These guides will help you find your way around several generations of Microsoft’s Office apps for Windows — and Windows itself. Credit: StockStudio Aerials / Shutterstock Need to get up to speed on the latest features in Excel? Wrestling with an old version of Word? Finding your way around Windows 11 or looking to get more out of Windows 10? Computerworld’s cheat sheets are easy-to-use guides to help you navigate Microsoft’s core productivity software. Here’s a one-stop resource where you can find in-depth stories on several generations of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook for Windows, focusing on what’s new in each major release. We’ve also got guides for Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, OneNote, Loop, Whiteboard, Forms, Visio, Planner, and Windows itself. Microsoft’s subscription-based office suite, called Microsoft 365 or Office 365 depending on your version, is continually updated with new features, so we periodically update the cheat sheets for the “365” versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and other apps in the suite. But we’re willing to bet that many companies and individuals will stay on older versions of the non-subscription software (Office 2019, for example) for some time to come, so we’ve got cheat sheets for several older generations of those products as well. Windows and Office tutorials and tips Windows 10 and 11 Microsoft 365/Office 365 apps Office 2016 and 2019 Office 2013 Office 2010 Windows 8 Windows 10 and 11 Windows 11 cheat sheet To a great extent, Windows 11 looks and works like Windows 10, but there are several minor differences that take some getting used to. We cover all the important changes here, including new three- and four-finger gestures for touchscreen users in our lists of shortcuts and gestures for Windows 11. Windows 10 cheat sheet Windows 10 is continually improving with major feature updates every spring and fall. Get to know the interface and key features, and don’t miss our list of handy gestures and shortcuts for Windows 10. (Current for the Windows 10 version 22H2.) Microsoft OneDrive cheat sheet: Using OneDrive in Windows If you have Windows 10 or 11, you have OneDrive. Here’s how to back up, sync and share files in OneDrive and OneDrive for Business on the Windows desktop. More tips for Windows 10 and 11 8 ways to be more productive in Windows 11 How to handle Windows 10 and 11 updates 18 ways to speed up Windows 10 13 ways to speed up Windows 11 How to protect your privacy in Windows 10 How to share a Windows 10 PC How to protect Windows 10 and 11 PCs from ransomware 12 classic but essential (and free!) utilities for Windows 10 and 11 30+ free and cheap apps for Windows 10 How to repair Windows 10 or 11 in 4 steps Microsoft 365/Office 365 apps Updated! Microsoft Loop cheat sheet Microsoft’s new Loop app provides shared workspaces where teams can collaborate. Our cheat sheet shows you how to use the Loop app. Updated! How to use Loop components in Microsoft 365 apps What makes Loop particularly useful is the ability to collaborate on content snippets called Loop components across multiple Microsoft 365 apps. Here’s how to use Loop components in Outlook, Teams, and other M365 apps. 13 tips to get the most out of Microsoft Whiteboard For Microsoft 365 users, it’s worth adding Microsoft Whiteboard to your collaboration playbook. Here’s how your team can make the most of this digital whiteboard tool. Word for Office 365/Microsoft 365 cheat sheet Learn to use the best features introduced in Microsoft Word for Office 365/Microsoft 365 in Windows since 2015. This story covers all the features introduced in Word 2016, 2019, and 2021, plus several more exclusive to Office 365/Microsoft 365 subscribers. It also includes a quick-reference Ribbon guide for download. Related: Handy Word keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac Microsoft Word for Android (and iOS) cheat sheet Excel for Office 365/Microsoft 365 cheat sheet Learn about all the features introduced in Excel 2016, 2019, and 2021, plus several more exclusive to Office 365/Microsoft 365 subscribers. There’s also a quick-reference Ribbon guide for download. Related: Handy Excel keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac New! How to use PivotTables and PivotCharts in Excel New! How to use slicers in Excel New! Excel basics: Get started with tables How to use Excel formulas and functions How (and why) to use conditional formatting in Excel How