Get Ready to Work With Office 2007's New Formats

Rasslin' With Office 2007's New Ribbon Interface

The new ribbon interface is great, but it still could use a few tweaks. Here are a few of the most useful tweaks and tricks.

Add your favorites to the Quick Access Toolbar: Click the drop-down button to its right, choose More Commands, select Customize on the left, and under 'Choose commands from', click Popular Commands. To add an item, select it and click Add. When you finish, click OK. To find more options, select either Commands Not in the Ribbon or All Commands In the 'Choose commands from' list. If your toolbar gets too big, check Show Quick Access Toolbar below the Ribbon at the bottom of the dialog box.

Learn navigation letters: Press <Alt> to display the navigation letters on the Office button, Quick Access Toolbar, and tabs. Press the letter for an item, and more options--and their letters--appear. Keep typing letters to dig down to the desired command. For example, to close Word, enter, in succession, <Alt>, F, X. To display the Clipboard, press <Alt>, H, F, O.

Minimize the ribbon: Double-click the current tab to hide the ribbon and reclaim its screen real estate. Click a tab to have the ribbon pop back. Then click it only once to hide it again.

Find more commands: To summon the ribbon's powerful Developer tab (which is hidden by default), click the Office button and choose [Program name] Options at the bottom. Select the Popular category on the left, check Show Developer tab in the Ribbon, and click OK.

Robert Luhn is a former senior editor for PC World. Guy Hart-Davis is the author of How to Do Everything With Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and How to Do Everything With Microsoft Office Word 2007 (both McGraw-Hill Osborne Media).