Top 11 MS Office Interview Questions With Answers

Here are the basic and most important MS Office interview questions that you can easily prepare. We provide in-depth answers with screenshots wherever possible for your convenience.

Microsoft Office skills are applicable for a variety of job roles. According to the Financial Post, over 1 billion users use MS Office products globally.  Whether you are a business analyst or starting with an entry-level job, adding the Microsoft Office suite knowledge is valuable to your CV.

So, let’s go through the answers to the most popular and basic MS Office interview questions. 

1. How would you add and remove buttons from toolbars in MS Office?
2. What is the purpose of creating a macro on MS Word and MS Excel? How do you do it?
3. Mention the steps you would take to save a PowerPoint presentation as a video.
4. What do you know of Quick Parts?
5. How would you create your Autotext on your own?
6. Why is cell referencing important in MS Excel?
7. What is a Ribbon in MS Office?
8. Can you convert a table into a chart in MS Office Word?
9. How would you convert text to shapes in PowerPoint?
10. How do you add Excel data to PowerPoint?
11. Which are the main identity models in Office 365?

Q1. How would you add and remove buttons from toolbars in MS Office?

Ans. It is easy to customise toolbars in all MS Office products. 

You can give an example of MS Word while explaining this answer. 

You can mention that one has to hover in the top left corner with a down arrow button that shows Customize Quick Access Toolbar. See below. 

By default, the commands that are already ticked show on the toolbar. To add buttons, you can click on the set of the available commands. You can also click on the More Commands option to personalise your view. 

If you have a new version of MS Office, you may have to click on the File menu and select Options. Click on Options and jump to Quick Access Toolbar. In the middle, you will see the Add and Remove options. Click on the command to remove or add. 

Q2. What is the purpose of creating a macro on MS Word and MS Excel? How do you do it?

Ans. This is an important MS Office interview question. The main reason for creating a macro in these two MS Office products is to automate repetitive tasks. 

Knowledge of VBA programming is required to make use of this function in an advanced way. If you don’t have experience in coding, mention it frankly.  

You can also provide the definition of a Macro. Put simply, it is an input sequence that is automated. 

You can mention these steps in MS Word. The same applies to creating a Macro in MS Excel.  

1. Go to the View tab and click on the option, Macros. 
2. You will see the option of Create. After clicking it, a new window pops up. It is the Microsoft Visual Application where you can put the code. 

Q3. Mention the steps you would take to save a PowerPoint presentation as a video.

Ans.  You can hit the File Tab and select the Export option to do so. It will show you a list of formats. 

Click on the Create a Video option. 

You can then choose the quality. Mention the three types of quality – presentation, internet, and low. You can further mention that there are additional options to use or not to use Recorded Timings and Narrations. 

PowerPoint also allows the user to select the time spent on each slide in seconds. Before saving it, the user can also set the video file as MPEG-4 Video or Windows Media Video. 

Focus on answering this MS interview question in a detailed way.  

Q4. What do you know of Quick Parts?

Ans. Quick Parts are present in Outlook and Microsoft Word. They help in creating and storing reusable types of content. There are three types. 

1. AutoText – It is a text block that you can store and reuse. On Microsoft Word and Outlook, it helps complete the text you type. By clicking on the Tab button, you can finish the text. 
2. Document Property – It acts as a template from one Word document to another. 
3. Fields – These show specific information on the Word doc including the author’s name, date, title, etc. 

Q5. How would you create your Autotext on your own?

Ans. To create and reuse an Autotext on Microsoft Word, you can mention the following steps. 

1. Navigate to Quick Parts from the Insert tab
2. Select the block of text.
3. Use the shortcut keys Alt+F3
4. Click OK in the box. 

Q6. Why is cell referencing important in MS Excel?

Ans. This is one popular Microsoft Excel Interview Question.  If you use cell references, Excel formulas can automatically update when cell values are moved or changed. 

Q7. What is a Ribbon in MS Office?

Ans. A Ribbon lies right below the Quick Access Toolbar in MS Word, MS Excel, and PowerPoint. IT features different tabs such as Home, Insert, View, etc. 

The tabs on the ribbon can be customised and arranged but the text and size cannot be personalised. You can even mention hiding the ribbon using the shortcut keys Ctrl+F1. 

Q8. Can you convert a table into a chart in MS Office Word?

Ans. This is another common MS Word interview question that you can answer using the following steps. 

1. Select the table
2. Go to the Insert tab
3. Click on the Object tool
4. Select the Microsoft Graph Chart option 

You can further elaborate on how you can further customise it. By default, it remains as a column. To change, you can right-click on the chart and select different styles such as bar, line, bubble, cone, pyramid, etc. 

You can right-click again to customise more. Go to the Format Chart Area option and choose patterns and colours in different areas. 

Q9. How would you convert text to shapes in PowerPoint?

Ans. To change a text into a shape in PowerPoint, mention the following steps. 

1. Go to the Text Box from the Insert tab on the PowerPoint ribbon and type the letters
2. On the slide, insert a shape on top of the selected text
3. Make sure the shape is set to No Fill from the Shape Fill drop-down menu
4. Also, ensure that the shape covers the text, or hold the Shift key to align with the mouse
5. Right-click on the box and choose the option Send to Back
6. Select the Merge Shape option and click on Intersect from the drop-down menu

Q10. How do you add Excel data to PowerPoint?

Ans. Answering this MS Office interview question helps your recruiter understand your familiarity with both Microsoft products. Here is a step-by-step list of actions. 

1. Select and copy regions in MS Excel
2. On the PowerPoint slide, use the right-click button to select from the different paste options

Now, this is one way to do it. You can also manually insert an Excel sheet into your PowerPoint presentation. Go to the Insert tab and select the Object tool. 

Click on Create from File and select the Browse option. You will also see a link option. This helps when you update data on Excel, the linked sheet in PowerPoint will automatically update. 

Q11. Which are the main identity models in Office 365?

Ans. You can answer this MS Office interview question in an elaborate way after mentioning the three models. They are Cloud Identity, Synchronized Identity, and Federated Identity.

It is important to describe each and the uses.

Cloud Identity

Cloud Identity refers to a user account created and managed entirely within Office 365. The user information and password are stored in Azure AD. This is the simplest option for smaller deployments. Users can access cloud services using their Office 365 login credentials, and it is suitable for organizations that prefer a cloud-based user management approach.

Synchronized Identity

Synchronized Identity involves syncing user accounts and information from an on-premises Active Directory to Azure AD using a tool called Azure Active Directory Connect. All user information is managed in Active Directory and then synced to the cloud. User passwords can also be synchronized securely. This option is beneficial for organizations with a substantial number of users already managed in an on-premises Active Directory.

Federated Identity

Federated Identity is achieved through Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) or similar software. When users attempt to log in to Office 365, they are redirected to the organization’s on-premises systems. The on-premises AD authenticates the user and generates a token, which is then used to access Office 365 services. This option is considered more secure since no passwords are stored or managed in the cloud. However, it requires a highly available infrastructure and user account synchronization

Parting Thoughts

These are some of the most basic MS Office interview questions that you can prepare. It is recommended that you also brush up on the history of the product suite and about MS-DOS. Additionally, make a list of differentiating features in the operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows and macOS. 

And, if you feel you are entirely new to this suite, have a look at the top MS Office courses.