Can I change Word 2007 menu back to 2003 drop-downs?

[Frustrated - London]

Just wondering whether I can change the graphics-based Word 2007 menu back to
the 2003/ 'alt' + a, b style menu, which (in spite of working hard at it over
the last month) I find clearer, faster and more logical than all these teeny,
indistinct icons!

 

[Jay Freedman]

On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 02:30:08 -0800, Frustrated - London <Frustrated -

Just wondering whether I can change the graphics-based Word 2007 menu back to
the 2003/ 'alt' + a, b style menu, which (in spite of working hard at it over
the last month) I find clearer, faster and more logical than all these teeny,
indistinct icons!

No, there's no support for menus in 2007. If you're interested in the
reasons for this, or want to argue with the man in charge, visit
Jensen Harris's blog at
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/tags/All+Office+2007+UI+Posts/default.aspx.

If you remember the keyboard shortcuts from 2003, they all still work.
But some people are just not ever going to get comfortable with the
new style and will be happier staying with 2003.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

 

[Frustrated - London]

Thanks, Jay - and for posting so quickly. Some of the old keyboard shortcuts
(eg. alt+f+s to save) work; others (eg. alt+f+u to get into page setup) don't
- I guess because the menu's been reconfigured so much.

In part it's familiarity; it's hard to teach old dogs like me new tricks.
But I find the text-based descriptions that 2003 offered much easier to
understand that 2007's hundreds of teeny, glitzy, indistinct little icons!

Thanks again - and for identifying the person responsible!

Nick

 

[Kevin]

In fact, Office 2007 Menu and Toolbars could be show again. Just download and
install Classic Menu for Office 2007 from
http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice, you will see the classic menu
and toolbars again.

 

[Frustrated - London]

Fantastic! Will give it a try! Thank you.
Nick

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Kevin,

Since you post this exact message in a number of Office related forums are you involved with the company creating this tool?

Unfortunately, in testing that tool, on loading it in Word reports 18 consecutive errors on each loading. Others have reported
similar issues with the Excel and Powerpoint versions.

It's a clean looking implementation that does a nice job of emulating the prior menus (although missing a few items <g>) but at this
point it would appear to need a bit more work, that hopefully the authors at Add-in Tools will be doing in the next release.

=====================
In fact, Office 2007 Menu and Toolbars could be show again. Just download and install Classic Menu for Office 2007 from
http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice, you will see the classic menu and toolbars again.>>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[Kevin]

Dear Bob, thank you very much, these problems and errors have been solved.

 

[Bev]

Why does the 2007 version have to look like a game? It's a tool. For those
of us who want the applications we live in daily to be tools, we really need
a classic menu interface. MS is going to kill Office 2003 eventually. Then
what?

 

[Beth Melton]

Interestingly, I'm by no means any type of "gamer" and I'm not much for "eye
candy" (I need functionality - not something pretty to look at!!) but now
that I've grown accustomed to the new UI the old one now looks a little
crude when I look at it. I think part of it is what you get used to seeing.

I hated it at first too but now that I've learned more about the new
features that have been implemented (there's more to the change than a new
look) I can't imagine ever living without some of them. Here are a couple
recent posts on this topic.

This one contains some tips on using Office 2007:
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.office.misc/msg/3774095495101d1c

This one contains some information on what I think are a few of the most
exciting changes in Word 2007:
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.office.misc/msg/fea608c9fef3bf5e?hl=en

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Graham Mayor]

I was very annoyed with Microsoft for squandering many years of user
experience with the introduction of Word 2007. I resisted it for a long
time, but like anything else you get used to it and the new layout is
logical. I still find myself reverting to Word 2003 to do some things more
quickly (which is easy enough as you can have both installed -
http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm ) but on balance it is worth
persevering with Word 2007.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[jj_boston]

Learning a whole new interface is like learning a 2nd language. Why should I
be forced to learn a 2nd language and try to become fluent in it when I
already had been speaking the first language fluently for 15 years? Microsoft
should have had a classic menus option built in. This is a complete waste of
my time.

 

[panthera]

Just wondering whether I can change the graphics-based Word 2007 menu back to
the 2003/ 'alt' + a, b style menu, which (in spite of working hard at it over
the last month) I find clearer, faster and more logical than all these teeny,
indistinct icons!

OK, I've worked with Office 2007 now for going on two years. What I have
found is the following:
For simple text based work (things I could as easily do in Wordpad), the
ribbon interface is simple and easy to use.

