These days it's all about Sway - the first of many native apps to be rolled out to Microsoft Office 365 subscribers. To put it simply, Sway is a web browser-based storytelling app. It allows anyone with the most basic computing knowledge to create beautiful-looking websites and presentations with images, text, tweets, videos or whatever other media you want to include. It works a bit like Word and Powerpoint combined - and finished products can be used on websites to display family photos, or in a beautiful work presentation.

Today marks the general availability of Office 2016 for Windows, a suite of desktop applications that together with new mobile and web apps pushes Microsoft's new vision for PC-based productivity. Office 2016 is available immediately to Office 365 subscribers, as well as to individuals who would prefer to buy the software in standalone form. "We see Office 2016 as being just as important as the first release of Office," Microsoft group program manager Shawn Villaron told me in a briefing last week. "In the early days, Office was about bringing really important tools together to empower the individual for personal productivity. That was the way people wanted to work at that time. And for 20 to 30 years, Office fit right in. Today, things are changing. More people collaborate on work as groups and teams, so Office 2016 represents the change from personal productivity to team productivity."

Today, we are pleased to announce the availability of Microsoft Forms for our Office 365 Education customers. Forms is the result of direct feedback from educators that they want to have a quizzing function with Office 365 Education. Educators told us they need an easy way to assess student progress on an ongoing basis. They also told us they want an assessment solution that will save them time, help differentiate instruction for all students and provide quiz takers with real-time personalized feedback.

Have you seen the new Microsoft Forms? One of the most popular articles on my blog in the last 12 months was related to its predecessor - Excel Surveys. Not only did that post get a lot of views, but it also got a lot of comments from people with questions about the features of Excel Surveys, or more importantly for some, the features it did not have. You can still use Excel Surveys, but Microsoft are in the process of transitioning to something better - Microsoft Forms. This version includes automatic grading and built-in student feedback. Here's what you need to know.

A chart is a tool you can use to communicate data graphically. Including a chart in a presentation allows your audience to see the meaning behind the numbers, which makes it easy to visualize comparisons and trends. Optional: Download our practice presentation for this lesson. Watch the video below to learn more about using charts in PowerPoint. TYPES OF CHARTS PowerPoint has several types of charts, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your data. In order to use charts effectively, you'll need to understand how different charts are used. Click the arrows in the slideshow below to learn more about the types of charts in PowerPoint. Slide 1 - www.office.com/setupPowerPoint has a variety of chart types, each with its own advantages. Click the arrows to see some of the different types of charts available in PowerPoint. Slide 1 - www.office.com/setup Slide 1 - www.office.com/setup Slide 1 - www.office.com/setup Slide 1 - www.office.com/setup Slide 1 - www.office.com/setup IDENTIFYING THE PARTS OF A CHART In addition to chart types, you'll need to understand how to read a chart. Charts contain several different elements-or parts-that can help you interpret data. Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn about the different parts of a chart. Book sales chart - www.office.com/setup LEGEND The legend identifies which data series each color on the chart represents. In this example, the legend identifies the different months in the chart. INSERTING CHARTS PowerPoint uses a spreadsheet as a placeholder for entering chart data, much like Excel. The process of entering data is fairly simple, but if you are unfamiliar with Excel you might want to review our Excel 2016 Cell Basics lesson.

SmartArt allows you to communicate information with graphics instead of just using text. There are a variety of styles to choose from, which you can use to illustrate different types of ideas. Watch the video below to learn more about working with SmartArt. TO INSERT A SMARTART GRAPHIC: Select the slide where you want the SmartArt graphic to appear. From the Insert tab, select the SmartArt command in the Illustrations group. selecting the SmartArt command on the Insert tab - www.office.com/setup A dialog box will appear. Select a category on the left, choose the desired SmartArt graphic, then click OK. choosing a SmartArt graphic - www.office.com/setup The SmartArt graphic will appear on the current slide.

