Provide an option to customize the Ribbon

[Dave Robinson]

I know that MS probably put tons of money into developing the Ribbon and for
most unsophisticated or casual Word users, the Ribbon may word pretty well.
But for the 'power' user, it is a disaster.

In MS Word 2003, I could customize the task bars (that were available all
the time you were in a function (Tables, pictures, graphics) to contain the
icons and macros I used the most. For example, in the Tables task bar I
added all the icons for insert & delete so they were always availabe on ONE
click.

With MS Word 2007 and the un-customizable Ribbon, it takes at least THREE
clicks to delete a Table row, column, or cell. The same is true for a vast
number of other functions I have to use to do my job. My productivity has
decreased significantly as a result and I am sure this is true for may other
power users.

We are told to put the most used icons on the QAT, but the QAT fills up
quickly with just the MOST used icons (Save As, Print Dialog, Style, etc.)
for general document typing.

I am on a network and cannot utilize any downloads that might be availalbe
to customize the Ribbon.

I hope that MS will consider adding a 'customize' option to future releases
of the product.
--
Dave Robinson

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...da42cb&dg=microsoft.public.word.docmanagement

 

[Greg Maxey]

Dave,

"...the un-customizable Ribbon ..." is an inaccurate statement.

Just because you are on a network and can't download say "Office UI Custom
Editor" doesn't make the Ribbon un-customizable. It is more involved, but
it can still be done. There is a series of articles "Customizing the Office
2007 Fluent Ribbon" that you can access here:
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Customize_Ribbon.htm

All you need is NotePad or a similair application to write some simple XML.
You can find the idMso for the builtin commands like "Delete Cell" or
"Delete Column" by using the Office Button>Word Options>Customize and
pausing the mouse over the various commands.

For example, a RibbonX code for creating a new Tab on the Table Tools
contextual tab that contains a group commands to delete items might look
like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui">
<ribbon>
<contextualTabs>
<tabSet idMso="TabSetTableTools">
<tab id="myTab1" label="My Personal Table Tools Tab">
<group id="rGrp1" label="Tools for Deleting Stuff">
<button idMso="CellsDelete" label="Delete Cells" size="normal"/>
<button idMso="TableColumnsDelete" label="Delete Columns" size="normal"/>
<button idMso="TableRowsDelete" label="Delete Rows" size="normal"/>
<button idMso="TableDelete" label="Delete Table" size="normal"/>
</group>
</tab>
</tabSet>
</contextualTabs>
</ribbon>
</customUI>

Even with the downloadable tools like "Office UI Custom Editor" you still
have to write the XML, but the tool creates the customXML part and all of
the required relationships to use the XML. Those steps can be done manually
as explained in Part 1 of the articles above.

I certainly understand your angst with Word2007. I felt the same way last
year when I first started using it. After using it for a while I have grown
to like it a lot.

 

[Dave Robinson]

I'm always up for a little challenge. I'll read your article, and see if I
can make it work. I am not a real techie, so is it ok if I ask questions via
response to this thread?

 

[Greg Maxey]

Dave,

Sure. If you want, you can contact me via the feedback on my website. I
can send you template that you can use as an AddIn. That way you will
already have the customXMLPart and the required relationships. All you
would need to do is unpackage the template file, edit the XML to suit your
particular needs and repackage the template. Steps for that are contained
in the article.

I have to go out for a while but I you contact me, I will send you something
latter today.

 

[Dave Robinson]

Greg:

I opened your article and clicked on the MS Customui URL and received an
error message "Unable to open http://... customui. The intenet site reports
that the item you requested could not be found. (HTTP/1.0 404)".
Will this be a problem?
Is there a newer url reference for this material?

 

[Greg Maxey]

You made it to my website correct?

The articles are available through these three links:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338199.aspx
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa722523.aspx

 

[anubix]

Hi. I've been trygin to find information on customizing the Ribbon
and this thread is the closest I've found. Greg, do you have
information on using the built-in icons and commands in a customized
Ribbon tab? I found that if I look in the Office Menu | Word Options
| Customize section I can get the idMso names for each command. but
when I tried that in the Custom UI Editor, even when the XML is well
formed. Some buttons don't even show up. The button to delete a table
row shows up but the button to AlignRight doesn't. Any ideas?
Anyone?

