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This iPhone app helps perfect your posture while you use your AirPods
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If you feel like you slouch your head too much while sitting at your desk, playing video games, or standing at the bus stop, an app for your iPhone could help with that, as long as you're wearing your AirPods.

PosturePal uses a motion-tracking feature in iOS 15 that can tell the position of your head as you're wearing AirPods and alerts you if your posture is bad.

Available on the App Store for free, with a one-off purchase to unlock all its features for $ 1.99 / £1.99 / AU$ 2.49, the design is fun and easy to use. You're greeted with a character that reacts to whether you're tilting your head correctly or not, and once you're done, you're given a score.

TechRadar spoke with developer Jordi Bruinabout how Posture Pal came to be, and its future plans to help more users with their head posture.

A chat with the developer

PosturePal Permissions

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Developing an app can take anywhere between a week and six months. But for Bruin, it was quite a bit shorter.

“I got the first version up and running in 10 minutes back in October last year,” Bruin reveals. “The API was very clear and I found some good sample code on GitHub, which allowed me to test out if the idea would be feasible.”

With PosturePal available to iOS users with an iPhone and AirPods, we asked if there were any challenges that may still need solving. “Since I only have access to AirPods Max at the moment, I am unable to test all the different supported headphones,” Bruin explains. “The problem with the regular AirPods and AirPods Pro is that a lot of people wear them in the wrong way. For example, by tilting them forward more than they should. I know how I want to fix it, but it’s a hard problem to test when I have to borrow AirPods from friends.”

The app can benefit your back, neck and shoulders from using it just once a day, due to its gentle nudging to make sure your head is straight. We wondered if Bruin was also feeling the benefits of PosturePal. “For me, the main thing that has helped is keeping posture more at the top of my mind. I don’t use the app on every work session [yet], but I want to.” Bruin continues. “I’m trying to make it even easier for myself to track my posture by adding stuff like Shortcuts support to automatically start a session when you connect your AirPods.”

PosturePal Pro and Icons

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Trying out the app on the train, we would experience the pings and vibrations from PosturePal, telling us to keep our heads up straight. We asked Bruin if there were plans to offer a push notification instead.

“Notifications are planned for an update that’s coming out soon. But currently, I’m trying to understand why people would prefer a notification instead of a (more subtle) sound through the AirPods they are already wearing.” Bruin explains. “That being said, we will probably add a simple notification option that we can experiment with and get feedback on.”

Widgets have been popular since they arrived in iOS 14 and iPadOS 15, but they're currently missing from PosturePal, which feels like an easy win. We asked Bruin whether they were coming. “Yes, definitely. We wanted to keep this first release small and focused on the user experience but you can expect a full history view, progress over time, widgets, and more.”

PosturePal Themes

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Bruin does see the app like a game, which you can tell from the cute giraffe and colorful user interface, so could leaderboards or multiplayer options to compete with friends and family be on the cards? “I’ve looked into Game Center Leaderboards, but since I have never built anything with that I did not want to go too far into the rabbit hole for the initial launch,” Bruin reveals. “Since the app keeps track of something you could consider ‘Health’ data, I am hesitant to put too much focus on sharing for now, but it’s definitely something to think about.”

Finally, the rumored Apple AR/VR headset could be a great fit with PosturePal in combination with the AirPods, so we asked Bruin if he thought the app would benefit from this peripheral when it's released. “I'd expect any future headset to have similar APIs to track head/eye movement in a similar way, so that would definitely be interesting to integrate if it gets to that point.”

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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This iPhone app helps perfect your posture while you use your AirPods
  • No Comments

If you feel like you slouch your head too much while sitting at your desk, playing video games, or standing at the bus stop, an app for your iPhone could help with that, as long as you're wearing your AirPods.

PosturePal uses a motion-tracking feature in iOS 15 that can tell the position of your head as you're wearing AirPods and alerts you if your posture is bad.

Available on the App Store for free, with a one-off purchase to unlock all its features for $ 1.99 / £1.99 / AU$ 2.49, the design is fun and easy to use. You're greeted with a character that reacts to whether you're tilting your head correctly or not, and once you're done, you're given a score.

TechRadar spoke with developer Jordi Bruinabout how Posture Pal came to be, and its future plans to help more users with their head posture.

A chat with the developer

PosturePal Permissions

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Developing an app can take anywhere between a week and six months. But for Bruin, it was quite a bit shorter.

“I got the first version up and running in 10 minutes back in October last year,” Bruin reveals. “The API was very clear and I found some good sample code on GitHub, which allowed me to test out if the idea would be feasible.”

With PosturePal available to iOS users with an iPhone and AirPods, we asked if there were any challenges that may still need solving. “Since I only have access to AirPods Max at the moment, I am unable to test all the different supported headphones,” Bruin explains. “The problem with the regular AirPods and AirPods Pro is that a lot of people wear them in the wrong way. For example, by tilting them forward more than they should. I know how I want to fix it, but it’s a hard problem to test when I have to borrow AirPods from friends.”

The app can benefit your back, neck and shoulders from using it just once a day, due to its gentle nudging to make sure your head is straight. We wondered if Bruin was also feeling the benefits of PosturePal. “For me, the main thing that has helped is keeping posture more at the top of my mind. I don’t use the app on every work session [yet], but I want to.” Bruin continues. “I’m trying to make it even easier for myself to track my posture by adding stuff like Shortcuts support to automatically start a session when you connect your AirPods.”

PosturePal Pro and Icons

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Trying out the app on the train, we would experience the pings and vibrations from PosturePal, telling us to keep our heads up straight. We asked Bruin if there were plans to offer a push notification instead.

“Notifications are planned for an update that’s coming out soon. But currently, I’m trying to understand why people would prefer a notification instead of a (more subtle) sound through the AirPods they are already wearing.” Bruin explains. “That being said, we will probably add a simple notification option that we can experiment with and get feedback on.”

Widgets have been popular since they arrived in iOS 14 and iPadOS 15, but they're currently missing from PosturePal, which feels like an easy win. We asked Bruin whether they were coming. “Yes, definitely. We wanted to keep this first release small and focused on the user experience but you can expect a full history view, progress over time, widgets, and more.”

PosturePal Themes

(Image credit: TechRadar)

Bruin does see the app like a game, which you can tell from the cute giraffe and colorful user interface, so could leaderboards or multiplayer options to compete with friends and family be on the cards? “I’ve looked into Game Center Leaderboards, but since I have never built anything with that I did not want to go too far into the rabbit hole for the initial launch,” Bruin reveals. “Since the app keeps track of something you could consider ‘Health’ data, I am hesitant to put too much focus on sharing for now, but it’s definitely something to think about.”

Finally, the rumored Apple AR/VR headset could be a great fit with PosturePal in combination with the AirPods, so we asked Bruin if he thought the app would benefit from this peripheral when it's released. “I'd expect any future headset to have similar APIs to track head/eye movement in a similar way, so that would definitely be interesting to integrate if it gets to that point.”

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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Google Chrome’s password manager is finally adding this must-have feature
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The built-in password manager in Google Chrome is about to get even better as Google is preparing to add the ability to store notes alongside your passwords.

Besides storing your existing passwords, Chrome’s password manager also includes a password generator to help you create strong, unique and complex passwords for each of your online accounts.

While you can use a standalone password manager like LastPass or 1Password to store your passwords securely, Google Chrome and most other browsers now offer similar functionality. However, these paid solutions often come with extra features like secure cloud storage and password sharing in addition to letting you store notes about each of your passwords.

Now though, it appears that Chrome’s built-in password manager will be getting a big upgrade with the next major release of Google’s browser.

Adding notes to your passwords in Chrome

As reported by 9to5Google and first spotted by Leo Varela, the latest Chrome Canary release adds a new feature to Chrome’s built-in password manager that will allow you to store notes with your passwords.

Once this feature becomes generally available, you’ll see a new “Notes” field underneath the username and password fields in Chrome’s password manager. However, this option will only show up when adding a new password or when you go to edit an existing password. Varela also pointed out in his Reddit post that Google is working on adding the ability to securely send passwords to others as well.

Read More

> Google Password Manager: What is it and how to use it

> Google is making a huge change to how your accounts are secured

> Bitdefender wants to take a bite out of the password manager market

Being able to add notes to each of your saved passwords can be quite useful for those with a lot of different online accounts. For instance, you can add a note to give context to the account, to differentiate between a work and personal account or even if you want to back up the answers to the security questions associated with a particular account.

Users running Chrome Canary can test out this feature now and Google has even added the #passwords-notes flag to make it easier to enable. As this feature is currently tied to the release of Chrome 101, it should arrive in the Stable channel around April or May but the timing of its arrival could change.

Via 9to5Google

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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Is this the hardest week in Wordle history?
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As usual, we're going to be spoiling today's Wordle answer if you read on – so make sure you've solved it first before scrolling on.

