excellence

When you import data in Excel, you also import any blank spaces that come with it, which isn't a problem in day-to-day use. If you try to process the data, though, extra spaces can lead to problems, such as masking duplicate files from tools designed to find and remove them. Trim Spaces for Excel from Add-in Express is a free Excel add-in that can locate and remove leading and trailing spaces in cells in Excel documents.

We installed Trim Spaces in Excel 2010 and opened a spreadsheet. The Trim Spaces Help file opened automatically, while an AbleBits.com tab … Read more

Confirmation arrived this morning for earlier reports of Microsoft's Office Web apps product being integrated into Facebook's new in-box product.

At Facebook's San Francisco press event this morning about the overhaul of its messaging service, the company detailed how users can now view and share attachments on the service. Included on that list is Microsoft's Office Web Apps service, which means Facebook users will be able to open up Word, Excel, and PowerPoint attachments without having to have Microsoft's software installed locally.

The "view on Office.com" feature appears below each file attachment … Read more

Update: Microsoft has released another update for Office 2004 (version 11.6.2) which corrects this problem.

On Tuesday, Microsoft released updates for both Microsoft Office 2004 and 2008 to correct some security vulnerabilities in the software, but a number of people are having difficulties opening some Excel spreadsheets in Office 2004 after the update.

As mentioned by CNET member and MacFixIt reader Kurt in the comments of our article announcing the update:

"After applying the update yesterday, some Excel documents refuse to open. For a fraction of a second the open progress bar shows up, then nothing happens.&… Read more

Those of you still running the beta version of Microsoft Office 2010 have only three more weeks to use the software.

Today's Microsoft Office blog broke the news that the Office 2010 beta will expire on Sunday, October 31, meaning that all installations of the software will stop working the night of Halloween.

Launched almost a year ago, the Office 2010 beta has proved very successful, according to Microsoft's figures, triggering 9 million downloads, more than six times the number seen by the Office 2007 beta.

People who want to install the released version of Office 2010 will … Read more

In spite of being viewed as the "other guys" in some Mac users' minds, Microsoft has generally put out an excellent productivity suite for the Mac with Microsoft Office. Though the latest package is still not on par with the Windows version (you get only the four main programs--a big difference when you consider the Windows version has 10), Microsoft made a big leap with this latest version for the Mac in several other ways. Not only has it nearly reached feature parity (and cross compatibility) with the Mac counterparts to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but it has … Read more

Microsoft announced today it will be taking preorders for Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac. Microsoft says this major update will bring the Mac version of its office suite almost on par with the Windows version of the product. With significantly better cross-platform compatibility, several added new features, and some impressive interface elements exclusive to the Mac version, Office 2011 for Mac might be the best in its class.

Over the past couple of weeks, we had the chance to check out the entire suite--including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook--and we think there's plenty to be excited about. New and … Read more

Although officially only two months old, Microsoft's Office Web Apps is already growing up a bit.

To satisfy just some of the many user requests for new features, Microsoft this week updated its online version of Office with enhancements to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

One of the most requested features, according to a company blog post, was the ability to print from the Word editor. Previously, you could only print from the Word viewer. Clicking on the File menu in the Word Web App editor now displays a Print command that lets you send a document to your local … Read more

PDF files are indispensable in business, but it's a rare PC user who doesn't encounter the Adobe file format at some point, and PDFs will certainly become more common, not less. Developers offer a dizzying array of PDF tools, often bundled together for greater value. One such bundle is Docudesk's PDF Essentials Plus, which combines the company's deskPDF Professional PDF authoring tool with deskUNPDF Professional, its PDF conversion utility. The combination allows you to create feature-rich PDFs that are fully compatible with Adobe and other PDF applications, as well as convert PDFs to various formats, including … Read more

The Office 2011 for Mac preview was on display at an entertainment-related event put on by Microsoft this week.

Microsoft says the goal of this latest installment of Office for Mac is to bring the software more in line with the Windows user experience of the suite. What we see as the most notable addition to the Mac version is Outlook, the e-mail and productivity software Mac users have clamored for for years. We also noticed that like Office 2010 for Windows, the Mac version looks like it will share the same unified Ribbon interface features of its Windows counterpart … Read more