One of the best new features in Microsoft Office 2010 is the ability to customize the Ribbon, particularly for those users transitioning from Office 2003, or prior, into the newest version of Microsoft Office. When transitioning out of a legacy version of Office into Office 2010, Microsoft’s new Fluent user interface (UI) can become a productivity-squelching quagmire for those who are not fully-versed in the best ways to use it. In Office 2010’s Fluent UI, the ubiquitous Ribbon replaces traditional drop-down menus and, as such, the location of common and familiar commands and functions has changed. Thus, trying to find the commands and functions you need to work with can seem a bit daunting.

Fortunately, users of all applications in Office 2010 can customize the Ribbon to meet their specific needs. Available customizations include, adding new Tabs to the Ribbon, adding new Groups and commands to default Tabs on the Ribbon, and hiding default Tabs from view. Further, once customizations have been made, users can export their customized Ribbon so that other users can import it. Perhaps best of all, because the Ribbon is common to all Office 2010 applications, the techniques for customizing the Ribbon in any Office 2010 application work for customizing the Ribbon in all Office 2010 applications.

Using Excel 2010 as the demonstration tool, perhaps the easiest way to begin the process of customizing the Ribbon, is to right-click on the existing Ribbon and choose Customize the Ribbon… from the resulting pop-up menu to open the Customize Ribbon section of Excel Options, shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - Customize Ribbon Section of Excel Options

To add a new tab to the existing Ribbon, select New Tab on the right side of the window, as shown in Figure 2. Upon adding a new Custom Tab, you may rename it by clicking on the New Tab and clicking the Rename option near the bottom right corner of the window.

Figure 2 - Creating a New Custom Tab on the Ribbon

To add a command to the Ribbon, first click on the Group to which you want the command added. Next, on the left side of the window, select the command you wish to add to the selected Group and click the Add > > button in the middle of the window, as shown in Figure 3. Repeat this process for as many commands as you wish to add to the Group.

Figure 3 - Adding a Command to a Custom Group on the Ribbon

To prevent an existing Tab from displaying, simply uncheck the box next to that Tab on the right side of the Customize Ribbon section of Excel Options. For example, if an Excel user rarely worked with macros, hiding the Developer Tab of the Ribbon would be a logical choice. To do so, uncheck the box next to Developer, as shown in Figure 4. Upon doing so, the Developer Tab will remain hidden until the user returns and checks the box next to Developer.

Figure 4 - Hiding the Developer Tab of the Ribbon

As you can see, customizing the Ribbon in Office 2010 applications is neither a time consuming nor difficult task. Spending just a few minutes tweaking your workspace can translate into big productivity gains down the road.

For a video demonstration of this tip, please visit www.tinyurl.com/k2tips75.