fixed : add total number of pages to page numbers in Word for Mac

Question :
I am working in Word (from Microsoft Office for Mac) on a multi-page document and I want to include the page numbers including the total number of pages.

How do I do that ?


Answer :
In Word 16 (the current version of the texteditor from Microsoft Office for Mac) it is straight forward to include page numbers. To include page numbers in your Word document, do this :
– have your document open in the Word.app
– click on ‘Insert’, either in the top menu bar or in het document’s menu bar
– then click on ‘Page Numbers’
-and in the small ‘Page Numbers’ popup screen that now opens, set the desired position (Top/Header or Bottom/Footer), the desired alignment (Left, Center, Right, Insides or Outsides) and put a checkmark if you wish to have the ‘Page number shown on first page’ also
– then click ‘OK’ and page numbers will automatically appear on all pages

However… if you also want to include the total number of pages next to the page numbers, you cannot do that this way or any similar way… you will need a completely different method :
– have your document open in Word.app
– first make sure you are on the first page of your document
– now, click on ‘View’ in the top menu bar
– then, in the pulldown menu, click on ‘Header and Footer’
– then, click with your cursor in either the Header or the Footer, depending on where you want the page numbers
– click on ‘Insert’ in the top menu bar
– in the pulldown menu, click on ‘AutoText’
– and in the next pulldown menu, click on ‘Auto-text’
– in the ‘AutoCorrect’ popup window that now appears, click on the ‘AutoText’ tab/button
– then scroll though the alphabetical list and choose “Page X of Y” andd click the blue ‘Insert’ button
– now, eacht page will have both page number and total number of pages in the Footer (or Header) of each page
– so, basically you’re done now
– but… if you want do do some customization, you can…
– to change the font of the page numbering, just select the text “Page 1 of 22” (if your document has 22 pages) and choose the desired font and font size
– to change the “Page 1 of 22” into something like “1 of 22” or “1 ( 22 )”, just select the part of the “Page 1 of 22” text that you want to change and adjust it to your liking [ and if you accidentally delete either the page number or the total number of pages, just redo from start ]

That’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : XLOOKUP function not available in latest version of MS Excel

Question :
I am running the latest version of MS Excel, but even though it should include the XLOOKUP function, it is not appearing when I want to use it in a formula.

What can I do to fix this ?


Answer :
The problem is that even though you have the latest version of MS Excel installed, the active license you have is one for MS Excel 2019 or earlier…
So, make sure you have a license for a newer version of MS Office for Mac, then do this :
– in Excel, click on “Excel” in the top menu bar
– from the pulldown menu, select “About Microsoft Excel”
– in the “About Excel” window that opens, at “License:” you will see “Office … 2019” (or something alike)
– now, go to the Microsoft website and download the License Removal Tool for Mac
– when downloaded, run the .pkg file and follow the online instructions
– when done, move the downloaded .pkg file to the trash
– then, open any MS Office app (e.g. Excel, Word, PowerPoint or Outlook)
– when prompted, typ your MS Office for Mac license code (for Office 365 or 2021 or newer)
– when done, restart your Mac to activate the license code
– then open Excel after startup and check : XLOOKUP will now be available under “Formulas” > “Lookup & Reference”

That’s it !
enjoy πŸ˜‰

Note :
Microsoft’s website has further details that you can find here : “How to remove Office license files on a Mac”

fixed : where is the Show Thumbnails option in Microsoft Word for Mac ?

Question :

I am loosing track of what I’m doing in the multi-page Word document that I’m working on. It’s over 20 pages and I am referring to info I have written on various previous pages, so I keep scrolling back and forth to find the exact pieces of text I have previously written…

It would be great to have a Show Thumbnails option like I have in Pages, Preview and Acrobat Reader, but I can’t find anything similar in Word.

Is it possible to have something similar in Word ?

 

Answer :

Yes, there is a Show Thumbnails option in Word ( Word 365 / Word 16 for Mac ). It’s just that Microsoft didn’t name it Show Thumbnails and put it somewhere deep inside the menu-structure where you won’t find it if you don’t know that Microsoft calls it Navigation Pane… here’s how to activate it :

  • open Word.app
  • don’t go to the top-of-screen Word application menu bar
  • go to the menu bar of the Word Document window
  • click on the View tab
  • then put a checkmark at “Navigation Pane”

…that’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : where are my Office 365 AutoRecovery files ?

Question :

I accidentally messed up the Office documents (Word/PowerPoint/Excel) I was working on, and I didn’t save it before, so I wanted to get the auto-saved version from the AutoRecovery-folder as I’ve done in the old days of Office 2008 and 2004.

But now I am using Office 365, and I can’t find the AutoRecovery folder anywhere… where is it ?

Answer :

You might have guessed : nowadays, the AutoRecovery-folder is located in an entirely different location on your Mac.

If you are running Office 2011 for Mac (whether as part of Office 365 or not) the correct path to the AutoRecovery-folder is this :

~/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecovery

…and even though you might not immediately see the recovery files there, you will usually find them when when you search for hidden files in that folder [ see Note #2 below – Thank You to Kurt Pfirter for this addition ]

And if you are running Office 2016 for Mac (whether or not as part of Office 365) the correct path to the Word 15‘s AutoRecovery-folder(s) is :

~/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

for PowerPoint 15 the correct path is :

~/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.PowerPoint/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

and for Excel 15 the correct path is :

~/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

BEWARE : it’s not straight-forward to get to this folder in recent/current versions of OSX and macOS, as the user’s Library-folder is a hidden folder. So if you want to access it, the easiest way to do so is :

– in the Finder, click on “Go” in the top menu bar

– when the pulldown menu appears, press the ALT-key on your keyboard (a.k.a. OPTION-key) and an extra option named “Library” will appear in the pulldown menu

– while holding the ALT-key, click on “Library” and your personal (hidden) Library-folder will open in the Finder

– there you can navigate further using the paths listed above to find the AutoRecovery-folder you’re looking for

That’s it.

Enjoy !

πŸ˜‰

NOTE # 1 :

It is advisory to also switch on the “file overwrite protection” (or “double backup”) option as it stores the previous version of the file you are working on. In Word, you turn this feature on from Word –> Preferences –> Save and then mark the “Always create a backup copy” check box. This way, whenever you click “Save”, a backup version is made of the previous/stored version before it overwrites the stored version of the file… so with it turned on, you at least have one prior version of your file.

NOTE #2 :

If you do not see the autosave file you were expecting to find in the AutoRecovery-folder, you might need a ‘show hidden files’-app to find it. Especially Excel-autosave-files tend to be hidden.

There are various ‘show hidden files’-apps :

The FREE one in the Mac App Store is Show Hidden Files: best finder but you could also use another FREE app like Hidden Files Toggle (by ZandorSmith.nl) or Funter (by Nektony.com) or HideSwitch (by CreativeCag.com)

Just beware! that you can mess up OSX or macOS entirely is you accidentally delete or alter files that are hidden in regular use !

…or you can use a key-combo to (un)hide files, as pointed out in this post :
https://macmanus.nl/2020/02/14/fixed-quick-way-to-make-hidden-files-visible-on-macos/

[ a big Thank You to thekurrgan for discovering this and posting this find here ]

NOTE #3 :

it turns out that there’s a bug in Excel 2011 for Mac : even though the Autosave does save  a file with an .xlsx file extension, it’s not a true .xlsx file ! trying to open it will lead to an “Microsoft cannot open this file”-error. The solution is to change the file extension to either .xlsb (Excel binary format) or .xlb (older Excel backup format), to enable Excel to recognize the file and enable it to open.

[ a big Thank You to Paul Preston for noticing this problem and for Bryan P for posting the solution on Superuser.com and to Rich Michaels for posting his updated solution on answers.microsoft.com ]

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tip : get the latest versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel for FREE, legally

If you are looking for a FREE (and legal) version of the latest version of MS Office, you just might be in luck :

Microsoft is offering the newest version of MS Office for FREE to students and staff of schools and universities that have licensed MS Office.

This program has run in the US since 2013 under the moniker “Student Advantage”, and is now available in the Netherlands also.

What you get is a FREE one year license to Microsoft’s online cloud service “Office 365”, in the “Pro Plus”-version,Β including FREE downloads of the latest versions of Office to be installed on maximum 5 Macs or PCs and on maximum 5 Android or iOS devices (like iPhones and iPads).

These latest versions are Office 2011 for MacΒ and Office 2013 for Windows, both including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Skype and OneDrive (Microsoft’s cloud-drive formerly known as SkyDrive).

In the Netherlands, these FREE versions are available for two specific groups :

1- (parents of) students of the primary schools [“basisschoolleerlingen” in Dutch]Β https://www.surfspot.nl/officeleerling

2- students of (some) higher education [“Hogescholen en Universiteiten” in Dutch]Β https://www.surfspot.nl/officestudent

The procedure to get this (nearly) FREE software, is quite complex, but it’s well worth the hassle :

– first you need an account at Surfspot.nlΒ (the website for educational discounts)

– then, you need to ‘buy’ the FREE version of Office 365 Pro Plus

– with that, you’ll get a voucher (which might take several days due to popular demand)

– using that voucher, you can activate Office 365 at Microsoft, and you will get FREE download-links to the latest versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Skype, OneDrive, etc.

– Β those apps you can install on maximum 5 Macs or PCs and 5 iOS or Android devices

 

…as mentioned : it’s a hassle, but it’s well worth it !

Enjoy !

πŸ˜‰

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