How do I add a custom menu in Excel 2007?
I am used to use these in Excel 2000.

Hi ILearner

Creating a Popup menu with the old code is the only way in Excel 2007
Or you can change the ribbon

Look for examples in the 2007 section of my site

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


"ILearner" wrote in message ...
How do I add a custom menu in Excel 2007?
I am used to use these in Excel 2000.

Found it and got it working.
Crazy, the world turned upside down, you to supply free workarounds for
removed microsoft functionality.

How many menu's next to each other can there be created?
How can a workbook be assigned to be opened? Workbook.open() in a macro?

Sorry, but even as a workaround I need to decide if this is what I want.

I read some comment from somebody else and I agree: removing functionality
is destructive for Microsoft. Maybe I will learn how to work with macro's in
Open Office.

Thanks anyway.

"Ron de Bruin" wrote:

Hi ILearner

Creating a Popup menu with the old code is the only way in Excel 2007
Or you can change the ribbon

Look for examples in the 2007 section of my site

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


"ILearner" wrote in message ...
How do I add a custom menu in Excel 2007?
I am used to use these in Excel 2000.

The QAT example on my site is great for your own personal.xlsb file
Easy to change.

But for workbooks I suggest that you learn the Ribbon
http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

Do not look back, the ribbon is not so bad as you think.


--

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


"ILearner" wrote in message ...
Found it and got it working.
Crazy, the world turned upside down, you to supply free workarounds for
removed microsoft functionality.

How many menu's next to each other can there be created?
How can a workbook be assigned to be opened? Workbook.open() in a macro?

Sorry, but even as a workaround I need to decide if this is what I want.

I read some comment from somebody else and I agree: removing functionality
is destructive for Microsoft. Maybe I will learn how to work with macro's in
Open Office.

Thanks anyway.

"Ron de Bruin" wrote:

Hi ILearner

Creating a Popup menu with the old code is the only way in Excel 2007
Or you can change the ribbon

Look for examples in the 2007 section of my site

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


"ILearner" wrote in message ...
How do I add a custom menu in Excel 2007?
I am used to use these in Excel 2000.

Crazy, the world turned upside down, you to supply free workarounds for
removed microsoft functionality.

I agree, and I can only hope that Microsoft will take such criticisms and
suggestions to heart.

the ribbon is not so bad as you think.

Not as bad, perhaps, but I still greatly dislike it. I'm learning to deal
with it, but the entire interface leads to lower productivity. Even the
simplest tasks require more mouse movement and clicking than in earlier
versions of Excel. I also don't like the heavy-handed manner in which the
Office team thrust it upon us.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com
_______


"Ron de Bruin" wrote in message
...
The QAT example on my site is great for your own personal.xlsb file
Easy to change.

But for workbooks I suggest that you learn the Ribbon
http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

Do not look back, the ribbon is not so bad as you think.


--

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


"ILearner" wrote in message
...
Found it and got it working.
Crazy, the world turned upside down, you to supply free workarounds for
removed microsoft functionality.

How many menu's next to each other can there be created?
How can a workbook be assigned to be opened? Workbook.open() in a macro?

Sorry, but even as a workaround I need to decide if this is what I want.

I read some comment from somebody else and I agree: removing
functionality is destructive for Microsoft. Maybe I will learn how to
work with macro's in Open Office.

Thanks anyway.

"Ron de Bruin" wrote:

Hi ILearner

Creating a Popup menu with the old code is the only way in Excel 2007
Or you can change the ribbon

Look for examples in the 2007 section of my site

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


"ILearner" wrote in message
...
How do I add a custom menu in Excel 2007?
I am used to use these in Excel 2000.

Jon

I agree it has some features which are a 'backward' step (tearing off to put
near work, being the worsed), but the more I work with it the better I find
the customisation story. Apart from the 'camelCase' in the xml, which takes
a little longer to get used to and little quirks like dialogBoxLauncher
needing to be declared last in a group, I find it far better and more
forgiving in a strange way. That is you either get the ribbon look you want
or nothing. Somehow it's much nicer than shouting at a syntax dialog!

I was stumped with dynamic stuff, but am now starting on that road.