The moment I use Word professionally - I teach and write, edit and compile
complex documents - the ribbon interface falls to pieces.

The idea is good and I had no trouble learning it (well into my 50's). The
implementation is absolutely awful. Whoever set the menus up was listening to
the wrong focus group.

After many many hours of tinkering, I now have the interface in Word at the
place where it works for me.

Sadly - and there have been lots of comparison tests over the years which
confirm this - it is still slower and less efficient than the "older" menu
structure.

Maybe Microsoft's designers can relent on their "resistance is futile"
policy here and work with those of us who actually have valid criticism to
offer. The policy of "no classic menus, no compromise" did not endear this
new interface to me.

When it comes to Excel, funnily enough - the interface is right on for my
needs.

Powerpoint, well, again - whoever set it up obviously hasn't a clue about
real life work on complex slide shows.

Don't use Access if I can avoid it, but the few times I needed it, again,
the ribbon was intuitive.

My gut feeling: Microsoft has a good idea here, the implementation was awful.

Suggestion: Incorporate a much more intuitive system, bring back the classic
menus and provide a learning mechanism so the ribbon can adapt over time to
fulfill the real needs of the users.

Oh, interestingly enough - 2007's interface was the reason students most
often cited for switching to OpenOffice in a survey at our university last
semester.

 

[grammatim]

OK, I've worked with Office 2007 now for going on two years. What I have
found is the following:
For simple text based work (things I could as easily do in Wordpad), the
ribbon interface is simple and easy to use.

The moment I use Word professionally - I teach and write, edit and compile
complex documents - the ribbon interface falls to pieces.

The idea is good and I had no trouble learning it (well into my 50's). The
implementation is absolutely awful. Whoever set the menus up was listening to
the wrong focus group.

After many many hours of tinkering, I now have the interface in Word at the
place where it works for me.

But you didn't say what you did.

Just about everything I use regularly is on the QAT (which is much
better than the old plethora of toolbars popping up all over the place
where maybe one icon was needed).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Except that in previous versions, you could have replicated this by creating
a custom toolbar with just the buttons you wanted (and also menus, if you
wanted them), and you could create custom button faces for buttons that had
no built-in icons (instead of having green balls) and for buttons that run
macros (instead of having to choose from a limited selection). In addition,
you could customize the context (right-click) menus to include the commands
you use repeatedly in specific contexts.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

OK, I've worked with Office 2007 now for going on two years. What I have
found is the following:
For simple text based work (things I could as easily do in Wordpad), the
ribbon interface is simple and easy to use.

The moment I use Word professionally - I teach and write, edit and compile
complex documents - the ribbon interface falls to pieces.

The idea is good and I had no trouble learning it (well into my 50's). The
implementation is absolutely awful. Whoever set the menus up was listening
to
the wrong focus group.

After many many hours of tinkering, I now have the interface in Word at
the
place where it works for me.

But you didn't say what you did.

Just about everything I use regularly is on the QAT (which is much
better than the old plethora of toolbars popping up all over the place
where maybe one icon was needed).

 

[grammatim]

Yeah, custom buttons were nice, and maybe they'll come back.

But could you prevent (say) the Reviewing Toolbar from appearing when
you invoked Track Changes, even if all its commands were added to the
QAT-like custom toolbar?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Probably not, no.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

Yeah, custom buttons were nice, and maybe they'll come back.

But could you prevent (say) the Reviewing Toolbar from appearing when
you invoked Track Changes, even if all its commands were added to the
QAT-like custom toolbar?

 

[Chris ML]

I have recently got Word 2007 and have read the threads on this subject which
end 7th August. Does anyone know whether MS have now written a download to
convert to the old drop down menu's of 2003, as try as I might I cannot get
along with the new picture style menu.

Like others I spent years working with them and find them easier to get
along with. I don't want to revert to 2003, but have am now considering this
in light that there does not seem to be a fix.

I read a comment about students changing to OpenOffice, which is similar to
what has happened with my own children's peers.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Chris,

Microsoft have not written such an add-in, nor will they ever do so --
you can just forget about an official restoration of the old menus and
toolbars.

That doesn't mean others haven't risen to the challenge, though. Try
Patrick Schmid's Ribbon Customizer at
http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer/index.php. There is a
free Starter version and a paid Professional version; you can try the
paid version for 30 days.

Another add-in is at http://www.word2007toolbarmenu.com, and you can
locate others with Google.

And if OpenOffice meets your needs, feel free (pun intended).