Tip #95 - Office's Vanishing Tools

100 Computer Tips in 100 Days

Tip #95 - Office's Vanishing Tools

The new ribbon user interface on Office 2007 and 2010 is quite fancy, and once you get used to it, it's a lot of fun to use. One of its few downsides is that it's tall – far taller than a traditional toolbar. If you’ve got a 25 inch monitor that’s fine but if you're working on a laptop or are otherwise pressed for screen space, it can sometimes be handy to collapse the ribbon and make it as compact as a regular menu.

To collapse it, simply double-click one of the ribbon's tabs, such as Home. The whole thing will instantly shrink down to the line of tabs, hiding the options. Clicking a tab will temporarily expand it back allowing you to make a selection. After you have made your selection the ribbon will again be hidden.

A double click on any one of the tabs again will expand the ribbon to its original size.

Happy Computing!

Diane

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