to use Excel macros to save time and automate your work 10 spiffy new ways to show data with Excel Excel: Your entry into the world of data analytics How to use Excel as a data visualization tool 8 simple ways to clean data with Excel PowerPoint for Office 365/Microsoft 365 cheat sheet Microsoft introduced several highly useful features in PowerPoint 2016 and 2019, and it continually rolls out more for users with Office 365/Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Find out how to make the most of the new features. Related: Handy PowerPoint keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac Quick-reference Ribbon guide for PowerPoint in Office 365/Microsoft 365 Outlook for Office 365/Microsoft 365 cheat sheet Discover all the major features introduced in PowerPoint 2016 and 2019, plus more exclusively for Office 365/Microsoft 365 subscribers — including a simplified Ribbon that shows only the most commonly used commands. Related: Handy Outlook keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac Quick-reference Ribbon guide for Outlook in Office 365/Microsoft 365 Use Outlook’s new calendar board view to organize your work 8 Outlook add-ins to enhance collaboration How to filter Outlook emails on all your devices How to check someone else’s schedule in Outlook How to work across time zones in Outlook Microsoft OneDrive cheat sheet: Using OneDrive for Web OneDrive for Web lets you save, access, share, and manage your files in the cloud using your favorite browser — and it has a host of new features that aren’t available in OneDrive on the desktop. Learn how to use its new interface for a big productivity boost. Microsoft Teams cheat sheet: How to get started Microsoft’s answer to Slack and Zoom, Teams provides group messaging, voice and video calls, and useful integrations with other Microsoft 365 apps. Here’s how to get set up in Teams and find your way around. Related: 28 power user tips for Microsoft Teams 14 best practices for Microsoft Teams video meetings The 10 best new Microsoft Teams meeting features How to have Teams meetings with people outside your organization 18 Microsoft Teams apps for content collaboration and management Microsoft OneNote cheat sheet Part of Microsoft’s Office suite and built into Windows 10 and 11, OneNote is a robust note-taking app that is also available as a free standalone product. Here’s how to get up and running with OneNote. Microsoft Forms cheat sheet: How to get started Online forms help you conduct research, collect feedback, test knowledge, and more. Here’s how to use Microsoft Forms to create surveys, feedback forms, quizzes, and other interactive forms. Microsoft Visio cheat sheet: How to get started Visio in Microsoft 365 is an excellent tool for creating custom diagrams to illustrate concepts that are difficult to explain through text. Here’s how to use it. Microsoft Planner cheat sheet Planner gives Office 365/Microsoft 365 users a built-in task-management tool that small teams can use to track plans, tasks, and progress. Here’s our guide to using Planner on its own and within Microsoft Teams. Microsoft Flow: A beginner’s guide Flow (recently renamed Power Automate) lets you create automated workflows across apps and services that send notifications, ask for and offer approvals, and handle rote tasks automatically — with no coding required. Learn how to get started with this powerful tool. SharePoint Online cheat sheet Learn how to find your way around SharePoint Online (the Office 365 version of SharePoint), create sites, share and manage documents, work with calendars, integrate with Outlook and more. Then go beyond the basics in 5 tips for working with SharePoint Online. More tips for Office 365/Microsoft 365/Office Online 10 highly useful add-ins for Microsoft Office 5 collaboration tools that enhance Microsoft Office 4 steps to repair Microsoft Office Office 2016 and 2019 Word 2016 and 2019 cheat sheet Learn how to use Word’s live collaborative editing features, Tell Me and Smart Lookup, and the new Translator pane in Word 2019. Also included is a list of handy keyboard shortcuts for Word 2016 and 2019. If you just want to know where to find various commands on the Ribbon, download our Word 2016 and 2019 Ribbon quick reference. Excel 2016 and 2019 cheat sheet Now updated for Excel 2019, our guide covers several useful chart types introduced in Excel 2016 and Excel 2019 for Windows, as well as how to use several impressive new data analysis tools. We’ve