Word 2007's Ribbon Interface

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Word 2007's Ribbon Interface

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Word 2007's Ribbon Interface
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2011-03-02 Update Word 2010 now includes functionality to customize your own ribbon through the GUI, so this template is unnecessary. Good thing, too- the template doesn't work in Word 2010. As you no doubt have either heard or experienced, Office 2007 replaces the familiar Menu bar and Toolbar with a new interface, called RibbonX or Fluent UI. Command buttons are arranged in Groups and Tabs, on a broad Ribbon across the top of the window. New users reportedly find it easier to learn than the older interface; unfortunately, we ‘old dogs’ also have to learn a whole new language to communicate with our Office applications. I didn’t have much choice at work, so I learned to work with RibbonX fairly quickly. I still have Office XP on my home computer, however, and there is always a little hiccup when I switch back and forth between the interfaces. My wife, on the other hand, HATES RibbonX. Office 2007 came preinstalled on her new laptop, and she had one demand- ‘fix it, or install Office XP.’ Although she was able to roll with the gradual changes that occurred over the years, as features were added or dropped, it was just too much when the look and feel of the familiar interface she knew in Word (and countless other programs) disappeared. Or has it? RibbonX makes it possible for a moderately skilled programmer to customize the interface, and I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to find a ready-made, custom Ribbon Add-In to get the old menus back. I certainly found no shortage of other users who fantasize about giving the persons behind the Ribbon a tar-and-feather makeover. There were instructions and guidelines for customizing the Ribbon, but a lot of them were arcane or required expensive tools I don’t have (Visual Studio). Sprinkled among the guidelines were warnings not to do what I was attempting- ‘don’t recreate the old menu’. Okay, maybe a little unfair. Those guidelines are mostly intended for a specific audience that probably should follow them. It would be a shame to get a new template/program that replaced the Ribbon with a “Classic” interface, unless that’s what you want (just as it is a shame to completely discard the Classic interface users are accustomed to, and replace it with the Ribbon). Anyway, I plowed ahead with learning about the XML syntax, control names, and free tools. About a day later, I had a menu my wife could use. Most of the heavy lifting was done using Excel*. The Custom UI Editor was helpful to validate the XML, but not absolutely necessary.
		Normal.zip I’m giving away my template here- free of charge, so any risk of using it is entirely yours. I didn’t include anything I’m aware of that could harm you, your computer/friends/family/reputation, etc. but there’s no support and no warranty. As mentioned above, it doesn’t work in Word 2010, but nothing bad happens, as far as I can tell. <-- Click the link to the left, and save the file somewhere you can find it. You'll need to rename it from the Zip format (.zip) to a Word 2007 document (.docx) or template (.dotx). Open this Word document/template, and you’ll have my version of the Office XP menus and toolbars on a new document. If you want the menu for all documents you create or open, save it as Normal.dotm in your Templates folder. For example, John Doe’s Templates folder is probably something like C:\Documents and Settings\JDoe\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates You can usually find the folder by clicking Start > Run, and typing this in the box: %userprofile%\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates Click OK, and the Templates folder should open in all its glory. Note that the posted template doesn't include any macros. Saving it as a .docx gives you the menu on an empty document. Saving it as a template allows you to open that template and get a new, empty document with the menu each time. You only need to save it in the Templates folder, as a macro-enabled file, if you want all new/opened documents to include the menu.
		"Who!?! Who doesn't want to wear the ribbon!?!" Seinfeld; The Sponge
		Resources Microsoft’s list of Control IDs for Office 2007 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4329D9E9-4D11-46A5-898D-23E4F331E9AE The Custom UI Editor, which I used to validate and finalize the template http://openxmldeveloper.org/articles/customuieditor.aspx *I'm also one of those guys that edits HTML webpages and applications (HTAs) in Notepad. The great thing about the digital world is that it’s hard to damage a tool just because you use it as a hammer.