For the past couple of decades, every tech bro has dreamed of “the one app to rule them all. While there have been some vigorous attempts, none have landed quite like the creators hoped. I’m not looking for an app that can be everything I need, but I do love an app that can bring together and organize my other apps, which are everything regarding my day-to-day work. Rambox does just that.

This “Workplace simplifier,” as it’s marketed, supports just about any app you could imagine from messenger apps, to social media, email, AI, entertainment, cloud storage, and more. You name it, it probably supports it. While that gives Rambox a similar do-it-all vibe, it’s more of an organizer of other apps rather than trying to take over everything. That makes it such a useful tool.

You can use it completely for free, too.

No do-it-all app can really do-it-all

I don’t tend to use most of the features in most of the apps I use. I use Docs and Drive because they’re convenient for sharing, but I have LibreOffice Calc for spreadsheet work. I use Photoshop for photo editing, but I’ll use ChatGPT if I want to generate something from scratch with AI. I like writing in Word, but I’ve yet to find a real use for its Copilot integration. And the less I have to use Teams, the better.

I like to pick and choose the features from different apps because they’re better at different things. Unless I’m locked down with a subscription, I’ll find the best app for the job rather than just using what’s in front of me because this other app can also do those things.

I’m no monolith here, either. Friends, family, and colleagues I work with all have their own particular tastes in apps – especially when it comes to communication. And that means I have to use them too.

I have friends on Whatsapp, Telegram, and Signal. I have Asana and Trello to organize different workspaces with different publications I write for.

One of my editors likes Google Chat, while others use Slack, and another still prefers Teams for all-hands meetings. Zoom makes an appearance occasionally, too.

Then there are Trello and Asana for organizing daily work, Sheets spreadsheets, and shared Google calendars… and these are just the ones I can remember.

There’s no do-it-all app when everyone wants to use different ones for different tasks. The result is a hodgepodge of standalone and web apps that can make keeping track of the many ways I communicate for socializing and work laborious. Without some way to organize everything together, it’s all too easy to miss a notification. I’m distracted enough to quickly lose myself in manually checking apps that haven’t nudged me.

That’s why I need help from something like Rambox.

Organizing the mess

Rambox is my one-stop communication shop for work and socializing while at work. I always have Whatsapp, Telegram, Google Chat, and three Slack channels on the go, and I enable Teams when I feel like annoying myself. I like the ChatGPT integration, too, and there are so many ways I could expand by using it. For now, how it brings together all my comms apps is a lifeline that stops me from drowning in procrastination.

I don’t need to pick up my phone to read or answer messages from friends and family, I have one place to look for notifications rather than a bunch of different windows, and it means I never forget to open a particular chat app. Before Rambox, if I missed opening that one other Slack channel I need to keep up with throughout the day, I’ll suddenly be minutes or hours behind my colleagues. For a freelancer who often relies on being flexible and responsive to short term deadlines, that’s incredibly important.

It’s not an infallible system, though. I'm sorry to my LaptopMag editor; this piece was a late submission.

But my own difficulties with time management aside, Rambox is a tool that I’ve made work for me in the way I want. I’ve barely scratched the surface, but it gives me exactly what I need. You can make it work for you if you have different needs.

Find what works for you

There are so many apps integrated with Rambox that I haven’t even considered yet. I might do, I might not, but it’s already worth the few dollars a month I pay for the Pro version. But that’s only because I want more than two instances of Slack. Until that recent change, I made do with the free version for years, and you can easily do that too.

But whether you want Rambox to organize chat apps like mine or a whole range of other apps or prefer a different workspace streamlining tool, many options are available.

Franz is an excellent alternative, although the free tier doesn’t offer​​ unlimited app support. Other options include All-in-one Messenger, Zapier, and Station. If you prefer open-source software, I also hear good things about Hamsket.

I can’t tell you how best to organize your apps, but I can tell you that managing at least some of the many apps I need to use daily has been life-changing. Putting them in one place helps me focus and avoid some of the worst habits that the modern distraction-filled workspace can encourage.

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According to the global data site Statista, about 30 billion devices are connected to the internet, but trying to get one PC to talk to another one right next to it via a cable has long been a quirky quest. If you've ever needed to transfer files between two laptops, you likely know this pain.

On the Apple side, decades before AirDrop, one could connect Macs using serial port devices that connected to ordinary phone wires to link two computers together using the AppleTalk protocol. Years later, Apple would enable a FireWire Target Disk mode that allowed one Mac to access another's hard drive when connected by FireWire. Ultimately, it brought similar functionality to USB-C and Thunderbolt (with the latter requiring a reboot on Macs with Apple silicon.)

Many tech-savvy folks also know that you can connect two PCs with Ethernet ports using a crossover cable, and while you can still find an Ethernet port on some business laptops, gaming laptops, and workstations, they are hardly common in 2025. For many years, popular file transfer programs such as LapLink were bundled with serial cables and modified to allow communication between two PCs. Today, USB cables from companies such as Plugable and j5Create (using the Wormhole brand) sell USB cables that include a lump of electronics and integrated software to handle the task.

All of this is to say that PC-to-PC communication has long been a convoluted process, but there's one modern solution that should have fixed all that.

Thunderbolt is everywhere

With Thunderbolt emerging as the one connection to rule them all (Thunderbolt 5 can deliver data at up to 80 Gbps, video at up to 8K resolution, and power up to 240 watts), you’d expect that plugging a cable into two PCs’ Thunderbolt ports would be an instant fast connection between them.

Not so, at least, that was the case before Intel announced Thunderbolt Share. Connecting two PCs with Thunderbolt 4 or 5 ports while the software is running presents options that let you drag and drop files between the PCs, sync folders, transfer data to a new PC, or control a PC with the other one’s keyboard and mouse.

Not so fast

That’s all great functionality, but there are a lot of caveats. First, while Intel freely shares the Thunderbolt Share app, Thunderbolt Share capability isn't free for PC manufacturers; at least one of the paired PCs must have its Thunderbolt ports licensed explicitly for Thunderbolt Share. That disqualifies all Thunderbolt-equipped Macs and Chromebooks. (It also requires Windows 11.) But Thunderbolt Share certification is even quite rare on new PCs.

First off, it’s unlikely to show up on Qualcomm/ARM64 and AMD PCs for the foreseeable future. As for Intel PCs, even the recent Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 13 Aura Edition that Lenovo “imagined with Intel.” lacks the feature. At least Intel has created a practical logo for the technology that should help identify compatible products.

These are still early days for Thunderbolt Share, which Intel announced on May 15, 2024. At least among Intel-powered Windows PCs, we’re sure to see more PCs supporting it ship throughout 2025.

How to use Thunderbolt Share without upgrading your laptop

Can’t wait? The good news is that monitors and docks can also be certified, which means the attached PCs don’t need to be. The OWC Thunderbolt Go Dock and Cable Matters 16-in-1 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 Dock with Thunderbolt Share are two such examples. But like many Thunderbolt peripherals, they come at a premium. The Cable Matters dock is over $200, and the OWC dock is $300. In addition, using docks and monitors removes the simplicity of using a simple cable.

While they’ve only just started to support the USB-C connector, today’s specialized USB cables that allow PC-to-PC sharing will likely upgrade to Thunderbolt at some point. Perhaps they will license Thunderbolt Share or offer another option. Because, while Thunderbolt Share seems like an ideal PC-linking option when it’s available, far too few share the option with their users.

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Working on a laptop is great when you're on the move, but it's not ideal for multi-tasking. That's why a great productivity monitor is a must-have if your laptop is your main work device.

Luckily, you can save hundreds on several of Dell's best productivity monitors with these deals I found at B&H. Dell UltraSharp monitors are up to $300 off right now at B&H, making this the perfect opportunity to get a high-quality monitor for multi-tasking or just giving yourself some more screen real estate.

Browse: B&H's entire sale

For example, you can snag the spacious 39.7-inch Dell UltraSharp for $250 off right now! This HDR monitor is crisp and responsive with a 120Hz refresh rate, plus all the space you need to get work done.

Dell UltraSharp monitors in nearly every size are on sale right now and those are just a few of the best monitor deals this month! So, no matter what kind of monitor you're looking for, you can get a sweet discount on it.

See also: Laptop Mag at CES 2025: The latest laptop news, reviews, and analysis direct from Las Vegas

Top 5 Dell UltraSharp monitor deals this weekend

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The Logitech MX Creative Console takes the unique form factor of a stream deck and reimagines it as a productivity device for creative professionals. Is it a useful peripheral for creative work or a novelty add-on? That depends.

Creative workflows can vary a lot – some people have a rolodex of Photoshop shortcuts memorized while others rely on learning exactly where every setting is buried in the menus of Premiere Pro. The MX Creative Console is designed for a wide variety of creative tasks, but how useful it actually is depends heavily on how any individual creative pro likes to work.

The MX Creative Console has a lot going for it, particularly its sheer convenience. With an approachable price, a handy set of tools, and loads of customization options, it could be a game changer for many creatives.

Here’s a look at my experience testing out the Logitech MX Creative Console and a few things you should know before adding one to your workspace.

Logitech MX Creative Console: Price and availability

The Logitech MX Creative Console is available for $199 on Amazon in two colors: graphite and pale gray. It includes the two-part console with a wireless dialpad, a wired keypad, a stand for the keypad, and a code for a three-month Adobe Creative Cloud membership (which you can use even if you are a current/past Creative Cloud subscriber).

Logitech MX Creative Console: Design

The first thing I thought of when I saw the MX Creative Console was a stream deck. If you’ve never used one before, a stream deck is like a panel of buttons dedicated to shortcuts and plugins. People who livestream on Twitch or YouTube typically use them to conveniently control their stream settings, though their robust software allows them to be used in plenty of other situations.

Logitech took that same concept and redesigned it for creatives with the MX Creative Console. It’s split into two parts: the keypad and the dialpad. The keypad is wired with a detachable USB Type-C cable while the dialpad is wireless. So, you can place the two devices on opposite sides of your desk if you want.

The keypad is effectively a mini Stream Deck with nine buttons for various controls and shortcuts and two buttons for scrolling between pages of controls on the main nine buttons. A plastic stand is included so you can prop up the keypad or sit it flat on your desk.

The dialpad has a large central rotary dial, a roller in the top right corner, and four buttons in the other three corners. You can use the dial for any number of things, but it’s designed specifically for precision tasks that require smooth movement, like scrolling through a timeline in Premiere Pro or adjusting brush size in Photoshop.

Both pads have a matching plastic chassis with a subtle duotone effect. The top half is a darker slightly textured tone while the bottom half is a lighter, metallic shade. The dial itself has a matte metallic finish that’s cool to the touch.

Logitech MX Creative Console: Performance

I tested the Logitech MX Creative Console with a few Adobe apps and a general profile for my everyday writing workflow. The keypad and dialpad both came in handy, but it varies between apps.

For example, the dialpad was a game changer in Premiere Pro but I barely used it in Photoshop. The keypad was much more useful there since it provided a convenient hub for quickly selecting different tools and making adjustments, which would usually require clicks or keyboard shortcuts.

This gets to the crux of whether or not the MX Creative Console is a useful peripheral or not. It depends heavily on how you work in your favorite creative apps. People who have many keyboard shortcuts memorized may not find the keypad all that useful, but if you don’t use keyboard shortcuts or often forget them, the keypad could be a lifesaver. Likewise, the dialpad is fantastic for specific tasks, but it can be otherwise easy to forget about.

With that said, both devices perform well at what they’re designed to accomplish. I loved navigating Premiere Pro with the dialpad. The smooth, uninterrupted timeline movement you get with the dialpad is much more precise than the finicky movement of a mouse. It’s a little thing, but if you spend a lot of time editing videos, it will be incredibly convenient.

The keypad also kept up well overall, including quickly updating button assignments and icons when I changed apps. The resolution on the buttons is a bit fuzzy, but it’s definitely clear enough to make out each icon without any trouble.

The ability to add multiple pages of buttons allows you to turn the keypad into a one-stop shop for all of your tools and settings in creative apps. I’m not good at memorizing Photoshop shortcuts and found the keypad far easier to use for quickly swapping tools. If you’re in the same boat, it can really come in handy.

Even when you’re not actively working in a creative app, you can still integrate the MX Creative Console into your workspace. For example, you can assign keypad buttons for system settings like muting your computer’s volume. I wish there were an option for muting your mic, but you can add that with plugins for certain apps, like Discord.

Logitech MX Creative Console: Software

The Logi Options+ app allows you to set up and customize the controls on the MX Creative Console. It also has a marketplace to download profiles for various app plugins, such as Adobe Photoshop or Premiere Pro. You can create your own custom profiles for apps that aren’t supported through the marketplace, as well.

Logi Options+ is a fairly straightforward app, but there are a lot of options and features to dig through, so it can be a bit overwhelming at first. A good way to get acquainted with everything is by customizing the controls on the action ring or keypad.

For instance, the keypad’s default system settings have the top row set to pause, play, and skip music tracks. Those same functions are in the action ring, though, so I customized my keypad profile to reassign that top row of buttons to quickly launch a few apps (Discord, Slack, and Asperite). I also swapped out the screen brightness button with a “launch application” button for the system settings app.

