How Can I Reduce Size of Ribbon Icons & Text in Office 365 / 2016?

Hi Paul,

Thanks for posting in our forum.

From your post, I understand after updating Office, the size of the ribbon icons and the font has been increased and it is taking the large amount of screen area as compared to the earlier version.

On my end, I tested with the latest version of Monthly channel 1908 (Build 11929.20300) to check if seem the same behavior, the ribbon icon and the font size looks same as before. Here’s the screenshot for your reference:

Since you are getting the issue, may I request for the following information to troubleshoot the issue?

1. Please provide us with a screenshot of Office 365 Product Information. To get this screenshot, open any Office app such as Word or Excel on your system, click File>Account, capture the screenshot of all the information mentioned under Product Information. (Note: please remove any sensitive information from the screenshot such as email address or full name etc.).
2. Do you see the same behavior in all Office apps?
3. A full screenshot of a document showing increased ribbon icons and font size.

Thanks,

Neha

Thanks for replying.

The problem is most significant in Excel where I am losing around 2-3 spreadsheet rows at the top of the screen, plus another one at the bottom due to the thicker borders when compared to an installation of Office 2010 I have on an older personal PC.  Similar problem was seen in Outlook, but I don't have an older installation to compare against. The ribbon height is not an issue in MSWord

This is especially painful when I am using multiple Excel workbooks tiled horizontally.

I am running 1902 (Build 11328.20420).  If I click check for updates, this is telling me it is fully up to date.

I have seen many other complaints on this topic, so any help you can give would benefit others.

Product Info

Screenshots below were taken on two different PC's both running Windows 10 set to 1920 x 1080 resolution with the same 125% scaling.

Excel 2010

Excel 365 (3 rows less)

Hi Paul,

Thanks for getting back to us.

The size of the ribbon icon and visibility of the rows depends on the screen scaling.

For example, here’s the screenshot of Excel 365 worksheet at 100% (recommended on my system) scaling. From the screenshot, you can see 38 rows are visible and ribbon is smaller.

Whereas in the screenshot below, only 28 rows are visible and ribbon icons are larger at 125%.

I understand, in newer version of Excel, ribbon icons are larger, and a smaller number of rows are visible. As Office applications keep updating with new features and functionality, the look also evolves. Thus, changing the size of the ribbon when compared to Office 2010.

I know you don’t want to change the scale setting on your computer, in this regard, you can consider providing feedback in Excel UserVoice and let the Product Group know your requirement about making the ribbon icon smaller. UserVoice is the best way to give the feedback to Product Group as it’s actively monitored by them and many new features have been implemented from our customers feedback.

We highly appreciate your understanding.

Regards,

Neha

I'd just like to confirm that this DOES NOT answer my problem.

It's a waste of time talking to anyone Microsoft.

Hi Paul,

Thanks for posting in our forum.

From your post, I understand after updating Office, the size of the ribbon icons and the font has been increased and it is taking the large amount of screen area as compared to the earlier version.

On my end, I tested with the latest version of Monthly channel 1908 (Build 11929.20300) to check if seem the same behavior, the ribbon icon and the font size looks same as before. Here’s the screenshot for your reference:

Since you are getting the issue, may I request for the following information to troubleshoot the issue?

1. Please provide us with a screenshot of Office 365 Product Information. To get this screenshot, open any Office app such as Word or Excel on your system, click File>Account, capture the screenshot of all the information mentioned under Product Information. (Note: please remove any sensitive information from the screenshot such as email address or full name etc.).
2. Do you see the same behavior in all Office apps?
3. A full screenshot of a document showing increased ribbon icons and font size.

Thanks,

Neha

I want my ribbon to look like the one in Neha's comment, but mine keeps changing! How do I get mine to look like Neha's and stay that way? Mine changes its appearance SEVERAL times a day in Word, Excel and Outlook!