Here's the code I'm using . The buttons to Align left or right are not
working, whereas the other buttons do work.

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/
customui">
<ribbon startFromScratch="false">
<tabs>
<tab id="SLK" label="SLK">
<group id="FontFormat" label="Font Format">
<button idMso="AlignLeft" label="Align Left" size="normal" />
<button idMso="AlignRight" label="Align Right" size="normal" />
<button idMso="CellsDelete" label="Delete Cells" size="normal"/>
<button idMso="TableColumnsDelete" label="Delete Columns"
size="normal"/>
<button idMso="TableRowsDelete" label="Delete Rows" size="normal"/<button idMso="TableDelete" label="Delete Table" size="normal"/>


</group>
</tab>
</tabs>
</ribbon>
</customUI>

 

[Greg Maxey]

Hi.  I've been trygin to find information on customizing the Ribbon
and this thread is the closest I've found.  Greg,  do you have
information on using the built-in icons and commands in a customized
Ribbon tab?  I found that if I look in the OfficeMenu| Word Options
|Customizesection I can get the idMso names for each command.  but
when I tried that in the Custom UI Editor, even when the XML is well
formed. Some buttons don't even show up.  The button to delete a table
row shows up but the button to AlignRight doesn't.  Any ideas?
Anyone?

Here's the code I'm using . The buttons to Align left or right are not
working, whereas the other buttons do work.

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/
customui">
        <ribbon startFromScratch="false">
                <tabs>
                        <tab id="SLK" label="SLK">
                                <group id="FontFormat" label="Font Format">
                                        <button idMso="AlignLeft" label="Align Left" size="normal" />
                                        <button idMso="AlignRight" label="Align Right" size="normal" />
                                        <button idMso="CellsDelete" label="Delete Cells" size="normal"/>
                                        <button idMso="TableColumnsDelete" label="Delete Columns"
size="normal"/>
                                        <button idMso="TableRowsDelete" label="Delete Rows" size="normal"/

                                        <button idMso="TableDelete" label="Delete Table" size="normal"/>

                                </group>
                        </tab>
                </tabs>
        </ribbon>
</customUI>





- Show quotedtext-

You AlignLeft and AlignRight commands are "togglebuttons" not
"buttons." Normal size togglebuttons can't have labels.


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/
customui">
<ribbon startFromScratch="false">
<tabs>
<tab id="SLK" label="SLK">
<group id="FontFormat" label="Font Format">
<toggleButton idMso="AlignLeft" size="normal" />
<toggleButton idMso="AlignRight" size="normal" />
<button idMso="CellsDelete" label="Delete Cells" size="normal"/>
<button idMso="TableColumnsDelete" label="Delete Columns"
size="normal"/>
<button idMso="TableRowsDelete" label="Delete Rows" size="normal"/>
<button idMso="TableDelete" label="Delete Table" size="normal"/>
</group>
</tab>
</tabs>
</ribbon>
</customUI>

 

[anubix]

Hello again. I'm not sure if I should make a new post for this, so let
me know.

I got my custom ribbon opening imageMso buttons. Now I need to make
custom buttons that run my macros. Here's a samele of my code. It's
returning an error saying the macro is not found or my macro settings
were diasbled. I checked macro security and set it to open all
macros. I want my code to be in the module called NewMacros. Last
thing I tried was moving it to ThisDocument, but that didn't work
either. That's the code you see here. Help please. Also, the button
image I'm calling is not showing either. I'ts giving the same error:
mmacro not found or no security. I have a separate function to load
the images.

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui"
loadImage="GetImage">
<ribbon>
<tabs>
<tab id="SLK" label="SLK">
</group>
<group id="SLKMacros" label ="SLK Macros">
<button id="slklabel" image="SLKLabel.jpg"
size="normal" onAction="ThisDocument.CallControl" />
</group>
</tab>
</tabs>
</ribbon>
</customUI>