Microsoft Products Articles

Article / Updated 05-16-2025

Templates are the unsung heroes of efficient spreadsheeting — like meal prepping, but for your data. Why start from scratch every time, when you can have a perfectly formatted, mistake-proof starting point? Plus, using templates saves you from the inevitable “Oops, I just saved over my clean master file” moment. Windows users can create custom worksheet templates that are ready to be dropped in anywhere, while both Windows and macOS users can craft custom workbook templates and even tailor Excel’s sacred default template — the very one it uses to spawn new workbooks. Carving out worksheet templates Worksheet templates let you drop in prebuilt worksheets on the fly — a huge timesaver when you frequently add the same formatted sheet. But here’s the catch: this feature only exists in Excel for Windows. Mac users, you’re out of luck with this one. Here are the steps: Create a workbook that has the worksheet(s) that you want to save as a template. Choose File→Save As→Browse. Navigate to Excel’s hidden template folder: Type %appdata% into the File Name field, then press Enter. Scroll down and double-click on Microsoft. Scroll down and double-click on Templates. Type a meaningful name for your template in the File Name field, and then click Save. Choose File→Close or press Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 to close the template workbook. To put your nifty template to use: Right-click any worksheet tab, and then choose Insert. The Insert dialog box opens. Select your template from the General tab, and then click OK. Bingo! A perfectly formatted worksheet appears, no copy-pasting required. Even better, this saves you from accidentally moving key worksheets from one workbook to another when you meant to copy them. Now you can insert polished, preformatted sheets into any workbook without fear of dragging your data into oblivion. Establishing workbook templates A workbook template is a preconfigured Excel file that serves as a starting point for new workbooks, preserving formatting, formulas, and structural elements while preventing accidental overwrites. Good news, macOS users — this one’s not Windows-only! You can create and use workbook templates just like Windows folks: Build out your Excel workbook with all the bells and whistles. This can include custom formatting, formulas, headers, footers, maybe even a motivational quote in cell A1. Save the workbook: Windows: Choose File → Save As, then select Excel Template as the file type. macOS: Choose File→Save as Template. Name your template, and then click Save. You now have a pristine copy of your workbook that can only be affected when you open the template workbook, which isn’t easy to do. To create a new workbook based upon your template: Choose File→New→Personal (Windows) or File→New From Template (macOS). Pick your carefully crafted template. A new workbook opens with a preassigned file name based upon your template and a numeral, such as YourTemplate1. Choose File→Save As, select Excel Workbook (.xlsx) as the file type, and give it a real name. Rest assured, even if you reflexively mash Ctrl+S (Windows) or Cmd+S (macOS), you can’t save over the original template — it’s safely tucked away in a templates folder, far from your impulsive keystrokes. Tailoring Excel's default workbook Why settle for Excel’s default when you can start every new workbook exactly the way you like it? From font choices to default sheet count, Excel gives you some basic customization options. Windows users even get to pick a default view (Normal View, Page Break Preview, or Page Layout) because, apparently, Microsoft thinks macOS users are fine with whatever they get. To tweak these basic settings: Windows: Choose File→Options→General, and then modify the When Creating New Workbooks section. macOS: Choose Excel→Preferences→General, and then set your preferences. But let’s be honest — the real magic happens when you customize the default workbook template. Want every new workbook to have your preferred formatting, column widths, headers, footers, and whatever else sparks joy? This is where you make it happen. Creating a custom default workbook for Windows Follow these exact steps to create a masterpiece that most (but not all) new workbooks will be based on: Set up a new workbook and make it your own. Anything is fair game — fonts, column widths, number of worksheets. You’re in control. Choose File→Save As→Browse. The Save As dialog box opens. Select Excel Template from the Save As Type field. Navigate to another hidden folder: Type %appdata% into the File Name field, then press Enter. Scroll down and double-click on Microsoft. Scroll down and double-click on Excel. d) Double-click on XLSTART. If XLSTART doesn’t exist, create a new folder named XLSTART and then double-click it (because sometimes Excel likes to test your perseverance). Type Book in the File Name field, then click Save. If you name the file anything other than Book (like Book1, My Awesome Template, or Y’all Watch This), Excel still opens it automatically when you launch the program (assuming you saved the workbook in the XLSTART folder), but all new workbooks ignore your changes and stick with the factory settings like an overprotective parent. Choose File→Close or press Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 to close the template workbook. Choose File→Options→General, clear the Show the Start Screen When This Application Starts checkbox, and then click OK. Going forward, when you launch Excel, a blank workbook that has all your customizations appears automatically. Unlike macOS users, you now get to have your cake and eat it too: Creating standard workbooks: Choose File →New Blank Workbook or File →New →Blank Workbook to start with a fresh slate. Initiating customized workbooks: Press Ctrl+N to summon your custom masterpiece, no magic wand required. If you change your mind about the template, use the File Explorer to navigate to %appdata%\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART then delete the Book.xltx workbook. Customizing the default workbook for macOS Here’s how to tailor your default workbook to your liking: Create a new workbook and tweak it to perfection. Adjust fonts, styles, margins, custom headers and footers, or even hide an Easter egg in cell Z100 — go wild. Choose File → Save As Template. The Save As dialog box opens. Erase the Save As field, then navigate through the following folder structure: Type ~ to display the Go To dialog box. Type /Lib and then press Tab to navigate to the Library folder. Type Group and then press Tab to navigate to the Group Containers folder. Type UBF and then press Tab to navigate to the UBF8T346G9 folder. Type O and then press Tab to add the .Office extension. Type /User and then press Tab to navigate to the User Content.localized folder. Type Start and then press Tab to navigate to the Startup.Localized folder (no slash this time). Type E and then press Tab to navigate to the Excel folder (no slash here either). Press Enter to return to the Save As dialog box. Give yourself a high five — you made it! Type Book in the Save As field, and then click Save. Book is the only valid name — Book1, My Template, or anything else won’t work. Choose File→Close or press Cmd+W to close the workbook. Going forward, when you launch Excel or create a new workbook using File→New or Cmd+N, your custom template becomes the new default. To go back to the original blank workbook, delete the custom template from: ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content.localized/Startup.localized /Excel.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-15-2025