Logi Options+ will automatically use an app’s desktop icon as its button art on the keypad so you don’t need to manually upload it, which is convenient. You can customize any of the button images if you want to, though.

You can also create different profiles for different scenarios or apps, allowing you to use the MX Creative Console with practically any app you want, regardless of whether or not it’s natively supported through a plugin already.

Of course, creating a custom profile can be tedious and time-consuming. So, you may want to check the marketplace first to see if anyone else has uploaded a custom profile for the app you want to use the MX Creative Console with.

Adding a new profile from the marketplace is fairly easy. Select the keypad in the Logi Options+ app, select “customize keys,” and click the plus sign in the top right corner. Choose the “General profile” option and select “Discover more on marketplace.” Once you find the plugin you want, install it and Logi Options+ will create a new profile with it.

Bottom line

The Logitech MX Creative Console adapts the Stream Deck form factor into a highly customizable productivity device for creators. However, its actual usefulness varies depending on how you use your favorite creative apps.

There are plugins available for all of the main Adobe apps, but if you want to use the console with an app that’s not natively supported, creating your own custom profile for it can be tedious.

The MX Creative Console can be a game-changer when it’s all set up, though. The ability to quickly swap tools in Photoshop without confusing keyboard shortcuts or seamlessly scroll through a timeline in Premiere Pro could be lifesavers for creative professionals.

The MX Creative Console may not be a must-have device, just like its stream deck predecessors, but it definitely has a lot to offer a certain niche of users who want to simplify and streamline their creative workflows.

Most people are familiar with an "image search," in which you type a word or phrase into a search engine and see countless related images appear. But what if you need to search for an image rather than search for an image? That's where a 'reverse image search' comes in handy.

Reverse image searches can help students and journalists find the origin of an image to ensure it's properly cited. Reverse searching an image can also help people find similar images, which can be great for gathering ideas for a themed party or vetting a dating profile to prevent getting catfished.

Whether on an Android phone, an iPhone, or your computer, performing a reverse image search is a quick and painless process — here's how.

How to reverse image search on Google's website

The easiest way to do a reverse image search is via Google's website.

1. Head to Google.com, and make sure you switch to the Image tab.

2. Search for the image you're looking for and select it.

3. In the bottom left corner of your selected image, tap the Google Lens camera icon to perform a reverse image search.

How to reverse image search from a website

To reverse image search from a website, you'll first need to have the website open in a supported browser or the Chrome mobile app on your phone.

1. Locate the image you want to search.

2. If you're on a computer, right-click the image and select Search image with Google or a similar message, like Search the web for an image. Tap and hold the image to bring up the pop-up menu if you're on a phone.

After selecting this option, you should see multiple instances of the image being used elsewhere on the internet, as well as similar images taken from the same photoshoot.

It's worth noting that many native mobile browsers, like Samsung Internet or Safari, don't currently support reverse image search. Instead, you'll need to navigate to the website you're trying to search from in the Chrome app, tap and hold the image in question, and select Search image with Google Lens.

How to reverse image search with your device files

If there's a photo on your phone or computer you want to do a reverse search on, you can! The easiest way to do this is via Google's search engine.

1. Head to Google.com in your preferred browser. If you're on mobile, you might need the Google or Chrome app for this to work.

2. Click on the Google Lens multicolor camera icon in the search bar.

3. If you're on a computer, you'll be prompted to drag an image to the box, upload an image from your computer, paste an image link in the box, and then click Search. 

If you're on a phone, tapping the camera icon will automatically allow you to search with your camera or load your device's recent images and screenshots to choose from, as long as your browser has the proper permissions. After selecting or taking a photo, tap Search.

4. Optional: For mobile users, there's an option to add more details to your query after searching for an image or screenshot from your device. You could type in price, location, what is this, or buy.

App alternatives for reverse image search

For most people, native reverse image search solutions within your preferred browser work perfectly. But if you'd prefer to have an app dedicated to performing reverse image searches, there are two great free options to choose from:

• Reversee for Android or iOS
• Photo Sherlock for Android or iOS

If Google Docs isn't privacy-focused enough for you, you might want to try the newly debuted Proton Docs instead.

On Wednesday, Proton — the Geneva-based tech company best known for its Proton Mail email service — launched a new product that aligns with its belief "that a better world begins with privacy."

Enter Proton Docs. 

Put simply, Proton Docs (or Docs in Proton Drive) offers end-to-end encryption for shared online documents for anyone with a free Proton Drive account. In title and function, it's very similar to Google Docs but much more private and secure.

Proton's Head of Communications, Edward Shone, wrote on LinkedIn, "The release of Docs in Proton Drive is a monumental step forward" in the company's journey to "protect more facets of our users' lives."

This journey has been in the works for years. In a 2018 interview, Proton's co-founder and CEO, Andy Yen, said encrypted docs, spreadsheets, and slideshow presentations were in the works. Yen said, "We want you to be able to completely de-Google-fy your life."

But why, exactly? You might think, "What's so bad about using Google services?" And the answer may surprise you.

Who, or what, is Proton Docs made for?

Feature-wise, Proton Docs feels very similar to Google Docs. It offers rich text options, real-time collaboration with friends or coworkers, the ability to comment, multiple supported formats, and multimedia support.

But here's the big difference: When using Docs in Proton Drive, everything is end-to-end encrypted, "even keystrokes and cursor movements." 

And when your documents are encrypted, which could include private diary entries, plans for next summer's garden, or sensitive business information, big tech companies aren't able to track, collect, and profit from your private information.

In Proton's blog post, Proton Product Lead Anant Vijay writes that "there is a growing concern about Big Tech platforms having access to your content, tracking you across the web, and collecting data to train privacy-invading AI models." 

For that reason, Proton Docs is made for everyone, not just those working with sensitive information.

Look at this eerie privacy disclaimer for Google Gemini. Google warns users not to enter "confidential information" or "any data you wouldn't want a reviewer to see or Google to use."

Proton doesn't aim to offer more full-featured products and services than Google. Instead, the company aims to provide what Google does but with a clear privacy-first focus. In a world where your data is being collected at every possible moment, Proton Docs is a refreshing new service.

PDFs are platform-independent, secure, searchable, and versatile, making them a popular file type for many people in both professional and personal settings. But a PDF isn't the most compact file type or easily shareable on social media — unlike JPG, PNG, or TIFF file formats.

Whether you need to convert a PDF to a JPG, PNG, or TIFF file for an image-only project, to share on social media platforms, or to free up some space on your computer, the process only takes a few seconds. In most cases, you can use a free online converter tool, but for larger projects with more pages, a paid tool might be more advantageous.

How to convert a PDF to JPG, PNG, or TIFF

One of the most widely known free tools to convert PDFs to image file formats is Adobe's Online PDF Converter. This tool is easy to use, but it does have a file size limit. According to Adobe, Acrobat online tools support PDF files of 100MB (1GB) or less, but for most people, this limit won't get in the way.

Step 1: Go to the Adobe PDF Converter site page.

Step 2: Click the blue Select a file button and choose the PDF you want to convert.

Step 3: Once you've selected a PDF, Adobe's online tool will prompt you to choose which format you want to convert it to. Clicking the dropdown menu next to image format will provide JPG, PNG, or TIFF options.

Step 4: With your file format selected, click the blue Convert button. It'll only take a few seconds to convert small PDFs.

Step 5: Once your PDF has been converted, click the blue Download button to save it to your computer.

After converting two separate PDFs, you'll be required to create a free Adobe account. I was only able to create one more PDF for free after creating an account, and then I kept seeing a pop-up to subscribe to Adobe's tools.

Another free—but limited—online PDF converter tool is made by Sejda. This tool lets you convert PDFs up to 20 pages long or 50MB in size, and you can only perform 3 tasks per hour.

Windows users can try out the Any PDF to JPG app from the Microsoft Store. In addition to saving PDF pages as JPG, PNG, TIFF, and other image formats, you can also scale and resize PDF pages.

For many people, paying for Adobe Acrobat Pro is worth it if you constantly need to convert PDFs to image files and you need other Adobe tools. Otherwise, it might be worth learning the ropes of free open-source software like Inkscape, which is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

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Adding your Outlook Calendar to your Google Calendar means you'll only have one place to look to keep up with all your upcoming events. If you're constantly flipping back and forth between your Outlook Calendar for work tasks and events and your Google Calendar for personal organization, there's no need!

For people with schedules that don't change much once they're set, you can export your Outlook Calendar at regular intervals to your Google Calendar. Or, if you're looking for something that'll sync your calendars for you, a third-party tool (or even the Outlook mobile app) might be your best bet.

Here's how to use all three methods to merge your Outlook Calendar with a Google Calendar.

Method 1: Export your Outlook Calendar to your Google Calendar

The most common way to add your Outlook Calendar to your Google Calendar is by exporting it via an ICS link. The biggest problem with this method is that it adds a one-time snapshot of your Outlook Calendar to your Google Calendar, which means you'll need to repeat the process every time to see new events or updates to existing events.

If your calendar is set in stone every week or month, this is a viable option. But if your schedule is constantly changing, you might want to try one of the other two methods instead.

Step 1: Open the Outlook login page and sign into your account.

Step 2: Click the Settings gear icon in the top right corner.

Step 3: In the pop-up menu, click Calendar and then Shared calendars.

Step 4: Scroll to the bottom to find the Publish a calendar section. Select the calendar you want to export, choose permissions, and copy the ICS link. 

Step 5: After copying the link, open your Google Calendar and make sure you're signed in.

Step 6: On the left side of your screen, find the Other calendars heading and click the plus sign to the right of it. Select From URL from the menu choices that pop up.

Step 7: Paste in the ICS link from your Outlook Calendar in the box that reads URL of calendar. Then, click the blue Add calendar button.

And that's it! All the events that were currently in your Outlook Calendar at the time you added them will now show up in your Google Calendar. Every month, week, or whenever you need to update the events, you can remove your Outlook Calendar from Google Calendar, and then add it again using this same process.

Method 2: Use a third-party calendar syncing tool

If you don't want to constantly have to remove and add your Outlook Calendar to your Google Calendar, there are third-party tools that can sync your calendars for you in real time. Some of these tools are paid, but if you juggle multiple calendars for various purposes or have one calendar per client, the monthly or annual fee is worth it.

For Windows users, the Outlook Google Calendar Sync tool is free and easy to use. It supports all versions of Outlook from 2003 to 2009 (64-bit), but isn't compatible right now with the "New Outlook preview release" that's for cloud-only mailboxes.

Alternatively, there's the OneCal tool for as little as $4/month (paid annually), depending on how many calendars you need to sync. At the $4 tier, you can sync 2 calendars and add up to 25 users to the synced calendar.

Method 3: Use the Outlook mobile app

A final option, and perhaps the easiest, is to use the Outlook mobile app to keep up with both your Outlook Calendar and your Google Calendar simultaneously. When you add the Google account your Calendar is associated with to the Outlook mobile app, it'll ask for permission to "See, edit, share, and permanently delete all the calendars you can access using Google Calendar."

As long as the checkbox next to your Google account email is checked in Outlook's Calendar tab, you'll be able to see your Google Calendar events. I tested this out on Android 14 via a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, and an event I just added to my Google Calendar in a web browser popped up on the Outlook Calendar in the mobile app in less than 30 seconds.

With this method, you'll only be able to view your synced calendar events on a mobile device, but most people prefer having a portable calendar anyway. Plus, you can add and edit new events from a computer for ease and choose to only view the calendar on a smartphone or tablet.

If Google Calendar is your calendar of choice, check out these four great add-on tools that'll make you love it even more.

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If you're trying to learn how to hide your Gmail address, chances are you might be overwhelmed with the amount of junk mail piling up in your inbox. Maybe you've signed up for a mailing list of your own free will to receive a great coupon or access to a site, or maybe you think a particular company is selling your email address to advertisers.

Whatever your reason for wanting to hide your Gmail address, there's a solution. You can't hide your Gmail address when sending an email, but you can create alias emails to completely mask your Gmail address to third parties or create variations of your email to quickly sort through your inbox—here's how.

Use a third-party service to hide your email address

One of the best ways to hide your Gmail address is by never giving out your actual email address in the first place. An email relay service can create multiple alias emails to give out, and then emails sent to those addresses are forwarded to your actual Gmail address.

A favorite among available email relay services is Firefox Relay. There's a free version that lets you create up to 5 email masks, or aliases, and removes email trackers. Or, for only $0.99/month, Firefox Relay provides an unlimited amount of email masks, blocks promotional emails, and lets you reply to emails anonymously.

If you're an Apple user who pays for iCloud Plus, you don't even need to download a third-party tool. With iCloud Plus, there's a built-in email relay service called Hide My Email. When you click the email box to sign up for a newsletter on your Apple device, you should see a Hide My Email option pop up. Selecting that option automatically generates an email mask and forwards mail from that mask to your Apple account email.

The beauty of email relay services is that if it ever becomes clear that a company has sold that alias to advertisers, you can simply delete the alias and create a new one. 