Is this the hardest week in Wordle history? If you look at Google Trends this week, with people searching for the Wordle answer, you might think that it's been almost impossibly difficult:

Today's trends data on white background

WATCH, CATER and MOVIE have all seen huge spikes of interest in the Wordle answer. (Image credit: TechRadar / Google)

If you followed that graph, and looked at the trending Twitter terms, you'd easily surmise that the WATCH, the answer last Friday, and CATER yesterday were the worst offenders – along with the tricky solution of MOVIE today.

But we spoke to Shaun Savage, editor in chief of Try Hard Guides, a site with its own dedicated Wordle solver pages, and he gave some surprising statistics:

“Today's word [MOVIE] is definitely giving people some challenge. By and far, 56% of people have figured out that the word ends in 'IE' but are struggling to think of words that fit. 

“Following that, about 15% of people have figured out there's at least an O in the word. It seems like the “V” is the most difficult letter to determine! 

“We aren't even seeing too many people looking for “OVIE” or “MO_IE,” so it seems many are getting 2-3 letters but getting four is a struggle.

“Our page on '5 letter words' ending in IE' was the most trafficked post this morning – a lot of people like to get ideas but, perhaps, not just get to the answer immediately, so these types of posts help clear away some fog.”

So it's clear that today's Wordle was, perhaps, one of the hardest in a while, even if it's not had the same number of players desperately searching for the answer online.

But what about the last seven days as a whole?

The hardest Wordle week ever?

Wordle guess rages

(Image credit: New York Times)

With three words this week that trended massively on Twitter (and saw massive spikes in traffic to our Wordle hints and answer page), does that mean this has been the hardest time for Wordle users yet… especially against the backdrop of accusations against NY Times making the game easier?

And while it has been a very difficult week, it appears that people are searching for Wordle answers for different reasons this week – rhyming words mean people can get to their final guess with no obvious answer:

“From our data, this week has been harder than the earlier weeks in March, though, with a good mix of reasons. _ATCH just had a lot of options and people quickly maxed out on guesses,” added Savage.

“Words like TODAY, FOCUS and SMELT all had slightly less popular letters in them; SMELT is also not a commonly used word so the 'SM' and 'LT' combinations may have been tricky.

“CATER was the same way; common letters, so many quickly found as possibilities but lots of options. MOVIE has three vowels and contains two lesser-used consonants (M and V).”

A better week ahead

It's good to hear that things have been tricky this week – we at TechRadar have had such a tough week that we've even run live blogs on the hardest puzzles to allow readers to air their thoughts on the difficulty.

We also spoke to Dr Matthew Voice, an Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics at the UK’s University of Warwick, previously to find out why CATER was such a tough word:

“Looking back at Project Gutenberg's list of common n-grams,” Dr Voice tells us, “you can really see why getting some of [the] letters in place isn't necessarily narrowing down the possibilities. ER is the fourth most common combination of any two letters in the whole of the English language, it seems, and TER the twelfth most common combination of three.

“That said,” he adds, “I also think it's interesting to think about why 'CATER' might not seem like an immediately obvious option to everyone who's got the point of finding _ATER. The answer to this might be to do with our expectations about morphology – the way we combine together different parts of language to make new words.”

So, while it's impossible to put a full and defined metric against the difficulty of words in the current Wordle games, it seems that this week has certainly been full of a few pitfalls.

And if you're getting tired of Wordle, then try Scholardle– it's Wordle if you want to make things a lot harder.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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Is this the hardest week in Wordle history?
  • No Comments

As usual, we're going to be spoiling today's Wordle answer if you read on – so make sure you've solved it first before scrolling on.

Is this the hardest week in Wordle history? If you look at Google Trends this week, with people searching for the Wordle answer, you might think that it's been almost impossibly difficult:

Today's trends data on white background

WATCH, CATER and MOVIE have all seen huge spikes of interest in the Wordle answer. (Image credit: TechRadar / Google)

If you followed that graph, and looked at the trending Twitter terms, you'd easily surmise that the WATCH, the answer last Friday, and CATER yesterday were the worst offenders – along with the tricky solution of MOVIE today.

But we spoke to Shaun Savage, editor in chief of Try Hard Guides, a site with its own dedicated Wordle solver pages, and he gave some surprising statistics:

“Today's word [MOVIE] is definitely giving people some challenge. By and far, 56% of people have figured out that the word ends in 'IE' but are struggling to think of words that fit. 