Granted, for casual users, they really only have the QAT to customise, maybe
a tear-off QAT would help them.

I really like the feature of dragging custom controls onto the QAT and they
just work!

On usability, the quickest way around Excel is keyboard and *most* of the
old keyboard settings still work.

Lastly, to just not load the ribbonX and the UI is exactly as it was is a
major step forward. The number of 'stray' custom toolbars I've seen is
without number. XL4 had two toolbars, 2003 had 32! Something had to change
and lets hope this is V1, but IMVHO, it ain't as bad as some think...just
very different. (my £0.02)

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...
Crazy, the world turned upside down, you to supply free workarounds for
removed microsoft functionality.

I agree, and I can only hope that Microsoft will take such criticisms and
suggestions to heart.

the ribbon is not so bad as you think.

Not as bad, perhaps, but I still greatly dislike it. I'm learning to deal
with it, but the entire interface leads to lower productivity. Even the
simplest tasks require more mouse movement and clicking than in earlier
versions of Excel. I also don't like the heavy-handed manner in which the
Office team thrust it upon us.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com
_______


"Ron de Bruin" wrote in message
...
The QAT example on my site is great for your own personal.xlsb file
Easy to change.

But for workbooks I suggest that you learn the Ribbon
http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

Do not look back, the ribbon is not so bad as you think.


--

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


"ILearner" wrote in message
...
Found it and got it working.
Crazy, the world turned upside down, you to supply free workarounds for
removed microsoft functionality.

How many menu's next to each other can there be created?
How can a workbook be assigned to be opened? Workbook.open() in a macro?

Sorry, but even as a workaround I need to decide if this is what I want.

I read some comment from somebody else and I agree: removing
functionality is destructive for Microsoft. Maybe I will learn how to
work with macro's in Open Office.

Thanks anyway.

"Ron de Bruin" wrote:

Hi ILearner

Creating a Popup menu with the old code is the only way in Excel 2007
Or you can change the ribbon

Look for examples in the 2007 section of my site

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


"ILearner" wrote in message
...
How do I add a custom menu in Excel 2007?
I am used to use these in Excel 2000.

"Nick Hodge" wrote...
....
Granted, for casual users, they really only have the QAT to
customise, maybe a tear-off QAT would help them.

Or maybe allow multiple QATs and FTSUHOI call them ToolBars or
CommandBars.

I really like the feature of dragging custom controls onto the QAT
and they just work!

As opposed to dragging built-in commands to the old command bars in
Excel 97 through 2003? What didn't work for you?

On usability, the quickest way around Excel is keyboard and *most*
of the old keyboard settings still work.
....

Excel 2007 even includes Lotus transition navigation keys even though
it can no longer open Lotus files. Consistency of vision wasn't high
on the Excel development team's priority list.

. . . XL4 had two toolbars, 2003 had 32! Something had to change
....

Why?

Many of those toolbars only appeared in specific contexts. And one
could let them float or dock them where one preferred as opposed to
the new regime in which they're all stuffed into the ribbon or the
QAT.

There's too much choice in English spelling, and since there are more
American English speakers, why not let the US DOE promulgate how
English words should be spelled in the UK? Our spellings are generally
shorter, so more efficient.

Is there no value to choice or variety?

The ribbon as a new menu is one thing. XL5 got a new menu (though it
included an alternative XL4 menu as an option), so XL12 getting a new
menu (ribbon set to autocollapse) is a pain, but nothing new.

Now the fact that the file and printing commands aren't in the ribbon
but in the oversized Office icon is a major inconsistency with no
apparent logical explanation, and the fact that the new settings
dialog involves scrolling is a huge step BACKWARDS in usability are
mere warts on the V1.0 visage.

But the elimination of floating toolbars/toolbars docked on the left,
right or bottom sides of the application window as the user sees fit
is an outright reduction in functionality. The Big Brother Knows Best
design paradigm.

IYHO

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Harlan Grove" wrote in message
ps.com...
"Nick Hodge" wrote...
...
Granted, for casual users, they really only have the QAT to
customise, maybe a tear-off QAT would help them.