Whether you're just starting out with Excel or looking to sharpen your spreadsheet skills, this cheat sheet brings together some of the most practical tips you need for everyday use. It covers everything from quickly closing all your workbooks, to working smarter with templates, doing instant calculations, and even using advanced search with regular expressions. This guide is designed to help you save time, avoid common pitfalls, and discover handy Excel features you might not know exist. Let's make your Excel experience smoother and more enjoyable!

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-12-2025

Word is one of the most used computer programs on the planet. Helping you to compose text is one of the things that computers do well, but that doesn't make the text-writing chore easier or imply that using Word is simple enough that professionals like you don't need help every now and then. So, enjoy this Cheat Sheet.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-11-2025

The Microsoft Power Platform is a suite of applications that offers low-code and no-code development tools organizations can use to streamline and automate business processes. Collectively (and when integrated properly), the Power Platform suite of applications works together to support business transformation. Following is a description of the applications contained in the Power Platform, and some details about how each application functions as part of the suite: Dataverse: Starting your journey with each of the Power Platform applications requires one essential element: data. At the heart of the Power Platform is Dataverse, the common data service for storing and structuring relational data. Dataverse serves as the backbone for capturing and retaining user inputs across the platform's apps. Power Apps: The first step in the low-code/no-code journey to business automation is to create a mechanism for data entry. You can begin, for example, by using Power Apps to build an application that collects and manages data. Power Apps is often the primary tool businesses use to design custom applications that are tailored to their needs. Power Pages: Sometimes, you want the data entered with your Power Apps applications to be available for everyone to see, not just a few users. This is when you use Power Pages to design secure, data-driven external websites. The sites you create with Power Pages can display and collect information directly from Dataverse. Power Pages presents this data in a tabular format or as embedded reports and other media objects. Power BI: For data analysis, you use Power BI to transform data collected through custom apps created with Power Apps into interactive reports and insightful dashboards. Power Automate: You can use Power Automate to automate tasks and processes based on the data in Dataverse, which enhances productivity and efficiency across your organization.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-10-2025

