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Microsoft Office 2007's new Ribbon interface, which discards the familiar menus and tool bars of earlier versions of Office in favor of tabs that group icons, options and drop-down menus, is certainly the first change you'll notice when you open Word, Excel, or PowerPoint 2007 for the first time. The interface isn't just a radical departure from previous versions -- for the first time in Office's history, this collection of commands and options can't be modified from within the applications themselves.
Microsoft says a survey it conducted revealed that only a small percentage of Office users modify the interface. Furthermore, an unchangeable interface can streamline UI-related calls to your help desk. Nevertheless, Office power users have been clamoring for a way to customize Office 2007 apps since the new interface was unveiled.
Sensing an opportunity, third-party software vendors have stepped in with products that either replace or enhance the new Ribbon interface in several Office 2007 applications. We examined three such programs.
Classic Menu adds a tab filled with Office 2003 menus (it's organized to look much the same as the old familiar Office 2003 applications), though it isn't customizable. ToolbarToggle can be customized much like Office 2003's menus and tool bars can be, and you can use it in place of (or in concert with) the 2007 Ribbon.
These two products are designed to ease the migration between Office versions. If your business has hesitated to upgrade because of the learning curve your users may encounter, using Office 2003-like tool bars in Office 2007 applications can smooth the transition.
The third program we examined doesn't look back at 2003 at all. Instead, RibbonCustomizer is designed to let you tweak the 2007 Ribbon (within the constraints Microsoft has established), so it appears to your specifications. It's not a matter of easing into a new interface; it's a desire for the Ribbon to look the way you want it to, just as customizable tool bars did in past versions of Office.
If you're a power user who wants Office 2007 to follow your lead, the products reviewed here offer you a way to wrest control of the Ribbon away from Microsoft.
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