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

Anonymous
2019-09-26T00:38:24+00:00

Since MS Office was updated earlier in 2019 (for me) I have had this stupidly sized ribbon that takes up about double the screen area compared to previous iterations of Office.  I want to reduce it, so do many other people it seems but there seems to be no satisfactory method.

Before answering, please read the following;

  1. I do not want to HIDE the ribbon, I just want the icons / text to be smaller.
  2. I know about the MOUSE / TOUCH setting.  It is already on Mouse and the ribbon is still far too big.
  3. Monitor resolution is 1920 x 1080 on my laptop and secondary screen, there is no option to change monitors.
  4. Text size in the OS is currently set to the recommended 125%  I do not want to change this as I do not want to upset any of my other (many) applications.
  5. This is only a problem caused by the update in MS Office, no other apps are affected.

Will someone at Microsoft please explain how to reduce the childish looking icons and text in the MS Office Suite so that I can recover screen space?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Install, redeem, activate | For home | Other

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

87 answers

Sort by: Oldest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-04-20T11:51:10+00:00

    Thank you, thank you, thank you, change the scale to 175%, rebooting and changing it back to 100% worked like a treat. What a shame it took ages of trying various Microsoft suggestions before finding this solution. Image

    You're welcome.  So glad it worked for you.  I felt your pain before until someone helped me.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2021-04-25T11:19:55+00:00

    Having just acquired a new (Microsoft!) laptop I now have the enormous new ribbon. It is at least 1cm deeper than on my previous laptop (which I suppose has not been updated recently). To put it another way, the ribbon took up 22% of the depth of my old screen, and now it's 30%. In Excel this equates to the loos of 3 or 4 rows. It's intolerable. So much empty space at the top of the screen! Can I revert to the older version of Office?

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-05-18T18:56:20+00:00

    Microsoft,

          Somehow this changed within the last week.  I have attached a screenshot.  The toolbar, ribbon & sheet tab are too large.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2021-05-18T21:55:42+00:00

    I suggest going into your Advanced Scaling Settings and changing it to 200 and hit "Apply."   Then restart your computer.   Change the size back to 100%.  Then restart again if needed.  It should work.

    Microsoft,

          Somehow this changed within the last week.  I have attached a screenshot.  The toolbar, ribbon & sheet tab are too large.

    Image

    Was this answer helpful?

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2021-06-05T21:45:08+00:00

    Angophora, you saved my life, Thank you

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments