One of the little trumpeted but extremely valuable features in PowerPoint 2010 is the ability to compare and merge slides from separate decks. To use this feature, first open your main presentation file and go to the Review tab. Click the Compare button...

If you find Outlook getting cluttered with windows when you're replying to mails, there's an easy way to clean things up. This works in both Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010. Just go to File , Options and select the Mail tab. (For Office 2007, use the Office...

If you struggle with creating and applying templates in OneNote, the Template Manager add-in has been updated to work with OneNote 2010. This unsupported tool from OneNote team member Jeff Cardon lets you create and apply templates with relative ease...

The web has always been about the browser, yes? Browsers are our windows on the online world. And what everybody truly admires in a good window is... cleanliness. Clean is good on its own merit, but there's another view here. With Internet Explorer 9...

We all enter bad data into Excel from time to time. Maybe you're rushing, or someone distracts you, or you've just been doing it too long without a break. And when you open a document up to colleagues to help maintain, your data is only as good as their...

When receiving HTML emails, you know doubt have noticed that Outlook 2010 blocks images by default, like so: The reason is to protect you from identifying your account is active when opening messages from unscrupulous spammers, who will detect when you...

If you're always expanding the width of your cells in Excel, perhaps the default width isn't working for you. Here's a quick fix that works in Excel 2007 and Excel 2010. On the Home tab, click the Format button in the Cells section and then select Default...

If you want to limit the use of styles and themes in a Word document that you and your teammates are collaborating on, there's a tucked away feature that does just that - and it works in both Word 2007 and Word 2010. First, click the tiny launcher button...

Feature Interview: Want some action? Talk to this guy. He was walking so fast and keeping such a low profile I might have missed him, except for that unmistakable pennant fluttering over his head. "Action Center?" I called. "Got a second...

If you're like me, you like to be prepared for your meetings. This can mean extra time for reviewing documents, brainstorming ideas, and printing handouts - not to mention travel time. If you're frequently late or unprepared for your appointments, simply...

If you use the Outlook Hotmail Connector, you may have already been prompted to update to the new version: This version 14.2 update corrects a number of sync issues, improves performance, and turns off the junk mail filter in Outlook in favor or Hotmail...

Tired of the Microsoft Word grammar checker underlining mistakes that are actual part of your personal writing style or company style guide? Try tweaking the settings to reduce the green squiggles that indicate a grammar error. In Word 2010, go to File...

If you're running Office for Mac 2011, you can now download Service Pack 1 . New features include performance improvements, Excel Solver integration, Outlook server rules, mail redirects and resends, and support for Apple Sync Services including iPhone...

Is faster always better? With Internet Explorer 9, it would seem so—even when the speed in question isn't obvious. Case in point: Internet Explorer 9 is the first browser to take advantage of graphics processing power that used to go mostly unused by...

When filling in empty cells with placeholders or inserting leader characters between columns, try the REPT function. You simply specify a character or string and the number of times you want it to repeat (up to certain limits for Excel, well into the...

You may have heard the marketing rule that when writing for a general audience, you should aim for an 8th grade reading level. This not only helps your message get out to people who are less educated, it can reach customers who are learning English as...

I like to log tasks and track my activities in Office apps, whether it's building a schedule in Excel , converting emails into tasks and reminders in Outlook , or even jotting notes in OneNote . This helps my productivity in a few ways - it helps me break...

Have you ever mistakenly launched the wrong Office application? I know I have - sometimes my mouse slips and I click the wrong icon locked on my Windows 7 taskbar, or I'm rushing and mix up the Outlook and PowerPoint icons. The good news is that, if this...

If an unwelcome silence falls over the room when you boot up your Windows 7 PC, you're not alone—but you're not stuck, either. What to do? Follow these steps: 1. Is everything plugged in? I know, I know, that couldn't be it, right? Still, check external...

If the default page numbering in Word doesn't give you what you want, you can further customize it using Field Codes. A great example is spelling out the numbers. It's a quick and easy change to make, if you know where to go. First, turn on page numbering...

If your team always seems to be out-of-sync, create a Calendar Group to quickly pull up everyone's schedule in one view. First, go to Calendar in Outlook 2010, click Calendar Groups , and Create New Calendar Group : Give it a name and then select all...