“Following that, about 15% of people have figured out there's at least an O in the word. It seems like the “V” is the most difficult letter to determine! 

“We aren't even seeing too many people looking for “OVIE” or “MO_IE,” so it seems many are getting 2-3 letters but getting four is a struggle.

“Our page on '5 letter words' ending in IE' was the most trafficked post this morning – a lot of people like to get ideas but, perhaps, not just get to the answer immediately, so these types of posts help clear away some fog.”

So it's clear that today's Wordle was, perhaps, one of the hardest in a while, even if it's not had the same number of players desperately searching for the answer online.

But what about the last seven days as a whole?

The hardest Wordle week ever?

Wordle guess rages

(Image credit: New York Times)

With three words this week that trended massively on Twitter (and saw massive spikes in traffic to our Wordle hints and answer page), does that mean this has been the hardest time for Wordle users yet… especially against the backdrop of accusations against NY Times making the game easier?

And while it has been a very difficult week, it appears that people are searching for Wordle answers for different reasons this week – rhyming words mean people can get to their final guess with no obvious answer:

“From our data, this week has been harder than the earlier weeks in March, though, with a good mix of reasons. _ATCH just had a lot of options and people quickly maxed out on guesses,” added Savage.

“Words like TODAY, FOCUS and SMELT all had slightly less popular letters in them; SMELT is also not a commonly used word so the 'SM' and 'LT' combinations may have been tricky.

“CATER was the same way; common letters, so many quickly found as possibilities but lots of options. MOVIE has three vowels and contains two lesser-used consonants (M and V).”

A better week ahead

It's good to hear that things have been tricky this week – we at TechRadar have had such a tough week that we've even run live blogs on the hardest puzzles to allow readers to air their thoughts on the difficulty.

We also spoke to Dr Matthew Voice, an Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics at the UK’s University of Warwick, previously to find out why CATER was such a tough word:

“Looking back at Project Gutenberg's list of common n-grams,” Dr Voice tells us, “you can really see why getting some of [the] letters in place isn't necessarily narrowing down the possibilities. ER is the fourth most common combination of any two letters in the whole of the English language, it seems, and TER the twelfth most common combination of three.

“That said,” he adds, “I also think it's interesting to think about why 'CATER' might not seem like an immediately obvious option to everyone who's got the point of finding _ATER. The answer to this might be to do with our expectations about morphology – the way we combine together different parts of language to make new words.”

So, while it's impossible to put a full and defined metric against the difficulty of words in the current Wordle games, it seems that this week has certainly been full of a few pitfalls.

And if you're getting tired of Wordle, then try Scholardle– it's Wordle if you want to make things a lot harder.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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This Google Calendar update gives your co-workers nowhere to hide
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Tracking down your office team mates and other colleagues should soon be easier thanks to a new update to Google Calendar.

The calendar app for Google Workspace is now able to show a range of status options in Google Chat, giving you extra information on what you or your co-workers are up to.

Previously limited to just showing when someone was out of office, Google Chat is now able to show a number of different statuses, including “in a meeting” or “in focus time”.

Google Calendar statuses

“We hope by surfacing these additional statuses, this will make it easier for your colleagues to identify appropriate times to message you,” the company wrote in its Google Workspace update blog post announcing the change.

Google Chat calendar statuses

(Image credit: Google Workspace)

Admins will also be able to configure specific options for displaying the new status, with the ability to toggle on and off – or completely disable it.

The feature, which will be on by default, has started rolling out now across Android, iOS and web users. It will be available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers. However, it won't be an option for Google Workspace Individual users or those with personal Google accounts.

Read more

> Google Calendar update will prevent disastrous scheduling mishaps

> Google Calendar update will help you clear up that mess you call an inbox

> There's an all-new free version of Google Workspace for work

The news is the latest update to Google Calendar as the company looks to help employees embracing hybrid working that are splitting their time between the office and home.

Recently, it revealed a tool that means Gmail users will now be able to specify whether they will be attending a meeting either virtually or in-person in their email RSVP.

As mentioned above, Google Calendar also recently launched “Focus time”, where users can block out periods of time where they can avoid meetings and get their heads down for actual work.

Setting such a marker in your Google Calendar will also allow users to automatically decline meetings, meaning no last-minute rush to finish off work.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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It’s time Windows 11 got rid of this trashy feature
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Microsoft has poured a lot of energy into making Windows 11 one of its cleanest-looking operating systems to date, but one Reddit user has pointed out that it could have gone further – and we completely agree. 

