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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

 

 

 

 

The Insert Tab

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:

 

 

 

The Page Layout Tab

Word 2007

 

Word 2010

 

Word 2013/365

 

 

 

The References Tab

Word 2007

 

Word 2010

 

Word 2013/365

 

 

 

The Mailings Tab

Word 2007

 

Word 2010

 

Word 2013/365

 

 

 

The Review Tab

Word 2007

 

Word 2010

 

Word 2013/365

 

 

 

The View Tab

Word 2007

 

Word 2010

 

Word 2013/365

See also Ways to View a Document in Word - Office Watch

 

 

The Developer Tab - see Developer Tab in Microsoft Word 2007-2013

(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 Context Tabs

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.

The Table Design Tab

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.

 

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.

 

Header and Footer Tools 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

 

 

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