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?

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-07-15T14:27:29+00:00

    There are 2 steps you must do.  First click to customize the Quick Access Toolbar, check the Mouse/Touch selection.  Then the finger pointer will appear in the Quick Access Toolbar.  At this point you can THEN click on the finger pointer to change the appearance.  It is a 2 step process.  Why can't MS make this simple.  It took too long to figure out the damn finger pointer and how to get it to show.

    Regards, Craig

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-07-15T17:39:08+00:00

    I have the finger pointer on the tool bar already, I changed it between touch/mouse mode, it still is huge. what is the next step if thats not it?

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-07-15T18:32:26+00:00

    Sorry, after I get the finger, when I click on that a drop down gives me the option to choose Mouse or Touch.  When selecting Touch it makes all MS products with the large Ribbons.  Simply change back to Mouse and it reduces the overall size.  The Touch option says it allows more space in between commands to optimize for use with touch.

    Craig

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-07-16T11:42:04+00:00

    So, that doesnt help. It's actually the size of the text- the font is enormous- which takes up all the room. so- if you know how to change the font... that might be more helpful.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-07-16T12:03:04+00:00

    In Outlook, it's all in 'View Settings'. 

    Alternatively, do you have a >100% magnification set in Windows' Display Settings?

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