Michael Atalla, told The Verge, "It's an extension of the strategy that we've got. It's not a total strategic shift, as much of an extension of the existing strategy."

I idly thought about checking out some of the Office apps on iOS again. Turns out I'd deleted them from my iPad after pawing at them a bit on their initial release because, as someone who only uses Office apps under very noisy protest, I most decidedly do not have an Office 365 subscription.

So I went to download them again out of professional curiosity, and as Word was downloading, I noticed that it had one of the new video previews on the App Store as well as still screenshots, so I watched that. This drew me to looking more closely at the other screenshots; screenshots, remember, designed to make you so excited about Word that you install it.

Go on; take a look at the screenshots for Word on iOS. Or, if you'd rather not sully your browser, here's my executive summary: they're all about executive summaries. And pie charts. And long-term trends. And customer research. And, God help us, a child playing with a kite in a wheat field presumably to break up the unrelenting grimness of the screenshots.

Yuck yuck yuck

If you use Word, Microsoft is saying, 'We know it's because you have to use it for this kind of soulless, turgid and utterly dispiriting tripe. It's fine. If you're doing anything even vaguely creative, you'll probably already be using Pages and we can't tempt you back from that.'

Pages screenshots show an exciting, beautiful poster for people heading off on a fun adventure, for Pete's sake. (Mind you, on closer inspection, the adventure in question appears to be flying a damned kite; have I just stumbled onto some massive global desk top publishing conspiracy, or is kite-flying just much more widespread than I had hitherto been led to believe?)

Even the screenshots for Numbers, Apple's spreadsheet app, look mildly interesting, with some lovely typography and design; Apple's saying "yeah you might have to make a pie chart for some reason, but you don't have to hate your life as you do so".

To be sure, Microsoft clearly and sensibly wants to show that its office apps are capable of heavyweight work, but surely we can take that as read? You're allowed five grabs on iTunes, Microsoft; use four of them to show people doing inspiring things with your software, and you can use one to reassure people that it can still do all the dull stuff too. Even if that one page is just a blank Word document with 'Oh, yeah, and it can do, I dunno, like, PivotTables and all that other crap you actually need for your job' set in 36-point Calibri.

As it is, every single one of Word's screenshot just seems like a window into a tortured corporate hell. In one, showing off Track Changes, Michael Atalla asks if the original author can "reference the research in a footnote", to which 'David Alexander' replies "Yes, I will add the research information".

It's all just too depressing for words. Neatly, however, it appears to be exactly as depressing as Word.

The long and winding road to Office for iPad may still be leading towards a launch in early 2014, despite reports suggesting Microsoft had abandoned plans to bring the productivity suite to the Apple tablet.

According to ZDNet's well-connected Microsoft blogger Mary Jo Foley, not only is Office for iPad alive and well, it could even arrive before Microsoft launches a touch-friendly version for Windows 8.1 tablets.

The software, codenamed Gemini internally, is apparently ready for launch with outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer reportedly agreeing to a pre-July release, even though it left the company's own devices behind.

"As you might expect, Microsoft officials are declining to comment on anything having to do with Office on iPad," Foley wrote. "But don't believe the naysayers: Office for iPad is coming. And sooner than many think."

Reconsidering? Apparently not

Although Microsoft has already launched a version of Office for iPhone for Office 365 subscribers, today's update comes amid suggestions that Microsoft might reconsider extending Office's availability on other platforms, in order to safeguard the company's interests.

Marketing chief Tami Reller told a technology conference this week: "As we step back and say, these core applications, these core brands that are so important to enterprise customers and consumers, how do we make sure that we're thoughtful about what we're doing on the Windows platform, as well as cognizant of the fact that there's other devices in their lives.

"So you'll see us be thoughtful about how and when we bring what applications to what platforms," she said.

So, while that was interpreted by some as Microsoft backing off the iOS and Android, it may be that the company is simply taking stock before ending the longest wait for software to reach a platform in recent tech history.

• Weighing up iOS vs Windows 8? Get a feel for the best tablets.

Apple announced that its iWork suite is free with all new Mac and iOS device purchases, but it sounds like you couldn't even pay Microsoft to use what it calls "watered down" apps.

"iWork has never gotten much traction, and was already priced like an afterthought," wrote Frank Shaw, Microsoft's corporate vice president of communications, of the Office competitor in an official blog post.

"When I see Apple drop the price of their struggling, lightweight productivity apps, I don't see a shot across our bow, I see an attempt to play catch up."

The Microsoft executive doesn't think that Apple has quite caught up, either. He blasted the Cupertino company for its lack of true multitasking and a precision input like the Touch Cover 2 for Surface 2 tablets.

Apple was rumored to be testing an iPad keyboard accessory along the lines of the Touch Cover, but the fabled attachment was a no-show at yesterday's iPad Air event.

Eye for an eye?

Shaw's comments are in response to less-than-veiled criticism from Apple CEO Tim Cook who called the competition "confused."

"Our competition is different. They're confused. They chased after netbooks. Now they're trying to make PC into tablets and tablets into PCs. Who knows what they will do next?" Cook posed in a thinly disguised jab at Microsoft.

Later in the presentation, when announcing iWork's new collaboration feature, Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of internet software and services, threw in his own Office punches.

"Now you can create a document on your iPad, edit on your Mac, and even collaborate with your friend who is stuck on a PC," he said to some mild laughter.

"Others would have you spend a small fortune every year just to get their apps," he announced in front of an exploding $99 (about £62, AU$104) Office for Windows product box.

"We want to do something bold, something that changes the rule of the game. We're taking all of these productivity apps and making them for free with the purchase of a Mac or iOS [device]."

Pwning in productivity

Shaw is known for his blitzes on competitors, and he continued his post by not only slamming Apple's presser but by lauding ample praise on Microsoft's new line of Surface tablets and its Office software.

"Surface and Surface 2 both include Office, the world's most popular, most powerful productivity software for free and are priced below both the iPad 2 and iPad Air respectively," he noted.

"Apple's decision to build the price of their less popular and less powerful iWork into their tablets [is] not a very big (or very good) deal."

Shaw wrote that Microsoft saw too many people carrying around two devices - one for work and one for play. Surface control-alt-deletes the extra cost, weight and complexity of dual carrying.

"Helping folks kill time on a tablet is relatively easy," he wrote.

"Helping people be productive on a tablet is a little trickier. It takes an understanding of how people actually work, how they get things done, and how to best support the way they do things already."

Media are caught in the crossfire

Microsoft "understands how people work better than anyone else on the planet," Shaw opined.

But, in his eyes, that belief wasn't ubiquitous among journalists writing about yesterday's Apple event.

"It's much harder to get work done on a device that lacks precision input and a desktop for true side-by-side multitasking," he wrote. "You wouldn't know that from reading some of the coverage I've read today.

"Perhaps attendees at Apple's event were required to work on iOS devices that don't allow them to have two windows open for side-by-side comparisons, so let me help them out by highlighting [the benefits of Surface and Office]."

Shaw continued with more Surface and Office praise and ended his blog post with a smiley emoticon, which even with all of the press criticism, always makes up for everything in life.

• Find out how much a balloon ride to near space will only cost you.

There is indeed an iPad version of Microsoft Office coming down the pike, but the company is initially saving that touch-friendly experience for its own Windows devices.

The Verge reported today that Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer confirmed the existence of Office for iPad - but it's no closer to landing on Apple's market-leading tablet.

Speaking at the Gartner Symposium ITXPO in Orlando,Fla., the outgoing Microsoft CEO revealed the company's "in progress" plans for a "touch first interface," but has no plans to make it available first on a competing platform.

"iPad will be picked up when there's a touch-first user interface," Ballmer remarked to conference attendees, suggesting that Office for Windows will be where the new version will make its premiere.

Owning productivity

According to Microsoft insiders, that sentiment appears to have been echoed by Chief Operating Officer B. Kevin Turner, who recently proclaimed the company's intention to "own the productivity experience across all devices."

That's certainly not the case just yet, with Office restricted to an iPhone-only app that requires an annual subscription to use - despite persistent leaks and rumors that an iPad version actually does exist.

Microsoft Executive Vice President, Applications and Services Qi Lu also confirmed "touch-first versions of our core apps in the Office suite" during a recent meeting with analysts.

For now, "touch-first" appears to also mean "Windows first," but Microsoft isn't giving any indication of how soon that initiative might land in the waiting hands (and fingers) of users.

• Check out our full review of Apple's latest iOS 7 operating system!

Aside from a browser and an email client, the must-have apps on any Mac are those found in an office suite. TextEdit is fine for tapping out quick notes to the milkman, but you need a more weighty solution for complex business documents.

The same can be said of quick sums: Spotlight provides a rudimentary calculator, but falls short when it comes to the family finances.

In your workplace, a comprehensive business bundle is less a luxury and more a necessity, but which one you settle on depends on what you need to do. It's like trying to choose between a smartphone, a tablet and a Mac as your daily working platform. Each has benefits, but are communications options and portability, for example, as vital for you as data storage space or sheer computing muscle?

The six leading office suites we test here all offer significantly different packages. If you want to work on your files on an iOS device as well as a Mac, iWork offers the most seamless experience, with iCloud integration and iOS versions of all three apps. If you want to share documents and files with other users, you should weigh the benefits of Microsoft Office's 'standard' formats against Symphony's Open Document Format or the ease of sharing files over Google Drive.

With the realities of today's business world in mind, we're emphasising two key factors. First is compatibility with the most up-to-date Microsoft formats, because like it or not, these are the cornerstones of modern business communication.

Second is how easy each suite makes it to live the cloud dream of accessing your data in any place, on any device. Other factors include how easy it is to find the tools and options you want and how easy it is to use them, so you can focus on your work and not on the tools themselves. Design is an only slightly lesser factor - after all, who wants to spend every working day wrestling with a clunky interface?

How we tested

To test each suite's compatibility with the established office formats, we created a set of documents using Microsoft Office 2011 and saved them in the latest DOCX, XLSX and PPTX formats.

