How do I make Office look like a normal application?

I got a computer with Office 2007 installed. How do I make Word and Excel,
and the rest of them, look like a normal application, with like... menu bars
and stuff... ? I can't find the option (actually it took me a while to find
*any* options at all, but I haven't found one for this yet).

Thanks,
Jason

"Jason Cipriani" wrote in message
...
I got a computer with Office 2007 installed. How do I make Word and Excel,
and the rest of them, look like a normal application, with like... menu
bars
and stuff... ? I can't find the option (actually it took me a while to
find
*any* options at all, but I haven't found one for this yet).

Thanks,
Jason


There isn't any option (at least not natively) - you will need a third-party
utility to do it. And if you take the (short) time to investigate and learn,
you will soon find that you won't need to go back to the "menu" bars. Don't
forget, you can put all your frequently used commands onto the QAT (Quick
Access Toolbar).

Thank you for your quick reply.

"Gordon" wrote:
There isn't any option (at least not natively) - you will need a third-party
utility to do it.

Do you know what the name of this utility is, or where I can find it?

And if you take the (short) time to investigate and learn,
you will soon find that you won't need to go back to the "menu" bars.

I'm not interested in learning about one application that is different from
every other application on my system... I'd rather just have consistency. The
"File" menu may be ugly but at least I can rest assured that I can always
find it in the same place with no struggle. Anyways it looks like it was
written in Flash or something.

Thanks,
Jason

Thank you for your quick reply.

"Gordon" wrote:
There isn't any option (at least not natively) - you will need a third-party
utility to do it.

Do you know what the name of this utility is, or where I can find it?

And if you take the (short) time to investigate and learn,
you will soon find that you won't need to go back to the "menu" bars.

I'm not interested in learning about one application that is different from
every other application on my system... I'd rather just have consistency. The
"File" menu may be ugly but at least I can rest assured that I can always
find it in the same place with no struggle. Anyways it looks like it was
written in Flash or something.

Thanks,
Jason

"Jason Cipriani" wrote in message
...
Thank you for your quick reply.

"Gordon" wrote:
There isn't any option (at least not natively) - you will need a
third-party
utility to do it.

Do you know what the name of this utility is, or where I can find it?

Fair few he
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en...Searc h&meta=



And if you take the (short) time to investigate and learn,
you will soon find that you won't need to go back to the "menu" bars.

I'm not interested in learning about one application that is different
from
every other application on my system...

Hmmm - so when you get a NEW application, you don't bother to learn about it
because it's different from the others you have? Sorry, I don't buy that one
at all.

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 23:13:00 -0700, Jason Cipriani wrote:

I got a computer with Office 2007 installed. How do I make Word
and Excel, and the rest of them, look like a normal application,
with like... menu bars and stuff... ? I can't find the option
(actually it took me a while to find *any* options at all, but I
haven't found one for this yet).

The modern trend, supported by usability studies, is to use toolbar
icons not menus. If you stop trying to work O2007 as if it were O97,
you soon get the hang of the new 'ribbon' interface, it's very
intuitive.

--
Chris Game

To iterate is human; to recurse, divine.

"Gordon" wrote:
Hmmm - so when you get a NEW application, you don't bother to learn about it
because it's different from the others you have? Sorry, I don't buy that one
at all.

I don't buy that at all either. That was an astounding leap of logic you
made from not wanting to use an MS Office interface that treats me like a 5
year old to not wanting to use an "application that's different". That's
probably why you don't buy it either -- because it doesn't make any sense.

When IE7 came out, it rearranged the layout from the standard interface.
Nothing was gained but using it was inconvenient. I don't see ribbons in IE7.
Office 2007 uses this *other* ugly new interface. Now that's fine if MS is
going to change all their software to use some new thing but if they're going
to come up with something completely new for every new application then, no
thanks.

I was a loyal Microsoft user for years, and IE7 prompted my switch to
Firefox. I have been a loyal Office user for years as well but I've found a
better utility to convert to class menus he http://www.openoffice.org/

So to correct what you said, when a new application comes out with a crappy
interface that fixes something I never had a problem with, and there are
alternatives, then no I would not bother learning them. Why should I bother
learning Office 2007 when a good alternative exists? I no longer wish to use
MS Office so I could care less what direction they take the interface in.

Thanks anyways,
Jason

"Jason Cipriani" wrote:
So to correct what you said, when a new application comes out with a crappy
interface that fixes something I never had a problem with, and there are
alternatives, then no I would not bother learning them. Why should I bother
learning Office 2007 when a good alternative exists? I no longer wish to use
MS Office so I could care less what direction they take the interface in.

And by the way, Gordon, it's stressful enough trying to learn a new UI, when
somebody comes here and asks for help about it, the last thing they want to
deal with is some weaselly guy getting over-defensive about the UI in his
favorite office suite...

Hi Jason

I understand your frustration as there is a sharp learning curve, but I
found it worthwhile in the end (I work with both 2003 and 2007 and now get
annoyed that 2003 can't do some of the good stuff like live preview....). I
just wanted to make sure you knew about the MS provided resources such as an
interactive
online guide where you click on how you would do something in 2003 and it
shows you where that is in 2007 and downloadable spreadsheets that you can
search for 'lost' commands:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/tr...295841033.aspx

There are also training modules just for 2007:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-au/tr...255331033.aspx


Lucy
--
Lucy Thomson
PowerPoint MVP
MOS Master Instructor
www.aneasiertomorrow.com.au


"Jason Cipriani" wrote in message
...
I got a computer with Office 2007 installed. How do I make Word and Excel,
and the rest of them, look like a normal application, with like... menu
bars
and stuff... ? I can't find the option (actually it took me a while to
find
*any* options at all, but I haven't found one for this yet).

Thanks,
Jason

"it's very intuitive."

I respectfully disagree. I used the trial version (primarily Excel) for
almost two months. I happen to use Excel heavily. Besides the fact that Excel
crashed randomly, the Ribbon interface was illogical, confusing and
counterproductive. There are plenty of user, esp. long time ones like myself,
who have found the Ribbon to be a productivity killer.

I and several others have asked Jensen Harris (he led the team that designed
the Ribbon) about the way the user data was collected AND the way the
"acceptance" number (85%) was calculated. No answer from Jensen Harris! That
in itself speaks volumes.

I strongly suspect that had MS provided a choice for users (the classic UI),
the acceptance number would have been far lower. Subtract the "captive" users
(the poor souls who HAVE to use that Ribbon), and the number would be lower
still.

Oh well! I got rid of Office 2007 and went back to Office 2003. Excel no
longer crashes. Since it looks like MS has no interest in providing a classic
menu, despite requests from thousands of users, it also caused me to look
into OpenOffice and Zoho.

Now MS has the Search Commands thing available from Office Labs. As a poster
commented, it would be better to provide a classic menu option than the
Search Command kludge. I totally agree.

Oh yes, since Office 2007 provides no value add for me, there's absolutely
no reason for me (and others like me) to invest time & energy learning the
Ribbon thing.

-- gemini.

"Chris Game" wrote:

On Mon, 9 Jun 2008 23:13:00 -0700, Jason Cipriani wrote:

I got a computer with Office 2007 installed. How do I make Word
and Excel, and the rest of them, look like a normal application,
with like... menu bars and stuff... ? I can't find the option
(actually it took me a while to find *any* options at all, but I
haven't found one for this yet).

The modern trend, supported by usability studies, is to use toolbar
icons not menus. If you stop trying to work O2007 as if it were O97,
you soon get the hang of the new 'ribbon' interface, it's very
intuitive.

--
Chris Game

To iterate is human; to recurse, divine.