Showing posts with label Office. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Office. Show all posts

Saturday, January 27, 2018

OneDrive: Files Restores

Ignoring the awkward name, I'm always happy to see new features being released for the OneDrive service. OneDrive has stored revisions for a while, but Files Restores includes some neat enhancements - like the histogram so you can see the volume of changes.

I love the cloud and features like the Files Restores, but I still buy a USB hard drive every few years to do my own back up. That reminds me... I need to take my year-end snap shot and get the drive to the safe deposit box at my bank.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

OneDrive for Business

So Microsoft is releasing the new and improved OneDrive for Business Next Generation Sync Client (OneDrive.exe), but you have to transition from the old client (groove.exe):

"There currently is no automated, in-place takeover or migration of content from the existing OneDrive for Business sync client to the new OneDrive for Business sync client. So we recommend the following steps for users to complete this transition:
  • Stop OneDrive site sync on the existing OneDrive for Business sync client
  • Rename the local folder previously created by the existing OneDrive for Business sync client
  • Set up the new OneDrive for Business sync client to sync to a new local folder"
And, as OneDrive for Business is for the enterprise, you don't so much install the new client as deploy it:

"There are three steps in this process that an IT administrator needs to understand:
  1. Add the configuration registry keys to each computer.
  2. Deploy OneDrive.exe by running the installer (OneDriveSetup.exe) with the /silent command line parameter.
  3. Run OneDrive.exe with desired command line parameters to launch the process."
It is a quiet week at work. Maybe I should give it a whirl.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Amazon Cloud Drive

Unlimited storage for 1 year for $10 using Amazon's Cloud Drive. I've not used the Amazon cloud. Does anyone have any experience with it? OneDrive/Office365 and Dropbox are $70 and $80 respectively for 1 year and 1 TB. (With Office 365, you do get to use Office during that same time frame, so not exactly apples to apples.)

Thursday, February 19, 2015

HP Stream Laptop - Plus Office 365

I've rolled the dice on an HP Stream 13" laptop. When I bought it, it was $200. It is back to $230 now. We needed something for my wife and I was thinking about shelling out for some cloud storage. The laptop comes with one year of Office 365 Personal which includes 1 TB of OneDrive storage. If I had bought the Office 365 subscription separately, it would have been $70.

I've completely rationalized this now, so it is just a $130 laptop. If it doesn't meet her needs, then we aren't out much. I could probably let my 6 year old use it. Although, she would probably be baffled by the lack of a touch screen!











Monday, September 29, 2014

Low Cost HP Windows Laptops


"HP's Stream brand will now encompass laptops with 11.6-, 13.3- and 14-inch screens, while tablets will be available with 7- or 8-inch screens; all the devices will run Windows 8.1. The Stream 7 tablet is the cheapest of the bunch, priced at just $100, while the Stream 8 will cost $150. The Stream 11 laptop will cost $200, followed by the Stream 13 at $230. All the devices will go on sale in November."
It would be worth it for this alone... Office 365 Personal is $70/year:
"Each device will come with a one-year subscription package to Microsoft services that includes Office 365 Personal, 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage and 60 monthly minutes of Skype. Additionally, the Stream 8 will include 200MB of free 4G data each month for the life of the device at no additional cost."

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Excel Pins Disappearing

I have a problem. Every once in a while, my Excel 2010 "Pinned" and "Recent" documents disappear from the Jump List in the Start Menu. I'm an Excel junkie, so I like to keep my favorites pinned and access my most recently used files with the Jump List.

Others have had this or similar problems, too. (here, here, and here.)

I have a guess about why mine disappear. I use a dual monitor setup at work. Sometimes I need a second instance of Excel running, so that I can compare files using both displays. So, after opening one Excel file, I click on the Start Menu and type "Excel" to start a second instance.

When the second Excel instance starts, I get a "File in Use" messagebox. It says:
"PERSONAL.XLSB is locked for editing 
by %Username%.
Open  'Read-Only or click 'Notify' to open read-only and receive notification when the document is no longer in use.
The buttons give me the options of Read Only, Notify, or Cancel.

I've not gone through and documented each case, but I can replicate the problem where it will delete the "Pinned" items and only the last files I was using show up in the "Recent" list. All it takes is opening the second instance of Excel and then closing them in a certain order. It may also require that changes be made and saved to one or both files. I don't have a fix yet, but at least I know how to avoid the problem.

This does not affect the files that are pinned inside the Excel application under File | Recent. In fact, that is where I go to recover my Jump List pins. I scan the list and open the files I want to re-pin.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Transparent Monitors

I don't know how this would work given different points of view, but the transparent desktop is nothing short of awesome looking.