also got a list of handy keyboard shortcuts in Excel, as well as the Excel 2016 and 2019 Ribbon quick reference. PowerPoint 2016 and 2019 cheat sheet Like Word and Excel, PowerPoint 2016 and PowerPoint 2019 for Windows offer Tell Me, Smart Lookup, live collaborative editing and a slew of new chart types. We cover all that plus some handy features introduced in PowerPoint 2019 — not to mention our list of keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint and the PowerPoint 2016 and 2019 Ribbon quick reference. Outlook 2016 and 2019 cheat sheet Outlook 2016 for Windows has been enhanced with Smart Lookup, Tell Me, and features to help you find files you want to attach and keep a tidy inbox. And don’t miss our list of keyboard shortcuts for Outlook 2016 and 2019 and the Outlook 2016 and 2019 Ribbon quick reference. Office 2013 Word 2013 cheat sheet Among the major features introduced in Word 2013 are a Start screen, a Design tab, Read Mode, and OneDrive sync. Our guide covers how to use them all and provides handy keyboard shortcuts for Word 2013. There’s also a Word 2013 Ribbon quick reference. SharePoint 2013 cheat sheet Learn the basics of navigating and using a SharePoint site, where to go to find some of the customization options, and 5 advanced SharePoint 2013 tips. Office 2010 Word 2010 cheat sheet Learn how to use Word 2010’s Navigation pane, image editing tools, text effects and other new features. Also see the list of handy keyboard shortcuts for Word 2010 and our Word 2010 Ribbon quick reference charts. Excel 2010 cheat sheet Excel 2010 introduces Sparklines, Slicers, and other enhancements to PivotTables and PivotCharts. Find out how to use those, along with keyboard shortcuts for Excel 2010 and our quick reference for finding your favorite commands on the Excel 2010 Ribbon. PowerPoint 2010 cheat sheet Learn how to use PowerPoint 2010’s multimedia editing tools, sharing options and other handy features. As usual, we’ve got keyboard shortcuts for PowerPoint 2010 and a guide to finding old PowerPoint 2003 commands on the PowerPoint 2010 Ribbon. Outlook 2010 cheat sheet The Ribbon was only half-present in Outlook 2007, but in Outlook 2010 it’s ubiquitous. Other notable changes include Conversation View to group email messages, Schedule View for scheduling meetings, and an enhanced search function. We show you how to use them all, provide some handy keyboard shortcuts for Outlook 2010 and detail where old Outlook 2003 commands are located in Outlook 2010. SharePoint 2010 cheat sheet Unlike earlier versions of SharePoint, SharePoint 2010 is based on the Ribbon interface. Here’s how to find your way around and get started with a SharePoint site. Windows 8 Windows 8 cheat sheet Not many people are still using this nightmare of an operating system, which radically overhauled the classic Windows interface in an attempt to make it more like a mobile OS. But just in case, here’s help finding your way around. Related content news analysis Microsoft adds Copilot AI features to some non-US M365 consumer plans In what could be a trial run for the US and European markets, Microsoft’s Copilot AI assistant is now included in M365 Personal and Family subscriptions in several countries, including Australia, Malaysia, and New Zealand. By Matthew Finnegan Nov 08, 2024 3 mins Generative AI Microsoft Microsoft 365 analysis Microsoft Ignite 2024 – get the latest news and insights Whether you attend Microsoft Ignite 2024 in person or online, expect to learn about the latest Microsoft technologies, including AI, cloud computing, security, and productivity tools. By Dan Muse Nov 07, 2024 5 mins Microsoft Microsoft 365 Microsoft Azure feature Microsoft 365: A guide to the updates Get the latest info on new features, bug fixes, and security updates for Microsoft 365/Office 365 for Windows as they roll out from Microsoft. Now updated for Version 2410 (Build 18129.20116), released on Oct. 28, 2024. By Preston Gralla Oct 31, 2024 19 mins Microsoft 365 Microsoft Office Office Suites news Microsoft aims to simplify how Office files are opened on mobile devices Opening a Word file from OneDrive on a mobile device will now send you to the standalone Word app — not the Microsoft 365 mobile app. The goal is to reduce user confusion and make it easier to multitask on a mobile device. By Matthew Finnegan Oct 28, 2024 2 mins Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Word Microsoft 365 Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe