Customize Ribbon Size to Make it Smaller

Anonymous
2013-08-26T01:47:56+00:00

I'm extremely disappointed that Microsoft has made the ribbon so HUGE and does not appear to offer any way of customizing its size other than completely collapsing it.  Between the menu bar, the ribbon, the formula bar, etc. almost HALF of the screen real estate is non-content. Microsoft has it backwards, thinking the more screen space should go to the user interface rather than the content. This is maddening, and it's extremely frustrating that Microsoft doesn't allow me to customize the size of the ribbon to maximize content. Does anyone know of a work around?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Kevin Jones 7,265 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2013-08-26T02:38:39+00:00

    There are Add-Ins that will display classic menus in 2013 such as this one:

    Title: Show Classic Menus and Toolbars on Ribbon of Excel 2010 and 2013

    Link: http://www.addintools.com/office2010/excel/

    Have you tried increasing your monitor resolution?

    Kevin

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-08-26T04:31:22+00:00

    Thanks, Kevin. I did try the Addintools add-in that allows you to show Excel 2003 menus in Excel 2013. However, the small icons show in the ribbon with no reduction in ribbon size or gain in the content area. My resolution is already set at the highest set point for my Asus laptop. 

    My original criticism of the ribbon stands: Microsoft needs to make its size customize-able, allowing allow users to make is smaller while still visible rather than resorting to collapsing it altogether. To me, this is a huge miss in both Office 2010 and 2013.

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  3. Kevin Jones 7,265 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2013-08-26T04:58:19+00:00

    The idea of the classic menus is so that you can hide the ribbon if you want.

    I'm surprised that almost half of your screen is taken up. I have an old Dell at 1920x1080 and the bottom of the ribbon 1/7 or 1/8 of the vertical screen real estate.

    Another idea is to show the tabs only. This hides the ribbon until you click on a ribbon tab and then the ribbon is displayed until you move back to the content:

    Kevin

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-06-28T16:54:04+00:00

    It is possible to make the ribbon smaller (at least it is in Windows 8.1.)

    1. Go to control panel
    2. Click on Display
    3. Underneath "instead of changing the size of everything, click on the item...." click on "menus" in the drop down menu box.
    4. Lower the size from 12 to 8 or 9 or 10 or whatever works with your display.
    5. Restart windows to fully implement display changes - they are not always immediate.
    6. Try this several times and with different items in the drop-down menu. It took me about half an hour and several restarts to get things looking right.

    Voila.

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-06-28T16:57:47+00:00

    ......or use the slider at the top of the display settings dialogue box in control panel....

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