Add a word to your email address to filter spam

If you don't want to go through the process of setting up an email relay service, you can use email subaddressing instead. This process doesn't truly hide your Gmail address like an alias does, but it allows you to create multiple variations of your email address, making it easier to filter and delete unwanted emails.

Email subaddressing works by typing a "+" and a word or number after the plus sign, before the "@gmail.com" part of your email address. As an example, you could type "myemailaddress+coupons@gmail.com" to create a dedicated coupon subaddress. These emails will all be delivered to your Gmail like normal, but you can quickly filter them by searching for that specific email address.

To make it easier to send specific retailers or websites to spam if they're constantly sending you emails, you can create a subaddress that includes their business name rather than a generic "coupons" tag. For example, you could add "+target," "+slack," or "+microsoft" to your email address instead.

Google might not have a built-in way to create different email aliases, but there are quite a few cool Gmail features you don't know about that'll make your life easier.

Email marketing is huge for many businesses, which is why there's a mailing list for everything. Whether you signed up for a mailing list intentionally or randomly started getting emails from a business one day, it's necessary to go through your emails every now and then to tidy up your inbox.

And lucky for you, Google just made it even easier to unsubscribe from unwanted mailing lists. First spotted by Android Police, Google is bringing a new Unsubscribe button to the Gmail app on Android. This makes unsubscribing an easy, quick option rather than something you'd have to seek out in the previous version. Here's how to use the new feature once the update reaches your phone.

How to quickly unsubscribe from mailing lists in Gmail

Seeing your inbox grow by hundreds every day is overwhelming. By unsubscribing from mailing lists, you can cut off the emails before they reach your inbox.

1. Open your Gmail app and open an email from a business you don't want to get emails from anymore.

2. To the right of the email sender, click on Unsubscribe.

3. Confirm your decision by tapping Unsubscribe on the pop-up.

4. After unsubscribing, you'll see a gray box at the top of the email that says you've unsubscribed and gives the option of reporting an email as spam as well.

And that's it! It only takes three taps in total to unsubscribe from an unwanted mailing list now in Gmail. Some emails I clicked on that came from mailing lists didn't populate the Unsubscribe button next to the sender, so this new trick might not work for every mailing list just yet.

This is a new feature that's still rolling out, so it might take a little while to flesh out all the features, and it might not be available on every Android device right now. If you don't see the Unsubscribe button next to the email sender, you can always learn how to unsubscribe from emails the "old-fashioned way." It'll just take a few more taps.

Google is currently gearing up for another round of pruning of inactive Google and Gmail accounts this week. If you have an older account you'd like to keep a hold of and haven't used in a while, now is the time to log back in and flag to Google that the account is active and in use. If you don't, you could lose access to older emails as well as the contents of your Google Drive, and Google Photos.

Google's inactive account policy changed in May of 2023 to include accounts dormant for two years or more. However, this only applies to personal Google Accounts, with schools and businesses not affected by the coming purge. The reason for Google's pruning has to do with security as the brand believes accounts inactive for two years or more are much more likely to be compromised and pose a potential risk to others.

The purging of inactive accounts is due to start as early as Friday, with Google having announced a phased approach to the removal of these accounts starting in December.

Will my Google Account be deleted?

Google has stated that before any accounts are removed, it will send multiple notifications to users in advance (both to the account in question and any recovery email address that has been set up). So, if you haven't been checking your inbox regularly, now is the time to do so.

If you have a message from Google indicating that your inactive account has been flagged for deletion then now is the time to act.

How to keep your Google Account active

If you own a Google Account you don't make use of a lot but still want to keep a hold of it, make sure you log in to the account before Friday, Dec. 1, 2023. Doing this at least once every two years is typically enough to ensure that the system flags your account as active. However, Google also suggests performing some sort of activity on the account while logged in, in order to be certain. These activities can take just a minute or two to complete and include:

• Reading or sending an email
• Using Google Drive
• Watching a YouTube video
• Downloading an app from the Google Play Store
• Signing in to a third-party app using your Google Account
• Performing a quick Google Search

Outlook

Thankfully, while this reminder might be short notice, it only takes a few minutes to make sure your older accounts are safe from the coming security harvest. While seemingly unnecessary, the occasional pruning of older accounts raises the bar when it comes to security for all users and frees up resources for Google to maintain the integrity of its services for all active users — both free and paid!

Be sure to check your inboxes for any potential heads-up about your older accounts being flagged for deletion, and quickly perform an action or two to confirm Google is aware that you wish to keep your account alive and open.

Ever wondered how to change background on Teams? Well wonder no more! Follow our handy Microsoft Teams guide and you too can trade your hum-drum home for a swanky modern abode or blur your busy surroundings in Microsoft's collaborative communication app.

Whether you're looking for a little extra privacy or just a change of scenery, Microsoft Teams offers you ways to customize your camera's backdrop to suit your needs. Better still, it's super-simple and takes just a few seconds to sort out. So let's get to it.

How to change background on Teams

Changing your background in Microsoft Teams is easier than you'd think, and can be done in just a few simple clicks! Let's quickly go through the steps and get you the results you've been looking for.

• Step 1: Open Microsoft Teams.
  
  
• Step 2: Start (or Join) a Teams meeting.
  
  

• Step 3: In the pre-join screen, or during a call, click the "..." (more) button in the top menu, then click the "Background effects" option.
  
  

• Step 4: From here, a new panel should open on the right of your screen. Here's where you can choose between different backgrounds or effects for your camera. To blur your background simply choose the "Blur" option and to change it completely, simply choose from one of the preset images.
  
  
• Step 5: Once you've set things up how you'd like them, be sure to click "Apply and turn on video" or "Join now" if you were in the pre-join room to save your changes and get back into things! And there you have it, one customized background in Microsoft Teams. Well done!
  
  

Copilot is Microsoft's new favorite AI chatbot child, and it’s coming soon to a Windows machine near you from September 26, 2023. After a long and storied history of attempting to bring the digital assistant to the forefront of tech, it looks like Microsoft has finally cracked it as it prepares to let Copilot steer second stick on future Windows experiences.

Microsoft’s initial ventures into AI chatbots resulted in the outlandishly politically incorrect Tay, the hilarious political correctness extremist that was Zo, before developing Sydney — the secret AI chatbot nobody wanted, but that we absolutely deserved. Sydney would eventually morph into what is now Bing Chat — a Large Language Model (LLM) powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 tech.

Bing Chat’s successes have resulted in Microsoft transplanting the same technology directly into Windows 11. The new Copilot AI assistant is an entirely new way to interact with your system and could be the future of the Windows platform going forward.

But what is it that Copilot brings to the table that so dramatically changes the wider Windows experience, and what are some of the key benefits of adopting Microsoft’s AI companion? Let’s find out.

3 ways Microsoft Copilot changes the Windows experience 

Copilot is a Large Language Model (LLM) similar to other AI-powered software like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. However, while ChatGPT is constrained to a pre-2021 knowledge base and Bing Chat to a web search directive, Copilot has the freedom to access your entire system along with cloud storage services and email. It even works in tandem with Bing Chat, delivering all of its natural language interactions and search functionality directly to your desktop.

This expanded freedom affords Copilot greater functionality than a traditional chatbot and makes it an ideal virtual assistant — capable of simplifying processes, suggesting ways to improve your experience, searching for relevant content, and solving any number of computing queries you may have.

Copilot is everything that other digital cohorts like Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, and even Microsoft’s own Cortana set out to be — and more. Here’s how Copilot will fundamentally change the Windows experience when it launches later this month.

1. Productivity — Think less, do more

Copilot is a productivity tool first and foremost. Microsoft’s AI companion is designed with user performance in mind — be it by reducing the cognitive load as you switch between tasks or simplifying your workflow with generative support. “Think less, do more” seems to be the goal Microsoft is reaching for when it comes to Copilot, and with a range of productivity-boosting functions available to all, they just might achieve it.

Copilot for Windows users can make use of the AI assistant’s features across native apps like Notepad, Outlook for Windows, and File Explorer. Here, users can quickly jot down notes and freely close the app without ever needing to save — with Copilot stashing their notes safely away for future access.

Apps like Outlook and File Explorer have deeper Copilot integration, allowing users to quickly summarize files and email threads, effortlessly search for important and relevant information, and even generate clear and concise copy for outgoing emails.

However, if you really want to take advantage of Copilot’s productivity enhancements you’ll need to look toward Microsoft 365 Copilot — the enterprise edition of the Windows chatbot. The business-focused element of Copilot is designed to streamline and simplify your workday throughout Microsoft’s productivity suite of office apps.

Whether you’re looking to spruce up a document in Word, visualize your data in Excel, or draft a proposal in PowerPoint, Copilot’s generative capabilities will be right alongside you in order to rapidly accomplish your goals. Copilot aims to cut the filler from your day spent formatting and proofreading, allowing you to focus on what’s really important, getting results that matter.

2. Creativity — Your imagination is the limit

Copilot’s features aren’t all about boosting the productivity of number crunchers and pencil pushers. In fact, with complete access to Bing Chat’s improved suite of GPT-4 and DALL.E 3-powered features, Copilot is a fantastic tool for getting those creative juices flowing for aspiring authors and creative pros alike.

As mentioned, Bing’s improved Image Creator now makes use of OpenAI’s latest DALL.E 3 model to deliver incredible art from simple, natural-language prompts. The new model will be a huge step up from Bing Chat’s current image generator which currently runs on the original DALL.E framework and will see the LLM able to accurately render previously troubling details such as eyes and hands with far greater accuracy.

The same feature will also be present in Paint as CoCreate — allowing you to generate images based on a text prompt and potentially even a sketch as the feature expands. Other native apps now featuring AI include Clipchamp and Photos, where you can effortlessly edit images or generate video projects using Copilot’s generative capabilities.

You can access this image generator directly from Copilot, and even from within Microsoft Designer. You’ll also have access to further AI tools from within Designer such as generative expand and generative fill to grow images beyond their borders and erase unwanted subjects. Copilot’s impressive AI graphics capabilities exist to help you to channel pro-level art into all your projects from custom wallpapers, to social media posts.

Copilot is also capable of the same three conversational modes as Bing Chat, meaning you can switch your Windows assistant into creative mode and start bouncing ideas back and forth with the bot to fine-tune ideas for writing, or how to tackle your next personal project.

You can even make use of Bing Chat’s search capabilities to have Copilot help you brainstorm by using the latest information from around the web to spot trends, find tutorials, and even hunt down reference images to help inspire you.

3. Organization — Everything, everywhere, all at once

Finally, Copilot’s introduction to Windows 11 brings vastly improved organization through improved search and file previewing capabilities. Windows File Explorer’s new modernized look isn’t all to do with aesthetics, it will now make it easier to find important and relevant content in half the time.

You can fine-tune your searches to narrow down results using natural language and even make use of a new gallery view with accurate aspect ratio thumbnails to make browsing photos easier and faster. You can even search for photos based on content or location taken, saving you the hassle of remembering file names or dates as you search through your snaps.

One thing that sets Copilot aside from other LLMs is its ability to offer contextual suggestions to users based on what they’re currently doing. For example, if you’re constantly juggling between windows, Copilot may pop up without a prompt to suggest an alternative window layout (or split screen) better suited to keeping your desktop organized and preventing your workflow from being impeded.

Copilot’s improved search capabilities don’t just extend to the contents of your hard drive either. If you’re making use of OneDrive cloud storage, Copilot will include this within each search to make sure everything you’re looking for is captured accurately. 

Outlook

Microsoft is going all out for Copilot’s arrival to Windows 11 with over 150 new features included in the update. 

Remember, this is just the start of Copilot on Windows. More features will no doubt make their way into the Windows Insider program soon, with Microsoft steadily building on top of its digital companion’s all-new foundations.

We may not have heard much from Microsoft about Windows 12 during this year’s Surface event, but Windows 11 is about to feel like a whole new operating system in and of itself once Copilot launches on Sept. 26, 2023.

Is Microsoft Copilot a productivity powerhouse or the harbinger of the AI uprising? For now, we’ll have to take Microsoft for their word when they tell us it’s the most powerful digital assistant on Earth.

Part workday wingman, part natural language command prompt, and part creepy desktop stalker. Microsoft Copilot is your new Windows companion – designed to make your life easier by reducing your cognitive load when it comes to your computing hours.

After taxiing on the runway for a few months now, Copilot is ready for takeoff with Microsoft rolling it out to Microsoft 365 subscribers and ever more users.

So if you are coming across Copilot for the first time, no your Windows laptop isn't possessed. But you may be wondering, what is it? Where does it come from? What can it do? And, can it be trusted? Let’s take a closer look.

What is Microsoft Copilot?

In 2019, Microsoft invested a sizable sum into OpenAI — a research and deployment company founded by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, which was seeking to develop Artificial Intelligence (AI) to benefit humanity.

In 2020, OpenAI developed Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3), a neural network-like Large Language Model (LLM) that makes use of machine learning to accurately process and replicate human-like language.

This technology was later applied to OpenAI’s Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) — a generative AI chatbot with the capability to convincingly, and reliably understand and respond to users with a knowledge base trained from a large sampling of books, articles, and web pages.

