Office 2011 Ribbon drop-down option?

[cosmokanga2]

I just installed Office 2011 and the ribbon is driving me crazy as it doesn't show all the options unless the window is open across the whole screen.

For example, under Font I want to see the option for Text Effects however to do that I have to expand the window all the way across my screen for it to appear.




I can't have Word taking up my whole screen so is there a way to either customize what the ribbon shows, or preferably expand the ribbon like a drop down a menu with all the options it contains without expanding the actual window?

 

[jacg]

Apparently you are using it wrong. You now have to use the whole width of your screen and be prepared to click a lot of buttons to have access to the functions that were readily available in the Formatting Palette.

I'm sticking with 2004. It's faster than 2008 and 2011 as well.

 

[crypticlineage]

If you had done some research before hastily jumping onto the new version, this would not have been your predicament. I am sticking with 2008 until Openoffice spreadsheet catches up and then dumping the office altogether.

 

[cosmokanga2]

I had to buy Office for my Mac for school but have a copy of iWork as well that I might use instead for the time being. Microsoft, the formatting panel would be nice to have back.

 

[Cougarcat]

Disable the ribbon and make your own toolbar with only the options you need.

 

[jacg]

Disable the ribbon and make your own toolbar with only the options you need.

This was my first thought when the full ribbon horror of Office 2011 was realised. Cougarcat, is this something you have done? How did you get on? I couldn't replicate that many of the things in the formatting palette and ribbon into my custom toolbar. So I gave up and have gone back to 2004.

 

[roadbloc]

I can't figure out how to use office 2007/2008 & 2010/2011. That's why I use iWork on mac and openoffice on pc. Both so much simpler.

 

[Cougarcat]

This was my first thought when the full ribbon horror of Office 2011 was realised. Cougarcat, is this something you have done? How did you get on? I couldn't replicate that many of the things in the formatting palette and ribbon into my custom toolbar. So I gave up and have gone back to 2004.

Anything that's in a menu, you can add. Just go to view-->toolbars-->customize toolbars and menus, click on the commands tab, and drag and drop the commands that you want on the toolbar. This is what mine looks like.

Although, I agree with roadbloc. Pages is so much nicer, I just keep Word around if I need the compatibility. MS should just add Pages' formatting bar and be done with it.

 

[davidlv]

Apparently you are using it wrong. You now have to use the whole width of your screen and be prepared to click a lot of buttons to have access to the functions that were readily available in the Formatting Palette.

I'm sticking with 2004. It's faster than 2008 and 2011 as well.

For MS Word, the formatting tool bar is available, just not on by default. Enable it in the View/Toolbars menu, customize it, and close the Ribbon. Should be enough for most things - the hard to get to (Edit/Search/Advanced... ) Advanced search box, with no possibility of assigning a key combination, is another matter. Gr......gr

 

[mlfowler]

Annoying Ribbon

This is what I did: created a toolbar of my own. I use keystrokes (such as command C for copy) and do not need a fat toolbar to copy something. When Word opens I do [command+option=R] and the ribbon goes away. Supposedly in the ribbon prefs you can un-SHOW RIBBON; I am having other problems with 2011, though, so am not sticking with this version.

This was my first thought when the full ribbon horror of Office 2011 was realised. Cougarcat, is this something you have done? How did you get on? I couldn't replicate that many of the things in the formatting palette and ribbon into my custom toolbar. So I gave up and have gone back to 2004.

 

[Cougarcat]

For MS Word, the formatting tool bar is available, just not on by default. Enable it in the View/Toolbars menu, customize it, and close the Ribbon.

The formatting palette was separate...a floating box that you could move off to the side:

 

[davidlv]

The formatting palette was separate...a floating box that you could move off to the side:

Why quote me here? I know the formatting palette was separate, which is why I said "toolbar" not "formatting palette," to suggest a workaround for the lack of the palette. I personally would like to have the option to use a movable palette too. MS's insistance on using up vertical space is, in my opinion, based on ignorance of their user's preferences for minimizing vertical space usage and maximizing usability through customization. The example I used previously is classic, removing the "Command F" key combo for the extremely useful Advanced Search box (no key assignment possible) and assigning it to the lame google-like next-down search bar, which is located high up on the right side, causing a loss in concentration just looking way up there, not to mention it takes a couple of non-productive mouse clicks just to get back in editing mode.
All in all, except for the speed improvements, the UI and text display issues at the end of pages in long documents make this version only barely usable in a working environment.
I may just go back to Word 2004!

 

[Cougarcat]

Why quote me here? I know the formatting palette was separate, which is why I said "toolbar" not "formatting palette," to suggest a workaround for the lack of the palette.

I quoted you because jacg (who you quoted) was bemoaning the lack of the palette, not the toolbar, and the wording in your response made it seem like you didn't understand that it was the former. Sorry for the confusion.