Introduction
Questions
This index page last revised:
06 Jan 2024 23:47:34 -0500
.
The Ribbon's Tabs in Word 2007 - Word 2013/365
Microsoft Word adopted the Ribbon User Interface (UI) with
the introduction of Office 2007. This page explores some of the variations
on that Ribbon through the versions.
In composing this page, a deliberate
choice was made to cut and resize images. All full-size ribbon images are
displayed at 900 pixels width maximum. A 300-pixel version is
The Ribbons of Microsoft Word 2007-2013 -
very narrow The full-size images can be downloaded or displayed. The
page with the full-size images displayed is The
Ribbons of Microsoft Word 2007-2013. The images shown on this page are
compressed so that they can show up on mobile devices. To actually view an
image at a readable size, use the option in your browser for each image to
view the image.
I am not a great lover of the Ribbon. MS tells us that it is
easier for beginners to use, and they may be right. For experienced users,
there is a tremendous learning curve. From Word 2007 on, it has been
possible to modify the Ribbon. In Word 2007 this required an ability to code
in vba and XML. In the later versions it has been possible to make much more
limited modifications through the interface. All versions since 2007 have
included the Quick Access Toolbar as the only easily modifiable toolbar.
This is in sharp contrast to Word 97-2003 where all of the menus and
toolbars were easily modified from within the interface.
For a start on modifying the ribbon using XML and vba, I
recommend Greg Maxey's site, starting with
Customize the Ribbon (It doesn't take rocket science) . An essential
book, and not just for Word 2007, is
RibbonX: Customizing the Office 2007 Ribbon - by Robert Martin, Ken Puls,
and Theresa Hennig.
Incidentally, I recently discovered that if you hover your
mouse pointer over the Ribbon and use the wheel on the mouse, it will scroll
horizontally through the tabs!
What I will do here is show some variations on the tabs commonly used in Word.
The non-context tabs: Home -
Insert - Design - Page Layout -
References - Mailings -
Review - View -
Developer
Some context tabs:
Table Design - Table
Layout - Header & Footer Tools -
Drawing Tools - Picture Tools
Not Ribbon Tabs - Backstage - The
Office Button / File Button
On the left end of the Ribbon is a special button to take
you to Word's "backstage." In Word 2007 this is the multi-color Office
button. In the later versions it appears to be a blue tab named File. You do
not see the document when you click on one of these. You also do not see
any of the Ribbon tabs when your are in Backstage view. Pressing Esc returns
you to the document view in the tab that you were viewing last. If you don't
see your tab's controls chances are that you have minimized the Ribbon.
There are screenshots from the Backstage view at the bottom of this page.
Minimizing the Ribbon - making
more room to see your document
If you right-click on a Ribbon tab one of the options is to
minimize/maximize the ribbon. Double-clicking on any tab or pressing the Ctrl+F1 key combination will do the same
thing. In Word 2010 and later because the File Button is blue/black, it is easy to
think that the File "Tab"
has been selected or become the default when the Ribbon is minimized.
If the Ribbon is minimized, you can use the same process
to bring it back: (1) double-click on any ribbon tab, or (2) right-click
on any ribbon tab and uncheck "minimize the ribbon," or, (3) Press the
Ctrl+F3 keyboard shortcut.
In Word 2013 or later, there is an additional switch
that can cause it to entirely disappear until you move your cursor to
the top of the screen. That is the AutoHide option. The control for this
is an arrow in a box at the top-right corner of the window by the X to
close a document. Using AutoHide also hides the QAT and the Status Bar.
It gives you your document in print mode with the rulers.
The Non-Context Tabs - Display regardless of where you are in a
document
The Home Tab - the basic workspace in a
document:
Word 2007
-Word 2007 - wider
-Word 2007 - narrower
To see these full size, either go to the
The Ribbons of Microsoft Word 2007-2013 page or
choose to display image.
I won't do this with each tab. The three tabs above are all
screenshots of the ribbon on the same computer. Word repackages the ribbon
tabs to fit the available space.