Microsoft quickly adopted GPT-3 to make their own LLM, Bing Chat. As an addendum to the Bing Search Engine, Bing Chat was able to use natural language to search for content, and answer questions on behalf of Bing Search users.

Microsoft Copilot is powered by the same technology behind Bing (now running a more advanced GPT-4 model), but applies the same generative capabilities as Bing for the Windows 11 platform.

With wider access to the operating system’s settings and functions, Copilot is capable of simplifying the Windows experience for users by having control over settings, window positions, sizes, and colors. On top of that, it can answer questions, automate processes, and keep track of data across various programs and files (much like Bing Chat can with search results).

Then at some point in 2027… Well, I’ll let you experience that one for yourself. No spoilers here. But if you want my advice, there’s no harm in insulating your basement with lead while you still can.

Microsoft Copilot overview

Microsoft first revealed its digital assistant, Copilot, during a Microsoft Build event in May 2023. The AI chatbot was then released for testing through the usual Windows Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary channels before finally being showcased in full during the Microsoft Surface Event 2023.

Having dabbled in both chatbots and digital assistants previously, Copilot is a logical progression for Microsoft who have clearly had this goal in mind for some time. Copilot successfully blends Microsoft’s chatbot experience from experiments such as Tay, Zo, Sydney, and eventually Bing Chat with a history of digital assistants that stretches from Clippy to Cortana.

Marketed as “Your everyday AI companion,” Copilot is the modern realization of the digital desktop assistant that Microsoft has spent decades toiling to create. In its current form, Microsoft Copilot is your one-stop destination to maximize your productivity in Microsoft 365, and help you get the best experience possible from Windows 11.

Microsoft Copilot in Windows

The primary focus of Copilot is to enhance the Windows experience for users by simplifying, suggesting, searching, and solving issues presented through text/voice prompts or contextual scenarios.

In its current form, Microsoft Copilot is your one-stop destination to maximize your productivity in Microsoft 365 and help you get the best experience possible in Windows 11.

Freely available to commercial users on release, Copilot brings a host of generative AI tools and features to dozens of native Windows apps right out of the gate. These features can range from text generation to image rendering — all of which are tailored to a user’s request.

Copilot in Windows features

• Paint gets the generative AI treatment with the inclusion of a Copilot-powered background removal tool and Cocreator (Get it? Copilot, cocreator? They’re funny that Microsoft lot), a Dall-E-based AI image generation tool that takes much of the purpose away from a graphics program like Paint in the first place. Though it could be handy if you enjoy generating coloring books I suppose. 

• Photos merges with Copilot in order to simplify the photo editing process. You’ll now be able to blur backgrounds for that beautiful bokeh effect with a single click, and make use of Copilot's advanced search capabilities to retrieve photos from OneDrive with ease! 

• Snipping Tool will now be able to use Copilot’s AI potential to capture text directly from an image and quickly export it in text format to another application. The Snipping Tool will also be able to redact sensitive information, and now capture audio as well as visual content. 

• Clipchamp makes anyone with a working left mouse button instantly as capable of a video editor as those sad Clipchumps who spent years sacrificing their time and energy by earnestly harnessing their craft for the love of content creation. Suckers. Copilot will now automatically compose scenes and narratives on your behalf — transforming you from a social media simpleton to a content creation king. 

• Notepad gets autosave! I’m not sure why we needed to invent artificial intelligence before we could get that particular feature working, but here we are. Which one of us hasn’t played a game of Civilization that sees us invent the musket before we figure out irrigation?

• Outlook for Windows has the backing of Copilot, allowing you to let Microsoft’s robot handle all of that tricky computing correspondence on your behalf. Talking to other humans is so 2022. 

• File Explorer combines with Copilot for a vastly improved search experience. Find files from across your local and remote storage with ease thanks to Copilot's all-seeing eyes. Just as long as he doesn’t peek into that folder called “New Folder,” nested within that other folder also called “New Folder.” If you know you know, I guess. 

Copilot in Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 Copilot is primarily designed for enterprise customers as a business tool focused on maximizing productivity across the Microsoft 365 suite of office apps.

Where Copilot for Windows is there to simplify the end-user experience as much as possible, Microsoft 365 Copilot is designed to be your ultimate work assistant — seamlessly integrated with all of the Microsoft Office and wider collaboration apps users are already familiar with.

Not only is it able to perform all of the functions that the regular Copilot would, but it also has access to Microsoft 365 Chat — a unique feature that allows Copilot to gather information from across your entire work system to ensure the information it provides is relevant and accurate at all times.

Copilot in Microsoft 365 features

• Outlook sees Copilot gain the ability to summarize email threads to help you catch up on all the workplace gossip you might’ve missed on that week-long vacation in Miami. Clutch your fresh juice blender tightly as Copilot reveals that Brad shacked up with Glenda, and that did not make Janice happy, especially because Glenda knew Janice had a thing for Brad.
  
  Oh, the tea! I suppose Copilot can also help you skip over the most basic of human interactions by faking all of your emails using a new “Sound like me” feature which horrifyingly allows an AI to adopt your writing traits to better impersonate you. Fun. 

• Word has now become a world-class plagiarism tool, allowing you to rewrite large swathes of text into generative prose nobody will ever know you didn’t write a word of.
  
  You’ll also be able to instruct Copilot to refine your writing by making things more concise, making it sound less complex, or really making sure your ex-wife knows how much you disagree with that court ruling, as you drink alone in a darkened office with your only company being Microsoft’s chipper chatbot cohort. 

• Excel is probably one of the best use cases for Copilot’s inclusion. After all, nobody wants to learn Excel formulas or TypeScript. Instead, you can now simply ask Copilot to format things how you’d please, apply filters, and sort information as it suits your needs.
  
  You can even use Copilot to whip up analytics for your harvested data, create professional-grade visualizations, and use your collected data to forecast future figures. Admittedly, that is quite impressive. 

• OneNote is better than ever thanks to Copilot’s ability to turn your shorthand notes into fully realized notes that you actually stand a chance of understanding when you stumble across them on your to-do list three days later.
  
  Copilot enhances the content of your notes, summarizing your thoughts, offering lists of pros and cons from your ideas and even expanding on your thoughts and fleshing out your ideas. 

• Stream is like a really fancy version of YouTube for the type of person who has no interest in Minecraft Let’s Plays. It’s also bolstered by Copilot’s inclusion by its ability to offer quick summaries of videos without you needing to watch a single frame of footage.
  
  You can even ask Copilot questions about the content, like “What was the outcome of this discussion?” Skipping past all of that annoying context and getting to the satisfying ending as fast as possible. 

• OneDrive gets Copilot’s powerful search capabilities in order to better track down files and documents with ease. You’ll also be able to ask Copilot for information on files stored in the cloud, and even for a brief summary of what's contained within. All without ever needing to open the file in question.
  
  Though you could do it. And it would probably be faster. But I suppose that’s a little less cool than asking your business bot to do it for you. 

I see enough spreadsheets throughout my day to know that Excel can be nightmare fuel for people, so if you're struggling, we got your back. Need to make text vertical in Excel? No problem!

We've also covered other Excel how-to topics, like how to subtract in Excel and how to filter in Excel.

Otherwise, here's how to make text vertical in Excel.

How to make text vertical in Excel

Step 1. Choose your cell, row, column, or a range.

Step 2. Select Home > Orientation (the "ab" symbol with an arrow underneath).

Step 3. Click on Vertical Text.

It's really that simple. You don't have to juggle the Pythagorean theorem to enjoy the wonders of vertical text. Don't go pulling your hair out over Excel. There are plenty of Microsoft Excel tips and tricks to make your life easier.

Zoom, the popular video conferencing and collaboration platform, is gearing up for a very busy ahead. And that’s OK, Because it’ll be inviting AI from Meta’s Llama 2, OpenAI, and Anthropic to help ease the workload as it launches its very own AI Companion.

That’s right, it’s time to bust out the old “[Company name] adds revolutionary AI to [Company product] in bid to revolutionize the industry!” template again. However, while at this point a popular app adopting AI is almost cliché, Zoom is apparently looking to “transcend” the hype around generative AI, making use of it only where it benefits its users most — throughout their day’s work.

Zoom AI Companion: What is it?

Zoom's AI Companion is a virtual assistant to promote productivity and enhance performance for all of its users. It's part stenographer, part scribe, part secretary, and an automated assistant when it comes to gathering around as a group for a brainstorming session.

The new AI addition will be slowly integrated across the entire platform including Meetings, Team Chat, Phone, Email, Notes, and Whiteboard — all by spring 2024. Better still, Zoom’s large language model (LLMs) will be available at no additional cost to those already paying for a Zoom Business subscription. 

Zoom AI Companion: What can it do?

Once enabled, Zoom’s AI becomes a persistent feature available to all within your workspace. Similarly to other LLMs (like Google Bard, Microsoft Bing, and ChatGPT) you’ll be able to interact with Zoom’s AI Companion using natural, conversational language for help in generating messages, organizing notes, or giving you the CliffNotes rundown on everything you need to stay on top of your day.

Take for example team meetings: Nothing is more disruptive to a team meeting than someone showing up late and holding things up while they play catchup. 

Thankfully, Zoom’s new AI Companion is never late for a meeting and always happy to share its notes with others. Tardy team members can simply ask the chatbot about what they’ve missed so far through a discrete side panel and get up to speed without disrupting the flow of things.

The AI will also be able to draft messages in Zoom Mail, save meeting minutes to Zoom Notes, and summarize SMS threads through Zoom Phone.

However, Zoom’s new companion will stand out most when it comes to Zoom Whiteboard — becoming a vital member of brainstorming sessions through generating ideas from notes, sorting and categorizing information for easy lookup, and even eventually generating images and populating whiteboard templates.

Outlook

Zoom’s AI companion is expected to launch in the coming weeks. Once again, this comes without any extra cost to existing Zoom customers, with a roadmap of updates planned throughout the rest of the year and stretching into the spring of 2024.

On paper, the Zoom AI Companion looks to be a lightweight blend of Google's Duet AI and ChatGPT — bringing similar functions to Zoom as found in the Google Workspace AI tools while still offering a conversational window to bounce ideas back and forth with the bot.

Plus, advanced AI assistance without paying a penny extra? That's a pretty great deal for Zoom members of all tiers.

For news, rumors, and updates on all things software and AI, follow Laptop Mag on Twitter, Facebook, and Flipboard for the latest word as it arrives.

Combining multiple images into a single PDF file can be a convenient way to organize, share, or archive your images. With Windows 11, you don't need to install any additional software to accomplish this task. The built-in Microsoft Print to PDF feature can be used to combine multiple images into one PDF file quickly and efficiently.

In this guide, we will walk you through the process of combining multiple images into one PDF on Windows 11. This step-by-step guide is designed to be approachable and authoritative, ensuring that users of all skill levels can successfully create a PDF file containing their images.

Follow these action steps to combine multiple images into one PDF on Windows 11.

How to combine images into one PDF

Step 1. Select your images: Open File Explorer and navigate to the folder containing the images you want to combine. Select all the images by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on each image.

Step 2. Open the Print dialog: With all the images selected, right-click on one of them and choose "Print" from the context menu. This will open the Print Pictures dialog.

Step 3. Choose Microsoft Print to PDF: In the Print Pictures dialog, click on the "Printer" dropdown menu and select "Microsoft Print to PDF" as your printer.

Step 4. Select your layout: Under "Layout," choose your desired layout for the PDF. Options include Full page, Wallet size, 3.5 x 5 in, 4 x 6 in, 5 x 7 in, 8 x 10 in, and Contact sheet. Depending on the layout, you can also select the number of images to be displayed per page.

Step 5. Adjust other print settings: Configure additional settings as needed, such as paper size, quality, and the number of copies of each image.

Step 6. Print to PDF: Click on the "Print" button to create the PDF file. A "Save Print Output As" dialog will appear.

Step 7. Save the PDF file: Choose a location to save the PDF file, enter a file name, and click on the "Save" button. Your images will now be combined into a single PDF file.

If you need to share your Excel spreadsheet with other people without giving away your password, it's super easy to unprotect your document. And if you don't have the password, we'll teach you how to break in.

We have already wrote about how to password protect an Excel spreadsheet, so if you're more curious about that, we got you covered. If you've already done that and forgot your password, now is the time to listen (read) up.

Here's how to unprotect Excel spreadsheets.

How to unprotect Excel

How to unprotect Excel with password

Step 1) Go to your Excel sheet, and go to File > Info

Step 2) From there, go to Protect > Unprotect Sheet

Step 3) If it's password protected, enter the password in the Unprotect Sheet dialog box and click OK.

How to unprotect Excel without password

Step 1) In the Excel document, press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.

Step 2) Right-click the workbook name on the left (Project-VBAProject pane) and select Insert > Module.

Step 3) In the window, paste this code (thanks, Ablebits):

Sub PasswordBreaker()  'Breaks worksheet password protection.  Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer  Dim l As Integer, m As Integer, n As Integer  Dim i1 As Integer, i2 As Integer, i3 As Integer  Dim i4 As Integer, i5 As Integer, i6 As Integer  On Error Resume Next  For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66  For l = 65 To 66: For m = 65 To 66: For i1 = 65 To 66  For i2 = 65 To 66: For i3 = 65 To 66: For i4 = 65 To 66  For i5 = 65 To 66: For i6 = 65 To 66: For n = 32 To 126    ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & _        Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _        Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)    If ActiveSheet.ProtectContents = False Then        MsgBox "Password is " & Chr(i) & Chr(j) & _          Chr(k) & Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & _          Chr(i3) & Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)        Exit Sub    End If  Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next  Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: NextEnd Sub

Step 4) Click the Run button.

Step 5) Now it'll provide you a cracked password, which you can use to access the Excel sheet.

Unprotecting a sheet with a password is way simpler than trying to break in without one, but as long as you follow the steps, you should find your way to a password-free sheet in no time. Keep in mind that if there's more than one sheet that's password-protected, you'll have to run the code for each sheet.

Happy unprotecting!

Life comes at us fast and we all have busy schedules to manage, so sharing your Outlook calendar with a loved one or people within your circle can be vital to staying on top of everything.

We recently covered how to share Google Calendar and how to add Google Calendar to Outlook, but if you are a fervent user of Outlook, we can help you out with a few simple steps.

How to share Outlook calendar

Step 1) Hop on over to your Outlook calendar, then click Calendar > Share Calendar.

Step 2) Choose the calendar you want to share.

Step 3) Click Add, and then navigate through your contacts to select who to share your calendar with, and select Add again.

Step 4) Select OK and you'll see the list of people you're sharing with as well as their permission level.

Step 5) Now you can mess around with their permission level to provide the right kind of access. Click a name, choose the access, and select OK.

It's as simple as that. Now you and your partners in crime will know exactly how to balance your schedules around one another. If you're interested, we have some other tips and tricks for Outlook, like how to change signature in Outlook and how to recall an email in Outlook.

Otherwise, happy scheduling!

Google is about to allow users of Workspace and G Suite users to eSign documents directly in Google Docs and Google Drive, and I'm jumping for joy.  Google announced this feature would be available for Alpha Testers a month ago. 

According to a report at Neowin, the updated feature is meant for business users who usually need to eSign multiple documents daily. Still, even the average user will enjoy this new ability that makes life easier. 

Google first announced the new capability in June, stating " "natively integrating eSignature in Google Docs, so you can quickly execute agreements from the familiar interface of Docs without having to switch tabs or apps." I have often had to jump through hoops to sign documents, and now having the ability to do so quickly and easily within Google Docs is game-changing.  

eSign docs in Google Drive and Docs

Google promises the new feature will be pretty secure as the new eSign feature will use Google's "secure-by-design" infrastructure, which comes with built-in protections to keep keep your documents and personal information safe while protecting your privacy. 

Some of the included features will be an audit trail for users and the ability for multiple users to sign a document. Users can also sign and get signatures for PDF documents stored in Google Drive. Google also noted that the ability to sign documents will extend to non-Gmail, and Google Workspace users, which means you can send signature requests to parties that do not use Google Workspace, Docs, or Google Drive to sign. 

The new feature is in beta, and Google Workspace admins must fill out a Google form to enroll your business or organization in the beta program. Google started rolling out the new feature to all users on August 8, and it should take about a week for it to be available to everyone. 

Soon we will all be able to eSign documents within Google Docs, and I am so excited to start preparing docs this weekend that need to be signed. 

Update! Improved drawing tool

RUmor has it Google is taking its signature imporvements very seriously and will also be adding improvements to the drawing tool within Google Docs to help fascilitate signing of documents. According to a Tweet from Assemble Debug, a leaker known for uncovering burined features, Google is working on improving the drawing tool within Docs to allow for signing within documents. 

As you can see in the images in the tweet, drawing within Docs will allow users to write directly on a document. Although no definitive information is available, it appears to be a less complicated version of the current drawing tool but far more effective and valuable. 

Besides signing documents within Docs, the new feature will allow users to annotate and comment on documents with collaborators. Google seems to be working diligently to improve Google Docs and Workspace, but the focus is to create simplified features and tools that make collaborative work easier. 

We will continue to update as more information comes to light. 

Whether you use Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, or the iOS Mail app, it probably does a good job minimizing the amount of junk or spam emails that land in your inbox. When it comes to promotional emails that you chose to sign up for — and might now regret signing up for — that’s a different story. 

Some retailers make it difficult for you to unsubscribe by forcing you to navigate through multiple menus before officially unsubscribing. Even worse, they could make you try to remember your account login info. 

Luckily, if Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, or the iOS Mail app detect an unsubscribe option in an email, you can unsubscribe directly through your email app instead of through a retailer’s website. Here’s how to do it. 

How to unsubscribe from emails in Gmail

Gmail is the most popular email service, whether you're on Android or iOS. It’s easy and intuitive to use, integrates well with other Google services, and comes with a ton of helpful features, including the ability to quickly unsubscribe from emails in only a few steps. 

If you’re sorting through emails on the desktop, you’ll see an unsubscribe link to the right of the sender’s email address when you open an email. A pop-up message asks if you’re sure, and then you can press the blue Unsubscribe button. The process is similar in the mobile app, with only three steps after opening the Gmail app. 

1. Select an email from a retailer you’d like to unsubscribe from. 

2. Tap the three vertical dots in the top right corner. If Google detects the option to unsubscribe in that email, you can select the Unsubscribe option from the menu. 

3. Confirm that you’d like to unsubscribe from that email sender by tapping Unsubscribe in the pop-up box.  

How to unsubscribe from emails in iOS mail

Whether you're looking at Apple's email app on desktop or mobile, the steps to unsubscribe from retailers are just as simple. 

1. From the iOS Mail app, select an email from a retailer you'd like to unsubscribe from. 

2. If there's an unsubscribe link in the email, you'll see a message under the email's subject line that reads "This message is from a mailing list." Select the clickable Unsubscribe button next to this message. 

3. When the confirmation pop-up appears, select Unsubscribe again to confirm your decision. 

How to unsubscribe from emails in Microsoft Outlook

Unsubscribing from emails in Microsoft Outlook is almost identical to the process in Gmail. If your email is pulled up on the desktop, you’ll see a message at the top of certain emails below the subject line that reads “Getting too much email?” with a clickable Unsubscribe link beside it. With the mobile Microsoft Outlook app open, unsubscribing from retailers takes three steps.

1. Open an email from a company you’d like to unsubscribe from.  

2. If there’s an unsubscribe link in the email, you can tap the clickable Unsubscribe link below the email’s subject line.

3. When the pop-up message asks if you’re sure you want to unsubscribe, select Unsubscribe. 

It's easy to quickly blurt out your email when you're at the checkout counter and an employee prompts you to sign up for their rewards program. But when you give out your email to 20+ different retailers, those promotional emails start to pile up faster than you can delete them in your inbox. Unsubscribing via your preferred email app makes this filtering process simpler. For an even better email experience, check out how to stop invisible email tracking pixels. 

You can now head directly to Google Search — or Google Chrome, the preferred web browser of most — to find out whether a sentence is grammatically correct. Gone are the days of needing a dedicated tool to check a few odd-sounding sentences for a work presentation or a school paper.

For more advanced or continuous grammar checking, you might not want to delete your preferred grammar checker just yet. At the moment, Google Search can correct simple sentence grammar and it’s “only available in English.” This is yet another helpful way to use Google Chrome, and we’re here for it.

How to check your grammar via Google Search

Over time, it’s possible that this built-in tool could develop to tackle larger paragraphs, different languages, and more intricate grammar mistakes. For now, Google’s search engine can detect a few mistakes within one or two small sentences. 

You can use this built-in grammar checking tool through the Google Search app or the search bar in the Chrome web browser for desktop or mobile platforms. Follow these steps to start using this new tool. 

1. Access Google’s search bar. You can do this a few different ways: 

• Open the Google app. (If you don’t have it installed, you can download it here if you’re an iPhone user or here if you’re an Android user.)
• Open or download Google Chrome for desktop, or head to the Chrome mobile app (You can download it here for iPhones, and here for Android devices.)
• Open your preferred web browser and head to Google.com to use the search bar.

2. Type or copy/paste your sentence into the search bar, followed by “grammar check.” Google says that its grammar-checking tool “uses AI systems and might not be 100% accurate, especially with partial sentences,” so input a complete sentence for the best results. 

3. Check out your results. If the feature worked successfully, you should see Grammar Check at the top of the page with your sentence underneath. 

Detected mistakes are bolded and underlined so they’re easy to spot, and they’re automatically corrected beneath the Grammar Check title. Google Search can detect mistakes with spelling, verb tenses, apostrophes, commas, and even incorrectly used words, like “their,” “they’re,” and “there.” 

One thing Google Search won’t automatically correct is the controversial oxford comma, or serial comma. The search engine doesn’t add an oxford comma in lists of three, but it does add a comma to separate the first two entries. However, when you input a sentence with an oxford comma, Google Search recognizes it as grammatically correct. 

If something looks incorrect to you, you can click Feedback to the right of your sentence. You’ll be asked whether the answer seems unhelpful, not relevant, incorrect, or offensive, and you’ll have the option to type any specific comments. To prevent offensive answers, the grammar check tool won’t run if the content is in violation of Google Search’s overall policies. Dangerous, hateful, medical, or profanity-ridden content would be in violation. 

This helpful grammar-checking tool is the latest in a series of built-in Google Search utilities, joining handy tools like a speed test, color picker, and calculator. Google also recently released a new tool that helps you take better control of your online presence by removing unwanted information from Google Search and sending out alerts when new personal information is detected in searches. Slowly but surely, Google Search is becoming smarter and more useful. 

Life is chaotic, and calendars can make it more manageable, but sometimes you just have to be on the same wavelength as people, and knowing how to share your Google Calendar is one way to make that happen.

However, the biggest caveat here is that you cannot start sharing your Google Calendar via the app. So bust out that computer if you have it, or hop on over to a browser on your phone.

Here's how to share Google Calendar.

How to share Google Calendar

Share Google Calendar with specific people

Step 1) Open Google Calendar.

Step 2) On the left, navigate to the “My calendars” section. Click the down arrow.

Step 3) Hover over the calendar you want to share, and click the three dots and then Settings and sharing.

Step 4) Find "Share with specific people," and then click Add people and groups.

Step 5) Now you can add people to the list and use the drop-down menu to adjust permissions.

Step 6) Hit send. (The person you added needs to click the emailed link to add it to their calendar.)

Share Google Calendar with the public

Step 1) Follow steps 1 to 3 above.

Step 2) Navigate to “Access permissions,” then select Make available to public.

Step 3) To the right of “Make available to public,” you can select the level of access you provide to the public.

It's as simple as that. Now you and your partners in crime will know exactly how to balance your schedules around one another. If you're interested in making the most of Google Calendar, check out our best Google Calendar add-ons page. 

Otherwise, happy scheduling!

Excel can be a confusing landscape of chaos if you don't know what you're doing, so something simple like subtracting ends up being a nightmare.

Well, we're adding a few rainbows and unicorns to those dreams and we're going to teach you the ways of Excel, that is how to subtract in Excel. We've already written about how to remove duplicate entries in Excel (if you're interested in that instead).

Otherwise, here's how to subtract in Excel.

How to subtract in Excel

Subtract two or more numbers in a cell

Step 1) Select a blank cell and type an equal size [=] to start.

Step 2) After the equal sign, type out the desired numbers and separate them with a minus sign (-). Example: 43-3-23-12

Step 3) Press the Return key. With the example above, you should get 5.

Subtract numbers using cell references

Step 1) Type a number in the desired cells. For example, cells A1 and B1 with numbers 7 and 4, respectively.

Step 2) Select the cell you wish to have your total (like C1) and type the equal sign [=].

Step 3) After the equal sign, type the cells you wish to subtract. If you're following our example, it would be A1-B1.

Step 4) Now just press the Return key. Our result should be 3.

It's as simple as that. There's not too much to it, so don't go pulling your hair out over Excel. There are plenty of tips and tricks out there, many of which can be found right here.

As a tech and gaming journalist by day, I hear all of the AI horror stories you can imagine, but that’s the last thing I want to take home at night as a fantasy writer working on their first novel. I’ve spent over two years crafting 50,000 words  — what do you mean Google Docs can steal my work? I use Google Docs! I’m using it right now!

If you’re on BookTok (a TikTok community), you know exactly what I’m talking about. There’s been a lot of confusion about what Google can and can’t use, and the fear of having your work stolen by an overzealous tech nerd that thinks the art that AI made for them is their own IS SKIN CRAWLING!

Okay. Let’s break down what is actually happening with Google Docs and Google’s AI suite — and what the heck we should all be doing about it.

Google AI — Is Google Docs stealing our work?

No. As of right now, Google Docs is off limits for training Google’s AI, but like a vampire tricking you into inviting them into your home, your permission can be the difference between your protection and theft. Let’s look at the facts.

