Doing research within Microsoft Office Apps

An often overlook feature in Microsoft Office Applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook) is the Look Up function.  With the Look Up function you can;

• Look up a word in a dictionary (with pronunciation and definitions)
• Get a list of synonyms and homonyms from an online Thesaurus
• Translate a word or phrase to a different language
• Find references to a word or phrase in an Encyclopedia
• Lookup a stock quote or find a company profile

...all within Microsoft Office! 

To use the Look Up function simply highlight a word or phrase, right click and select Look Up.  Your MS Office application will open up a pane on the right and display the results.  For example, here is a quick Look Up on the word "Productivity".

How cool is that! 

This feature has been around since the early versions of Microsoft Office.  What amazed me is that this feature does not get a lot of press.  In fact, I just stumbled across it recently.  If you have not yet tried the Microsoft Office Look Up function, I'd highly recommend it.

Related Links:

• Microsoft Office Timesaver: Using the Research Pane @ Dummies.com