PowerPoint allows you to add audio to your presentation. For example, you could add background music to one slide, a sound effect to another, and even record your own narration or commentary. You can then edit the audio to customize it for your presentation. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about inserting audio in PowerPoint. TO INSERT AUDIO FROM A FILE: In our example, we'll insert an audio file saved locally on our computer. If you'd like to work along with our example, right-click this link to our example file and save it to your computer (music credit: Something Small (Instrumental) by Minden, CC BY-NC 3.0). From the Insert tab, click the Audio drop-down arrow, then select Audio on My PC. Inserting audio from a file - www.office.com/setup Locate and select the desired audio file, then click Insert. Selecting the desired audio file - www.office.com/setup The audio file will be added to the slide. The inserted audio file - www.office.com/setup RECORDING YOUR OWN AUDIO Sometimes you may want to record audio directly into a presentation. For example, you might want the presentation to include narration. Before you begin, make sure you have a microphone that is compatible with your computer; many computers have built-in microphones or ones that can be plugged in to the computer. TO RECORD AUDIO: From the Insert tab, click the Audio drop-down arrow, then select Record Audio. Clicking Record Audio - www.office.com/setup Type a name for the audio recording if you want. Renaming the audio recording - www.office.com/setup Click the Record button to start recording. Clicking the Record button - www.office.com/setup When you're finished recording, click the Stop button. Clicking the Stop button - www.office.com/setup To preview your recording, click the Play button. Previewing the recording - www.office.com/setup When you're done, click OK. The audio file will be inserted into the slide. The recorded audio file - ww

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Whenever you work with Excel, you'll enter information-or content-into cells. Cells are the basic building blocks of a worksheet. You'll need to learn the basics of cells and cell content to calculate, analyze, and organize data in Excel. Optional: Download our practice workbook. Watch the video below to learn more about the basics of working with cells. UNDERSTANDING CELLS Every worksheet is made up of thousands of rectangles, which are called cells. A cell is the intersection of a row and a column-in other words, where a row and column meet. Columns are identified by letters (A, B, C), while rows are identified by numbers (1, 2, 3). Each cell has its own name-or cell address-based on its column and row. In the example below, the selected cell intersects column C and row 5, so the cell address is C5. cell C5 - www.office.com/setup Note that the cell address also appears in the Name box in the top-left corner, and that a cell's column and row headings are highlighted when the cell is selected. You can also select multiple cells at the same time. A group of cells is known as a cell range. Rather than a single cell address, you will refer to a cell range using the cell addresses of the first and last cells in the cell range, separated by a colon. For example, a cell range that included cells A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5 would be written as A1:A5. Take a look at the different cell ranges below: Cell range A1:A8cell range A1:A8 - www.office.com/setup Cell range A1:F1 cell range A1:F1 - www.office.com/setup Cell range A1:F8 cell range A1:F8 - www.office.com/setup If the columns in your spreadsheet are labeled with numbers instead of letters, you'll need to change the default reference style for Excel. Review our Extra on What are Reference Styles? to learn how. TO SELECT A CELL: To input or edit cell content, you'll first need to select the cell. Click a cell to select it. In our example, we'll select cell D9. A border will app

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: By default, every row and column of a new workbook is set to the same height and width. Excel allows you to modify column width and row height in different ways, including wrapping text and merging cells. Optional: Download our practice workbook. Watch the video below to learn more about modifying columns, rows, and cells. TO MODIFY COLUMN WIDTH: In our example below, column C is too narrow to display all of the content in these cells. We can make all of this content visible by changing the width of column C. Position the mouse over the column line in the column heading so the cursor becomes a double arrow. positioning the mouse over the column line - www.office.com/setup Click and drag the mouse to increase or decrease the column width. increasing the column width - www.office.com/setup Release the mouse. The column width will be changed.

www.office.com/setup Blogs: All cell content uses the same formatting by default, which can make it difficult to read a workbook with a lot of information. Basic formatting can customize the look and feel of your workbook, allowing you to draw attention to specific sections and making your content easier to view and understand. Optional: Download our practice workbook. Watch the video below to learn more about formatting cells in Excel. TO CHANGE THE FONT SIZE: Select the cell(s) you want to modify. Selecting a cell - www.office.com/setup On the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Font Size command, then select the desired font size. In our example, we will choose 24 to make the text larger. Selecting a font size in the dropdown menu - www.office.com/setup The text will change to the selected font size. The selected cell is a larger font size now - www.office.com/setup You can also use the Increase Font Size and Decrease Font Size commands or enter a custom font size using your keyboard. The custom font box, increase font size button, and decrease font size button - www.office.com/setup TO CHANGE THE FONT: By default, the font of each new workbook is set to Calibri. However, Excel provides many other fonts you can use to customize your cell text. In the example below, we'll format our title cell to help distinguish it from the rest of the worksheet. Select the cell(s) you want to modify. Selecting a cell - www.office.com/setup On the Home tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Font command, then select the desired font. In our example, we'll choose Century Gothic. Selecting a font in the dropdown menu - www.office.com/setup The text will change to the selected font. The selected cell is a different font now - www.office.com/setup When creating a workbook in the workplace, you'll want to select a font that is easy to read. Along with Calibri, standard reading fonts include Cambria, Times New Roman, and Arial. TO CHANGE THE FONT COLOR: Select