Or maybe allow multiple QATs and FTSUHOI call them ToolBars or
CommandBars.

I really like the feature of dragging custom controls onto the QAT
and they just work!

As opposed to dragging built-in commands to the old command bars in
Excel 97 through 2003? What didn't work for you?

On usability, the quickest way around Excel is keyboard and *most*
of the old keyboard settings still work.
...

Excel 2007 even includes Lotus transition navigation keys even though
it can no longer open Lotus files. Consistency of vision wasn't high
on the Excel development team's priority list.

. . . XL4 had two toolbars, 2003 had 32! Something had to change
...

Why?

Many of those toolbars only appeared in specific contexts. And one
could let them float or dock them where one preferred as opposed to
the new regime in which they're all stuffed into the ribbon or the
QAT.

There's too much choice in English spelling, and since there are more
American English speakers, why not let the US DOE promulgate how
English words should be spelled in the UK? Our spellings are generally
shorter, so more efficient.

Is there no value to choice or variety?

The ribbon as a new menu is one thing. XL5 got a new menu (though it
included an alternative XL4 menu as an option), so XL12 getting a new
menu (ribbon set to autocollapse) is a pain, but nothing new.

Now the fact that the file and printing commands aren't in the ribbon
but in the oversized Office icon is a major inconsistency with no
apparent logical explanation, and the fact that the new settings
dialog involves scrolling is a huge step BACKWARDS in usability are
mere warts on the V1.0 visage.

But the elimination of floating toolbars/toolbars docked on the left,
right or bottom sides of the application window as the user sees fit
is an outright reduction in functionality. The Big Brother Knows Best
design paradigm.

"Nick Hodge" wrote...
IYHO

The lack of ability to park any toolbar-like sets of icons on left,
right or bottom sides of the application window is an objective and
verifiable fact. No opinion involved. It's possible to create modeless
user forms containing objects that look like toolbar icons of old, so
rough equivalents for floating toolbars could be hacked but without
drag & drop customization.

This constitutes reduction in choice as that word is usually defined.

Only things that are matters of opinion are whether this is good or
bad and whether the old grab bag of toolabrs constituted welcome
variety or confusing bloat.

Harlan

Agreed, I just feel that many of the features on old toolbars were not
discoverable, there's many I've not found/used surely. Now whether they're
more discoverable now is questionable?? For the average to power user, it's
probably a backward step and MS 'claim' to have used data collected from the
'User Experience' program, which most experienced people 'turn off'

I've actually turned mine back on so I can moan a little more next time ;-)

I think another issue is that so much of this is non-application specific,
for example the ribbon is now 'owned' by another group. The officeMenu
(RibbonX element) is owned by the UI team across apps and even the charting
(and shapes) is partly controlled by an OfficeArt team. This explains a
reasonable amount of the inconsistencies and I believe the application teams
need more input but that could also cause decisions 'by committee which is
often bad.

Do I like it more...yes, definitely. I can get customisations done quickly
and 'safely' using ribbonX and VBA and unload them simply. (Take the
dictator app from the other day...no issue in 2007) and being a *totally*
non-design guy, (you should see how I dress), I can get great looking
documents done quickly and looking great. I could get them done quickly
before, but....

Again... MVHO and £0.02

--
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Harlan Grove" wrote in message
oups.com...
"Nick Hodge" wrote...
IYHO

The lack of ability to park any toolbar-like sets of icons on left,
right or bottom sides of the application window is an objective and
verifiable fact. No opinion involved. It's possible to create modeless
user forms containing objects that look like toolbar icons of old, so
rough equivalents for floating toolbars could be hacked but without
drag & drop customization.

This constitutes reduction in choice as that word is usually defined.

Only things that are matters of opinion are whether this is good or
bad and whether the old grab bag of toolabrs constituted welcome
variety or confusing bloat.

"Nick Hodge" wrote...
. . . I just feel that many of the features on old toolbars were
not discoverable, there's many I've not found/used surely. Now
whether they're more discoverable now is questionable?? For the
average to power user, it's probably a backward step . . .

One big example: I have the Forms toolbar docked on the right hand
side of my Excel 2003 window and the Drawing toolbar docked on the
bottom of it. Not trivial at all to get both on screen at the same
time in Excel 2007.