U/hyperactiverobot created a concept video in which the Recycle Bin can be moved to the taskbar, allowing Windows 11 users to drag unwanted files down onto it if they still want to preserve its functionality. It also allows quick access to mass-deleted unwanted data for good without hogging any of your precious desktop space.

its_time_to_move_the_recycle_bin_to_the_taskbar from r/Windows11

Right now, your options are to either leave it fixed onto your desktop as highlighting the application and pressing delete won't remove it alone. Or you can choose to unpin the recycling bin from the desktop by right-clicking the Windows 11 desktop, selecting “Personalization,” and then heading into “Themes”.

After that, select “Desktop Icon Settings” and a window will appear that allows you to uncheck “Recycle Bin” from the list of applications that are fixed to your desktop.

The icon for the Recycle Bin has been a fixed part of the desktop ever since Windows 95 was released 26 years ago (known as 'Trash' back then), but the way that people like to use their computers and laptops is changing. For some, a desktop space with no visible icons is preferred, especially if you like to use features like live wallpapers on Wallpaper Engine, or set your favorite photographs as your background.

Opinion: is this a feature anyone still uses?

When I saw the concept I had two immediate thoughts wash over me: firstly that this was preferable to the Recycle Bin being on the desktop space or absent entirely (which I'll touch on in a moment), but this was closely followed by “does anyone still drag/drop files into it?”.

I'm assuming that some folks do, out of habit if nothing else, but it's much quicker to simply click or highlight your unwanted files en masse and… press the 'Delete' key on your keyboard. It all goes to the same place after all.

The nuisance isn't how you get your files into the bin though; it's remembering to clear it out. If you're like me, you can be forgetful and emptying the files from the Recycle Bin isn't set to a schedule on the off chance that I need to restore a file in an emergency (unless you're a very well-planned person. If so, hats off to you). In fact, I only just cleared my bin for the first time in months because I saw this concept feature.

Removing it from your eyeline entirely if you're as susceptible as I am to forgetting to empty it manually shouldn't cause issues, but it's nice to have it easily accessible in case you need to rummage through and find files you've accidentally deleted.

If you do want to set your Recycle Bin to self-empty on a schedule then you can head into “System”, scroll down and click “Storage.” From there, click into the “Storage Management” section, click “Storage Sense” where you'll find an option called “Automatic User Content Cleanup.”

Enable this and then you'll have an option to run not just Storage Sense on a schedule (a feature that automatically cleans up unused files and downloaded data to free up disk space), but also set a timeframe for how often the Recycle Bin should self-empty.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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It’s time Windows 11 got rid of this trashy feature
  • No Comments

Microsoft has poured a lot of energy into making Windows 11 one of its cleanest-looking operating systems to date, but one Reddit user has pointed out that it could have gone further – and we completely agree. 

U/hyperactiverobot created a concept video in which the Recycle Bin can be moved to the taskbar, allowing Windows 11 users to drag unwanted files down onto it if they still want to preserve its functionality. It also allows quick access to mass-deleted unwanted data for good without hogging any of your precious desktop space.

its_time_to_move_the_recycle_bin_to_the_taskbar from r/Windows11

Right now, your options are to either leave it fixed onto your desktop as highlighting the application and pressing delete won't remove it alone. Or you can choose to unpin the recycling bin from the desktop by right-clicking the Windows 11 desktop, selecting “Personalization,” and then heading into “Themes”.

After that, select “Desktop Icon Settings” and a window will appear that allows you to uncheck “Recycle Bin” from the list of applications that are fixed to your desktop.

The icon for the Recycle Bin has been a fixed part of the desktop ever since Windows 95 was released 26 years ago (known as 'Trash' back then), but the way that people like to use their computers and laptops is changing. For some, a desktop space with no visible icons is preferred, especially if you like to use features like live wallpapers on Wallpaper Engine, or set your favorite photographs as your background.

Opinion: is this a feature anyone still uses?

When I saw the concept I had two immediate thoughts wash over me: firstly that this was preferable to the Recycle Bin being on the desktop space or absent entirely (which I'll touch on in a moment), but this was closely followed by “does anyone still drag/drop files into it?”.

I'm assuming that some folks do, out of habit if nothing else, but it's much quicker to simply click or highlight your unwanted files en masse and… press the 'Delete' key on your keyboard. It all goes to the same place after all.