In the wider version, it gives more space to the Styles
Gallery. In the narrower version some buttons shrink or lose captions. The
combination of screen size and resolution determines what you will see,
so your ribbons may not look exactly like any of the ones shown here.
Another example showing different screen layouts is in the Word 2010 version
of the Drawing Tools contextual tab below. Your ribbon may or may
not have a Developer Tab,
that is up to you.
The Word 2007 and 2010 tabs shown are from a laptop running
Windows Vista. The Word 2013/365 tabs are from a desktop tower running
Windows 7 on a larger screen or a laptop running Windows 10.
Word 2010
Word 2010 - narrower
(Note the collapse of the QuickStyles Gallery and Editing Group. The Quick
Styles gallery is now available through the button. Other groups are
compressed. This is less than half as wide as the one immediately
above it when that one is shown full-size.)
Word 2013/365
Word 2013 - Narrower
Word 2016/365
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
WordArt Dropdown in the Insert Tab
WordArt has been a component of Word for some time and
continues under the Insert Tab. However, its appearance differs.
Word 2007
This gallery dropdown is the view of WordArt straight from
Word 2003.
Word 2010
This changed dramatically in Word 2010. However, once
WordArt is created, the use of Text Effects under the Drawing Tools Context
Tab can manipulate it.
Note, that this is in a document in Word 2010 native .docx
format. If the document is in Word 97-2003 .doc format we see the same
gallery as in Word 2007.
However, it is possible to have your cake and eat it too!
The next screenshot is from a Word 2010 screen in a document formatted as a
native Word 2010 .docx document. An Add-in containing a custom Building
Blocks (AutoText) gallery is in use. That .dotx template also has a QAT
modification to allow quick access to the gallery. This was done using
tools from Greg Maxey's site (not required, just easier) and contains no
macros. This Add-In can be downloaded for free from my
downloads page.
If instead, you used Insert > WordArt in this document, you
would get the Word 2010 dropdown.
Word 2013/365
The Design Tab - Word 2013/365 only
This tab takes controls that were previously on the Page
Layout and Insert tabs and expands them. It is primarily about themes. I
don't know that it introduces any new controls.
Here are some of the galleries accessed through this tab:
Themes
Style Sets:
(Page Background) Colors:
Watermarks:
Paragraph Spacing:
Theme Effects:
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
See also
Ways to View a Document in Word - Office Watch
(This is an optional tab. If you don't see this tab on your computer or have
questions about the controls on the tab, use the link above.)
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
Some of the tabs only show up when Word thinks you can use
them. If you insert a table and are in the table, you will see two
additional tabs.
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
Note that in Word 2013/365 the Draw Table and Eraser commands
have been moved to the Table Layout Tab.
Word 2007
Word 2010
Word 2013/365
Note that in Word 2013/365 the Draw Table and Eraser are on the
Draw group of the Table Layout Tab.
Word 2007
Word 2010
The Header and Footer Tools tab is similar in Word 2013/365.
Drawing Tools Tab (Context)
Word 2007
Word 2010
(wider screen version - note expanded captions for some icons)
The 2010 version appears to have dropped a number of options to allow for
the WordArt and Text groups. In reality, the effects have been moved to the
Shape Effects drop-down.
(Narrow version of 2010 Drawing Tools Format tab)
Picture Tools Tab (Context)
Picture Tools Tab - Word 2007
Picture Tools Tab - Word 2010
(Picture Shape moved from Picture Styles to a drop-down
under Crop in the Picture Size group)
More on the Backstage View
Again, backstage contains information about the document and
Word. It gives you access to controls for the document like Save, Send and
Print; it gives you access to control over Word options that let you change
how Word works in all documents. Again, in any version of Word you can
return to the document view and other ribbon tabs by pressing the Esc button
on your keyboard. The Backstage could easily be the subject of a separate
page and perhaps some day it will be. Here are just some pictures.
Backstage - Word 2007
Backstage - Word 2010
Backstage - Word 2013
