Perhaps you are in Full Screen mode, if you only see menus.
If you lost the "Full Screen" dialog box you can still switch with:
View, . Full Screen ( Alt+V, Alt+U)

More information on toolbars
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/toolbars.htm
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HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

"twmiles" wrote in message ...
can't see any type of tool bar at all at the top of excel. the program just
opened that way