The Word document was a single page of text set in the Cambria and Arial fonts, with headings in Calibri. We added a table with alternating coloured rows and embedded a PNG image, set to float to the right with text running around it. A line and a half of text was highlighted, two prices were coloured red and some numerals superscript. Three blocks of text were set as columns.

The Excel spreadsheet test was a single sheet with an embedded image and a selection of regular formulae, plus some date-based calculations. We added a 3D chart and some Sparklines in order to test compatibility with the newest features.

The PowerPoint document used a standard template, with some skewed text and a rotated image. We set different transitions between the slides and added handout notes to some of the slides. Finally, we embedded a table and an organisation chart created using the built-in SmartArt tools.

Let's take a look at the suites.

Test one: Compatibility

How well does it work with Office docs?

iWork apps have excellent Office compatibility. Pages had no problems. Numbers opened our Excel document with very few glitches, losing only the Sparklines and in-cell bar charts. Keynote had a bit more trouble, straightening out angled text and cutting transitions.

ThinkFree Office coped well with basic formatting, though Write increased line spacing, Calc swapped dates from UK to US format and Show turned half of our transitions into basic fades. Symphony also fared well, though the Sparklines vanished and our 3D graph lost its x-axis labels.

In our presentation, all but one of the slide transitions had been removed. LibreOffice shares its codebase with Symphony, but had different problems. It rendered the in-cell bar charts and dates, but converted the 3D chart to mono.

Google Drive made a hash of our Word document. It has only eight fonts, so used Times New Roman instead of Cambria. It did better with the spreadsheet, losing only some formatting, and the slide transitions became regular fades.

On the next page we test features, design and connectivity.

Test two: Features

Do the bells ring and the whistles whistle?

Microsoft Office comprises three core tools: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Word is the most powerful consumer word processor around. Excel, too, boasts many unique features. Apple's Keynote was streets ahead for a while, but PowerPoint is fighting back, with the ability to edit photos and broadcast presentations online, and a first-class Presenter View.

Apple's iWork apps take the pain out of creating attractive documents, particularly at their bargain price. ThinkFree Office aims to replicate Microsoft Office and focuses on accommodating the work patterns of MS Office users. It's a very cost effective alternative.

Symphony is a traditional office workhorse. It may not be perfect, but it's stable, reliable and, perhaps most important of all, free. It's just pipped by LibreOffice, though, which also throws in database, drawing and maths capabilities.

Aside from word processor, spreadsheet and presentation tools, Google Drive also offers a basic vector drawing program.

Test three: Design and use

Is it easy to get things done in the suite?

The ribbon-based approach of MS Office 2011 can take a little getting used to, but there's a wide range of templates on hand. All the iWork apps come with a generous selection of templates, and it's easy to make your own or find third-party extras. The apps are powerful and a joy to use.

Despite aiming to mimic the Office interface, ThinkFree lacks the flair and grace of Microsoft's or Apple's suites. Symphony's interface is well designed, with a Properties panel keeping the most useful options close at hand to help you make quick changes to your formatting without having to dig through the menus.

LibreOffice lacks this, but then it doesn't cluster your documents in tabs inside a single window, so you can have multiple files open side by side.

The apps in Google Drive are a showcase piece of web design: they render a fullfeatured and very powerful office suite in your browser. In almost every respect they feel like local apps, but you do need an internet connection whenever you want to work.

Test four: Connectivity

Sync to the cloud, collaboration and more

With Google Drive, you can invite colleagues to view or edit documents. It's easy to work on the same document on several different machines. iCloud makes it very easy to edit iWork documents on your Mac and an iOS device, but collaborative working is less well served.

You can email documents from each app's Share menu, but since the demise of iWork.com it's more difficult to publish your work online or facilitate group approval.

Microsoft hasn't yet produced an iOS version of Office. Document sharing revolves around SkyDrive, which relies on the bundled Document Connection app on the Mac. It's easy-to-use and fuss-free.

ThinkFree Office is available for Mac, Windows and Linux, with Android and iOS versions allowing you to manage files stored in a free ThinkFree online account although not edit them remotely.

Symphony has no integrated iCloud or SkyDrive equivalent, so the best you can do is save to a shared folder on Dropbox or other third-party service. The same applies to LibreOffice.

The winner: Top office suite

If compatibility is key, then Microsoft Office wins out. You don't get everything on OS X that you get under Windows, but Office for Mac 2011 is a solid, powerful package. Our only qualm is the price. Even the Home and Student edition now tips the scales at £110.

You can cut costs with the Office365 rental model, which starts at £10 per month per user for small businesses, and £7.99 a month/£80 a year for home users. This lets you install all four Office apps on up to five Macs or PCs, and gives you 20GB of SkyDrive storage.

Although this is good value, after six months you've paid more than you would if you'd bought the three iWork apps outright, and you'll still have to keep on paying to keep on working.

Less than a week after Microsoft finally launched an iteration of its Office productivity suite for iPhone users in the US, the software giant has made the app available in the UK.

The Office Mobile app allows Office 365 subscribers to and view and edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents, with any changes synced back to the cloud.

However, Microsoft's offering is of no use to users without an Office 365 membership (£7.99 a month or £79.99 a year), as it requires a log-in or purchase to get past the first screen.

Also, as Microsoft revealed on Friday, the app is not compatible with the iPad and there's no sign of the tablet-friendly version on the way. The iPhone version also fails to accomodate Outlook or OneNote.

No more speculation

The Office app arrived on Friday in the US following months, nay, years of speculation over its future on mobile devices.

Microsoft has continually held off on launching the suite as it attempted to push Office as a Windows Phone-exclusive feature, while also looking to establish Windows-based tablets as iPad alternatives.

Now it has caved slightly having realised iPhone access may drive sales of its Office 365 subscriptions, which also give users access to the software on multiple PCs, Macs and mobile devices.

Now it's finally here, the need for a subscription will limit how well the app is received and it's somewhat somewhat disappointing that the app doesn't offer any free functionality through SkyDrive.

However it's tough to blame Microsoft for refusing to give away anything to those who've chosen Apple rather than its own products.

Via TrustedReviews

Software publishers are constantly trying to figure out new and interesting ways to leave your bank account emptier and Microsoft has figured out a rather tempting way of doing so with Office 2013.

Office 365 Home Premium is a yearly subscription product based around Microsoft's productivity platform, but it's been fluffed up with some tantalising goodies to seal the deal.

Let's take a look at Microsoft's attempt to turn a tri-yearly purchase into an annual dip into your back pocket.

Office 2013 standalone pricing

Before we look at the subscription offering, let's dig into the pricing for your average, everyday Office 2013 suite.

Microsoft is selling each of the programs in Office 2013 for $149 each, with the exception of OneNote, which comes in at the more affordable price of $89.

If you want to buy multiple programs, fear not — your other half won't shoot you when they see you've blown $983 buying each piece of software separately.

Instead, they'll probably give you a slight beating for buying the Office & Home Business edition bundle, which costs just $299. It doesn't include Publisher or Access, but it does include everything else, and most users won't notice the absence of the two geekier programs.

Office 2013 Office & Home Business edition can be installed on a single PC.

Poor students living on two-minute noodles and the occasional can of dog food once again get a sweet deal, with the Office Home & Student 2013 suite selling for a meagre $169.

It includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, but sadly doesn't include the self-discipline most students need to study (instead of chugging yard glasses at the uni bar).

This is fantastic value, so hunt down that long lost cousin you haven't spoken to in a couple of years to get a copy of their student card.

Once again, this pack only buys you a single install.

Finally, we have the Office Professional 2013 suite, which goes for the princely sum of $599.

All seven Office applications are included — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access.

They're not your plain-Jane versions, though, as certain applications have more advanced business features.

Despite the higher pricing, this is also limited to a single install.

These three options cater to the old school shoppers, who prefer to know they own something outright, rather than leasing it off the supplier.

Office 365 Home Premium offers a very different alternative.

Keep on paying

Rather than pay a one-off fee for your chosen bundle, Office 365 Home Premium is a subscription plan; in essence, you're leasing the Office suite, not to mention a few other goodies, for a year.

It costs $119 per annum, which sounds a little high considering you can buy the Office 2013 suite for just $180 more.

However, the real benefit here is in the number of installations. Instead of just a single install, the Office 365 Home Premium bundle gives you a whopping five installs.

Even better, it's for both Windows and Mac, for those homes inhabited by both designer snobs and nerdy tech-heads.

This is a godsend for families — no longer will you have to listen to annoying teenagers (aka your children) bickering over who gets to use the one PC with Word on it because every member of the family will have a full working copy of the Office 2013 suite.

They'll also have access to both Publisher and Access, which aren't included in the standalone version of Office 2013.

If you have the full five PCs to make use of the five installs, the cost per PC is just $23.80 per year.

There's also a monthly option of $12 per month for those who live from one pay cheque to the next, but it adds up to the slightly higher price of $144 per annum.

If you're a university student, the news is even better: $99 buys you a whopping four-year subscription for two PCs or Macs.

That works out to be just $12.38 per PC per year, which is cheap enough to afford even on a student's terrible barista wages.

But wait, there's more! The extras are even better than a set of free steak knives.

The other bits

If you sign up to Office 365 Home Premium, Microsoft will also throw in a 20GB SkyDrive account, which is Microsoft's cloud storage service (similar to Dropbox or iCloud).

It's worth pointing out that anybody can get a free 7GB SkyDrive account, even if they never purchase a Microsoft product, but with every application in Office 2013 now heavily integrated with SkyDrive, you'll be surprised how handy the extra storage proves to be.

If only Aussies had the upload speed to make the most of it, we could all forget about upgrading our hard drives.

Microsoft has also thrown in 60 minutes of Skype phone calls each month, allowing you to call telephones in over 40 countries.

Finally, subscribers automatically get upgraded to the latest version of the suite.

In 2025, subscribers will have the Office suite piped directly into the subneural USB 9.0 plug at the base of their necks.

Which one should I buy?

We've got to hand it to Microsoft — turning Office 2013 into a subscription service is a massive gamble that requires coconut-sized cojones.

