Those huge toolbars

[Michael]

I just switched to Mac and love it, particularly my PowerBook. I also have
a desktop PC, so I run MS Office on both. I have to say, the menu and
toolbar system in Office 2004 Mac is big and clumsy compared to the one for
Office 2003 PC. Not only are the toolbars twice as big/thick, they also
detach and move all over the place, getting all tangled up with the
underlying spreadsheets. Is there a way to change these toolbars so that
they emulate the more tidy ones in the PC version?

Thanks!

P.s. I love just about every other thing about OS X. Just hate this one
aspect.

 

[Edwin Tam]

Menus and toolbar buttons are bigger in MacOS X. This happens in all Mac OS X
applications, not only Excel. This is mainly because of the larger font
being used in menus.

In the old days of Mac OS 9 and before, toolbars were much smaller and
thinner. Like the Windows ones nowadays.

Honestly, I'm also a Mac fan for over a decade. But I also find it
inconvenient to work with those huge toolbars and menus. But you just need
some time to get used to them. You'll enjoy the better file system of Mac OS
and more efficient network facilities etc. (And of course the zero virus,
spyware, etc.)

Also, before the future Windows will always look like the old Mac OS, you'll
see big toolbars and menus in Windows in the future anyway. Think! There much
be reasons for Apple to make that decision. They won't deliberately change
things things to annoy users. Windows is going to follow (copy) I believe.

Edwin

 

[Francis Hookam]

I just switched to Mac and love it, particularly my PowerBook. I also have
a desktop PC, so I run MS Office on both. I have to say, the menu and
toolbar system in Office 2004 Mac is big and clumsy compared to the one for
Office 2003 PC. Not only are the toolbars twice as big/thick, they also
detach and move all over the place, getting all tangled up with the
underlying spreadsheets. Is there a way to change these toolbars so that
they emulate the more tidy ones in the PC version?

Michael - silly question but - you have customised and made your own
toolbar(s) with only the buttons you need instead of all those unnecessary
ones which of course can be closed?

I'm not sure why the toolbars don't stay at edge of window if you push them
right to the edge

(I have not graduated to latest Mac Office so have not experienced these
'large' toolbars - they will irritate me - I'm surprised there is no way of
resizing them - change the font size or is that not possible?)

Francis Hookham

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

(I have not graduated to latest Mac Office so have not experienced these
'large' toolbars - they will irritate me - I'm surprised there is no way of
resizing them - change the font size or is that not possible?)

My guess is that Apple anticipated that people would be using (larger
screens with) higher resolutions. On high resolutions, the old Classic size
of menus and toolbars look too small. Of course if you're on a 12" iBook or
PowerBook, this doesn't apply...

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

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PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.