MiniTool Bar in Office 2007

[MaryS]

Hello,
I'm trying to understand the intent of some of the changes in Office 2007
applications so that I can help the high school age students learn how to use
the applications.

For the minitool bar - Is the intent that a user will customize the
minitoolbar with the icons (ie bold, cut, comment, etc) that used to be in
the Office 2003/XP toolbars? It seems kind of a pain in the neck to customize
it ... Or are most users supposed to be using the Tabs/Groups. To me, it
seems like the Tabs and Groups take more clicks to get to the tool you need
especially if the application window is smaller and causing the Ribbon to
show in a 'condensed' format.

Also, do you know of resources where I could find out these types of
"intention" things. Not just a "how to" for using Office 07, but rather a
"this is how most productive users will work" ... as that would be helpful to
know when structuring what to teach students. Any comments welcome.

In a school, many students over the course of a day will use a computer -
it's not like an office setting. So, when thinking about this, and I give a
student an assignment and a series of instructions on how to do it to help
the beginners - do you have any tips on how to prevent or easily reset the
customization features to a "default" level. I would like to do this from an
easy 'use action' and not from some complex control of registry settings. Any
ideas or suggestions?

Thanks for your help!
Mary

 

[Todd]

Mary -

I am assuming you are referring to the new menu called The Ribbon in Office
2007. This is likely one of the most prominent new features in Office 2007.
The Ribbon appears during the most frequent application tasks and contains
most of the features a user would commonly use during these tasks. The Ribbon
is organized into different tabs, each tab displaying features associated
with certain task oriented scenarios. The objective with this tab format was
to reveal most commonly used functions which previously were burried behind
obscure cascading menu lists. It takes a little getting used to, but once you
become aquainted with this new format, I think you will find that is is much
more user-friendly and efficient.

A couple resources you might find useful while learning the new features and
functions to educate your students might be our set of Microsoft Office 2007
Quick Start Cards or even our Computer Based Training availible at either
link below.

http://www.brainstorminc.com/msofficeqsc.asp

If you'd like a free sample, feel free to message me directly.

--
Todd Keith
Microsoft Desktop Specialist
http://www.brainstorminc.com

"Wasted end-user time due to lack of training accounted for the biggest
piece of the spoftware spending pie" -Gartner

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

What you're calling the "minitool bar" is the Quick Access Toolbar. The
intention is to put frequently-needed tools there so that they're accessible
without having to do quite so much ribbon tab-surfing. Because tools can be
added and removed at will (right-click and choose Add to QAT; right-click
and choose Remove; etc.), you can also use the QAT as workbench, so to
speak, when you're working on a task that requires a specific set of tools.
When your needs change, you can repopulate/depopulate the QAT as needed.

Because I like knowing the current style, font, and point size at all times,
I have my QAT set up so that the left end looks a whole lot like the
Formatting toolbar from Word 2003. Other users might not care as much about
those as I do, and will likely modify the QAT accordingly.

Some of the functions that were on earlier Word's Formatting toolbar are now
also found when you right-click a selection, both in the context menu as
well as in the Mini Toolbar. When you right-click a selection, the context
menu is the lower section, and the upper section is called the Mini Toolbar.
The lower section is context sensitive, while the Mini Toolbar is not.
Neither the context menu nor the Mini Toolbar are customizable using the
built-in interface. Only the QAT can be readily customized using Word's
interface.

To get the most benefit, in Office -> Word Options -> Popular, make sure the
Show Mini Toolbar on selection is enabled. That way, it will appear when
text is selected, even before you right-click. If you need additional
options, then right click.

 

[Patrick Schmid [MVP]]

The MiniBar (the thing that pops up in sometimes) cannot be customized.
The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), the only toolbar you have in Office
2007, is meant as replacement for customization of Office 2003.
If you want more customization, take a look at my RibbonCustomizer
add-in linked below.

Patrick Schmid [OneNote MVP]
--------------
http://pschmid.net
***
Outlook 2007 Performance Update: http://pschmid.net/blog/2007/04/13/105
Office 2007 RTM Issues: http://pschmid.net/blog/2006/11/13/80
***
Customize Office 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/customize
RibbonCustomizer Add-In: http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer
OneNote 2007: http://pschmid.net/office2007/onenote
***
Subscribe to my Office 2007 blog: http://pschmid.net/blog/feed