Whether or not to dive into the subscription pool will come down to two choices.

Firstly, how often do you upgrade your copy of Office? If you do it every three years, then the subscription model means you'll always have the most recent version of the software and you're only paying slightly more for the privilege of extra SkyDrive storage and Skype minutes.

However, the most important factor is how many people you'll be sharing your subscription with.

If you're a mysterious loner who despises the thought of conversing with other human beings, you're much better off buying the standalone version.

For those with close friends and family, the subscription deal offers incredible value, which increases as the number of installs you use increases.

It'll be very interesting to see how Office 365 Home Premium performs. Our gut feeling is that the majority of people will still stick with the standalone Office 2013 product, as the extras from the subscription service aren't quite tempting enough to justify the price, and the thought of a subscription is still rather scary, despite the great value for bigger households.

However, we expect more people to move to subscription versions as time goes on and we wouldn't be surprised at all if the 2019 edition is subscription only.

Microsoft isn't planning to launch the long-rumoured Office productivity suite for iOS and Android devices until the autumn of 2014, a Wednesday report claimed.

According to a leaked Office update roadmap, seen by ZDnet, the software giant will continue to hold off on unleashing the likes of Word, PowerPoint and Excel for non-Windows phone and tablet owners.

The report said the 'Gemini' update schedule mentions "iOS/Android support," will be coming in October 2014 but doesn't mention specific devices.

Office, especially for the iPad, has been rumoured since Apple's tablet first launched in 2010, but Microsoft has continued to play down the speculation, despite a host of high profile leaks.

New Mac version incoming

However, there is better news for Mac users, according to the roadmap. They'll be getting a new version of the suite in April next year, which will be the first update since 2011.

This will be accompanied by an Office RT refresh, bringing new and improved versions of the software for Windows machines, but the long-awaited Outlook RT app may not arrive until October 2014, according to the report.

Do you still care whether Microsoft launches Office for iOS and Android devices? Has the time passed? Will it really add much to either App Store or have the plentiful alternatives already filled the void? Let us know in the comments section below

When you're busy working in Excel and you need to remember to do something else later on, you can set a reminder for yourself using a macro.

This Excel macro does just this: it asks you for a reminder message and when it should show you that message. It then lets you work while it keeps time in the background.

When the time has expired, it will show you the reminder message. In creating this macro you'll learn to use the OnTime method to run procedures at a future time.

The step-by-step guide below shows you how to create the reminder macro as well as how to test it. It's contained in two subroutines, one of which sets up the alarm and the other simply displays the message. The OnTime method is used to count the time in the background so you can do other things in the meantime.

You'll find the macro in the file reminder.xlsm via TechLife Macro download.

You'll also see that there are instructions in the file for running the macro and for moving it to your personal macro workbook so you can use it anytime you're working in Excel.

Once you've moved it, you can add the macro to your Quick Access Toolbar or the Ribbon.

Step by step: How the timer macro works

Step 1:

Start in Excel by clicking the 'Developer tab > Visual Basic > Insert > Module' to add a new module. Type the procedure to display the message when the alarm goes off.

Step 2:

The timer code is a separate procedure. It gets the time and a message from the user and then activates a timer that counts down. When the time expires, it runs the previous procedure.

Step 3:

Test the macro by running it, setting a time and waiting. When you're done, provided you've added it to your personal workbook, you can add a button to your QAT or Ribbon to automatically run it anytime.

Excel is a great tool to use to create a quiz for work or play. It can track correct and wrong answers, and keep a running score of your progress. You can make up your own list of questions or do as we did and find some on the web to use.

Our movie questions came from www.adviceopedia.com. We’ll show you how to create the quiz, how to write the formulas that track progress and how to keep the answers away from prying eyes.

Structure the workbook

To start, open a new workbook and rename ‘Sheet1’ and ‘Sheet2’ to read ‘Quiz’ and ‘Answers’. You do this by double-clicking the tab for each sheet and typing the new name.

In cell B1 of the ‘Quiz’ worksheet, type Number of Questions . In cell B2, type Your Score . Across row 4 starting in Column A type: Question, Answer, Result.

Down column A from cell A5 downwards, type the questions, one per cell. Then switch to the worksheet called ‘Answers’ and starting in cell A5, type the answer to the corresponding question on the ‘Quiz’ sheet. Adjust the width of column A so you can read the questions.

Add the formulas

Formulas do all the work of checking answers and keeping score. In cell C5, type this formula:

=IF(B5””,IF(B5=Answers!A5,”Correct”, “Incorrect”),””)

This checks the answer in cell B5 to see if it matches the contents of cell A5 on the ‘Answers’ worksheet. If the answer is correct it places the word ‘Correct’ in the current cell.

If the answer is incorrect, it reads ‘Incorrect’. Copy this formula down column C so it appears opposite each question.

In cell C1, opposite the heading ‘Number of Questions’, type this formula:

=COUNTA(A:A)-1

This will return the number of questions in your quiz.

