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ForumsWhile not technically a “repair tool”, many people believe that Microsoft Offices new “ribbon” toolbar needs to be fixed. “UBitMenu: Classic Menu” brings back the classic menu that users were used to from Office 2003 and previous versions. It actually creates a new tab in the current Office 2007 tabbed system so you can easily switch between the classic menu and the current ribbon menu if you wish. This application is free if it is used in a home enviroment and costs 10 euros if it is to be used in a business enviroment.
Screenshots:
Downloads:
Download from Official Site – 360kb
Thanks to Roy from our forums for recommending this.
Although the ribbon interface may look nice and must have done well in focus groups, power users find it to be “mouse” intensive. One of the problems with attempting to continuously improve this suite of products is that most users will never use the majority of the features. There is a fine line between being feature rich and overly complex. It seems counter intuitive to upgrade a product just to go back to an earlier version of the interface.
I agree with vandalais. I find the “Home” tab to be more annoying than helpful. On a wide screen monitor, the “Styles” section just gets wider. You don’t get access to more formatting options, you just get a bigger block of styles.
And when one doesn’t typically use any of those styles, it just seems like a waste of space.
Some of the other tabs are “growing” on me. But the home tab just stinks.
I may be in the minority, but I’ve found the Office 2007 ribbon to be a godsend, especially when I am looking for a menu / setting that I don’t use often. I consider myself an Excel power user, and having things laid out in a logical manner just makes sense to me.
The old menu worked well for a long time, but as more and more functionality was added in, the drop downs became too cluttered.
I agree with Norcross. The ribbon in Office is a godsend. It’s visual and intuitive. While you may long for that 1970’s VW there are many new attractive features in Office 2007 and in 2010. I’m glad the Ribbon is here to stay.
From a new business perspective… I kinda like how they’re constantly “improving” their software. It forces our clients to utilize our consulting services generating new business revenue streams we’d be missing out on while we educate and build the powerful, long lasting relationships as our clients trusted advisors.
That said, new tools/toys are awesome and greatly appreciated. If we can tailor our clients machines to their individual needs/preferences, delivering value while earning a reasonable wage… that’s nothing but good times in my book.
Cheers!
Great find! Thanks for sharing!
i got the same fix some days ago from some soft feed that I don’t want to state. the point is that now I hate it, altough until I installed it, I was so eager to have it.
It turn our 2007 office into a 2003 one, and it doesn’t make it special any more.
nds/colleagues at work) upgrade from MS Office 2003 to MS Office 2007 is “why in the world did they change the interface?”. Other comments go something like this: “I knew the old interface like the back of my hand; I’ve been using the old interface for years; why did they have to change it?; why am I being forced to embark on a whole new learning curve?”. And so on. I’ve seen many instances where people revert back to Office 2003 partially because of this, or otherwise reinstall Office 2003 in conjunction with Office 2007 and only use the latter when they absolutely have to.
Great option! I didn’t particularly like 2007 when I first had to start using it, but now I’ve managed to get familiar with it. I still find myself searching for commands I use less frequently though. An excellent option you may consider is to enable the Quick Access Toolbar below the Ribbon and put your more frequent commands there. Just go in to Excel options from the Home button and then go to Customize. Check the box to enable the bar and add all the commands you want.