Access makes managing data easy, enabling you to set up a database quickly, enter records into that database, and then use the data however you like. With Access, you can organize data into tables, design forms for editing and reports for presenting, and create queries for finding information!

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-19-2025

Whether you're drafting text in Word, designing presentations in PowerPoint, analyzing data in Excel, or managing your inbox in Outlook, Microsoft Copilot can assist you every step of the way. With this cheat sheet, you'll have a handy reference to quickly understand how Copilot can enhance your productivity and streamline your tasks across various Microsoft 365 programs.

Article / Updated 10-28-2024

A paper database is useful for storing information, but not so useful for finding it again. With Access 2019, searching and finding information is easy. If you have a thousand business cards stored in a Rolodex file, how much time do you want to waste trying to find the phone number of a single person? With Access 2019, that is no longer a concern. Searching a database is crucial to make your data useful, so Access provides two ways to search a database: Search for a specific record. Use a filter to show one or more records that meet a specific criterion. Searching MS Access for a specific record The simplest type of search looks for a specific record. To search for a record, you need to know the data stored in at least one of its fields, such as a phone number or an email address. The more information you already know, the more likely Access will find the one record you want. If you search for all records that contain the first name Bill, Access could find dozens of records. If you just search for all records that contain the first name Bill, the last name Johnson, and a state address of Alaska, Access will likely find just the record you want. To search for a specific record in an Access database table, follow these steps: In the All Access Objects pane on the left of the screen, double-click the name of the database table you want to search. Access displays the Datasheet view of your database. Click the Home tab. In the Find group, click the Find icon. The Find and Replace dialog box appears. Click in the Find What text box and type the data you know is stored in the record you want to find. For example, if you want to find the phone number of a person but you know only the person’s last name, type the last name in the Find What text box. Click the Look In list box and choose Current field or Current document (searches in all fields). (Optional) Click in the Match list box and choose one of the following: Any Part of Field: The Find What text can appear in any part of a field. Whole Field: The Find What text is the only text stored in a field. Start of Field: The Find What text can be only at the beginning of a field. (Optional) Click in the Search list box and choose one of the following: Up: Searches from the record where the cursor appears, up to the beginning of the database table Down: Searches from the record where the cursor appears, down to the end of the database table All: Searches the entire database table Click Find Next. Access highlights the field where it finds the text you typed in Step 4. Repeat Step 8 to search for more records that may contain the text you typed in Step 4. Click Cancel or the Close button. Filtering an Access database Searching a database is easy but somewhat limited because you can retrieve only a single record at a time that matches any text that you want to find. If you want to find multiple records, you can use a filter. A filter lets you tell Access to display only those records that meet certain criteria, such all records that contain people who earn more than $200,000 a year, are currently married, live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and own two or more cats. To filter a database table, you must tell Access which field or fields to use as a filter, and then you must define the criteria for that filter. For example, if you want to filter your database table to see only records listing the names of people who are at least 65, you filter the Age field and set the criterion to Greater than or equal to 65. Filtering simply hides all records in a database table that don’t match your criteria. Filtering doesn’t delete or erase any records. Using an exact match for a filter in Access 2019 The simplest filtering criterion searches for an exact match. When you filter a field by an exact match, you’re telling Access, “I want to see only those records that contain this specific chunk of data in this particular field.” By using an exact match filter, you can display, for example, only the records that contain CA in the State field. To filter a database table, follow these steps: In the All Access Objects pane on the left of the screen, double-click the name of the database table you want to filter. Access displays the Datasheet view of your database. Click the Home tab. Click in the field (column) that you want to use as a filter. In the Sort & Filter group, click the Filter icon.A pop-up menu appears. You can either Select or clear check boxes from this menu. Continue with Steps 5 through 7 for more