These guides will help you find your way around several generations of Microsoft’s Office apps for Windows — and Windows itself.
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 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 downloadable list of handy gestures and shortcuts for Windows 10. (Current for the Windows 10 October 2020 Update, version 20H2.)
Microsoft OneDrive cheat sheet
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.
More tips for Windows 10 and 11
- New! 8 ways to be more productive in Windows 11
- How to handle Windows 10 and 11 updates
- 17 ways to speed up Windows 10
- 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
- How to fix five Windows 10 headaches
- Workarounds for 4 tasks Windows 11 makes harder
- 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 (and 11) in 4 steps
Microsoft 365/Office 365 apps
New! 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.
But what makes Loop particularly useful is the ability to collaborate on content snippets called Loop components across multiple Microsoft 365 apps — so we’ve also got a guide to using Loop components in Outlook and Teams:
New! 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:
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
- 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 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.