In cell C2, opposite the words ‘Your Score’, type the following formula to calculate the score, assuming you have less than 4,995 questions in total:

=COUNTIF(C5:C5000,”=Correct”)

Format the worksheet

An easy way to format the worksheet attractively is to select all the cells in the range, starting at A4 and ending with the cell in column C opposite the last question.

Go to ‘Home > Format as Table’, choose a table format and click ‘OK’. Then click ‘Table Tools > Design Tab > Convert to Range’ to remove the unwanted table features.

Select the cells in column B that will contain your answers, right-click and select ‘Format Cells > Protection tab’, deselect ‘Locked’ and click ‘OK’. This will unlock the cells so that data can be entered in them when the worksheet is protected.

Step-by-step: Protect your answers

Step 1:

Hide the sheet containing the answers by right-clicking it and selecting ‘Hide’ from the menu. While this hides the answer sheet, it’s still possible for someone to unhide it, so more work remains to be done.

Step 2:

To protect the ‘Quiz’ worksheet, go to ‘Review tab > Protect Sheet’. Set the dialogue so the only selected option is ‘Select Unlocked Cells’. Type a password to protect the sheet and enter it again when prompted. Users can now only select cells in column B and they won’t see the formulas that indicate where the answers are.

Step 3:

To protect the workbook so the ‘Answers’ sheet itself can’t be unhidden, click ‘Review tab > Protect Workbook’. Select ‘Structure’ and type a password.

Microsoft has added a bunch of new features to its Office 365 cloud service for business, with an eye on the small to midsized business market.

Two of the three offerings that Microsoft is highlighting for Office 365 are aimed at SMBs.

Office 365 Midsize Business is designed for firms with 10-250 employees, and includes Office 365 ProPlus along with Exchange, Lync and SharePoint.

It also has Active Directory integrated, along with a web based administration portal.

Office 365 Small Business Premium, for firms with up to 10 employees, has the complete set of Office applications, including email, shared calendars, website tools and HD videoconferencing.

Microsoft is also shining the spotlight on Office 365 ProPlus, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, InfoPath and Access delivered as a service on up to five devices. It is offered standalone or comes as part of the deal for the Enterprise and Midsize Business Offerings.

The company says that Office 365, which provides services based on Office 2013 software, is one of its fastest growing businesses, with one in five of its enterprise customers having taken up the service in the 18 months since its launch.

Microsoft has confirmed that Office 2013 owners cannot transfer their license to another PC once it has been installed.

In a departure from Microsoft's Office 2010 stance, those who purchase a license (for all versions) for the new Windows 8 productivity suite, will not be able to reinstall elsewhere, even if their PC is stolen.

In an emailed response to a query from Computerworld asking whether this was indeed the case, a Microsoft representative simply replied "correct."

Asked in a follow up email whether end users could transfer the license in the event that their PC is lost, stolen or damaged, the PR firm representing Microsoft responded with a curt "no comment.

Similar restrictions had existed for the cheaper versions of Office 2010, but not for all commercial versions of the software, as is the case with Office 2013.

Move to Office 365

The move is being seen as a way for Microsoft to encourage sign-ups for its cloud-based Office 365 Premium subscription suite.

"We've been very clear in all of our communications that customers seeking transferability should get Office 365 and that Office 2013 is licensed to one device," the Microsoft spokesperson added.

Office 365 Premium does allow the software to be installed on up to five machines, so it is indeed more "transferable," but that's not really the point.

Office 365 requires a monthly £7.99 (USD$9.99, AUD$12.99) subscription or an annual £79.99 (USD$99.99, AUD$119.99) fee, so in reality it's still like buying Office once a year.

Kicking users while they're down

For loyal Office customers who are unlucky enough to have their laptop stolen or suffer hardware failure, having to buy Office again for their new PC will undoubtedly be an added boot in the nether regions.

Surely, Microsoft would be wise to revise this policy and not punish those who've opted to pay for their products?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Via Computerworld

For the last couple of years, it's been a case of 'when' not 'if' Microsoft brings dedicated Office apps to the iPad, but bossman Steve Ballmer might have other ideas.

Despite numerous leaked screenshots and rumoured release dates, everyone is still waiting for the world's most famous productivity suite to hit Apple's tablet, and it looks like they'll be waiting a good while longer.

In an interview with Businessweek, the larger-than-life Microsoft CEO appeared almost affronted by a reporter who asked how the Office for iPad project was coming along.

He said: "I have nothing to say on that topic. We're very glad with the product, very happy with the product that we're putting in market."

Does it make sense?

Furthermore, Ballmer hinted that a release for the iPad wouldn't make sense at this time, despite the company optimising Office 2013 for Windows RT touchscreen tablets like the Microsoft Surface.

"It makes sense on the devices like the Mac and the PC. We have a product that we think makes a lot of sense," Ballmer said.

Ballmer also pointed out that users can do limited editing of Office documents through the iPad's web browser and refused to rule out the launch of dedicated apps in the future.

He added: "We do have a way for people always to get to Office through the browser, which is very important. And we'll see what we see in the future."

Prickly Steve

Ballmer's comments do seem a little prickly, but he's probably right to be coy about the possibility of Office coming to Apple's iPad, given the lukewarm commercial reception given to his own Surface RT tablet.