flexibility. Choose Text Filters. A submenu appears. Choose a filter option, such as Equals, Begins With, or Contains. A Custom Filter dialog box appears. Type the data you want to find and click OK. Access displays your filtered data, and a filter icon appears in the column heading. Access remembers your filter settings. If you want to clear the filter, click the filter icon in the column heading; when a pop-up menu appears, choose Clear Filter. To view all the data in your database table, click the Home tab. Then in the Sort & Filter group, click the Toggle Filter icon. Filtering Access databases by form One problem with defining filters in Datasheet view is that you have all your database table records cluttering the screen. To avoid this problem, Access lets you define filters by using a form, which basically displays an empty record so you can click the fields that you want to use to filter your database table. To define a filter by form, follow these steps: In the All Access Objects pane on the left of the screen, double-click the name of the database table that you want to filter. Access displays the Datasheet view of your database. Click the Home tab. In the Sort & Filter group, click the Advanced icon. A pull-down menu appears. Choose Filter by Form. Access displays a blank record. Click in any field, then type the data you want to filter such as a last name. In the Sort & Filter group, click the Advanced icon and then click Apply Filter/Sort. Access displays a filtered view of your database table. You can click the Toggle Filter icon again to view all the data in your database table. Using a filter criteria in Access 2019 Searching for an exact match in a field can be handy, but sometimes you may want to see records that meet certain criteria, such as finding the names of everyone whose salary is greater than $50,000 a year. Instead of filtering by an exact match, you have to define the filter criteria. The type of data stored in each field determines the type of criteria you can create. Three common types of data stored in fields are text, numbers, and dates, which you can filter in different ways. Common Criteria for Filtering Text Data Filtering Criteria Description Equals Field must match filter text exactly. Does Not Equal Field must not match filter text. Begins With Field must start with the filter text. Does Not Begin With Field must not begin with the filter text. Contains Field must contain the filter text. Does Not Contain Field must not contain any part of the filter text. Ends With Field ends with the filter text. Does Not End With Field does not end with the filter text. Common Criteria for Filtering Numeric Data Filtering Criteria Description Equals Field must equal filter number. Does Not Equal Field must not equal filter number. Less Than or Equal To Field must contain a number less than or equal to the filter number. Greater Than or Equal To Field must contain a number greater than or equal to the filter number. Between Field must contain a number that falls between two filter numbers. Common Criteria for Filtering Dates Filtering Criteria Description Equals Field must equal the filter date. Does Not Equal Field must not equal the filter date. On or Before Field date must be equal or earlier than the filter date. On or After Field date must be equal or later than the filter date. To create the filter criteria, follow these steps: In the All Access Objects pane on the left of the screen, double-click the name of the database table you want to filter. Access displays the Datasheet view of your database. Click the Home tab. Click in the field (column) that you want to use as a filter. In the Sort & Filter group, click the Filter icon. A pop-up menu appears. Select the Filters option, such as Text Filters or Number Filters. A submenu of filter options appears. Click a filter option, such as Between or Less Than. The Custom Filter dialog box appears. The Custom Filter dialog box contains the name of your filter option, such as Between Numbers or Less Than. Type one or more values in each text box in the Custom Filter dialog box, and then click OK. Access filters your database table according to your criteria. Repeat Steps 5 through 7 for each additional filter you want to add. You can click the Toggle Filter icon again to view all the data in your database table. Clearing a filter in Access 2019 When you apply a filter to a database table, you see only those records that match that filter. Access displays a Filtered message at the bottom of the screen to let you know when you’re looking at a filtered database table. To remove a filter so you can see all the records, choose one of the following: Click the Toggle Filter icon in the Sort & Filter group. Click the Filtered or Unfiltered button on the status bar near the bottom of the screen. Access temporarily turns off any filters so you can see all the information stored in your database table. When you choose the Save command (Ctrl+S) to save a database table, Access also saves your last filter. The next time you open that database table, you’ll be able to use the last filter you created. If you want to save multiple filters, you’ll have to save them as a query. See these handy Access keyboard shortcuts for further information.

