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. 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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  2. Anonymous
    2015-06-03T11:18:31+00:00

    Geee I got frustrated too on my Office365. It is insane. OK on FHD screen, but I work on 1600x900 screen size. I cannot imagine how it is on common laptop 1300x700somthing. And the formula bar is also wide. Hiding it does not help. Why not making setting for small/medium/large icons, w/wo text. Why everyone knows what is better for me?

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-07-26T20:53:58+00:00

    OK, finally found it. This is in the Quick Access Toolbar, which by default is above the ribbons. On my system, I had imported my very customized Quick Access Toolbar settings from my prior system which was Office 2010. So, this button was not there. I had to add it to my Quick Access Toolbar, then use it to change my interface to Mouse (rather than Touch), and then removed it from my Quick Access Toolbar.

    It seems to me (are you listening, Microsoft?) that Office 2013 should be coded to:

    • Expose this toggle between touch-screen mode and mouse-pointer mode in some logical place, like on the View menu
    • Document this toggle much more cleanly. It is NOT at all evident what it does.
    • Make the default mode of Office be mouse-pointer mode rather than touch-screen mode if there is no touch screen on the system!

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  4. 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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  5. Anonymous
    2015-07-26T13:59:25+00:00

    It's above the File menu in the taskbar area.  On my version, it's the fifth icon over, next to undo/redo icons.

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