However, it does seem like Big Steve might have jumped out of the wrong side of the bed on the day Businessweek pointed the tape recorder in his general direction.

In the same interview he slapped down Dropbox, referring to the cloud storage company, with 100 million users, as a "little start-up."

Microsoft has launched Office 2013, the latest version of its software suite, highlighting its links with cloud systems and social media channels.

The release of Office 2013 marks a stage in Microsoft's increased emphasis on subscription licensing rather than sales of perpetual licences, with a full version of the new software available to subscribers to its Office 365 package.

The subscription version includes all the regular functions available within Office 2013, including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Onenote, Outlook and Publisher, along with Office Web Apps. It covers up to five devices which can be changed at any time, and provides 20GB of storage on the SkyDrive Platform, on top of the 7GB that comes with the regular licence.

Regular licences for the Home/Student basis include just Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Onenote, those for commercial use also take in Outlook, and the professional version includes Publisher and Microsoft Access.

Office features

Features include a revamped version of Word including Read mode with text reflow, Object Zoom for viewing tables, charts and pictures, and Present Online for collaboration through a browser.

Excel 2013 has some new functions, such as Flash Fill for formatting and analysis tools to highlight peaks and trends in statistics.

Additions to Outlook 2013 include Exchange active sync support, social connectors, a weather bar, fast filters and context commands.

Office 2013 price

The Office 2013 Professional version is priced at $399/£390, Home and Student at $140/£110, Home and Business at $220/£220, and a Home Premium subscription is £80.

Lara Kingwell, Office launch lead for the UK, said the development of Office 2013 reflected key areas of investment by Microsoft.

One is increased integration with cloud computing by optimising all versions to the company's SkyDrive platform. There is also a function for connection to other Microsoft cloud platforms.

Another is social media, with a connector function in outlook that can pull in the details of the user's Facebook and LinkedIn contacts.

She also highlighted the potential of the Windows Apps store. While acknowledging that there are currently a limited number of apps available, she said that Microsoft is in the midst of a campaign to encourage developers to increase the number.

"Historically it had plug-ins for Office but the experience of getting them in was not great," she said. "Third parties can now create what they want for Office using a standard coding language.

"We've been running development camps around the world for nine months, and there is an online training guide on the web."

Google has set its stall out to commandeer 90 per cent of Office users from Microsoft.

In an interview with AllThingsD, the company's head of enterprise Amit Singh says the Google Docs platform can grab the vast majority of Office users who don't use the more advanced functionality.

He said: "In the last year, if you look at the depth of where we've gone with Docs, both in the core features and in the desktop fidelity, we've made tremendous progress.

"Our goal is to get to the 90 percent of users who don't need to have the most advanced features of Office."

Feature gap is closing

Singh says the gap is decreasing between the features offered by cloud-based Document, Presentation and Spreadsheets packages and Microsoft's Word, PowerPoint and Excel software. He also said that June's purchase of QuickOffice will help Google fill the holes.

He added: "Sheets does tables graphing, etc., out of the box. In Q3, if you import from Excel into Sheets, you won't be able to tell the difference in Sheets.

"We know the gaps between our features and theirs. We're improving them week by week. We're going to get to the the 90 percent. If you need the last 10 percent, you'll want to use the desktop. The next thing is the import from PowerPoint to Slides. That's where QuickOffice is going to help us a lot."

Microsoft will, of course, not go quietly into the night, with its SkyDrive platform now offering online access to its most popular programs.

However, Google has positioned itself well in recent years to capitalise on users' increasing reliance on the cloud. If its Chrome OS platform ever takes off then it certainly will have a chance of cutting into Office's dominant market share.

Via AllThingsD

Eagle-eyed Apple fans unearthed more evidence that Microsoft may be about to bestow its Office productivity suite for iOS devices Monday.

French news source Mac4Ever site pointed out that references to Office products on Apple's mobile devices have started to appear within Microsoft's support pages, though the references appear to be erroneously tagged to support articles.

Among the products listed on several pages across various territories are Office Mobile for iPhone, Excel for iPad and PowerPoint for iPad. Due to the multitude of references, it's likely not just a blurry-eyed mistake that these products are at least in the works.

The as-yet-unannounced products are listed alongside other support tags within Microsoft's official portals in France and the United States as well.

Saga

The topic of Word, Excel, Powerpoint et al. appearing on the iPhone and the iPad has become somewhat of a saga in the last couple of years.

Microsoft has repeatedly denied that it plans to launch the apps, perhaps fearful that it may impact Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 device sales, but the evidence - as observed today - continues to stack up.

Earlier this year, purported screenshots were decried as fake by Redmond representatives, while latest rumours have suggested a March or 'early 2013' launch for the long-awaited suite.

Until we get official word from Microsoft, the suite's arrival on iOS is still speculative, though we hope these rumors end up having a ring of truth.

Via MacRumors

Microsoft Office is coming to the iPhone, iPad, and Android next year, according to sources.

