Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
MS Office Interview questions for Freshers
2.1.
What are the advantages of MS Word?
2.2.
Which is the current version of MS Word?
2.3.
What are the main features of MS Excel?
2.4.
What is the use of formulas in Excel?
2.5.
What is the shortcut key for creating a hyperlink in MS word?
2.6.
How many data formats are available in Excel? Name a few of them.
2.7.
What are charts and their use in MS Excel?
2.8.
What is the most fundamental difference between Office 365 and Office 2016?
2.9.
What is the shortcut to move the insertion point towards the beginning of the document?
2.10.
What is the shortcut key for inserting a page break?
3.
MS Office Interview questions for Intermediate
3.1.
How can a user format the cells in Excel? Explain the steps involved.
3.2.
What are macros in MS Excel?
3.3.
Explain the difference between footnotes and endnotes.
3.4.
How can a user insert sound into a Word document? Explain the steps involved.
3.5.
What is the order of operations (precedence) used in evaluating formulas in Excel?
3.6.
What are Ribbons in MS Office?
3.7.
What are Quick Parts? Explain in brief about them.
3.8.
What are the different identity models available in Office 365? Name them.
3.9.
How can a user create an email signature?
3.10.
Which are the two most critical macro languages of MS Excel?
4.
MS Office Interview questions for Experienced
4.1.
What do you mean by Absolute and Relative cell references?
4.2.
How can a user merge two cells in Excel without deleting data?
4.3.
What is meant by a waterfall chart in Excel?
4.4.
State financial modeling in Excel.
4.5.
How can a user create a watermark in Word 2016?
4.6.
How can a user connect with cloud service on MS word 2013?
4.7.
What is a Document Inspector? Why is it used?
4.8.
How can users create an Autotext on their own?
4.9.
Is it possible to stop someone from copying the cell from a user's worksheet?
4.10.
Explain a few useful functions in Excel.
5.
Frequently Asked Questions
5.1.
What are interview questions about MS Office?
5.2.
How to describe proficiency in Microsoft Office in an interview?
5.3.
What are 5 components of MS Office?
6.
Conclusion
Last Updated: May 30, 2024
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TOP MS Office Interview Questions and Answers

Author Navika Agarwal
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Introduction

Microsoft Office (MS Office) is the most commonly used word processor for commercial purposes. It is the amalgam of all the forms (including MS PowerPoint, MS Word, Microsoft Outlook, and many more) of MS Office that has made our day-to-day technology work incredibly user-friendly and straightforward. All the applications included in the package MS Office have a unique and specific purpose of fulfilling. 

Ms Office interview questions

So, lets look at some of the Top MS Office interview questions and answers.

Some of the applications of MS Office are discussed in more detail : 

Microsoft Excel (MS Excel) - Microsoft Excel is an electronic spreadsheet application that helps users store, organize, calculate, and manipulate data with the help of formulas using a spreadsheet system that is broken up into rows and columns. It also gives the flexibility and convenience to use an external database to analyze, make reports, etc., and ultimately, save a lot of time.

Microsoft Word (MS Word) - Microsoft Word is a word-processing application that helps create simple and complicated documents. It is used in making proficient documents, articles, reports, etc. Its advanced features allow users to conveniently format, edit, and save their files and documents.

Microsoft Outlook - Microsoft Outlook is an email service of the Microsoft Office suite. Outlook helps users send and receive email messages, and calendar management, store other contacts' names and numbers, and track their tasks. 

MS Office Interview questions for Freshers

Here are some of the most commonly asked easy questions on MS Office - 

What are the advantages of MS Word?

Some of the advantages and benefits of using MS Word include text alignments like right, left, or center, instant checking of any grammatical or spelling mistakes, adding figures and images in the document is highly convenient with MS Word, and it allows the users to make the documents fun and interactive by inserting additional clip arts, colors, bullet points, and borders to the document, etc.

Which is the current version of MS Word?

The current version of MS Word is Office 365.

What are the main features of MS Excel?

MS Excel has various features, including the usage of graphing tools, performing basic calculations, and creation of macros and pivot tables.

What is the use of formulas in Excel?

Formulas help in the calculation of numbers in Excel sheets. For example, the user can automatically 'sum up' two numbers using Excel's predefined formulas. 

What is the shortcut key for creating a hyperlink in MS word?

