Blogs from Wise Owl on Microsoft Office in Hardware/software

Microsoft Office 2021 should be released in the second half of 2021

Posted by Andy Brown on 23 February 2021

Microsoft have confirmed that they will release another standalone versoin of Office in the second half of 2021 - this should include dynamic arrays, the XLOOKUP function and a new dark mode, among other things.

Should you use JavaScript or VBA to program in Excel?

Posted by Andy Brown on 28 June 2020

Is JavaScript for Office (also known as OFFICE-JS) the next big thing? Unless you're a full-time web developer, emphatically no - this blog gives 3 reasons why you should continue to write your Office programs in humble VBA.

Office 365 ProPlus users will soon be using Bing as their default search engine

Posted by Andy Brown on 06 February 2020

Whether you like it or not, if you're running Office 365 ProPlus you will soon have your default search engine set to Bing. This article explains why this is happening, and how to get round it.

How to enter the 2020 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship

Posted by Andy Brown on 10 January 2020

Think you know Excel (or Word/PowerPoint)? Put your skills to the test in the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championships, held in California.

The new Office 365 icons are horrible, but you are probably stuck with them

Posted by Andy Brown on 05 August 2019

For nearly all new Microsoft software updates Wise Owl are prepared to wait before commenting, but the new Office 365 icons are much harder to read and distinguish than the old ones!

How to switch between monthly and bi-annual updates for Office 365

Posted by Andy Brown on 05 August 2019

Most people will be on either the monthly or semi-annual update channel for Office 365. This blog shows how you can find out which channel you are on, and how to change your channel.

Changes made to the main Office applications from Office 2016 up to May 2019

Posted by Andy Brown on 10 May 2019

To prepare the way for the start of a monthly Office update on this website, this long blog lists the changes made to Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word between the release of Office 2016 and May 2019.

What's new in Microsoft Office 2016 (including Excel 2016 changes)

Posted by Andy Brown on 07 September 2015

The latest incarnation of Microsoft Office (2016) should be released on 22nd September 2015 (Microsoft are always a bit ahead of themselves with versions). This blog gives a detailed guide to what's new, the biggest changes being in Excel and Outlook.