A mobile version of Office has been spotted running on the iPad before, but Microsoft has stayed quiet on the matter. Now anonymous sources have confirmed to The Verge that Office for mobile devices is real, and will be out on Android and iOS in early 2013.

Office Mobile will be free for both iOS and Android, and will let you view documents on your device. It'll be compatible with Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents, and if you subscribe to Office 365, you'll be able to edit them too.

You'll be able to subscribe to Office 365 from within the apps.

The in-app editing will be "basic" according to the report. So not a patch on using the full version of Office on a desktop or laptop.

Previous spots

A press release from Microsoft's Czech arm previously revealed Office Mobile apps for Android and iOS would be available in March 2013. According to The Verge, the iOS version will be out in late February or early March, with Office for Android coming later, around May time.

A Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge: "Office will work across Windows Phone, iOS and Android."

A mobile version of Office was first spotted running on an iPad back in May, and since then the rumour mill has gone into overdrive.

Via The Verge

The preview of the free online Office web apps gives them the same Metro look as the Office 2013 desktop apps and a handful of the same features, including the Touch Mode button for spacing icons out to make them easier to tap with a finger and turning on the finger-friendly context menu.

The most useful might be the new Recent files section in SkyDrive, where you can see documents you've opened from SkyDrive recently, whether you used desktop Office or the Office web apps – and whether they're on your SkyDrive or shared by someone else.

• Office 2013 review

Sharing is real-time in all the Office web apps. You can now edit all your SkyDrive documents at the same time as someone you're collaborating with, whether you're using the desktop or web versions of Word, PowerPoint or OneNote.

You can collaborate in the Excel web app, as long as you're both using the web app; if one of you opens the spreadsheet in desktop Excel, you're the only person that can edit it though.

If you're collaborating on a Word document or PowerPoint presentation, you can leave comments and replies in the web apps. In PowerPoint web app you can see the comments while you're editing your presentation; in Word web app you have to be in the preview rather than editing the document, although you can mark comments as completed the way you can in the desktop.

The Office web apps team is considering a fix but suggests having the document open in a second tab as a preview to see comments (although we found we had to reload the document to see new comments rather than having them appear live).

There are some long-awaited features like word count in the Word web app (amazingly, the web app team said they were surprised at how many people wanted this) and changing page layout. OneNote finally lets you search within a page, but you can't search all your notes at once the way you can on your PC or even in the OneNote phone apps (and the SkyDrive-wide search still only finds keywords in the names of documents, not the contents).

More features

Both the Word and PowerPoint web apps have more formatting tools, although what you get is still only a fraction of what's in the desktop apps (and the spelling checker in the desktop apps is still smarter). We like being able to add transitions in the PowerPoint web app, but the only options are fade and push. You can apply a Picture Style like a preset border, but if you've used a shape effect on a text box, you can see it but not change the colour.

You can insert images from the Office.com clipart collection by searching and browsing from your document, but you can't add images from your SkyDrive, Flickr account or from a Bing search as you can in the desktop apps, and you can't insert online video clips (although you can play videos in documents in the web app preview).

There are also odd inconsistencies between the two web apps. You can create SmartArt diagrams in PowerPoint web and insert, resize and rotate shapes; you can't do either in the Word web app and if you have shapes in a Word document you can't even see them in the web app editing view – you can see SmartArt diagrams but only as static images. This is only a preview so perhaps Word web app will catch up.

On the other hand, Excel web app gets features that aren't in the desktop app, like the tool for making a survey and collecting the results in a spreadsheet, as well as lots more tools like PivotTable editing and more slicers for analysing data.

The Outlook web app isn't part of SkyDrive; you get it if you have Exchange or Office 365. It actually had more of a Metro look than most of Office 2010 already but it gets lots of Office 2013 features, including support for Apps for Office like the one that can turn an email into a meeting in your diary.

Some features, like linking duplicate contacts, are actually easier to find in the OWA interface. It's also the first of the Office web apps to get offline functionality, but that depends on which browser you're using.

The other Office web apps work well in a really wide range of browsers, including Chrome, Firefox and Safari as well as IE; they don't need ActiveX, Flash or even Silverlight any more. They're all HTML5 so they work well on tablet and smartphone browsers.

But if you want to use OWA offline (looking at emails, contacts and calendar appointments or writing messages to send when you're online), you need Internet Explorer 10 or later, Safari 5.1 or later, and Chrome 18 or later. That means no offline access on an iPad or an Android tablet (or a phone) until their browsers add more of the HTML5 standards for storage.

In the final release of Exchange, offline access works perfectly with Metro IE10. In the preview version we could set up Offline access from both the desktop and Metro IE browsers but it only worked consistently in the desktop browser.

Now you get offline access to email (up to 400 messages in the Inbox, drafts and any other folder you've opened recently) and a year of calendar appointments, plus you can create new messages and appointments when you're offline and have them send automatically when you go back online. That means that Surface RT and other Windows RT tablets that can't run Outlook can still give you more of the Outlook experience than any other tablet.

There are some odd choices in the Office 2013 preview of the Office web apps, but the new features are all useful. And although they're labelled as a preview, you can start using them straight away, whether you're trying out the Office 2013 preview or not.