Now there were/are some thoroughly pointless built-in toolbars, such
as the Borders toolbar, that's a much, much bigger PITA to use that
the Border tab in the Format Cells dialog. Getting rid of them is
definitely a good thing. Unfortunately, MSFT got rid of the useful
ones too.

. . . and MS 'claim' to have used data collected from the 'User
Experience' program, which most experienced people 'turn off'
....

I believe they did, but I also believe the people who opted in were
disproportionately nonbusiness users using few if any of the more
important business features. How many home users are fetching data
from ODBC data sources? How many are running pivot table reports on
OLAP cubes? How many are using more than 20 different worksheet
functions in their home budgets? On the flip side, how many business
users are allowed to use bandwidth to participate in the program?

for example the ribbon is now 'owned' by another group. The
officeMenu (RibbonX element) is owned by the UI team across apps
and even the charting (and shapes) is partly controlled by an
OfficeArt team. . . .
....

Nothing new. Excel has suffered from ever closer integration since
Excel 5 when the first major menu overhaul happened.

. . . (Take the dictator app from the other day...no issue in 2007) . . .

Really? It's possible for the ribbon not to appear at all? That means
not even the row of tabs.

It's possible to hide the QAT and the Office logo which gives access
to file system/printer commands and Excel settings?

BTW, how does one leave the ribbon, QAT and Office logo in place but
disable file system/printer commands as was possible in earlier
versions by disabling but not hiding specific menu items? That is,
does RibbonX allow modification of the Office logo menu?

Harlan

Comments in line

"Harlan Grove" wrote in message
oups.com...
"Nick Hodge" wrote...
. . . I just feel that many of the features on old toolbars were
not discoverable, there's many I've not found/used surely. Now
whether they're more discoverable now is questionable?? For the
average to power user, it's probably a backward step . . .

One big example: I have the Forms toolbar docked on the right hand
side of my Excel 2003 window and the Drawing toolbar docked on the
bottom of it. Not trivial at all to get both on screen at the same
time in Excel 2007.

Harlan, I agree this one, there is no way I know of to move stuff around the
application frame or place near your area of work, e.g tear off


Now there were/are some thoroughly pointless built-in toolbars, such
as the Borders toolbar, that's a much, much bigger PITA to use that
the Border tab in the Format Cells dialog. Getting rid of them is
definitely a good thing. Unfortunately, MSFT got rid of the useful
ones too.


That has to be IYO, as some users... not me, will use that feature
frequently. What's one man's PITA is another man's nirvana. (That's MSFT's
with there Watson SQM data)

. . . and MS 'claim' to have used data collected from the 'User
Experience' program, which most experienced people 'turn off'
...

I believe they did, but I also believe the people who opted in were
disproportionately nonbusiness users using few if any of the more
important business features. How many home users are fetching data
from ODBC data sources? How many are running pivot table reports on
OLAP cubes? How many are using more than 20 different worksheet
functions in their home budgets? On the flip side, how many business
users are allowed to use bandwidth to participate in the program?


That's my contention too, hence I've turned mine on, but I'd agree that many
corporates would not allow by policy, connections of this type. They need to
find a better way of getting this information from a broader group *pre*
beta, as by that stage, particularly with the 'ownership' issue, it's often
too late and 'minds are set'. Not that Companies like Boeing, Ford, etc are
not helping to drive, but they have a very narrow view and one policy per
Company I concede.

for example the ribbon is now 'owned' by another group. The
officeMenu (RibbonX element) is owned by the UI team across apps
and even the charting (and shapes) is partly controlled by an
OfficeArt team. . . .
...

Nothing new. Excel has suffered from ever closer integration since
Excel 5 when the first major menu overhaul happened.


And I see that going even further with more of a Worksesque type 'shell'

. . . (Take the dictator app from the other day...no issue in 2007) . .
.

Really? It's possible for the ribbon not to appear at all? That means
not even the row of tabs.

