Posted by
Andy Brown
on 26 August 2023
A substantial proportion of Wise Owls had never heard of either of these life hacks. Don't live in ignorance like we did (the texting trick in particular may change your life).
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 26 August 2023
A holiday season update with only two small changes: new icons to switch between mobile and normal layout, and a new scaling option for bubble charts (surely on-object formatting will go live soon?).
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 26 August 2023
Congratulations to Denzil Foakes of Skanska for winning our second film title rebus competition, out of a field of 24 entries. Here are the answers to the riddles!
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 25 July 2023
The July update contains smoothed and leader lines for charts, which are very welcome, but on-object interaction remains elusively stuck in preview ...
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 21 July 2023
We have 15 more films for you to identify from cryptic picture clues - something to while away the time while you sit on the beach, by the pool or in the office this summer - and there's a prize to be won too!
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 26 July 2023
At Wise Owl we are passionate about short-cut keys - both using them, and sharing discoveries about them with our newsletter readers. Imagine our excitement when we found these gems that you can use when browsing the Internet!
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 20 July 2023
You can now exchange high-fives in Teams: the first of a planned family of "together emojis".
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 20 July 2023
What connects the ability to high-five in Teams, the inclusion of Excel in EVE Online, a new default font in Office and pricing policy for the new Microsoft AI Copilot feature? This blog!
Posted by
Andrew Gould
on 29 June 2023
Until recently, if you wanted to automate a Microsoft Excel workbook your only real choice was the VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) programming language. Now, there's a new option for adding code to Excel: Office Scripts for Excel. There are many similarities between Office Scripts and VBA, as well as some significant differences. This blog provides a comparison of the two systems.
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 29 June 2023
We've introduced a new (shorter) two-day Introduction to Python course, a (longer) three-day advanced course and created a three-day fast-track course for those who want a more intensive learning experience.
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 26 June 2023
The June Power BI Desktop update includes an impressive new card visual, but on-object interaction (the new formatting feature which will change your working life) is still in preview, for now.
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 26 June 2023
Microsoft have introduced an impressive new card visual in the June 2023 Power BI Desktop update, which blows the old (rather feeble) card visual out of the water!
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 08 June 2023
It may seem a little OTT, but you can use your favourite AI tool as a calculator - as long as you don't mind if the answers are sometimes not quite right!
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 09 June 2023
The big event this month is the (long-awaited) release of Azure Maps, but the May 2023 update also includes the official launch of the Optimize ribbon and allows you to use measures as data labels, among other changes.
Posted by
Sam Lowrie
on 21 July 2023
This blog lists 5 reasons why you might like to consider using Google Sheets (perhaps as an alternative to Excel?).
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 07 June 2023
While browsing through forums (as one does) we found what must surely be the most complicated Excel formula. At 1,860 characters long - and combining some of the most complicated Excel functions - it's a true Excel monster. Unless you can do better?!
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 07 June 2023
Find out who won last month's newsletter competition, what people's favourite Taylor Swift songs are and why her elbows are so special!
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 07 June 2023
One of the immediate and obvious ways to use AI tools is to boost your productivity as a programmer. This blog shows how you can use ChatGPT 4 and Google's Bard to write programs in SQL, Python, VBA, JQuery and Office Script (probably the 5 languages Wise Owl use most).
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 06 June 2023
Google have launched a new AI tool called Bard, which is similar to the much-publicised ChatGPT tool from the OpenAI foundation. I thought I'd put both tools to the test!
Posted by
Andy Brown
on 27 April 2023
Modern visual tooltips are still officially in preview, but since they're turned on by default we've included them in this update. The update also includes composite models, some new DAX functions and a small change to PowerPoint story styling, but it's the big beasts lined up in preview which are (as always) the real story.