For the uninitiated, Google has a few different AI services, but we’re more concerned with Bard, Document AI and Labs AI. Bard is your bitter rival that’s stealing all of your ideas, Document AI is your unpaid intern stealing all of your personal data, and Labs AI is both. To be clear, you have to sign up for Labs AI and pay for Document AI to take effect, so they’re not something you need to worry about in your Google Docs right now — but please read on, because this can change. Also, don’t use Bard!

Google's official documentation on Document AI Security states this, “No. Google does not use any of your content (such as documents and predictions) for any purpose except to provide you with the Document AI service. At Google Cloud, we never use, nor do we intend to use in the future, customer data to train our Document AI models.”

But look at the examples for using Document AI:

• Digitizing books for e-readers
• Filling out medical intake forms at doctor's offices
• Submitting expense reports based on receipts and invoices
• Authenticating identity based on ID cards
• Approving loans based on income information from tax forms
• Understanding contracts for key business agreements

Any company, government, or entity that you engage with that uses Document AI is handing over all that sensitive data to Google. 

Here’s the thing, Google is stealing your work. Yes, in this privacy archive, Google highlights the changes that state, “we may collect information that’s publicly available online or from other public sources to help train Google’s AI models.” The keyword here is public. Anything that you’ve ever posted on the internet, even articles that I’ve written on this site, is subject to Google’s sticky virtual kleptomaniac fingers.

On other hand, Labs AI will be fully integrated into Gmail and Google Docs. The Workspace Labs Privacy Notice states that, “When you interact with Labs generative AI features, Google LLC (Google) collects your Labs data, including your prompts and input, prompt and input refinements, generated output, generated output refinements, and feedback.”

But what is a prompt or input in this case? Is it our entire Google Doc? That’s wholly unclear, but it’s especially discouraging when the following line reads, “Please do not include sensitive, confidential, or personal information that can be used to identify you or others in your interactions with Labs features.” Google is storing this data somewhere not associated with your Google account and it will be retained for 18 months. However, human reviewers will read, annotate, and process your Labs data — and if they do that, they’re subject to be held for up to 4 years. Random people are going to be all up in your documents judging the hell out of your experimental sci-fi spaghetti western. Do we really want that?

Meanwhile, in a federal court in California on Tuesday July 11, 2023, Google was hit with a class action lawsuit by Clarkson Law Firm that alleges that its parent company Alphabet and its subsidiaries have been “secretly stealing” everyone’s data on the internet. The company has already admitted as much, but admittance of something doesn’t make it not illegal. We’ll have to wait and see where the federal court falls on this.

Google claims that it will not use your information without your permission, but it’s not hard to get your permission. When’s the last time you read an EULA? You accept the terms and services and move on with your day like everyone else. That can slip past people so quickly. We’ll catch it eventually, maybe even right away, but how many Docs will have been consumed by then? Right now, your Docs are safe. But tomorrow? I can’t say, and neither can Google.

What do we do? Here are three alternatives

Go support our fellow WGA and SAG-AFTRA members striking in the streets against AI. But as far as your personal documents go, let's look at some alternatives that won't be gobbled up by the dream-eater.

Microsoft Word is the most popular choice for any kind of document, and it also happens to be the industry standard in the publishing world. But you have to be cautious. Why? Well, the Washington-based tech giant has its own AI, Copilot (I’ll cover this in a following article). But luckily for us, Microsoft Word isn't web-based, so you can completely cut it off from accessing the internet. Do that! Microsoft Word includes key features like easy collaboration, availability almost everywhere, and support for a variety of formats. However, it’s not free. It will cost you $7 per month at the cheapest rate.

Scrivener is an excellent choice for creative writers. It features formats for Fiction, Non-fiction,  and Scriptwriting — you can even download some custom ones online. There’s a bit of a learning curve because unlike a standard document, you can split chapters and scenes into their own sections, and it kind of looks like a pinboard of ideas on the home page. There are plenty of tutorials out there and it comes highly recommended by published authors. Books have even been written about how to use it like an expert. However, it is not free, but it’s cheaper in the long run compared to Word — charging you a $60 fee for Windows or $50 for macOS.

Reedsy is actually where I moved my novel. Unlike Word and Scrivener, it’s free, and that’s what’s most attractive about it. It offers everything you need to publish your book, from the front matter templates like copyrights and dedications to the back matter templates like about the author and other works. Once you’ve written the book, you can even export it to a print-ready PDF and ebook-ready formats. I also love that you can create writing goals. However, since it’s free, there’s not a lot of customization and it lacks an intuitive collaboration feature. But if you’re looking to spend next-to-nothing to publish your book, Reedsy is a great choice.

These are my top three choices that I will always think about, but there are plenty of others, like Dabble, Nextcloud, and Novlr. Please, please, please do your own research, read all the terms and services. You don’t want to get caught looking at your own words with someone else’s name attached to it.

Outlook

Do you need to stop using Google Docs right this second? Maybe not. My articles end up in the world pretty quick — but my book is cooking, so I’m keeping that baby on lock down somewhere else. If you have private documentation, the last thing you want is for Google to access that. 

I shouldn’t have to tell you what’s wrong with this picture, but in case you need reminding, it’s called plagiarism. Look outside any big media company’s building right now and you’ll see thousands of people on strike because AI is a threat to our creative wills. It steals from us and can’t even get it right — it’s not competent. But we all know what happens when we let these things learn — we’ve seen the movies. Seriously, I just watched Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Total nightmare scenario.

Companies sell enough of our information as it is, they don’t need to take our creative freedom from us too.

Excel can be a confusing landscape of chaos if you don't know what you're doing, so something like highlighting duplicates, which should be easy, ends up being a journey through a maze that's guarded by a minotaur.

Well, we're taking the horns away from the bull and we're going to teach you the ways of Excel, that is how to highlight duplicates in Excel. We've already written about how to remove duplicate entries in Excel (if you're interested in that instead).

Otherwise, here's how to highlight duplicates in Excel.

How to highlight duplicates in Excel

Step 1) Select the cells you want to highlight.

Step 2) Navigate to Home > Conditional Formatting.

Step 3) Then to Highlight Cells Rules > Duplicate Values.

Step 4) Now, to the right of the values with text, select the formatting you want to apply to the duplicates.

Step 5) Click OK.

It's as simple as that. There's not too much to it, so don't go pulling your hair out over Excel. There are plenty of tips and tricks out there, many of which can be found right here.

The internet has been thrust into a minor state of confusion as a new Gmail feature is being advertised to users both on the Gmail app and webpage. Advertised as Enhanced Safe Browsing, Google is claiming that it will "additional protection against dangerous emails." First of all, yes, this is a real Google feature. You're not being tricked.

It has existed since 2020, but specifically for safe browsing. It became available with Gmail a little after, and it's easy to activate. Google is taking the initiative and reminding people that this feature exists, so you might feel pressured to use it for the sake of protection, but it's important to know everything you can before biting the bullet.

Should you use Gmail's Enhanced Safe Browsing?

In order to turn on Enhanced Safe Browsing, you can simply click here to get to the page. For something that is meant to provide further protection against malicious parties while browsing the web and opening emails, it would seem like a must-use. 

But a key question might be swimming to the surface of your mind right now: If it were truly necessary, why would Google make it an opt-in feature? While on the page to turn the feature on, you can select "learn more" to read more into exactly what it's doing.

It allows Google to check for URLs, downloads, browser extensions, system information and samples of pages you visit. Alongside this, it can "associate information gained from Enhanced Safe Browsing with your Google account." If you're worried about sharing too much information with Google, using it is probably not a great idea.

There are already plenty of scares in the internet world about how much data we share with giant corporations, so it's easy to see something like this and worry. In this sense, Google advertising the feature to users can be worrying, but it's important to know what you're signing up for before doing so. Thankfully, even if you do opt-in to this feature, it can be deactivated at any time. You're not permanently set into this.

Excel spreadsheets can get overwhelming -- trust me, I know. What better way is there to manage a chaotic spreadsheet than filtering the heck out of it? It's super simple.

Unfortunately, it's just one of many Excel's many complications. We've covered so many tips on Excel, like How to show or unhide rows or columns in Excel or How to insert a check mark in Excel. It can be a confusing software to navigate, so we're here to help!

Here's how to filter in Excel.

How to filter in Excel.

Filter a range of data

Step 1) Select a cell.

Step 2) Head over to the Data tab, and click Filter.

Step 3) Click the column header arrow.

Step 4) Now you can select Text Filters or Number Filters. Then choose a comparison, like Between.

Step 5) Finally, you can enter the filter values and then hit OK.

Filter data in a table

Step 1) Follow previous Steps 1 to 3.

Step 2) Here you'll have the option to Uncheck (Select All) and choose the boxes you want to show up.

Step 3) Hit OK.

It's as simple as that. There's not too much to it, so don't go pulling your hair out over Excel. There are plenty of tips and tricks out there, many of which can be found right here.

Calibri, with its subtle round stems and corners, has been the default font for all things Microsoft for 15 years now — since 2007. While we admired its soft and sophisticated characters, Microsoft is ready to replace it with a new typeface.

In fact, the Redmond-based tech giant has been itching to get rid of poor Calibri since 2021 when it announced that it was vetting five potential replacements: Tenorite, Bierstadt, Skeena, Seaford and Grandview.

Two years later (hey, picking the right font for us to type with is hard work), Microsoft finally chose Calibri's replacement — and it's called Aptos.

Aptos is the new default font

Calibri has been with us since it stepped in to take over Times New Roman's stiff and stuffy font. Its design had the right balance: a perfect mélange of quiet fun and urbane sophistication. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on where you stand with Calibri), it's retiring after a 15-year run.

Who's stepping in to replace Calibri? Meet Aptos.

"What happened to the five new fonts Microsoft commissioned in 2021?" you may be asking. "Why didn't Microsoft choose one of them?" The answer is that it did. Bierstadt ended up being the winner, but Microsoft changed its name to Aptos.

Aptos is described as a "precise, contemporary sans serif typeface inspired by mid-20th-century Swiss typography" with clear-cut stroke endings that emanate a personality of self discipline, poise and willpower, according to Microsoft.

While we all love the whimsical vibes of Papyrus, Comic Sans and Lucida Calligraphy, they have no place in the professional realm of default fonts. 

Steve Matteson, the mastermind behind Aptos (who also created Segoe), said he designed the font to have the flair of The Late Show host Stephen Colbert with the universal appeal of late NPR newscaster Carl Kasell. 

"It's kind of like listening to a GPS voice versus a human voice. People would rather listen to a human than a robot telling you to turn left," Matteson said. "That's my ethos getting put into the design."

Why did Microsoft dump Calibri?

Microsoft's decision to boot Calibri is the same reason behind why it decided to eliminate Times New Roman, which debuted in Office 2007. Times are a changin', and so are display types, and the company wants to make sure its default font is optimized for the newest, greatest, latest screens.

Calibri got hired to replace Times New Roman due to screens' shift from CRT to LCD. In the same way, as displays advance with new technologies (e.g., QLED, miniLED, OLED, etc.), Microsoft figured that it's high time for a change.

"The [new] font needed to have sharpness, uniformity, and be great for display type," Microsoft said. And that's why it ultimately went with Aptos.

If you're a Microsoft 365 subscriber, you should see the switch to Aptos today. Calibri, and the four other loser contenders (i.e., Tenorite, Skeena, Seaford and Grandview), should be available in Microsoft apps as non-default options.

Google is currently rolling out a new feature to Gmail and it might just end all of the kerfuffle involved in scheduling events over email. The two new features allow Gmail users to quickly identify the perfect time to schedule meetings or events with one another (currently limited to 1:1 appointments only)

As the feature rolls out over the next few weeks, users will notice a new Calendar icon in their compose windows — here’s where you’ll find Gmail’s two new perks: “Offer times you’re free” and “Create an event.” 

New Gmail features: Create an event & Offer times you’re free 

Clicking the “Create an event button” is self explanatory — it will generate a Google Calendar event between yourself and all of the current email chain’s recipients. 

This will expand the calendar flow on the right-hand side of the screen and allow you to assign additional invitees, an event title, and a brief summary of what to expect before sending it off as an invite to others.

On the other hand, choosing the new “Offer times you’re free” option will similarly open up the calendar flow on the right, only this time allowing you to highlight free spots on your Google Calendar where you’ll be available for an event or meeting. You’ll even be able to highlight separate blocks of time across multiple days.

Once you’ve selected the times you’re free, you can fire off your email and let the recipient choose a time that works best for them, with you both receiving an event notification and calendar update afterward.

Outlook

This Gmail update won’t set the world on fire, but it does enable a super convenient way to arrange events and meetings without all of the haggling for time you might currently face.

It might be a small step in refining Google’s email service but it’ll be a noticeable one for many, and it’s nice to know Google still have minor tweaks like this in mind instead of throwing all of its eggs into the generative AI basket. 

Microsoft Teams is a professional tool, for professional people. So it makes perfect sense that a new update brings a profanity filter to Microsoft Teams that aims to keep everyone's language boardroom appropriate.

So if colorful language isn’t your thing, then you can now enjoy a more sanitized, family-friendly version of Jen from accounting giving Greg the what-for over those poorly filled-out K-12 forms. 