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Indenting text adds structure to your document by allowing you to separate information. Whether you'd like to move a single line or an entire paragraph, you can use the tab selector and the horizontal ruler to set tabs and indents. Optional: Download our practice document. Watch the video below to learn more about how to use indents and tabs in Word. INDENTING TEXT In many types of documents, you may want to indent only the first line of each paragraph. This helps to visually separate paragraphs from one another. - www.office.com/setup It's also possible to indent every line except for the first line, which is known as a hanging indent. - www.office.com/setup TO INDENT USING THE TAB KEY A quick way to indent is to use the Tab key. This will create a first-line indent of 1/2 inch. Place the insertion point at the very beginning of the paragraph you want to indent. - www.office.com/setup Press the Tab key. On the Ruler, you should see the first-line indent marker move to the right by 1/2 inch. The first line of the paragraph will be indented. - www.office.com/setup If you can't see the Ruler, select the View tab, then click the check box next to the Ruler. - www.office.com/setup INDENT MARKERS In some cases, you may want to have more control over indents. Word provides indent markers that allow you to indent paragraphs to the location you want. - www.office.com/setup The indent markers are located to the left of the horizontal ruler, and they provide several indenting options: First-line indent marker adjusts the first-line indent Hanging indent marker adjusts the hanging indent Left indent marker moves both the first-line indent and hanging indent markers at the same time (this will indent all lines in a paragraph) TO INDENT USING THE INDENT MARKERS Place the insertion point anywhere in the paragraph you want to indent, or select one or more paragraphs. - www.office.com/setup Click and drag the desired indent marke

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Office 365 and Office 2016 share a lot of similarities, yet deciding between the two involves a lot of factors. Office 365 is a subscription-based service that currently uses Office 2016 apps, but when the next version of Office is released, users will get that as part of their subscription. Office 2016 is a buy-once app suite that brings you the Office 2016 apps as they are, without any available updates in the future. If you want to upgrade to the latest version of Office without paying for a subscription, you'll have to pay full price for the new version - there's no discounted upgrade option. These are only a couple differences between the two products. Looking to invest in Office? We break down the differences between the two products to help you decide which is better for personal and home use.

Windows 10 has grabbed the attention of social media and customers alike more so because it is a crucial operating system for Microsoft after the debacle of Windows 8 and a not so great reception for Windows 8.1. But, Microsoft has another major product on their cards now, Office, which enhances the Windows productivity of five major products into a system of applications. With Office 2016, Microsoft plans to build from scratch, a mobile and cloud first approach which is customer centric and doesn't only focus on web compared to Office 365 and 2013. Office 2016 has recently been launched on September 22, 2015. www.office.com/setup The Cost factor The first and the most important thing we look at during major software products and updates is the price tag that comes along with it as there are so multiple updates for major software and it is not feasible to go through each and every revision. The all new Office 2016 suite is free for customers on mobile and tablets (conditions apply) and pretty cheap at $145 for "Office Home & Student 2016" and the RRP version of the same is priced at $165, along with subscription version of the suite (Office 365 Personal) at about $70 per year.

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: A theme is a predefined combination of colors, fonts, and effects. Different themes also use different slide layouts. You've already been using a theme, even if you didn't know it: the default Office theme. You can choose from a variety of new themes at any time, giving your entire presentation a consistent, professional look. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about applying themes in PowerPoint. WHAT IS A THEME? In PowerPoint, themes give you a quick and easy way to change the design of your presentation. They control your primary color palette, basic fonts, slide layout, and other important elements. All of the elements of a theme will work well together, which means you won't have to spend as much time formatting your presentation. Each theme uses its own set of slide layouts. These layouts control the way your content is arranged, so the effect can be dramatic. In the examples below, you can see that the placeholders, fonts, and colors are different. The Frame theme and the Integral theme - www.office.com/setup If you use a unique slide layout-such as Quote with Caption or Name Card-and then switch to a theme that does not include that layout, it may give unexpected results. Every PowerPoint theme-including the default Office theme-has its own theme elements. These elements are: Theme Colors: There are 10 theme colors, along with darker and lighter variations, available from every Color menu. Theme Colors - www.office.com/setup Theme Fonts: There are two theme fonts available at the top of the Font menu under Theme Fonts. Theme Fonts - www.office.com/setup Theme Effects: These affect the preset shape styles. You can find shape styles on the Format tab whenever you select a shape or SmartArt graphic. Theme Effects - www.office.com/setup When you switch to a different theme, all of these elements will update to reflect the new them