The nuisance isn't how you get your files into the bin though; it's remembering to clear it out. If you're like me, you can be forgetful and emptying the files from the Recycle Bin isn't set to a schedule on the off chance that I need to restore a file in an emergency (unless you're a very well-planned person. If so, hats off to you). In fact, I only just cleared my bin for the first time in months because I saw this concept feature.

Removing it from your eyeline entirely if you're as susceptible as I am to forgetting to empty it manually shouldn't cause issues, but it's nice to have it easily accessible in case you need to rummage through and find files you've accidentally deleted.

If you do want to set your Recycle Bin to self-empty on a schedule then you can head into “System”, scroll down and click “Storage.” From there, click into the “Storage Management” section, click “Storage Sense” where you'll find an option called “Automatic User Content Cleanup.”

Enable this and then you'll have an option to run not just Storage Sense on a schedule (a feature that automatically cleans up unused files and downloaded data to free up disk space), but also set a timeframe for how often the Recycle Bin should self-empty.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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Apple, take some notes from this half a MacBook concept for a future Mac mini
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If you browse forums and news sites, you'll most likely come across concept ideas from users who want to give their vision of how a product from Apple or Microsoft could be.

Back when owning an iPhone was a wish for many in the early noughties, you would see concept images of iPod Videos with a 'Phone' menu, but in the same iPod body, or a design that would look similar to the bondi-blue iMac from 1997.

However, one user has gone beyond this concept idea, and removed the display to a MacBook Pro, but left the keyboard part intact.

This not only harks back to the days of the Amiga with its 2-in-1 design, but gives me the idea that this could be perfect as a replacement to the Mac mini.

An Amiga and Apple hybrid?

The Mac mini has been around since 2006, and Apple mentioned at the time that they could only do this thanks to the PowerPC to Intel CPU transition.

But with another transition in progress, Apple has repeated the same mantra, which is why we've seen a redesigned iMac and MacBook Pro so far.

While there's been efforts by others to prove that a smaller Mac mini could work for the Apple Silicon chips, you still need to have a keyboard and trackpad in order to use it.

This is why the below makes sense in the long run, instead of being an effort to go viral for a day.

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This would reshape how a Mac mini could work, especially if this concept could also run on a battery if needed.

You could take this hybrid on a commute to work, and plug in the HDMI or Thunderbolt cable to start your day. This would cut down the setup you would normally have to do for a Mac mini, as the keyboard and trackpad are already there.

But this also harks back to the days of the Amiga, a PC from the eighties that allowed you to do this in a similar design.

Amiga 600 computer

(Image credit: Future)

It's one thing to look at an image, but to see someone use a snapped MacBook as if it's an Amiga 600 in 2022, makes a lot of sense.

The design can work in an age where you can easily find a spare monitor in the office and get going on some work, without also having to find a keyboard and mouse.

If this was to replace how we see the Mac mini in the near future with an M2 chip, it could be the best recommendation from me for family and friends, especially if they're looking for a new device for their bedroom or office.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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This tiny Microsoft Excel update could make all the difference
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Microsoft is currently working on several new updates for its spreadsheet software that will make it easier to work with formulas in Excel.

For those unfamiliar, formulas allow you to use the built-in functions in Excel to perform calculations and solve problems more easily.

If you're just getting started using formulas in Microsoft's spreadsheet software, you can also download the company's Formula workbook that walks you through Excel's most common formulas in a guided tour. The workbook even contains real-world examples with helpful visuals so you'll be able to Sum, Count, Average and Vlookup like an Excel pro.

Multiline formula bar and argument assistance

In the first update to the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the company revealed that it plans to add a multiline formula bar to Excel which should be generally available in March.

Once this feature rolls out, users will be able to resize the formula bar which will make it much easier to navigate when working with longer formulas.

Read More

> Microsoft Excel is making a big change to protect against malware

> Microsoft Excel is getting a whole lot more customization

> Microsoft Excel update could change the way you build formulas forever

In a separate update, Microsoft announced that it will be adding a new card called Argument Assistance to Excel in March as well. This card will appear when a user is writing a formula and will remain on screen during the arguments insert/edit phase. 

The Argument Assistance card will also help users be more efficient while writing formulas and will help reduce the risk for errors. It even includes descriptions of the formula and the different arguments being used as well as an example.

If you haven't used formulas in Excel yet as part of your workflow, there's never been a better time to start using Microsoft's spreadsheet software to its full potential.

TechRadar – All the latest technology news

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