A better captioning experience

Microsoft Teams' profanity filter is part of a wider update to the app's Live Captions and Live Transcription tools. The update allows for the positioning of captions to be customized in meetings with clearer speaker attribution, more space for captions to populate, and the ability to change font color and font size for easier reading.

Users will also now also be able to specify the current spoken language in meetings, and those with a Teams Premium license will be able to specify a desired captioning language for live translations.

Watch your language (or don't)

Sadly, the new update won’t bleep out spoken cursing during a call like on live TV or radio, but it will censor them from appearing in Live Captions and Live Transcription. You may have already noticed this in effect if you’re a regular Teams user, as the setting will be enabled by default. 

Thankfully, if you’d rather not have messages filtered then you can choose not to by simply disabling the option to filter profane words in meeting captions from the captions and transcriptions tab under user settings. This is a user-level preference, so only you get to control when words are or aren’t filtered.

Outlook

Beyond having a much less sweary chat transcript for people to enjoy, this update to Microsoft Teams is a fantastic accessibility update that improves the experience for hearing and visually impaired members of a meeting.

All-in-all, this is a win for the virtual workplace and those within it. While small in scale, Microsoft Teams’ update is likely to be big in impact – and for that, all we can say is well ******* done.

Adding a signature to your emails can add a sense of professionalism to your outbound communiqué or just save you the hassle of having to write "Best wishes" or "Thanks for your time" at the end of every email.

Whatever your reasons, we've noticed that a fair amount of Gmail users are looking to add signatures to their emails but don't know how. Well, luckily, we do! And we're happy to show you how with our guide on how to add a signature in Gmail. 

Step 1: Open Settings in Gmail

First things first, open up Gmail and look towards the top right of the window. You'll want to click on the "Settings" button, represented by the icon of a cog.

In the panel that drops down, you'll then want to click on "See all settings."

Step 2: Add and configure your new signature

Now that you're in the settings menu, scroll down until you get to the section labelled "Signature" and click the "+ Create new" button.

You'll be asked to choose a name for your signature so you can easily identify it. I.e. If you want to use a particular signature for responding to business or work issues, then "Work" would be best suited.

After you've chosen a name, you'll then see the signature editor in full. Here, you can use a variety of rich-text formatting, hyperlinks, and images to customize your email footer as you see fit.

Also, make sure to pay attention to the options below the editor. Here, you'll be able to set when and where your new signature will appear.

Step 3: Save the changes

Once you're done writing and arranging your signature, you'll need to scroll down to the bottom of the settings window and click the "Save changes" button.

And there you have it! Your emails should now feature your new signature. Try sending yourself and email to see how it looks, and if anything needs altering or changing.

If so, simply follow the same steps to return to the settings screen and edit your signature from there. Just remember to click the "Save changes" button after each edit to make sure you don't lose any work.

Google recently updated its AI chatbot, Bard, making it capable of understanding more complex prompts and providing more accurate answers with a deeper level of logic and reasoning. Alongside this update, Bard is also now capable of exporting spreadsheets and tables to Google Sheets, sparing you the boredom of that tedious task yourself.

It's also super-easy, and incredibly fast to do so. If you're looking to claw back a few minutes from your day and let Bard do the heavy lifting for you, then check out our guide on how to create spreadsheets with Google Bard.

How to create spreadsheets with Google Bard

• ... of names and birthdays?"
• ... comparing time zones around the world?"
• ... showing the distance of objects in our solar system from Earth?"

Once you're done, hit Return (or Enter) on your keyboard or click the arrow to the right of the text box and Bard will begin to process and reply to your prompt.

Trying to navigate an Excel spreadsheet is like going through a corn maze, so let's get you up to speed on some of the tips and tricks to running your Excel spreadsheet.

If you're wondering how to show or unhide rows or columns in Excel, it's easier than it looks, and I know it can be quite a pain to find something that doesn't necessarily look like it's there, so let's get started.

Here's how to show or unhide rows or columns in Excel.

How to show or unhide rows or columns in Excel

It's just that easy. If you're looking for some more Excel tutorials, check out our guide on how to use Microsoft Excel like a pro, which offers a list of tips, including how to Freeze Rows and Columns in Excel, Build a Forecast Chart in Excel, and Create a Funnel Chart in Excel.

Beware! If you've got any Gmail accounts that you've been neglecting, Google will eliminate them, especially if it's been inactive for a specific period of time. Not only will you lose your inbox, but other contents from Google services will be scrapped, too.

Google says that it has updated its policy regarding inactive accounts to protect its users from account hijacking, spam, phishing scams, and other security threats.

Google's new inactive accounts policy

How long can you leave your Gmail account inactive before Google terminates it? According to a new blog post from Google, it will get purged after two years. And yes, you will lose everything, your emails, YouTube contents, Google Photos — even Google Docs, Drive, Meet and Calendar.

As mentioned, Google is eliminating inactive accounts for security reasons. The search-engine giant claims that an internal analysis concluded that abandoned accounts are 10 times less likely to have two-step verification set up. In other words, these accounts are more susceptible to cybercriminal activity (e.g., identity theft).

Google said that it will kick off its purging of inactive accounts in December 2023. "We will take a phased approach, starting with accounts that were created and never used again," Google said in a blog post,

The search engine giant says that it will send targeted users multiple notifications regarding an impending account closure months before closure. These warning will be sent to both the account email address, and if provided, the recovery email, too.

How to keep your Gmail account active

Wondering how to keep your Gmail accounts out of Google's crosshairs? If you do at least one of these activities below once every two years, you'll steer clear of the upcoming purge

• Using Google Search
• Using Sign In with Google to sign into a third-party service or app
• Downloading an app on the Google Play Store
• Watching a YouTube video
• Using Google Drive
• Reading an email
• Sending an email

Google says that Google accounts with an existing subscription are safe, so those accounts won't be impacted (even if there is no activity outside of that subscription).

You’ll be soon hard-pressed to not find an AI button in a Google app. 

At its 2023 annual developer conference, Google I/O, the search giant spent nearly an hour and a half outlining how it’s reimagining each of its products with AI — close to seven years after declaring that its future is AI. With its updated suite of apps, Google’s ready to unleash AI on the masses. Whether that’s writing Instagram captions, responding to friends’ texts, putting together slide decks, or even finding new wallpapers for your phone, Google expects you to outsource a lot of what you do on your phone and the internet to AI. 

“The shift with AI is as big as they come and that's why it's so important that we make AI helpful for everyone,” said Sundar Pichai. 

Google’s AI wave has been a long time in the making. For years, Google has accumulated billions of users on its free services and harvested their information to train the technologies its latest AI offerings depend on. That has allowed Google to build a supply chain for AI: from the endless corpus of data AI models are based on to the tools developers and businesses would need to build AI services and AI apps that will soon be a part of our lives. 

Google AI getting productive 

On Google’s set of productivity apps like Docs, Gmail, and Slides, you will soon have the option to ask an AI bot to write your emails and documents for you. All you have to do is tell it what it’s supposed to write about. In a couple of iterations, even that won’t be necessary as the AI learns more about you and the context you’re working in and begins to sift through the treasure trove of your information on Google’s servers to anticipate your prompts before you type them. 

In one demo, for instance, Google showed how Gmail’s new “Help Me Write” tool scans an email from an airline letting you know the amount of refund you’re eligible for, and pens an elaborate response for requesting a full refund instead. Need original pictures for a presentation? Punch in a few words describing the scene in the sidebar on Google Slides, and it will generate them out of thin air. 

What this new AI sidebar — called Sidekick — will, more importantly, do is cut down the need for you to engage in laborious tasks like looking for files and information in your Google account. It can read your spreadsheets on your behalf and summarize them in an email for you to forward, for instance, or produce speaker notes for that slide deck you prepared. 

Google’s AI push will be most apparent in its search engine. A new colorful section, Search Generative Experience, will soon dominate the top of the results, pushing the traditional list of blue links way down. Google calls this an “AI snapshot” and what it does is stitch together a direct answer to your query instead of forcing you to go website-hopping. 

The AI Snapshot’s significance will come to light especially when your questions are complex and riddled with personal variables that no website has ever covered like “What's better for a family with kids under 3 and a dog, Bryce Canyon or Arches?” Normally, you’d have to visit a couple of URLs to fetch the information you’d need to accurately answer this but in an AI age, the snapshot section will scour through those numerous web pages for you, and let you know that Bryce Canyon is the way to go. 

At the heart of these new developments is Bard, Google’s AI chatbot, which will be available throughout its services so that you can simply chat with it to find information, write emails, or plan trip itineraries. Though chatbots have been around for ages, they’re finally capable enough to be your primary interface into the web and narrow down the internet’s vastness into a far more approachable chat box. While the promise is incredible, we’ve certainly have our concerns with some of Bard’s answers to questions we’ve posed, so it will be interesting to see its next stage of evolution.  

Google AI and Android 

These recent AI advances will trickle down to many of your everyday smartphone experiences too. An upcoming, new editor inside Google Photos, for example, will let you edit photos to the point you’re almost distorting the reality. You could move where you’re standing, replace a cloudy sky with a sunny one, and remove any unwanted objects or people, all with a couple of touches, and zero Photoshop knowledge. Starting with Android 14, the wallpaper picker will allow you to generate new backdrops, or turn your own photos into cinematic, live backgrounds.  

Don’t be evil 

With AI also comes a lot of societal risks, and though no one heard these actual words at the keynote, Google spent a lot of it convincing us that it still stands by its foundational motto: “Don’t be evil.” 

AI models like Google’s now actively integrate drawing their capabilities from existing works of artists, writers, and the rest of the internet. And so far, few companies have bothered to extend credit. 

At I/O, Google emphasized how it’s tackling these concerns as it readies AI for mainstream use: photos its AI bot surfaces will have watermarks to tell you whether they’re AI-generated, search results will have line-to-line citations when you want to verify the information, and its AI tools will have guardrails to prevent misuse and harm. 

But while Google’s focus on responsible AI is encouraging, it’s also on the other side of the arms race, looking to profit off these developments. Its reassurances feel like a false sense of security and appear as footnotes inside services that most people won’t bother to check. 

More importantly, Google failed to address the greater issues of such a rampant AI takeover. It didn’t reveal whether these new AI features will use people’s personal data to improve, how the new AI summaries in search will affect publishers, and how the auto-generated text and images can become mass misinformation weapons. Even in the 91-page research paper Google published about its model, PaLM, it didn’t say what kind of data it has used to train and build its new AI tools.

Bottom line

The arrival of AI will change how people see and use some of the internet’s most popular services, and as it gets better, it will only encroach on more space inside Google’s apps. But at the same time, this technology is the culmination of decades of efforts humans have put into the web, and in its current form, this AI will not only disrupt the internet, but also potentially kill the mechanics that have gotten it so far. And without a thriving and sustainable web, AI may never evolve past its gimmick, wallpaper-building phase.

Hopefully, though, as more people learn of the perils of AI, like its tendency to spit convincing falsehoods, companies like Google will be held accountable, and forced to step up with effective solutions even if that means slowing down their own bottom line.

Gmail's latest feature is one we've all been waiting for: official email address domains will possess a blue checkmark (much like Twitter) to confirm their authenticity. While this isn't going to stop every scam from doing damage to helpless users, it could be a great blow against suspicious emails.

Google's initiative for a safer emailing space started in 2021 with the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI), which asked businesses to upload a profile picture depicting their brand logo. Now, those brands that underwent that extensive authentication process will begin to see a blue checkmark next to their name.

Gmail users won't have to take action to activate this feature, but admins of businesses can go to Google's Help Center to figure out how to begin the BIMI process. This process involves adopting DMARC (Domain-based Message Authentication) and being issued a Certification Authority, with the two examples listed being Entrust or DigiCert.

Will Gmail's blue checkmarks be all that safe?

While the inclusion of this feature is undeniably positive, Google doesn't have the best reputation with cybersecurity. It's only been a couple of months since a fake version of Chat GPT made its way on the Google extension store and stole data from up to 9,000 downloaders. Just because Google is now verifying certain emails, are we certain that those with verification can't still be scammers?

Regardless of whether or not an email domain has a blue checkmark, we recommend exercising caution anyway. If Google can approve an extension on its official store that ends up stealing consumer's data, the company could potentially also verify an email address with suspicious intentions.

"How to access archived emails in Gmail" is blowing up in Google Search! And quite frankly, we understand why. When you're on your phone, it's easy to swipe the wrong way, and suddenly, you've archived an email you weren't supposed to — let's talk about how to access archived emails in Gmail.

It's rather simple, so we won't keep you too long, but if you're looking for other Gmail tutorials, like how to delete Gmail emails or how to create unlimited email addresses in one Gmail account.

If you need to clear out space in your email, archiving is your best bet, but if you need those emails again, here's how to access archived emails in Gmail.

How to access archived emails in Gmail

It really is that simple. If you have anymore Gmail queries, run around Laptop Mag for a while and you're bound to find what you're looking for eventually.

