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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Answer accepted by question author
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
    2015-09-25T15:17:31+00:00

    Consumer version, I am afraid. So looks like I will be in trouble, unless MS wake up and fix the problem before forcing it on users!  Maybe some smart programmer can write an add-on for Office, like Custom Tab Width in Firefox, which lets the user choose a minimum tab width and allows up to around 75 bookmarks across my screen.

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-09-25T12:21:25+00:00

    Tough noogies ... "Automagic" "upgrades" are at MS's convenience, not yours.  That is one of the key points underlying the change to office 365.

    It depends entirely on which Office 365 bundle you have.  If it is one of the consumer versions, then you are out of luck. You'll get it when MS decides to give it to you.

    If you have one of the business bundles, then there is an option for a limited amount of control for some of the bundles.

    Office 2016: The new rules for the rollout, starting September 22

    www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-office-2016-the-new-rules-for-the-rollout-starting-september-22/


    http://www.askvg.com/microsoft-office-2016-to-release-on-september-22-2015/


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  3. Anonymous
    2015-09-25T11:02:54+00:00

    I am hopeful that MS will not automatically upgrade our 365 Office to 2016. I recall from earlier in this thread that the "mouse friendly" icon spacing on the 2016 QAT is very wide, which would be a disaster for me. I already "lost" 14 icons compared to Office 2010 on my Surface Pro. So until they (hopefully) fix this "problem", I would want to stay with 365/2013, since at first glance there is nothing I need in 2016.  Do I need to do anything to ensure that they do not push an update onto my (8.1) system? Thanks.

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-09-25T07:59:52+00:00

    John, on this forum I've only seen the option to do a Retrograde UPGRADE back to 2013 from 2016 is allowed only in 2 very specific situations identified by MS. 

    People with Outlook Exchange Server 2007 cannot connect to Outlook 2016.  They are being given a 2013 downgrade.

    The other situation is people with Visio 2013 or Project 2013.  Some are getting to downgrade back to office 2013, and some are apparently getting free upgrades to Visio and Project 2016.

    Other than that, all I've seen says 365 to 2016 is like a "black hole", a one way trip.   But of course (HOPEFULLY) that could be changing ... <grin>

    “Official” support for Home Rollback

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-outlook/rolling-back-to-2013-from-2016/edda2c54-de95-446f-a306-59c688f15899?page=2&msgId=3831bd29-a514-46ca-ab64-b7f6bbbf4444

    The process for home/personal subscriptions requires a contact with support, but they have a process to get you back on 2013.  If the support person is not providing you with a method to re-install 2013, feel free to give them my name as I am on the product engineering team, and own the compatibility matrix and the process for what to do for customers that currently connect to Exchange 2007

    Let me know if you are unable to get this resolved.

    Erik Ashby

    Principal Program Manger

    Outlook Org

    Visio 2013 & Project 2013 & InfoPath & SharePoiont Designer - Message "We need to remove some older apps" during 365/2016 install

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_365hp-visio/office-2016-uninstalls-my-visio-2013/11954b21-d1bd-42ce-82b2-d3178ae00ca6?page=1&msgId=86529842-5a05-4614-b336-8dfc4a5b944e

    <snip>

    Let me see if I can explain what's happening here.

    Our Click-to-Run technology has a limitation where multiple versions of it (2013 and 2016) cannot exist on the same computer. So, when Office is upgraded to 2016, the 2013 versions of Visio and Project become incompatible. We have a solution within Support for that. The issue is documented here: https://support.office.com/article/-We-need-to-remove-some-older-apps-error-a225347f-e102-4ea6-9796-5d1ac5220c3b

    When you contact Support, let them know you are upgrading your Office 2013 subscription to 2016 and are getting a message that Visio or Project needs to be removed. The support agents are being reminded of this situation and how to resolve it.

    Mike Maxey  (MS employee)

    </snip>

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