Switch Office 2007 menus to classic 2003 view

[Dena]

I have seen a few posts online regarding this issue. Hopefully I'm not the
first person to request this, and perhaps a solution has already been
implemented.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE provide a simple switch within the Office 2007 software
to switch the menu layout to the classic 2003 look and feel. I have just
upgraded to 2007 and am continuously frustrated by the lack of logic of the
interface.

Why, for instance, are options such as "Save As" and "Print" not immediately
accessible? I had to customize my toolbar in order to even FIND these
options within the interface, and then was amazed to see that neither option
is considered by Microsoft to be important enough to include in the "popular
commands" filter in the Add Command interface.

I hate unnecessary large icon-based button design, and prefer to minimize
the screen space taken up by the application interface. It seems I'm forced
to stay in this "thumbnail" menu view however, which takes up 1/5 of my
overall workspace! How unnecessary and wasteful.

Is there anything out there to appease someone like me who was perfectly
happy using 2003?




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[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Dena,

The Office Files button on the top left of the screen in Word 2007 (and the other ribboned apps) gives you a menu with similar
choices to the prior version 'Files' menu.

Office 2007 has been out for over a year and MS hasn't planned (that they've mentioned) any return to the old toolbars. There are a
number of free enterprise/3rd party products that will allow you to do that, including
http://toggletoolbar.com/
http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer/index.php
and others on http://office.microsoft.com/marketplace in the
'Toolbars and Menus' category. Even more on http://live.com or http://google.com

Also, if you're a keyboard user, many of the old shortcut keys still work plus, there are various formats for finding the 'was/is'
location of menu choices/commands here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx

As far as the amount of screenspace used, you can use Ctrl+F1 or double click a ribbon tab to minimize the ribbon, and if you're
interested in the how and why you'll find more in the Office 2007 Ribbon articles at
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh, from the Office User Interface team.

If none of that works for you, Microsoft does have a refund policy to let you you return the Office 2007 software
http://microsoft.com/mscorp/productrefund/refund.mspx
(for retail purchases - if it came preinstalled you'll need to work with your PC supplier) and you can choose to return to your
previous version

If it's any consolation, although there have been a number of posts that the ribbon will be more and more visible in other MS apps
in the future, it isn't in their latest product in public beta, Internet Explorer v8.

=============
I have seen a few posts online regarding this issue. Hopefully I'm not the
first person to request this, and perhaps a solution has already been
implemented.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE provide a simple switch within the Office 2007 software
to switch the menu layout to the classic 2003 look and feel. I have just
upgraded to 2007 and am continuously frustrated by the lack of logic of the
interface.

Why, for instance, are options such as "Save As" and "Print" not immediately
accessible? I had to customize my toolbar in order to even FIND these
options within the interface, and then was amazed to see that neither option
is considered by Microsoft to be important enough to include in the "popular
commands" filter in the Add Command interface.

I hate unnecessary large icon-based button design, and prefer to minimize
the screen space taken up by the application interface. It seems I'm forced to stay in this "thumbnail" menu view however, which
takes up 1/5 of my overall workspace! How unnecessary and wasteful.

Is there anything out there to appease someone like me who was perfectly
happy using 2003? >>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Shah Shailesh]

Until you familiar with new ribbon UI , you can use free addins to use old
classic menu of office-2003 in Office-2007, from below page.


http://in.geocities.com/shahshaileshs/menuaddins


Regards,
Shailesh Shah
http://in.geocities.com/shahshaileshs/
If You Can't Excel with Talent, Triumph with Effort.


Free Addins Office Menu-2003 for Office-2007
http://in.geocities.com/shahshaileshs/menuaddins

 

[Äonny]

I'd like Microsoft revert at least custom toolbars. Now there is almost no
way to customize Office ribbon UI (yes the small quick access toolbar). I
want to be able to create custom toolbars and place tehm all around the
screen as well as make them float. And I want to use custom icons for toolbar
buttons. Those are major steps back in Office 2007.
The new ribbon UI is not completelly bad (though I preffer menu UI) but the
way it can (not) be customized really drives me mad. Imagin my Word 2003. It
was really MINE. My toolbars, my macros, my menus, my icons ... and then this
2007. I need to click 10 time to do anything :-(. OK I needed to click in
2003 to (but only 5 times ;-) ), but I could plase my favorite comands and
buttons to custom toolbars. Now can't. Again: Quick access toolbar is not
enough and it does not allow custom icons.

So, after my trial of Office 2007 will expire, I'll peacefully uninstall it
and use 2003. Now it seem easier to switch from 2003 to OpenOffice then from
2003 to 2007 :-((

 

[Tim Carter]

I totally and whole-heartedly agree - I really think MS have thrown the
baby out with the bathwater on this one. I rely on MS Office for my
living and now they have High Handedly disregarded their old satified
customers (since Win 95 only 14 years) and its wasting a helluva load of
my time and my company's time because we can't find anything.

What's worse, I'm seeing a load of things I don't need to see instead
(Viz "Styles" in Word). The icons are all of different sizes and give a
very "busy" and untidy look to my workspace, just like most cluttered
web sites

At least with outlook you can switch off the Arrange in groups and
reading pain. Why can't we switch back to the classic toolbar view.

It is so bad that I have to take my personal lap top into work - data
stock projects to that and then dat stock back inot my work computer
because its very much more efficient and stress free way of operating.

At present, I have migraine induced by this and I am not very
impressed

Regards

Tim Carter

 

[dragonslayer2k]

MS Office classic menu restoration software:

http://www.addintools.com/