Wise Owl's monthly (ish) news tweet | Issue 87 - May 2025

The items included in this newsletter are listed below. Our newsletter go out about once a month - if you'd like to subscribe, just let us know!

Introducing the new Excel TRIMRANGE function and trim refs feature in Excel

You can now use the new TRIMRANGE function in Excel to reference only cells containing data, and also use a new way to reference ranges of cells (trim refs) to do the same thing. This detailed blog explains how to use do both of these things.

Excitingly (if you're an Excel geek, as most readers of this newsletter probably are) you can now also use TRIMRANGE to create dynamic range names without resorting to the complicated OFFSET function. Both the old and the new ways to create dynamic range names are shown here.

What did you do before SmartPhones came along, mummy/daddy?

Have you ever looked at all the apps on your phone and wondered just how much clutter they cumulatively replaced?

If you're over 40 you can enjoy this trip down memory lane (and if you're under 30 read this blog to discover just how your parents or grandparents survived in ancient pre-SmartPhone times).

Reviewing two new features within ChatGPT: "tasks" and "projects"

ChatGPT now has two great new features. Projects allow you to group files, chats and instructions together when you're working on assignments too big to be dealt with in a single chat window - this blog shows you how to create these two examples:

Tasks on the other hand let you ask ChatGPT to do things on regular set dates in the future.

If you're a regular user of ChatGPT both will change your life!

A minimalist update for Power BI Desktop, and a new way to view Wise Owl course outlines

There's really not much to write home about (or write in a newsletter about) for the April 2025 Power BI update, so why not read about our new downloadable course outlines instead?

What's it like to run continuously for 4 hours and 20 minutes? One Wise Owl can now tell you!

Our newsletter editor Andy ran the London Marathon last Sunday in a creditable 4 hours and 20 minutes (creditable for his age, anyway).

Experienced runners should look away now, but for anyone who has ever wondered what running a marathon is like (or even contemplated entering one) Andy has blogged about his experiences of the day and of the months leading up to it, as well as about the unexpected pluses and minuses of training for a marathon.

Solve our codeword for a chance to win £50, plus the answers to and winner of our Easter quiz

This month we're asking you to solve a codeword to have a chance of winning our £50 voucher, and all of the fame which can (but usually doesn't) accompany this:

Congratulations to Julie Cook of APSE for winning last month's competition: hers was the first name drawn out of our weighted randomised sorting hat (and apologies to all 42 entrants for yet another very difficult, if hopefully entertaining and informative quiz). You can see a full list of the answers (complete with backup sources) here.

Note that to keep our website content up-to-date we only publish newsletters from the last 3 calendar years.

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