{"id":5300,"date":"2015-10-19T04:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T08:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americaneditor.wordpress.com\/?p=5300"},"modified":"2016-09-19T19:10:29","modified_gmt":"2016-09-20T01:10:29","slug":"lyonizing-word-secrets-of-the-ribbon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/editorium.com\/archive\/lyonizing-word-secrets-of-the-ribbon\/","title":{"rendered":"Lyonizing Word: Secrets of the Ribbon"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Jack Lyon<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

From the beginning, Microsoft Word used a standard menu interface that looked like this:<\/p>\n

\"Word's<\/a>

Word's Original Menu Interface<\/p><\/div>\n

Click a menu item, and you\u2019d get a list of more items:<\/p>\n

\"Original<\/a>

Original Menu Interface Submenus<\/p><\/div>\n

Keep clicking, and eventually you\u2019d activate the feature you wanted to use. All of this was straightforward. Then came Microsoft Word 2007, with its \u201cRibbon\u201d interface:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Ribbon Interface<\/p><\/div>\n

According to Microsoft, the idea was to bring Word\u2019s \u201cmost popular commands to the forefront\u201d rather than burying them under a series of menus. For users, this took considerable getting used to, but, mostly, it worked. Unfortunately (and a little ironically), a few of the Ribbon\u2019s features are still less than obvious, which prevents some users from understanding the full power of the features available to them.<\/p>\n

Feature 1: Split Buttons<\/h3>\n

Most of the buttons on the Ribbon interface are just that\u2014buttons. For example, here\u2019s what the NoteStripper button looks like in my Microsoft Word add-in Editor\u2019s ToolKit Plus 2014<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"Notestripper<\/a>

Notestripper Split Button<\/p><\/div>\n

If you click that button, either on the pencil-sharpener icon or on the little arrow underneath it, here\u2019s what you\u2019ll get:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Notestripper Menu<\/p><\/div>\n

But now consider the button for FileCleaner, also included with Editor\u2019s ToolKit Plus 2014. At first glance, it looks <\/em>like the same kind of button used for NoteStripper, with a graphic icon at the top and a tiny arrow at the bottom:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The FileCleaner Button<\/p><\/div>\n

Click the arrow, and here\u2019s what you\u2019ll get:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The FileCleaner Menu<\/p><\/div>\n

What many people don\u2019t realize, however, is that the FileCleaner button is a split<\/em> button. If you hover your cursor over a split button you\u2019ll see a horizontal line splitting the button in two:<\/p>\n

\"Seeing<\/a>

Seeing the Split<\/p><\/div>\n

The bottom half, with the arrow, works just as before. But the top<\/em> part is a different matter. If you click it, you\u2019ll get full access to all of FileCleaner\u2019s batch cleanup options:<\/p>\n

\"FileCleaner<\/a>

FileCleaner Dialog<\/p><\/div>\n

Unfortunately, many people don\u2019t realize that these options exist, which means that they\u2019re missing much of the program\u2019s power. This isn\u2019t my fault, by the way; it\u2019s a result of the way Microsoft designed the Ribbon (although possibly I should use two<\/em> FileCleaner buttons, one for individual items and one for batch options). At any rate, now that you understand the problem, you can do a bit of exploring, looking for buttons that offer more than at first appears.<\/p>\n

Feature 2: Dialog Box Launchers<\/h3>\n

At the bottom right of many of the groups on the Ribbon is a tiny box with an arrow:<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Tiny Arrow<\/p><\/div>\n

Some users overlook these arrows completely, missing some of Word\u2019s most useful features. Microsoft calls these arrows \u201cDialog Box Launchers,\u201d and if you click one of them, you\u2019ll see more options related to its particular group. Usually these options appear in a dialog box (hence the name) but sometimes in a task pane. For example, if you click the launcher in the \u201cParagraph\u201d group, you\u2019ll get the dialog box for paragraph formatting:<\/p>\n

\"Launch<\/a>

Launch of the Paragraph Dialog<\/p><\/div>\n

If you\u2019re now saying \u201cSo that\u2019s<\/em> where that went,\u201d I\u2019m glad I could be of help. Again, it\u2019s worth the effort to systematically explore all of the features that are hidden under these \u201claunchers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feature 3: Contextual Menus<\/h3>\n

Some of the items on the Ribbon are contextual \u2014 that is, they don\u2019t appear until you\u2019re actually working with something for which they\u2019re needed. Tables provide a good example. If your document includes a table, and your cursor is actually in<\/em> that table, you\u2019ll see the following menu on the Ribbon:<\/p>\n

\"Table<\/a>

Table Tools<\/p><\/div>\n

Click it, and you\u2019ll get this:<\/p>\n

\"Table<\/a>

Table Contextual Menu<\/p><\/div>\n

Wow, lots of options! But if you didn\u2019t know about contextual menus, you might miss them. Other contextual menus appear if you\u2019re working with any of the following:<\/p>\n