The shortcut key for creating a hyperlink in MS Word is "Ctrl + K."

How many data formats are available in Excel? Name a few of them.

Microsoft Excel has eleven data formats for storing data. Some of them are : 

Number – Used for Storing data as a number

Currency – Used for Storing data in the form of currency

Data – Used for storing data as dates

Percentage – Used for Storing numbers as a percentage

Text Formats – Used for Storing data as a string of texts

What are charts and their use in MS Excel?

Charts are provided to have a lot of the graphical representation of data in Excel. A user can use any type of chart, including column chart, bar chart, pie chart, etc. by simply selecting an option from the Insert tab's Chart group.

What is the most fundamental difference between Office 365 and Office 2016?

Office 365 can only be used online, whereas the applications that locally pre-installed Office 2016 applications are available for users regardless of any internet connection.

What is the shortcut to move the insertion point towards the beginning of the document?

For moving the insertion point to the beginning of any document, the shortcut key is <Ctrl> + <Home>.

What is the shortcut key for inserting a page break?

The shortcut key for inserting a page break is <Ctrl> + <Enter>.

MS Office Interview questions for Intermediate

Here are some of the most commonly asked medium-level questions on MS Office - 

How can a user format the cells in Excel? Explain the steps involved.

The user can Format the cells in MS Excel in the following the given steps-

1. Open the MS Excel.

MS EXCEL

2. Select the needed cell or a group of cells to be formatted.

cells

3. Click on Format Cells Window.

window

4. Select the required formatting options for the cell.

formatting

5. Click on OK to save the changes made.

What are macros in MS Excel?

Macros in MS Excel are automated input sequences that are used for emulating any mouse actions or keystrokes. Macros can replace all repetitive mouse actions and keywords. Macros are widely used in word processors and spreadsheets such as MS Word and MS Excel.

Explain the difference between footnotes and endnotes.

An essential difference between Footnotes and Endnotes is that Footnotes are a sequence or strings of texts placed at the bottom of the page, whereas Endnotes are lines of documents or texts added at the chapter's end to provide a better conclusion and clarity.

How can a user insert sound into a Word document? Explain the steps involved.

To insert sound into a Word doc in the form of an Object, a user needs to follow the below steps-

1. Open Word 2016.

word

2. Navigate to the Insert tab.

insert

3. Click on the Object.

object

4. In the File tab, click on Create.

5. Browse to the Audio file to insert.

6. Click OK. The audio will be inserted.

What is the order of operations (precedence) used in evaluating formulas in Excel?

The order of operations in Microsoft Excel is similar to that used in standard mathematics. It's defined by the term "BEDMAS". The order is as follows:

Parentheses or Brackets.

Exponent.

Multiplication.

Division.

Addition.

Subtraction.

What are Ribbons in MS Office?

Ribbons are right below the Quick Access Toolbar in MS Word, MS Excel, and PowerPoint. Ribbons include various tabs like Home, Insert, View, etc. 

The tabs included in the ribbon can be edited(personalized according to the needs) and arranged but the text and size cannot be customized). 

What are Quick Parts? Explain in brief about them.

Quick Parts are included in Outlook and Microsoft Word. They are used for the creation and storage of reusable types of content. They are three types:

1. AutoText – AutoText consists of text blocks that the user can store and reuse. While using Microsoft Word and Outlook helps the user complete the text they type. By clicking on the Tab key, the user can finish the text. 

2. Document Property – This functions like a template from one Word document to another. 

3. Fields – Fields show only certain information on the Word document, including the author's name, date, title, etc. 

What are the different identity models available in Office 365? Name them.

There are currently three identity models in Office 365:

Cloud Identity

Synchronized Identity

Federated Identity

How can a user create an email signature?

An email signature can be stated as a customized block of text that gets appended at the bottom of an email message. 

Under the 'Tools' section in Outlook, is an option to update the mail formatting. The user needs to click on 'New' in the signature tab to create a new signature.

Which are the two most critical macro languages of MS Excel?

XLM (Extensible Markup Language) and VBA (Visual Basic Applications) are two macro languages. Earlier versions of Excel used XML. VBA then came in Excel 5 and is most widely used now.

Also see, Power Electronics Interview Questions

MS Office Interview questions for Experienced

Here are some of the most commonly asked hard-level questions on MS Office - 

What do you mean by Absolute and Relative cell references?

