How do I change Office 2007 to look more like 2003?

L

Lyle

This change is a pain for the old users of 2003 and before. I would
appreciate a solution which does not cost anything - since I already had to
pay for thes cr@p.

Another note: it also take a great deal longer to open a document - wish I
would have known that - I would NEVER have upgraded. I still hate VISTA too!
 
H

Herb Tyson [MVP]

I believe that the 2nd one of these is free, but I don't know whether one of
them does a better job than the other of providing the "classic" 2003 look:

http://www.addintools.com/english/menuword/

http://pschmid.net/blog/2007/04/20/111

I found my own free compromise, that has allowed me to get past my initial
distaste for the new interface:

http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com/2007/05/02/making-word-2007-a-little-more-familiar/

It involves about 10 minutes worth of effort to make the quick access
toolbar look like those from Word 2003. The same approach can be used to a
certain extent for other Office 2007 programs that use the ribbon interface.
Of course, this can't help if what you really miss is Office 2003's menus.

Though... if you still have your Office 2003 disks, you might be better off
reverting to Office 2003 and seeing if you can get a refund for Office 2007.
A lot of us have grown to like Office 2007, but if you don't need what it
has to offer, then you might be better off reverting. Good luck.
 
C

Charles W Davis

Lyle said:
This change is a pain for the old users of 2003 and before. I would
appreciate a solution which does not cost anything - since I already had
to
pay for thes cr@p.

Another note: it also take a great deal longer to open a document - wish I
would have known that - I would NEVER have upgraded. I still hate VISTA
too!
Click to expand...
I am a House Call Technician for our Computer Club. All must be over
55years. I do not find your type of reaction among the "old" users. These
geezers have failing eyesight, loss of hearing, and you name it. They are
less demanding of immediate gratification.

You could have read the newsgroups before you "wasted' your money. You could
have read various blogs, listened to TV news regarding the Ribbon. You could
have. And the truth be known you probably did, but just wanted to see your
post.
 
G

Gordon

Lyle said:
This change is a pain for the old users of 2003 and before. I would
appreciate a solution which does not cost anything - since I already had
to
pay for thes cr@p.
Click to expand...
And what "MADE you pay"? Office 2003 is still available, or there is Open
Office...
 
G

Gordon

Charles W Davis said:
I am a House Call Technician for our Computer Club. All must be over
55years. I do not find your type of reaction among the "old" users. These
geezers have failing eyesight, loss of hearing, and you name it. They are
less demanding of immediate gratification.

You could have read the newsgroups before you "wasted' your money. You
could have read various blogs, listened to TV news regarding the Ribbon.
You could have. And the truth be known you probably did, but just wanted
to see your post.
Click to expand...


And of course, as Office 2003 can still be obtained, the OP did NOT "have to
pay for thes (sic) cr@p"...
 
G

Gemini

Charles, you may want to read the OP's post again. He has used the adjective
"old" to refer to long time Office users, not regarding anyone's age.

Secondly, your comment about the OP wanting to see his post, is uncalled
for. I've been a software consultant for years. I didn't go read any blogs
nor did I watch anything related to the Ribbon UI on TV. As a matter of fact,
I am not aware of any TV coverage of the Ribbon UI. I tried out Office 2007
since the trial version came installed with my new laptop. After trying it
out for some time, I chose to remove the trial version and revert to Office
2003, since I didn't like the UI and I found Excel (which I use the most) to
be very unreliable.

-- Gemini
 
G

Gemini

Lyle, I too am a long time Office user. Like you, I didn't like the Ribbon
UI. I found it to be confusing, illogical and therefore counterproductive. In
addition, Excel (the app I use the most), was quite unreliable (kept crashing
intermittently for no apparent reason).

BTW, curiosity begs the question: why did you HAVE to pay for Office 2007?
Perhaps you might be able to get a refund.

I've reverted to Office 2003 (and now am "Ribbon-free"). However, as MS has
refused to provide a classic UI for Office 2007, despite demands from many
longtime users, I foresee more of the Ribbon based stuff from MS. Hence, I'm
evaluating OpenOffice and Zoho, with a view to switching over sometime in the
future.

If you'd like to let Jensen Harris (he led the effort that resulted in the
Ribbon UI) know how you feel about the Ribbon UI, here's a link to his blog.
http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/

HTH!

-- Gemini
 
B

Bob Buckland ?:-\)

Hi Gemini,

I'm not sure that this one appeared on TV in Europe, but there have been a series of videos from Microsoft that, to me, shows they
can poke fun at themselves too http://revver.com/video/277651/mesmerized

The series appeared on http://office2007.com . The current items there, from the 'See for yourself' video to the menu items on the
top of that page are currently more traditional marketing feature & benefit type things.

=================
Charles, you may want to read the OP's post again. He has used the adjective
"old" to refer to long time Office users, not regarding anyone's age.

Secondly, your comment about the OP wanting to see his post, is uncalled
for. I've been a software consultant for years. I didn't go read any blogs
nor did I watch anything related to the Ribbon UI on TV. As a matter of fact,
I am not aware of any TV coverage of the Ribbon UI. I tried out Office 2007
since the trial version came installed with my new laptop. After trying it
out for some time, I chose to remove the trial version and revert to Office
2003, since I didn't like the UI and I found Excel (which I use the most) to
be very unreliable.

-- Gemini >>
--

Bob Buckland ?:)
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
 
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