Step by Step / Updated 08-27-2024

Traditional Word users may be really disappointed that pressing the Ctrl+F key in Word 2013 summons the Navigation pane. They want Ctrl+F to bring forth the traditional Find dialog box, the one that’s now called the Advanced Find dialog box. To make that happen, follow these steps:

Article / Updated 08-28-2023

In Excel 2013, you can insert and delete individual cells or even ranges that don’t neatly correspond to entire rows or columns. When you do so, the surrounding cells shift. In the case of an insertion, cells move down or to the right of the area where the new cells are being inserted. In the case of a deletion, cells move up or to the left to fill in the voided space. Deleting a cell is different from clearing a cell’s content, and this becomes apparent when you start working with individual cells and ranges. When you clear the content, the cell itself remains. When you delete the cell itself, the adjacent cells shift. When shifting cells, Excel is smart enough that it tries to guess which direction you want existing content to move when you insert or delete cells. If you have content immediately to the right of a deleted cell, for example, Excel shifts it left. If you have content immediately below the deleted cell, Excel shifts it up. You can still override that, though, as needed. In the following exercise, you insert and delete cells. In the Lesson 5 Mortgage file from the preceding exercise, select A1:A6 and then choose Home→Delete. Excel guesses that you want to move the existing content to the left, and it does so. Click cell A1, and choose Home→Insert. Excel guesses that you want to move the existing content down, which is incorrect. The content in column B is off by one row, as shown in this figure. Press Ctrl+Z to undo the insertion; then from the Home tab, click the down arrow to the right of the Insert button and choose Insert Cells. The Insert dialog box opens, as shown. Select Shift Cells Right and then click OK. A new cell A1 is inserted, and the previous A1 content moves into B1. Save the changes to the workbook.

Article / Updated 08-17-2023

Word 2016 permits you to use wildcard operators in searches. A wildcard operator is a character that represents characters in a search expression. Wildcards aren't for everybody. Using them requires a certain amount of expertise, but after you know how to use them, wildcards can be invaluable in searches and macros. The following table explains the wildcard operators that you can use in searches. Click the Use Wildcards check box if you want to search using wildcards. Wildcards for Searches Operator What It Finds Example ? Any single character b?t finds bat, bet, bit, and but. * Zero or more characters t*o finds to, two, and tattoo. [xyz] A specific character, x, y, or z t[aeiou]pper finds tapper, tipper, and topper. [x-z] A range of characters, x through z [1-4]000 finds 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000, but not 5000. [!xy] Not the specific character or characters, xy p[!io]t finds pat and pet, but not pit or pot. < Characters at the beginning of words finds information, infomaniac, and infomercial. > Characters at the end of words ese> finds these, journalese, and legalese. @@ One or more instances of the previous character sho@@t finds shot and shoot. {n} Exactly n instances of the previous character sho{2}t finds shoot but not shot. {n,} At least n instances of the previous character ^p{3,} finds three or more paragraph breaks in a row, but not a single paragraph break or two paragraph breaks in a row. {n,m} From n to m instances of the previous character 10{2,4} finds 100, 1000, and 10000, but not 10 or 100000. You can't conduct a whole-word-only search with a wildcard. For example, a search for f*s not only finds fads and fits but also all text strings that begin with f and end with s, such as for the birds. Wildcard searches can yield many, many results and are sometimes useless. To search for an asterisk (*), question mark (?), or other character that serves as a wildcard search operator, place a backslash () before it in the text box.