Wondering how to strikethrough on Google Docs? Stick around and I'll have you crossing out words in no time. As someone who click-clacks away for business and pleasure, it's vital to know all of the quick shortcuts, especially how to strikethrough on Google Docs. 

It's not something easily accessibly in the top-nav of Google Docs, nor is it a simple two-button shortcut. No, strikethrough is special, it has four three. See what I did there? I'm hilarious. And you can be, too!

Whether you're using one of the best laptops or best phones, here's how to strikethrough on Google Docs.

How to strikethrough on Google Docs

How to strikethrough on the Google Docs app (iOS and Android)

It's as simple as that. Granted, it could be easier. Trying to bold or italicize text is infinitely simpler than doing a strikethrough, which is why you're reading this right now.

Wondering how to get rid of those blue paragraph symbols, also known as pilcrows, that have suddenly appeared on your Google Doc? Don't worry! We've discovered an easy shortcut you can use to get rid of them promptly.

I've been in your shoes before. While minding my own business and typing up an article in Google Docs, I was thrown aback when I suddenly saw a cornucopia of blue paragraph markers. I figured a quick press of undo would do the trick, but unfortunately, it didn't work. Fortunately, a co-worker of mine knew exactly how to remedy the situation.

How to remove blue paragraph symbols in Google Docs

1. Find the CTRL, SHIFT and P keys on your keyboard.

2. Press CTRL + SHIFT + P simultaneously.

3. The pesky blue paragraphs should now be gone for good!

Whether you call them pilcrows, paragraph symbols, or you just prefer to call them the backwards P markers, they will no longer be a pain in your year. 

Note: For Mac users, try Command + Shift + P.

With companies keen to sell (or share) your personal data with third parties, here’s how to create unlimited email addresses within one Gmail account to spot when they do this.

And no, I do not mean setting up many separate Gmail accounts. That is a super time-consuming process, and not very user friendly — scrolling through a massive list of Gmail accounts to switch between.

Instead, thanks to a super quick and easy trick, you can create an unlimited amount of unique email addresses that go back to a single Gmail account. With this, you can track and trace the companies who quietly sell off your contact details.

P.S. This trick works with @gmail.com personal accounts, as well as G Suite business email addresses.

How to create infinite email addresses in one Gmail account

Windows 11 has plenty of great features, but none of them keep it entirely free from bugs or other issues that may eventually become too much to handle. If your computer isn't running properly, whether there are actual error messages or it is just way too slow, it may be time to perform a factory reset.

Another reason to reset Windows 11 is if you are either selling your laptop or giving it to someone. You want to be sure all of your data is cleared from the laptop before you do that and a factory reset is the best way to do so.

Here's how to reset your laptop in Windows 11 using the settings menu. Can't get to the Settings menu? Don't worry, keep scrolling down and we'll walk you through how to reset Windows 11 from the sign-in screen.

How to reset Windows 11 from Settings

How to reset Windows 11 from the sign-in screen

If your laptop is acting up, and you can't access the settings menu, you can try resetting your PC from the sign-in screen. 

Regardless of which problem or situation motivated you to reset Windows 11, hopefully, this should have fixed it. 

Guess what, macOS users? Microsoft just announced that Outlook, the company's popular email and task management app, is now free to use. Previously, you had to purchase a Microsoft 365 subscription or an Office license to access all of Outlook's useful features. 

On top of that, Microsoft added new features for Outlook for Mac. Curious about how Microsoft redesigned, tweaked and enhanced the app? Stick around to find out.

New features on Outlook for Mac

One of the best use cases for Microsoft Outlook is that you can manage all of your inboxes in one hub, including Google, iCloud, Yahoo! and more. As a cherry on top, Microsoft boasts "enterprise-grade security" with Outlook, ensuring your messages, contacts, calendars and files are protected.

However, Microsoft claims that it has made Outlook even better with the following new features:

• Handoff  — pick up tasks where you left off between iOS and Mac devices. For example, you can pick up your iPhone 14 Pro Max after leaving your 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro, continuing your Outlook workflow seamlessly.

• Outlook Profiles — connect your email accounts to Apple's Focus experience. This ensures you don't get unwanted, distracting notifications while you're trying to say in the zone (coming soon).

• New peek feature — get a sneak peek of upcoming calendar events via the menu bar (coming soon).

Note: To use the Handoff feature, you'll need to make sure that your iOS and MacOS devices are logged into the same Apple ID.

How to get the free Outlook for Mac

To take advantage of the updated, redesigned, free Outlook for Mac, you can download it in the Mac App Store. Your Mac must have macOS 11 Big Sur or newer to experience the complimentary app.

This updated version of Outlook is optimized for Apple Silicon, so expect zippier performance and faster sync speeds 

Collaboration is one of the primary selling points behind Google Sheets. It’s a great reason to make the switch from anyone who wants better collaboration options than those found in Excel and Numbers. Unfortunately, collaboration also means people can adjust things that you might have put a lot of thought into rather than just entering the numbers they’re supposed to enter when you share the document.

By default, Google sets row height and column width to 21 pixels and 120 pixels, respectively. The owner of this Sheet, however, can change these values to anything they desire (within reason). If you’re having trouble fitting full numbers or names, for example, you can adjust these settings to display the intended information.

Unfortunately, others can “fix” your adjustments, leading you to wonder why you spent so much time on it in the first place. While there’s no option to lock row and column sizes, per se, you can lock the document as a whole to keep people from making these adjustments.

Locking column and row sizes in Google Sheets

1. The first step to lock formatting in your Google is to go to Data > Protected sheets and ranges. The Protected sheets and ranges menu will appear on the right side of your window. 

2. In the menu above, click Add a sheet or range. Fill in the Sheets or Ranges whose rows and columns you want to lock.

3. Next, click the Set permissions button. A small window will appear that lets you customize who can edit your sheets.

4. Lastly, click Done. Viewers will now be prevented from changing your row and column sizes. 

Microsoft Word is still the standard for those who need a mountain of features in their Word documents. Among these features are text boxes, elements that allow you to insert and position text anywhere within a document. These are great for things like pull quotes, or otherwise highlighting text by pulling it out of the body and into its own section.

Using text boxes also gives you a number of customization options that apply to just the text within the box and not the entire document. Here you can flip and mirror text, rotate it, change the color, orientation, sizing, or font. 

Here we’ll focus primarily on how to mirror and flip text, though we’ll have to start by creating a text box to put it in. 

How to flip text in Microsoft Word

1. Select your text box and click the Shape Format tab. Your Shape Format tab should have the Shape Styles section by default.

2. Under Shape Styles, click the Format Shape button. This action will open the Format Shape menu on the right side of your window.

3. Next, go to the Text Options > Text Effects section of the Format Shape menu.

4. Under 3-D Rotation > Presets, perform the following depending on the direction you want to flip your text. Your text should immediately flip after you set the values below.

• Flip horizontally: enter 180° in the X Rotation field. 
• Flip vertically: enter 180° in the Y Rotation field.

Slides are a great way to give a presentation. Unless you plan on delivering it again in the future, it’s not the best way to share and replay said presentation. But in just a few clicks you can convert these presentations to a video, adding your voice and removing the need to click along with each slide. 

Not only is it easier to share, videos avoid a lot of compatibility issues that may occur from people trying to open your slideshow in an application it wasn’t intended for. Google Sheets works with Excel, and vice-versa, but it’s not a seamless experience. Video works just about anywhere, and on almost any modern video player — or YouTube.

Unfortunately, Google doesn’t offer this functionality by default. That said, there are a number of free add-ons for Google Workplace that serve this purpose. In this tutorial, we’ll use one of these free extensions, Creator Studio.

How to create videos from our Google Slides

1. Install the Creator Studio add-on by going to Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons. Search Creator Studio in the search bar and select the first result. 

2. Next, click the install button. Click Continue if Creator Studio asks for permission. 

3. After you install Creator Studio, go to Extensions > Creator Studio > Create Video. A menu will appear on the right side of your Google Slides. 

4. Set the Output width of your video and the interval between slides. 

5. Under the Choose Export Format section, select either Video File (MP4) or Video with Audio.

6. Click Go and wait for Creator Studio to render your video. This can take a few seconds to a minute, depending on the number of slides you have.

7. Once rendering is done, click the small download icon beside your selected file type. Your video should download immediately.

Google Sheets is basically a calculator on steroids. It lets you process both text and number data in an infinite number of ways. Among the best tools of Google Sheets is the XLOOKUP, which helps you find values in your tables in an instant. XLOOKUP works by searching your data set and returning a value from the same row but in a different range. It’s the perfect tool for sifting through hundreds of rows for specific items or a range of items. There are a number of ways this could help you avoid manual data searches, but think of it as a cataloging tool. A used car dealer, for example, has all of their different models of cars and their corresponding prices in one Sheet. With XLOOKUP, they can automatically narrow down a range of cars within a specified price range. Curious about how you can incorporate XLOOKUP into your own productivity routine? Read on!

Using Google Sheet’s XLOOKUP function

1. Open your Google Sheet with your table array and select the cell you will put the function in. 

2. Next, type in your function in the following format: =XLOOKUP(search_key, lookup_range, result_range, [missing_value], [match_mode], [search_mode])

Search_key: the value that will be used to search your table array. You can also enter another cell to make your search key dynamic.

Lookup_range: this is the column or range where your search key will be compared to.

Result_range: this is the column where the result value will come from.

Missing_value (optional): this is the value that Google Sheets will return if it does not find a match for your search key.

Match_mode (optional): sets the level of accuracy of the search

• Set 0 to search for an exact match only.
• Set -1 to search for the next smaller item if there is no match.
• Set 1 to search for the next larger item if there is no match.
• Set 2 to use wildcards.

Search_mode (optional): sets the direction of the search.

• Set 1 to search from the top. 
• Set -1 to search from the bottom.

Windows voice-to-text isn't new in Windows 11, but if you haven't tried it recently you owe it to yourself to give it another shot as it's come a long way, including support for punctuation. 

There are plenty of reasons to turn to voice-to-text. Whether it's a physical condition that makes typing difficult or impossible, or you simply aren't the greatest typist, or you find it easier to get your ideas out by speaking them out loud than typing them, voice-to-text can be a lifesaver. 

Beyond improvements to the voice-to-text recognition and punctuation support, the other good news is that it's a lot easier to trigger it than it used to be, so we'll have you typing hands-free in Windows 11 in just a few seconds.

1. Press Windows key + H. 

2. A small microphone bar will pop up. Press Windows key + H again or tap on the microphone icon and start speaking.

Your PC will start typing what you say in any text box. If you aren't seeing any text pop up then check to make sure your microphone isn't muted.

There are a couple of other slight tweaks you can make in the settings to enable auto punctuation and launch the Voice typing tool when you’re in a text box. 

1. Press Windows key + H. 

2. Click on the gear icon. 

3. Enable the Voice typing launcher and Auto punctuation toggles.  

That's all there is to it, enjoy your freedom from the keyboard!

"How to search in Google Sheets" is a search query that's gaining traction as we speak, and quite frankly, I don't blame 'em! Who wants to sift through an exhaustive, encyclopedic list of junk on a Google Sheet? After all, there is an easier way.

If you're interested on how you can work smarter, not harder, here is a step-by-step guide on how to search in Google Sheets.

How to search in Google Sheets

The fastest way to search in Google Sheets is to use a shortcut. 

1. Open up the Google Sheet you'd like to search in.

2. If you're on Windows, use CTRL + F.  On a Mac? Use Command + F.

3. In the top-right corner, a small search field should appear. Type in your search query and you should find what you need in no time.

4. If you prefer a more labyrinthine method (not sure why you would, but I'll play along), you can head to Edit > Find and replace.

5. Type in your search query, select This Sheet in the drop-down menu, and click on Find.

That's all there is to it, enjoy your newfound Sheets searching skills.

Excel is the standard by which all spreadsheet programs and applications are measured. While it’s definitely the benchmark, there are plenty of reasons why you’d want to convert one of its files to a Google Sheet. Perhaps it’s for work, or maybe Google’s cloud-based solution just fits your workflow better due to ease of use or lack of bloat. 

Though both Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel have their pros and cons, the standard seems to be slowly moving in favor of Google as teams seek cross-platform solutions that are both low cost and easy to use. Google, as the more collaborative of the two, lends itself well to multi-person, or even multi-team collaboration on a single document – not that Excel doesn’t, though it doesn’t quite nail collaboration in the same way Google does. Plus, and this is perhaps its biggest benefit, it’s free.

Since organizations rarely settle on a “standard” set of software applications, we’re often forced to remain proficient in two or more similar pieces of software. As such, even if you’re a Google user, you’ll need to know how to open Excel files within Google Sheets.

How to open an Excel file with Google Sheets

1. The first step to convert your Excel file is to go to File > Import on Google Sheets’ main menu bar. A window with the title Import file should open.

2. Go to the Upload Tab, and click Select a file from your device. Your native file explorer will open.

3. Select your Excel file and click Open. Wait for Google Sheets to load while it is importing your Excel file.

4. From the new window that appeared, select Import Data.

5. Wait for your new Google Sheets file to load, then rename it as you see fit. There you have it. Your Excel file is now converted to Google Sheets.