Sure (Jim Rech's)

Sub RemoveRibbon()
Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro "SHOW.TOOLBAR(""Ribbon"",False)"
End Sub

(I know you'll laugh at ExecuteExcel4Macro...I can hear you ;-))


It's possible to hide the QAT and the Office logo which gives access
to file system/printer commands and Excel settings?

See above


BTW, how does one leave the ribbon, QAT and Office logo in place but
disable file system/printer commands as was possible in earlier
versions by disabling but not hiding specific menu items? That is,
does RibbonX allow modification of the Office logo menu?


Sure, you can, the first disables the save menu and the second re-purposes
the print button

<commands
<command idMso="FileSave" enabled="false"/
<command idMso="FilePrint" onAction="myPrint"/
</commands

And this will add an item to a menu on the officeMenu

<officeMenu
<menu idMso="FileSendMenu"
<button id="button1" imageMso="FileOpen" label="Open"
description="Open Something" onAction="OpenMe"/
</menu
</officeMenu


The following will leave you with a blank canvas and just the 'crucial
officeMenu operations. These can be disabled or re-purposed. (See below
ribbonX for one drawback to date)

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui"
<ribbon startFromScratch="true"
</customUI

The really unfortunate bit currently is you cannot remove, or probably more
usefully replace the office button icon, or individually remove the Excel
options or Exit Excel buttons. But then I think we all know this is very V1
and someone has to work with it or we can't suggests amendments in the real
world and staying still was not an option ;-)

I found this link, (three parts) really useful in my limited training so far

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx

I have a developing area on my site

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx

and Ron de Bruin's is probably more complete

http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

I know you and many others need a lot more convincing, but we also can try
and adopt and be constructive in our criticism and become influencers in
future changes, bearing in mind MSFT are NOT going to return to the old
commandbars model (I laughed at the launch that Application.StatusBar, has
become Application.CommandBars("Status Bar")!).

Try it and let's get some dialog going to MS on how to make it better, it
certainly needs that, I agree, but again IMVHO...I like the direction.

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

Harlan

Sorry I duped the MSDN link and missed out my developing one

http://www.nickhodge.co.uk/2007files...miseribbon.htm

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

Harlan

And life just got slightly better :-)

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui"
<commands
<command idMso="ApplicationOptionsDialog" enabled="false"/
<command idMso="FileExit" enabled="false"/
</commands
</customUI

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Nick Hodge" wrote in message
...
Harlan

Comments in line

"Harlan Grove" wrote in message
oups.com...
"Nick Hodge" wrote...
. . . I just feel that many of the features on old toolbars were
not discoverable, there's many I've not found/used surely. Now
whether they're more discoverable now is questionable?? For the
average to power user, it's probably a backward step . . .

One big example: I have the Forms toolbar docked on the right hand
side of my Excel 2003 window and the Drawing toolbar docked on the
bottom of it. Not trivial at all to get both on screen at the same
time in Excel 2007.

Harlan, I agree this one, there is no way I know of to move stuff around
the application frame or place near your area of work, e.g tear off


Now there were/are some thoroughly pointless built-in toolbars, such
as the Borders toolbar, that's a much, much bigger PITA to use that
the Border tab in the Format Cells dialog. Getting rid of them is
definitely a good thing. Unfortunately, MSFT got rid of the useful
ones too.


That has to be IYO, as some users... not me, will use that feature
frequently. What's one man's PITA is another man's nirvana. (That's
MSFT's with there Watson SQM data)

. . . and MS 'claim' to have used data collected from the 'User
Experience' program, which most experienced people 'turn off'
...

I believe they did, but I also believe the people who opted in were
disproportionately nonbusiness users using few if any of the more
important business features. How many home users are fetching data
from ODBC data sources? How many are running pivot table reports on
OLAP cubes? How many are using more than 20 different worksheet
functions in their home budgets? On the flip side, how many business
users are allowed to use bandwidth to participate in the program?


That's my contention too, hence I've turned mine on, but I'd agree that
many corporates would not allow by policy, connections of this type. They
need to find a better way of getting this information from a broader group
*pre* beta, as by that stage, particularly with the 'ownership' issue,
it's often too late and 'minds are set'. Not that Companies like Boeing,
Ford, etc are not helping to drive, but they have a very narrow view and
one policy per Company I concede.

for example the ribbon is now 'owned' by another group. The
officeMenu (RibbonX element) is owned by the UI team across apps
and even the charting (and shapes) is partly controlled by an
OfficeArt team. . . .
...

