Microsoft Word 2007 Ribbon Controls

The controls in each Tab of the Word 2007 Ribbon are organised into groups. For example in the home Tab we have Clipboard, Font, Paragraph, Styles and Editing.As always in Microsoft applications, hovering over a control displays a tool-tip. In the case of Office 2007, these tool-tips are quite extensive: they contain a description of how the control works, what it does and the keyboard shortcut which is equivalent to that control.There are basically three types of controls: buttons drop-down menus and launchers. The Bold control is an example of a simple button: when you click the button, highlighted text becomes bold.

If you click the Bold button again, the highlighted text reverts to normal.The change case-control is an example of a drop-down menu: clicking the control shows you a series of options. For example, if you select some text and choose "Uppercase", the highlighted text becomes capitalised. If you choose "Capitalise Each Word" only the first letter in each word is capitalised.Some controls are a combination of both simple buttons and drop-down menus. One example is Underline. When you hover over the underlying button, it consists of two sections: a button on the left and a drop-down menu on the right. If you click on the button, the default underline is applied, the underline style which was last used. If you click on the drop-down menu, you are given a series of options for customising the underline. You can change of style: solid, dotted and so forth.

White Changing Tab

You can also change the colour. As with the Bold button, if you click a second time, the underline is removed. Launchers are buttons which are displayed in the bottom right of some groups. Clicking the Launcher button displays a series of options either in a task pane or, more typically, a dialog box. For example, in the Home Tab, the Clipboard Launcher options are displayed within a task pane window, whereas the Font Launcher options are displayed in a dialog box.The Microsoft Word Ribbon takes up quite a lot of screen space (approximately 20% of the average screen).

If this becomes inconvenient you can minimise the Ribbon at any time. To do this, simply double-click on the name of any Tab. When the ribbon is minimised, it can still be used: simply click on the name of a Tab and the options will appear once more. When you have chosen an option, the ribbon will be minimised again.A second way of minimising the Ribbon is to go to the Quick Access Toolbar and choose "Minimise the Ribbon". To cause the Ribbon to revert to its normal size, use exactly the same options used to minimise it.

Microsoft Word 2007 Ribbon Controls

The author is a trainer and developer with Macresource Computer Solutions [http://www.macresource.co.uk], an independent computer training company offering Microsoft Word training courses in London and throughout the UK.