Microsoft Office Specialist: Expert (Microsoft 365 Apps) — Practice Set 1

Question 1

You are working in Microsoft Word. You want to configure the document so that tracked changes are always shown and cannot be turned off by other users who open the file. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Review > Track Changes > Lock Tracking requires a password to turn off change tracking. Once enabled, other users cannot disable track changes without the password, ensuring all modifications are recorded.

Question 2

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to compare two versions of a document and produce a new document showing all differences as tracked changes. Which feature should you use?

Accepted Answer

Review > Compare > Compare allows you to select an original and a revised document. Word generates a new combined document where all differences between the two versions appear as tracked changes, making it easy to review what changed.

Question 3

You are working in Microsoft Word. You have applied a Heading 1 style throughout a document, but you now want to change the font of all Heading 1 text at once without modifying each heading individually. What is the most efficient method?

Accepted Answer

Modifying a named style via the Styles gallery (right-click > Modify) updates all text that uses that style throughout the document simultaneously. This is the power of styles — a single change cascades to every instance, making it far more efficient than selecting and reformatting individually.

Question 4

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to create a two-column layout for a specific section of your document, while keeping the rest of the document in a single-column layout. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

Selecting text and then applying a column layout (Layout > Columns > Two) automatically inserts Continuous section breaks before and after the selection, applying the two-column layout only to that section while leaving the rest of the document unchanged.

Question 5

A technical writer is working in Microsoft Word. She needs to create a macro that automatically applies the 'Code' character style to any selected text when run. After recording the macro, she notices it only stores the formatting properties, not the style name. What went wrong?

Accepted Answer

The macro recorder does record style applications correctly when you apply them via the Styles gallery or Styles pane. If the macro recorded direct formatting properties instead of a style name, it means the writer applied direct formatting rather than the named style during the recording session.

Question 6

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to create a custom building block that contains your company letterhead, so it can be reused in any document. Where should you save this building block?

Accepted Answer

Building Blocks.dotx is the default template for storing building blocks that should be available across all documents. Saving to Normal.dotm is also valid but Building Blocks.dotx is the dedicated location for reusable content pieces in Word.

Question 7

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to create a form that users can fill in. You want to add a drop-down list control that lets users pick from a predefined set of options. Where is this control found?

Accepted Answer

The Developer tab (which must be enabled in File > Options > Customize Ribbon) contains the Controls group with content controls including Drop-Down List Content Control. This allows you to define a fixed list of choices users can select from when filling in the form.

Question 8

You are working in Microsoft Word. You are designing a template for business reports. Which two elements can you save directly within a Word template (.dotx) to make them automatically available to all documents based on that template? Choose 2.

Accepted Answer

Word templates (.dotx or .dotm) store custom styles (paragraph, character, table, list), AutoText/building block entries, as well as macros (in .dotm). Custom styles and AutoText entries are inherited by new documents created from the template, making them immediately available.

Question 9

You are working in Microsoft Word. You have a long document and need to generate a table of contents automatically based on the heading styles applied in the document. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

References > Table of Contents provides built-in TOC styles that automatically scan the document for text formatted with Heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) and generate a formatted table of contents with page numbers and clickable hyperlinks.

Question 10

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to send a personalized letter to 200 customers, with each letter containing the customer's name and address from an Excel spreadsheet. What feature should you use?

Accepted Answer

Mail Merge (Mailings tab) connects a Word document to a data source such as an Excel spreadsheet and merges the data to create personalized versions of the document for each record. It is the standard tool for generating bulk personalized correspondence.

Question 11

A legal secretary is working in Microsoft Word. She needs to create a mail merge letter that includes a conditional block of text: if the customer's account balance exceeds $1000, the letter should include a special paragraph about premium benefits. What mail merge feature should she use?

Accepted Answer

The IF...THEN...ELSE Word field (inserted via Mailings > Rules > If...Then...Else) evaluates a merge field condition and inserts different text based on the result. You can set it to check if Balance > 1000 and insert the premium benefits paragraph only when true.

Question 12

You are working in Microsoft Word. You want to create a cross-reference in the document that says 'See Figure 3 on page 12', and have the figure number and page number update automatically if figures are added or removed. How should you insert this?

Accepted Answer

Insert > Cross-reference (or References > Cross-reference) inserts field codes that reference a specific figure, table, heading, or other numbered item and can also insert the page number. These fields update automatically when you update fields (Ctrl+A, F9), so they always reflect the current figure number and page.

Question 13

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to ensure that all reviewers' comments and tracked changes are removed before the document is shared externally. Which tool automates this process?

Accepted Answer

The Document Inspector (File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document) scans the document for hidden data including comments, tracked changes, personal information, hidden text, and more. It provides a Remove button for each category, automating the cleanup process before external sharing.

Question 14

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to insert an automatically updating field that displays the current date every time the document is opened. Which field code should you use?