Nothing new. Excel has suffered from ever closer integration since
Excel 5 when the first major menu overhaul happened.


And I see that going even further with more of a Worksesque type 'shell'

. . . (Take the dictator app from the other day...no issue in 2007) . .
.

Really? It's possible for the ribbon not to appear at all? That means
not even the row of tabs.

Sure (Jim Rech's)

Sub RemoveRibbon()
Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro "SHOW.TOOLBAR(""Ribbon"",False)"
End Sub

(I know you'll laugh at ExecuteExcel4Macro...I can hear you ;-))


It's possible to hide the QAT and the Office logo which gives access
to file system/printer commands and Excel settings?

See above


BTW, how does one leave the ribbon, QAT and Office logo in place but
disable file system/printer commands as was possible in earlier
versions by disabling but not hiding specific menu items? That is,
does RibbonX allow modification of the Office logo menu?


Sure, you can, the first disables the save menu and the second re-purposes
the print button

<commands
<command idMso="FileSave" enabled="false"/
<command idMso="FilePrint" onAction="myPrint"/
</commands

And this will add an item to a menu on the officeMenu

<officeMenu
<menu idMso="FileSendMenu"
<button id="button1" imageMso="FileOpen" label="Open"
description="Open Something" onAction="OpenMe"/
</menu
</officeMenu


The following will leave you with a blank canvas and just the 'crucial
officeMenu operations. These can be disabled or re-purposed. (See below
ribbonX for one drawback to date)

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui"
<ribbon startFromScratch="true"
</customUI

The really unfortunate bit currently is you cannot remove, or probably
more usefully replace the office button icon, or individually remove the
Excel options or Exit Excel buttons. But then I think we all know this is
very V1 and someone has to work with it or we can't suggests amendments in
the real world and staying still was not an option ;-)

I found this link, (three parts) really useful in my limited training so
far

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx

I have a developing area on my site

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx

and Ron de Bruin's is probably more complete

http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

I know you and many others need a lot more convincing, but we also can try
and adopt and be constructive in our criticism and become influencers in
future changes, bearing in mind MSFT are NOT going to return to the old
commandbars model (I laughed at the launch that Application.StatusBar, has
become Application.CommandBars("Status Bar")!).

Try it and let's get some dialog going to MS on how to make it better, it
certainly needs that, I agree, but again IMVHO...I like the direction.

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

I also add it to my site Nick

--

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


"Nick Hodge" wrote in message ...
Harlan

And life just got slightly better :-)

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui"
<commands
<command idMso="ApplicationOptionsDialog" enabled="false"/
<command idMso="FileExit" enabled="false"/
</commands
</customUI

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Nick Hodge" wrote in message
...
Harlan

Comments in line

"Harlan Grove" wrote in message
oups.com...
"Nick Hodge" wrote...
. . . I just feel that many of the features on old toolbars were
not discoverable, there's many I've not found/used surely. Now
whether they're more discoverable now is questionable?? For the
average to power user, it's probably a backward step . . .

One big example: I have the Forms toolbar docked on the right hand
side of my Excel 2003 window and the Drawing toolbar docked on the
bottom of it. Not trivial at all to get both on screen at the same
time in Excel 2007.

Harlan, I agree this one, there is no way I know of to move stuff around
the application frame or place near your area of work, e.g tear off


Now there were/are some thoroughly pointless built-in toolbars, such
as the Borders toolbar, that's a much, much bigger PITA to use that
the Border tab in the Format Cells dialog. Getting rid of them is
definitely a good thing. Unfortunately, MSFT got rid of the useful
ones too.


That has to be IYO, as some users... not me, will use that feature
frequently. What's one man's PITA is another man's nirvana. (That's
MSFT's with there Watson SQM data)

. . . and MS 'claim' to have used data collected from the 'User
Experience' program, which most experienced people 'turn off'
...