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: If you're new to PowerPoint, you'll need to learn the basics of working with text. In this lesson, you'll learn how to cut, copy, paste, and format text. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about the basics of working with text in PowerPoint. TO SELECT TEXT: Before you can move or arrange text, you'll need to select it. Click next to the text you want to select, drag the mouse over the text, then release your mouse. The text will be selected. www.office.com/setup Blogs COPYING AND MOVING TEXT PowerPoint allows you to copy text that is already on a slide and paste it elsewhere, which can save you time. If you want to move text, you can cut and paste or drag and drop the text. TO COPY AND PASTE TEXT: Select the text you want to copy, then click the Copy command on the Home tab. www.office.com/setup Blogs Place the insertion point where you want the text to appear. Click the Paste command on the Home tab. www.office.com/setup Blogs The copied text will appear. TO CUT AND PASTE TEXT: Select the text you want to move, then click the Cut command. www.office.com/setup Blogs Place the insertion point where you want the text to appear, then click the Paste command. www.office.com/setup Blogs The text will appear in the new location. You can access the cut, copy, and paste commands by using keyboard shortcuts. Press Ctrl+X to cut, Ctrl+C to copy, and Ctrl+V to paste. TO DRAG AND DROP TEXT: Select the text you want to move, then click and drag the text to the desired location. www.office.com/setup Blogs The text will appear in the new location. www.office.com/setup Blogs FORMATTING AND ALIGNING TEXT Formatted text can draw your audience's attention to specific parts of a presentation and emphasize important information. In PowerPoint, you have several options for adjusting your text, including size and color. You can also adjust the alignment of the

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Every PowerPoint presentation is composed of a series of slides. To begin creating a slide show, you'll need to know the basics of working with slides. You'll need to feel comfortable with tasks such as inserting a new slide, changing the layout of a slide, arranging existing slides, changing the slide view, and adding notes to a slide. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about slide basics in PowerPoint. UNDERSTANDING SLIDES AND SLIDE LAYOUTS When you insert a new slide, it will usually have placeholders to show you where content will be placed. Slides have different layouts for placeholders, depending on the type of information you want to include. Whenever you create a new slide, you'll need to choose a slide layout that fits your content. Different slide layouts - www.office.com/setup Placeholders can contain different types of content, including text, images, and videos. Many placeholders have thumbnail icons you can click to add specific types of content. In the example below, the slide has placeholders for the title and content. A slide with empty placeholders - www.office.com/setup TO INSERT A NEW SLIDE: Whenever you start a new presentation, it will contain one slide with the Title Slide layout. You can insert as many slides as you need from a variety of layouts. From the Home tab, click the bottom half of the New Slide command. Clicking the bottom half of the New Slide command - www.office.com/setup Choose the desired slide layout from the menu that appears. Choosing a slide layout - www.office.com/setup The new slide will appear. Click any placeholder and begin typing to add text. You can also click an icon to add other types of content, such as a picture or a chart. The new slide - - www.office.com/setup To change the layout of an existing slide, click the Layout command, then choose the desired layout. Applying a new layout to a

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: As you add more slides to a presentation, it can be difficult to keep everything organized. Fortunately, PowerPoint offers tools to help you organize and prepare your slide show. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about managing slides in PowerPoint. ABOUT SLIDE VIEWS PowerPoint includes several different slide views, which are all useful for various tasks. The slide view commands are located in the bottom-right of the PowerPoint window. There are four main slide views. The different slide view commands - www.office.com/setup Normal view: This is the default view, where you create and edit slides. You can also move slides in the Slide Navigation pane on the left. Normal View - www.office.com/setup Slide sorter view: In this view, you'll see a thumbnail version of each slide. You can drag and drop slides to reorder them quickly. Slide Sorter - www.office.com/setup Reading view: This view fills the PowerPoint window with a preview of your presentation. It includes easily accessible navigation buttons at the bottom-right. Reading View - www.office.com/setup Slide show view: This is the view you'll use to present to an audience. This command will begin the presentation from the current slide. You can also press F5 on your keyboard to start from the beginning. A menu will appear in the bottom-left corner when you move the mouse. These commands allow you to navigate through the slides and access other features, such as the pen and highlighter. Playing a slide show - www.office.com/setup OUTLINE VIEW Outline view shows your slide text in outline form. This allows you to quickly edit your slide text and view the content of multiple slides at once. You could use this layout to review the organization of your slide show and prepare to deliver your presentation. TO VIEW AN OUTLINE: From the View tab, click the Outline View command. Clicking the Outline

