Sorry I bought Office 2013

Anonymous
2013-05-02T21:46:05+00:00

I think I made a huge mistake. At least, I see it as such right now. Maybe, someday, in the far distant future, I might think on it differently. I managed to get MS Office 2013. I hate it. I can't figure it out. They took all the functionality out of it. It opens to some stupid blue and white page that says Open, and has an arrow facing left. I can't find how to find my documents to view or work on. And that ugly, horrid, absolutely stupid "ribbon" is the worst mistake they have ever made -- except maybe for Vista. And there's something on here about "account". Whatever that is. When I did find a way to find a document to look at, half the page was taken up with that "ribbon" thing that is absolutely ugly and a waste of space. What was wrong with the nice little tool bar that had what was needed on it? Is there a way to set up my own personal toolbar? I haven't found a way yet. I tried to do a personalization, and manged to hide that ridiculous "ribbon" so it's not cluttering up my screen. I added the icons I want on the top, but when I click the folder that is supposed to show me my documents, it takes me out to that blue and white page, but not to the documents. I have to figure that out, someday. Otherwise, this is a complete waste of money. I really should demand my money back.  And I haven't even looked at Excel yet.

I'd love to get rid of the ribbon thing and get my toolbar back.  And, have a way of finding my documents without having 5 steps to get there.  I want to just open the little folder and have my documents there to search through.  Is there a way to do this?  If not, I would gladly trade Office 2013 for Office 2003!  At least that was a very functional, easy to use program.  This is one definitely not intuitive.  I'm not an amateur with computers.  I think of myself as being relatively competent.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-11-14T23:09:15+00:00

    I agree, I preferred Office 2003. Everything I used was on  my icon bar.

    I work mostly with Access, Outlook and Excel, and I find, that for almost everything, I have to do many more steps then I did in Office 2003. 

    In Outlook, I can barely see the current day.

    Another issue is the line spacing. Now I have these big monitors, yet I see less on the screen because of line spacing.

    Another Office 2013 issue is that the custom dictionary does not work. In Outlook I checked and all my saved words are there, but during the spell check, they are not being used.

    I just opened a word document and typed my name and added it to the dictionary. I opened another document, and guess what, my name was not even added. What's up here? I do work for a company whose data is in the cloud. Six computers with Office 2013 and they all have the same problem.

    Did everybody know that your office does not come with any tech support?

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-09-02T16:29:52+00:00

    I used to hate ribbon, but finally filled QAT with small icons in Word, Excel and Outlook. Now I find ribbon concept more efficient then menus, although I do not use ribbon at all. Everything I need is in QAT or in left/right mouse click. I have been upgrading since Word 2 (1992) and every new version was better then previous in functionality till Office 2013.

    There is only one thing that makes Office 2013 worse then previous versions, and it is essential - that is skin. We use our eyes and fingers to work with computers (and Office, too). Keyboards and mouses are responsible for better touch and efficiency. Windows and Office skin is responsible for eye's friendly look, easy navigation, comfort/discomfort and finally work efficiency.

    I found that 2013 skin - white/light grey/dark grey - influences my efficiency and I turned back to 2010. Period. I will install 2013 back when MS publishes blue, green, black... skins.

    Functionality and all those new fancy features fade when user get headache (literally) trying to distinguish commands, toolbars, text, rulers, multiple windows, tabs.... because everything is black on white. Like on hand typewriter.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-08-01T17:58:57+00:00

    I have activated the Developer Tab. Thank goodness that still works the same way for what I need it to do (apply another template). I did get the answer in the other thread about how to get to my custom templates -- and it IS a complete change from before!

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  4. Charles Kenyon 171K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2014-08-01T17:37:49+00:00

    I was about to suggest activating the Developer Tab when I saw that you have another thread going. I will see what responses you got there.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-07-29T16:45:40+00:00

    Hint: it would be nice if you pasted a link to your other question (if you want more help with it) (I found it by clicking on your name, but many people are not aware of that shortcut).

    Word 2010/Office 2010 (and 2007) have the same "minimize" ribbon function.  In Word 2010 it is a little arrow beside the the help button (blue circle with white question mark) on the right end of the ribbon.

    Tip: all three versions also have a keyboard shortcut to toggle the minimize ribbon function

    <CTL><F1>

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