Custom Excel Toolbars - how?

[Chris D.]

Is it possible to build multiple custom Excel toolbars and completely remove
the ribbon?

Before anyone tells me 'try it - you may like it!', please read the following:

In my company, we use Excel as a meeting facilitation tool, and have built a
customized workbook complete with templates we use while conducting
workshops. This allows us to conduct very fluid workshops with real-time
on-screen data capture, and to provide our customers with Excel-based
workshop deliverables within minutes of closing our workshop. In order to
minimize the 'behind the curtiain' processes that would normally require
multiple clicks, we have built a set of about 50 specific macro-enabled
toolbar buttons to automate our tasks. This allows us to drive the workshop
rather than drive our spreadsheets. In Excel 2003, we completely hide the
standard and formatting toolbars, and instead use two custom-built bars.

There is nothing in the Ribbon that empowers us in the way that our
one-click toolbars do. Our workshop participants rarely see the machinations
of what we're doing, because we have refined and automated our process well.
We facilitate workshops for a living - 52 weeks a year. Upgrading to Office
2007 has destroyed our ability to use our #1 toolset, and eliminates the
competitive advantage that we built for ourselves. I simply want to build my
own toolbars and have the interface that I want, and I want to eliminate the
Ribbon altogether. Can I do it?

 

[Gord Dibben]

Try this suggestion from FSt1. I also have not used this.

see this site
http://in.geocities.com/shahshaileshs/
down at the bottom.
i do not have 2007 and have not used this. i just ran across it while doing
research on 2007.

Regards
FSt1


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[Chris D.]

Thank you for your quick reply, but no, this will not solve our problem. We
don't need the 'standard' or 'formatting' toolbars. We have 52 custom-built
excel macro toolbar buttons that we created ourselves, and we've placed them
strategically on top-border and left-border toolbars.

 

[Ron de Bruin]

There are examples on this page to hide the Ribbon
http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

If you not use a Excel 2007 file you can't use RibbonX.
You can use this then

You can use this VBA example posted by Jim Rech to Hide/Show the whole ribbon.
Sub HideRibbon()
Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro "SHOW.TOOLBAR(""Ribbon"",False)"
End Sub


Sub ShowRibbon()
Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro "SHOW.TOOLBAR(""Ribbon"",True)"
End Sub


--

Regards Ron de Bruin
http://www.rondebruin.nl/tips.htm

 

[Chris D.]

Again, thanks for the quick response.

It looks like you have provided me with plenty of reading, and I'll have to
digest this later on and try it out.

I was hoping that I could do this within the confines of Excel, rather than
having to download a third-party tool to modify it. (History tells me that
messing with things rarely makes them less kludgy.) I guess you can chalk me
up in the list of people who just plain don't like the new interface - and
I've always been a Microsoft fan. It is quite disappointing that the
developers chose to ignore our needs and wants, and instead chose to
pre-suppose what is best for us. Sounds like more change we can believe in.

 

[Ron de Bruin]

The Ribbon is the result from customer feedback.
It is not so bad as you think

--

Regards Ron de Bruin
http://www.rondebruin.nl/tips.htm

 

[Chris D.]

Thank you for your reply, however...

True your words may be, the Ribbon has crippled us. We do one thing very
well - we facilitate workshops with a custom-built toolset that allows us to
navigate custom-built functions (comletely ignoring nearly 100% of the
built-in functions) fluently in Excel in real-time in front of a room full of
people, while hiding the excess functionality from them. Now, we don't have
access to that toolset. Now, we might as well go back to flip charts and
whiteboards, which reduces us to the level of competence that many of our
competitors have.

Please don't think I'm being unfriendly, but I can't explain it any more
clearly than that. It singlehandedly removed a key competitive advantage
from our team, with zero thought of offering backwards-compatibility. There
is no other way to frame it.

 

[Ron de Bruin]

See my example to create your own Ribbon tab and hide the rest
You can download a few workbooks to test it

Note: You have a lot to learn but there is no way back if you want it or not

--

Regards Ron de Bruin
http://www.rondebruin.nl/tips.htm

 

[Bob I]

Sounds to me like you should elect to "Minimize the Ribbon" and put your
"functions" on the QAT. Click, click DONE.

 

[Chris D.]

Thank you,

I tried that already, but there is not enough room for our buttons - we had
one toolbar across the top, and another across the side (Plus the single row
of the Ribbon still eats valuable real estate on the projector screen. I
just want it gone.).

Many of the top toolbar functions worked up-and-down the sheet, while many
of the side buttons worked across. The placement was quite intuitive.

No need for more replies, I see that I'm going to revert to 2003 until the
day comes that it's more power-user friendly. If anyone knows of any other
non MS-applications that can do what we want, please reply with that info.
We'll gladly switch to another application to get back the functionality we
had before.

 

[Chris D.]

Thank you for your reply, and yes we have a lot to learn. The problem is, we
spent a long time building our toolset, and building our knowledge base.
Given the current economic situation, we have neither the time nor the
inclination to go back to school to re-learn things we've already figured out
how to do. None of us are IT professionals, and our small organization
doesn't have the resources to bring them in. We're simply too busy doing
actual work to have to make such a monumental step backwards. (I'm sure that
all the fancy new stuff in 2007 is great, but we simply do not NEED it for
our application. We are what you might want to call minimalist power-users,
because we don't exploit all the power of Excel, but what few things we do,
we want to do in a single click).

No need for more replies, I see that I'm going to revert to 2003 until the
day comes that it's more power-user friendly. If anyone knows of any other
non MS-applications that can do what we want, please reply with that info.
We'll gladly switch to another application to get back the functionality we
had before.