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: When you're working with longer presentations, it can be difficult and time consuming to locate a specific word or phrase. PowerPoint can automatically search your presentation using the Find feature, and it allows you to quickly change words or phrases using the Replace feature. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about the basics of using Find and Replace in PowerPoint. TO FIND TEXT: From the Home tab, click the Find command. www.office.com/setup A dialog box will appear. Enter the text you want to find in the Find what: field, then click Find Next. www.office.com/setup If the text is found, it will be selected. www.office.com/setup You can also access the Find command by pressing Ctrl+F on your keyboard. TO REPLACE TEXT: At times, you may discover that you've repeatedly made a mistake throughout your presentation-such as misspelling someone's name-or that you need to exchange a particular word or phrase for another. You can use the Replace feature to make quick revisions. From the Home tab, click the Replace command. www.office.com/setup A dialog box will appear. Type the text you want to find in the Find what: field. Type the text you want to replace it with in the Replace with: field, then click Find Next. www.office.com/setup If the text is found, it will be selected. Review the text to make sure you want to replace it. If you want to replace it, select one of the replace options. Replace will replace individual instances, and Replace All will replace every instance. In our example, we'll use the Replace option. www.office.com/setup The selected text will be replaced. www.office.com/setup PowerPoint will move to the next instance of the text in the presentation. When you are finished replacing text, click Close to exit the dialog box. When it comes to using Replace All, it's important to remember that it could find matches you didnâ

WWW.OFFICE.COM/SETUP BLOGS: INTRODUCTION www.office.com/setup Blogs: Even though PowerPoint presentations are designed to be viewed on a computer, there may be times when you want to print them. You can even print custom versions of a presentation, which can be especially helpful when presenting your slide show. The Print pane makes it easy to preview and print your presentation. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about printing in PowerPoint. PRINT LAYOUTS PowerPoint offers several layouts to choose from when printing a presentation. The layout you choose will mostly depend on why you're printing the slide show. There are four types of print layouts. Full Page Slides: This prints a full page for each slide in your presentation. This layout is most useful if you need to review or edit a printed copy of your presentation. preview of a full page slide printout - www.office.com/setup Notes Pages: This prints each slide, along with any speaker notes for the slide. If you've included a lot of notes for each slide, you could keep a printed copy of the notes with you while presenting. previewing the notes pages layout - www.office.com/setup Outline: This prints an overall outline of the slide show. You could use this to review the organization of your slide show and prepare to deliver your presentation. preview of an outline printout Handouts: This prints thumbnail versions of each slide, with optional space for notes. This layout is especially useful if you want to give your audience a physical copy of the presentation. The optional space allows them to take notes on each slide. preview of a handouts printout - www.office.com/setup TO ACCESS THE PRINT PANE: Select the File tab. Backstage view will appear. selecting the File tab - www.office.com/setup Select Print. The Print pane will appear. clicking Print in the Backstage view - www.office.com/setup Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn more about using

www.office.com/setup Blogs: Once your slide show is complete, you'll need to learn how to present it to an audience. PowerPoint offers several tools and features to help make your presentation smooth, engaging, and professional. Optional: Download our practice presentation. Watch the video below to learn more about presenting your slide show. PRESENTING A SLIDE SHOW Before you present your slide show, you'll need to think about the type of equipment that will be available for your presentation. Many presenters use projectors during presentations, so you might want to consider using one as well. This allows you to control and preview slides on one monitor while presenting them to an audience on another screen. TO START A SLIDE SHOW: There are several ways you can begin your presentation: Click the Start From Beginning command on the Quick Access Toolbar, or press the F5 key at the top of your keyboard. The presentation will appear in full-screen mode. clicking the Start From Beginning command on the Quick Access Toolbar - www.office.com/setup Select the Slide Show view command at the bottom of the PowerPoint window to begin a presentation from the current slide. Switching to Slide Show view from the Status bar in the lower-right corner - www.office.com/setup Go to the Slide Show tab on the Ribbon to access even more options. From here, you can start the presentation from the current slide and access advanced presentation options. starting a presentation from the Slide Show tab - www.office.com/setup TO ADVANCE AND REVERSE SLIDES: You can advance to the next slide by clicking your mouse or pressing the spacebar on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can use or arrow keys on your keyboard to move forward or backward through the presentation. You can also hover your mouse over the bottom-left and click the arrows to move forward or backward. hovering the mouse to access navigation buttons in Slide Show view - www.office.com/setup TO STOP A SLIDE SHOW: You can