How to reduce the size of quick access toolbar icons? (Office 2016)

Lee

Great questions to Microsoft to summarize the QAT issue.  I am going crazy with the big icons too.  My predicted response from MS should run something like this...

MS - "Thank you Lee for posting a question to our response team.  I see that you are having some problems with Excel and Office and the QAT.  What version of Windows and Microsoft Office are you running?  It the problem just in Excel or in any other applications. Can you send me the specific error message you are getting?  Maybe a screenshot too.  Have you restarted your computer? Reinstalled Windows? Reinstalled Office? Have you tried purchasing a new computer?  Maybe one with Windows 7 and Office 2013 pre-installed. That will fix your problem until we can get Office 2016 fixed.  That might be sometime this decade.  I appreciate your response and taking the time to bring it to our attention since we have ignored the hundreds of requests so far. Is there anything else we can assist you with today?"  LOL!!

Help Required.  Would someone kindly put me right?

We have posters: -

• Including myself complaining that Excel 2016 QAT is a major problem. [Ralph Bergin, Sep 24th 2015 among many others].
• Saying that 2016 QAT has been been returned to 2013 QAT functionality and is being rolled out progressively.  [Rohn007, Jan 23rd 2016].
• Like me, who have Office 365, updating every day, in the hope that we can obtain the fix. [Sandra Buskey, Jan 15th 2016].
• Now we have posters complaining that 2016 QAT is a disaster and should be fixed (as if the fix hasn't happened)  [Very eloquently put by LauraChalifoux, Jan 26th 2016].

Please tell me: -

• Has 2016 QAT been returned to 2013 functionality or not?
• If yes, when can I, as an Office 365 user, get access to it?
• If it hasn't been fixed yet, when will it be and when can I get it?

I've been a User Experience Designer for the last 15 years. I cannot imagine what planet the people who made this decision are from -- whether is was the UX team, or key decision-maker(s) from another team or upper management.

The whole point of the QAT is to give users control of the UI so that the program best fits their needs.  Never mind what their needs are; the point is allowing user control.  The QAT has been around for years; the interface is well designed; and the feature has worked just fine in all that time.  As far as I know, there have been no significant complaints about the QAT until this release.

The QAT in Office 2016 has REMOVED control from users; clearly, this is a big problem for many of us, and it affects all of the Office 2016 software programs. 

I'm sorry, but I've been around for in software development for over 3 decades - I remember Windows 0.9 - and this is a Bug; it is not a Feature.

If, as others have mentioned, the larger icons in the QAT are intended to make Office 2016 easier to use on touch screens, that is absolutely no excuse for imposing such disastrous consequences on other users. Especially when there are completely obvious solutions to accommodate both users who use touch screens, and those who do not.

For example:

• Make the large/small QAT icon sizes an OPTION, so that ALL users can have control to make the QAT work most effectively for their needs, in various situations.
• There could be three options for the user's convenience:
  • Large icons always
  • Small icons always
  • Automatically use large icons when touch screen display is detected; otherwise, show small icons

How difficult is that? I just do not understand how there could possibly be such a disconnect with the usage patterns of such a substantial portion of the user base.

If you have not already seen it, MS is pushing out a fix to 365 to return the QAT buttons to 2013 size.  If you don't already have it, just force a manual update of your 365.  I don't know if the fix applies to standalone 2016 also.

As well, in some of the questions, people noted that switching from Mouse to Touch to Mouse mode does not always return the QAT buttons to original Mouse size.  This next link has a potential simple fix:

Partial fix QAT buttons not resizing down fully- Change DPI Scaling

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-customize/huge-ribbon-and-icon-size-in-microsoft-office/32fabc50-d6a4-44f5-ae87-b1c332813d22

In addition to the link above to an unofficial site, MS also has an official page that lists work being done on Office 365:

Office 365 Roadmap - Fasttrack

http://fasttrack.office.com/roadmap

The Office 365 Roadmap lists updates that are currently planned for applicable subscribers. Updates are at various stages from being in development to rolling-out to customers to being generally available for applicable customers world-wide.

NOTE: there are 3 sets of filters available.

In the Black bar the the first set allows you to select the category: Launched, Rolling out, In development, Cancelled, Previously released

Immediately below that there are check boxes for features Updated and/or Added within last 30 days

Finally, if you click on the “Filters” button, a section will expand to allow you to pick specific apps, services or platforms affected by the changes.