How to reduce spacing between icons on quick access toolbar?

Anonymous
2013-03-13T22:55:12+00:00

Office 365 seems ok, though can't yet identify any improvements over 2010. However a HUGE negative is the increased spacing between icons on the QAT, which means that about 14 fewer icons fit across the screen. I appreciate that MS did this to allow easier access to the macros through touch, but I don't need this (even though I have a touch computer). I want my old icon spacing back. If anyone knows how to do this I will buy them a (metaphorical) beer. Otherwise, it is probably back to 2010 for me, unless I can find any ways in which 365 is better.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Jay Freedman 208.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2013-03-14T01:07:15+00:00

Edit: The answer below was correct for the Office Technical Preview at the time it was written. In a later update of the Preview, the ability to reduce the spacing of the Quick Access Toolbar was removed, and it is still absent in the released version as of September 2015. Please visit http://office.uservoice.com/forums/285186-general/suggestions/9906966-office-2016-quick-access-toolbar-too-wide and vote to have the Mouse Mode spacing of the Quick Access Toolbar restored.

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The Office 2013 / Office 365 programs have a touch mode with wider spacing, and a mouse mode with the same spacing as previous versions. (This affects both the Quick Access Toolbar and the ribbon.)

Click the down-arrow at the right end of the Quick Access Toolbar and click the item "Touch/Mouse Mode". The button that appears shows a hand with the index finger extended and touching a blue spot. Click that button and choose the mouse mode.

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-09-25T06:57:21+00:00

    2003 has three HUGE advantages over 2010 and later versions - (i) allows a multi-row quick access toolbar, (ii) has customizable macro buttons, and (iii) has pull-down menus rather than the ribbon. I am really hoping that one day MS will realize that it has greatly disadvantaged many of its users and get back to a (maybe optional) sensible interface. But I am afraid they are so keen to have users running Office on their smart phones, that those of us who want to use it for real work can take a jump.

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2015-09-24T16:03:59+00:00

    Of the Ribbon versions (so far), I find Word 2010 by far the most satisfactory. It's still not as customizable as Word 2003 (which I still use for most work), but it has some advanced features that I really like.

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  3. John Korchok 236.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-09-24T13:54:54+00:00

    Office 2010 is a good version, that's what I use most of the time.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-09-24T04:20:23+00:00

    Thanks for your answers John. I use 365, but if MS f___ks up the spacing of icons even more (in 2016 which I imagine will install automatically at some stage) I will be very tempted to go back to 2003, which I still use for Visio and Project. Almost the the only thing I will miss about 365 is XML file formatting.  I will be very happy to lose the ribbon which is almost useless if you have a well-designed QAT.

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