Datasheet

Cutting the Ribbon down to size

First thing to do is to get that busy Ribbon out of your face. At this point, it’s

just taking up valuable work space and probably making you crazy. So, please

double-click any one of the tabs or press Ctrl+F1 right now to cut the Ribbon

display down to only its tabs. Single-clicking a tab then temporarily redisplays

the Ribbon until you select one of its command buttons, whereas pressing

Ctrl+F1 a second time redisplays the Ribbon and keeps it open in all its glory.

When only the tabs — Home through View — are showing at the top of the

Excel program window, you should feel a whole lot more comfortable with the

screen. The Excel 2007 screen is then as clean and uncluttered, if not more, as

the earlier version of Excel that you were using with only the Quick Access

toolbar, Ribbon tabs, and Formula bar displayed above the Worksheet area.

Now, you’re probably wondering where those Microsoft engineers moved the

most important and commonly-used pull-down menu commands. Table 1-2

shows the Excel 2007 equivalents for the menu commands you probably used

most often in doing your work in the earlier version of Excel.

When a particular command is assigned to one of the tabs on the Ribbon,

Table 1-2 lists only the tab and command button name without naming the

group since the group name plays no part in selecting the command. So, for

example, the table lists the tab+command button equivalent of the

View

➪Header and Footer command as Insert | Header & Footer without

regard to the fact that the Header & Footer button is part of the Text group

on the Insert tab.

Table 1-2: Excel 2007 Equivalents for Common Pull-Down Menu

Commands in Excel 2003

Excel 2003 Excel 2007 Common Excel 2007

Command Equivalent Shortcut Keys Shortcut Keys

File Menu

File➪New Office Button | New Ctrl+N Alt+FN

File➪Open Office Button | Open Ctrl+O Alt+FO

File

➪Save Office Button | Save or Ctrl+S Alt+FS

Save button on the

Quick Access Toolbar

(continued)

Chapter 1: The Excel 2007 User Experience

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