Customizable ribbon in in Excel 2010

The Ribbon is the strip of buttons and icons located above the work area introduced with Excel 2007 that replaces the menus and toolbars found in earlier versions of Excel. Above the Ribbon are a number of tabs, such as Home, Insert, and Page Layout. Clicking on a tab displays the options located in this section of the ribbon. When any file opens, the options under the Home tab are displayed, which are grouped according to their function - such as Clipboard (includes cut, copy, and paste options), and Font (includes current font, font size, bold, italic, and underline options).

Clicking on an option on the ribbon may lead to further options contained in a Contextual Menu or dialog box that relate specifically to the option chosen. However, in Excel 2007, users were not able to customize the tabs displayed across the top of the ribbon. In Excel 2010, it is easy to customize the appearance of the ribbon tabs. Begin by selecting File in the upper-left portion of the ribbon. After choosing Options, you’ll see the Customize Ribbon page as shown below.

Now, if you want to show a new tab, say Developer. For that, simply select Developer in the list at the right, and click OK. You could also deselect in the same way. This video tutorial could help you understand.

You can change the order in which the tabs appear by selecting a tab, and then using the Move Up and Move Down arrows on the right.

If you click the drop-down arrow by Main Tabs, you can display Tool tabs. Then you can customize the tabs that appear when a given object is selected. For example, if you clear Format under Chart Tools, when you select a Chart object, the Format tab does not appear.

 

Clicking the New Tab button allows you to create a new tab, and the New Group button lets you create a group within a tab. Of course, you can use the Rename button to change the name of a group or tab.

The Quick Access Toolbar is an old function from Excel 2007 that can still be very useful. You probably use some Excel commands much more often than others. Having to switch between tabs to find the command you need might slow you down. The Quick Access Toolbar allows you to collect your favorite commands in one place. The default location of the Quick Access Toolbar is above the ribbon in the upper-left portion of the Excel window.

You can add a command to the Quick Access Toolbar simply by right-clicking the command and choosing Add To Quick Access Toolbar. You can also add commands by clicking File in the upper-left portion of the ribbon. Next click Options, and then display the Customize the Quick Access Toolbar page. After choosing a command you want to add, select Add, and click OK. Of course, the Move Up and Move Down arrows let you customize the order in which icons appear. You can remove any command from the Quick Access Toolbar by right-clicking the command, and then clicking Remove From Quick Access Toolbar. You can move the Quick Access Toolbar below the ribbon by right-clicking the toolbar, and selecting Show Below The Ribbon.

People sometimes have trouble finding commands that appeared in earlier versions of Excel that seem to have disappeared from Excel 2010. For example, you might be a fan of the old method used to create PivotTables. If you still want to use the layout method, you can find it by clicking the drop-down arrow to the right of Popular Commands and choosing Commands Not In The Ribbon. After scrolling down (pressing the P key several times is probably quicker!), you will find the PivotTable And PivotChart Wizard command, which you can then add to your Quick Access Toolbar.