Accepted Answer

The DATE field (Insert > Text > Quick Parts > Field > Date) inserts the current date and updates each time the document is opened or when fields are updated (F9). The \@ switch specifies the date format. CREATEDATE stores the original creation date; SAVEDATE stores the last save date.

Question 15

You are working in Microsoft Word. You have a document with several figures and tables, each with a caption. You want to create separate lists of figures and tables. Which two actions are required? Choose 2.

Accepted Answer

Word generates a Table of Figures automatically from captions that use a specific label. First, insert captions via References > Insert Caption using the correct label (Figure or Table). Then place the cursor where you want the list and use References > Insert Table of Figures, selecting the appropriate caption label for each list.

Question 16

You are working in Microsoft Excel. You need to create a custom view that saves the current filter and hidden row/column settings, so you can quickly return to this exact view later. What should you use?

Accepted Answer

View > Custom Views allows you to save the current display settings including filters, hidden rows/columns, zoom level, and print settings as a named view. You can switch back to this view at any time by selecting it from the Custom Views list.

Question 17

You are working in Microsoft Excel. You need to use What-If Analysis to find out what input value in cell B2 would make the formula result in cell D5 equal to exactly 50000. Which tool should you use?

Accepted Answer

Goal Seek (Data > What-If Analysis > Goal Seek) works backward from a desired formula result to find the required input value. You set the target cell (D5), the goal value (50000), and the cell to change (B2), and Excel adjusts B2 until D5 reaches the target.

Question 18

You are working in Microsoft Excel. You have a large dataset and want to consolidate data from multiple ranges or worksheets into a single summary. The source ranges may have different layouts. Which tool handles this?

Accepted Answer

Data > Consolidate brings together data from multiple ranges or worksheets into one summary. It supports functions like Sum, Count, Average, and can use category labels (top row or left column) to match data even if source ranges have different layouts.

Question 19

You are working in Microsoft Excel. You want to create a dynamic array formula that returns a list of unique values from the range A2:A100. Which function should you use?

Accepted Answer

=UNIQUE(array) is a dynamic array function available in Microsoft 365 that returns a list of unique values from a range or array. The result spills automatically into adjacent cells. DISTINCT does not exist as a worksheet function; REMOVE_DUPS is not a valid function.

Question 20

A data engineer is working in Microsoft Excel. He writes a macro to loop through all worksheets in the workbook and set each sheet's tab color to blue. Which VBA code structure correctly iterates through all worksheets?

Accepted Answer

Both approaches correctly iterate through all worksheets. 'For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets' uses an object loop and is the most Pythonic/VBA-idiomatic approach. 'For i = 1 To Worksheets.Count' uses an index-based loop and is equally valid. Option C uses invalid VBA syntax.

Question 21

You are working in Microsoft Word. You want to find all text formatted with the Bold character format and replace it with text formatted in the Emphasis character style. How should you do this using Find & Replace?

Accepted Answer

In Find & Replace (Ctrl+H), clicking More expands options including the Format button. You can specify formatting criteria for both Find and Replace fields. Set the Find field's Format > Font to Bold, and the Replace field's Format > Style to Emphasis, then click Replace All.

Question 22

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to insert a footnote that appears at the bottom of the current page. What is the quickest way to insert a footnote?

Accepted Answer

Both Alt+Ctrl+F (keyboard shortcut) and References > Insert Footnote insert a numbered footnote at the current cursor position with the footnote text area at the bottom of the page. Both methods produce identical results.

Question 23

An analyst is working in Microsoft Excel. She imports a dataset where all dates appear as text strings in the format 'DD/MM/YYYY'. Excel does not recognize them as dates. Which function can she use to convert the text '15/06/2026' to a proper Excel date value?

Accepted Answer

DATEVALUE interprets text as a date based on regional date format settings, so it may fail if the text format doesn't match the system's locale. The most reliable approach for DD/MM/YYYY text is to extract the components: =DATE(RIGHT(A1,4), MID(A1,4,2), LEFT(A1,2)), which always works regardless of locale settings.

Question 24

You are working in Microsoft Word. You need to format a paragraph so that it always stays on the same page as the following paragraph, and it never breaks across a page. Which two paragraph formatting options should you apply? Choose 2.

Accepted Answer

Keep with next (prevents a page break between this paragraph and the next) and Keep lines together (prevents a page break within the paragraph) are the two options found in Paragraph > Line and Page Breaks that fulfill both requirements: staying with the following paragraph and never breaking internally.

Question 25

You are working in Microsoft Excel. You need a formula to return a filtered list of all employees from column A who work in the 'Finance' department (column B), sorted alphabetically by name. Which combination of functions achieves this in Microsoft 365?

Accepted Answer

=SORT(FILTER(A2:A100, B2:B100="Finance")) first filters to Finance employees, then SORT() sorts the result alphabetically. =SORTBY(FILTER(...), 1) also works by sorting on the first column. Both are valid Microsoft 365 dynamic array formulas. IFSORT does not exist.

MO-100/MO-110/MO-200/MO-210 — Microsoft Office Specialist: Expert (Microsoft 365 Apps)