In Excel, Absolute reference is a reference of a cell in which the coordinates of the column and row stay constant (intact or same) when the user wants to copy a formula from one cell to another. Relative reference is the by default cell reference, which signifies that the concern depends on the cell's exact location. Relative reference of a cell changes when a formula is copied to some other cell whereas absolute reference remain constant irrespective where they are copied from.

How can a user merge two cells in Excel without deleting data?

To do this, the user needs to select the cell in which the user wants to put the combined data. After this, the user needs to type = here in the cell, select the first cell to which the user needs to connect, and then type& and quotation marks with enclosed space. The final step is to choose the next cell the user wants to combine and hit Enter.

What is meant by a waterfall chart in Excel?

A waterfall chart is a unique type of Excel column chart that helps mark the values' changes from their starting position to the end irrespective of whether the values increase or decrease. 

chart title

 

State financial modeling in Excel.

Financial modeling in excel was developed to combine finance, accounting, and business metrics. The amalgamation is beneficial for creating an abstract representation of a company in Excel. It refers to the tools used to prepare the expected financial statements which help in predicting a company's financial performance in a future with the help of the assumptions and historical performance information.

How can a user create a watermark in Word 2016?

To create a watermark in a document, follow the steps:

1. Open the required document where the user wants to add the watermark

2. Select the design tab and click the Watermark button in the Page Background group.

3. To personalize the message or text, choose the Add Custom Watermark options.

4. The user can pick any color, font, and layout of their choice

printed watermark

5. Inside the Picture Watermark radio box, click on Select Picture to add any company's logo as a watermark in the document

How can a user connect with cloud service on MS word 2013?

To connect with the cloud service on MS word 2013, the user should follow the steps mentioned below:

1. Click on the Main Menu and Open One Drive.

2. Click on the sign-in option. After this, the user will be asked to enter the email address.

3. The email address will be connected to a cloud service.

What is a Document Inspector? Why is it used?

Document Inspector is a tool that helps check the tracked changes and comments, hidden data, and other relevant information. It's always run for the final check. It is a built-in feature which can check for and clean the document metadata like any comments, embedded revisions, document information such as any editors' name, and some other invisible content. 

To open the Document Inspector in MS Excel, click on File > Info > Check for Issues > Inspect Document. The Document Inspector window will open.

How can users create an Autotext on their own?

To create and reuse an Autotext on Microsoft Word, follow the mentioned steps:

1. Navigate to Quick Parts under the Insert tab

autotext

2. Select the text paragraph.

3. Use the shortcut key Alt+F3

4. Click OK in the box to save the changes

Is it possible to stop someone from copying the cell from a user's worksheet?

Yes. To protect the worksheet from getting copied by someone else, the user needs to go into the Menu bar>Review>Protect Sheet> Password. After entering a password, the user can secure their sheet from getting copied by others.

Explain a few useful functions in Excel.

Some of the functions that are available in Excel for manipulating the data are as follows:

Math and Financial Functions, which include SQRT, DEGREE, RAND(), GCD

Logical Functions, which include IF, AND, FALSE, TRUE

Date and Time functions which include NOW(), DATEVALUE(), WEEKDAY(NOW())

Index Match, which includes VLOOKUP and INDEX MATCH

Pivot tables

Frequently Asked Questions

What are interview questions about MS Office?

When interviewing candidates for MS Office skills, a variety of questions will be asked to assess your skills and knowledge. Here are some common questions asked in MS Office interviews: What applications are included in MS Office? Differences between MS Word and MS Excel.

How to describe proficiency in Microsoft Office in an interview?

To showcase proficiency in Microsoft Office you should provide an overview of your familiarity with MS Office applications and mention your proficiency level (basic, intermediate, advanced). You can also highlight your relevant skills, discuss experience, and express a commitment to continuous learning.

What are 5 components of MS Office?

The five components of MS Office are Microsoft Word, MS Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft OneNote.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed Top MS Office interview questions and answers and its applications. You can read more such articles on our platform, Coding Ninjas Studio. You will find articles on almost every topic on our platform. Also, you can practice coding questions at Coding Ninjas  to crack good product-based companies. 

Other Interview Questions:

For interview preparations, you can read the Interview Experiences of popular companies.

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