I believe they did, but I also believe the people who opted in were
disproportionately nonbusiness users using few if any of the more
important business features. How many home users are fetching data
from ODBC data sources? How many are running pivot table reports on
OLAP cubes? How many are using more than 20 different worksheet
functions in their home budgets? On the flip side, how many business
users are allowed to use bandwidth to participate in the program?


That's my contention too, hence I've turned mine on, but I'd agree that
many corporates would not allow by policy, connections of this type. They
need to find a better way of getting this information from a broader group
*pre* beta, as by that stage, particularly with the 'ownership' issue,
it's often too late and 'minds are set'. Not that Companies like Boeing,
Ford, etc are not helping to drive, but they have a very narrow view and
one policy per Company I concede.

for example the ribbon is now 'owned' by another group. The
officeMenu (RibbonX element) is owned by the UI team across apps
and even the charting (and shapes) is partly controlled by an
OfficeArt team. . . .
...

Nothing new. Excel has suffered from ever closer integration since
Excel 5 when the first major menu overhaul happened.


And I see that going even further with more of a Worksesque type 'shell'

. . . (Take the dictator app from the other day...no issue in 2007) . .
.

Really? It's possible for the ribbon not to appear at all? That means
not even the row of tabs.

Sure (Jim Rech's)

Sub RemoveRibbon()
Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro "SHOW.TOOLBAR(""Ribbon"",False)"
End Sub

(I know you'll laugh at ExecuteExcel4Macro...I can hear you ;-))


It's possible to hide the QAT and the Office logo which gives access
to file system/printer commands and Excel settings?

See above


BTW, how does one leave the ribbon, QAT and Office logo in place but
disable file system/printer commands as was possible in earlier
versions by disabling but not hiding specific menu items? That is,
does RibbonX allow modification of the Office logo menu?


Sure, you can, the first disables the save menu and the second re-purposes
the print button

<commands
<command idMso="FileSave" enabled="false"/
<command idMso="FilePrint" onAction="myPrint"/
</commands

And this will add an item to a menu on the officeMenu

<officeMenu
<menu idMso="FileSendMenu"
<button id="button1" imageMso="FileOpen" label="Open"
description="Open Something" onAction="OpenMe"/
</menu
</officeMenu


The following will leave you with a blank canvas and just the 'crucial
officeMenu operations. These can be disabled or re-purposed. (See below
ribbonX for one drawback to date)

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui"
<ribbon startFromScratch="true"
</customUI

The really unfortunate bit currently is you cannot remove, or probably
more usefully replace the office button icon, or individually remove the
Excel options or Exit Excel buttons. But then I think we all know this is
very V1 and someone has to work with it or we can't suggests amendments in
the real world and staying still was not an option ;-)

I found this link, (three parts) really useful in my limited training so
far

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx

I have a developing area on my site

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx

and Ron de Bruin's is probably more complete

http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

I know you and many others need a lot more convincing, but we also can try
and adopt and be constructive in our criticism and become influencers in
future changes, bearing in mind MSFT are NOT going to return to the old
commandbars model (I laughed at the launch that Application.StatusBar, has
become Application.CommandBars("Status Bar")!).

Try it and let's get some dialog going to MS on how to make it better, it
certainly needs that, I agree, but again IMVHO...I like the direction.

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Nick Hodge" wrote...
....
And I see that going even further with more of a Worksesque type 'shell'
....

Why not resurrect Bob but give it office rather than home furniture?

Sure (Jim Rech's)

Sub RemoveRibbon()
Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro "SHOW.TOOLBAR(""Ribbon"",False)"
End Sub

(I know you'll laugh at ExecuteExcel4Macro...I can hear you ;-))
....

Not at all. ExecuteExcel4Macro is the only way to make Excel/VBA pull
anything from closed workbooks using dynamic external references other
than entering them as cell formulas in hidden ad hoc workbooks.

Guess I need to refresh my XLM skills.

The really unfortunate bit currently is you cannot remove, or probably more
usefully replace the office button icon, or individually remove the Excel
options or Exit Excel buttons. But then I think we all know this is very V1
and someone has to work with it or we can't suggests amendments in the real
world and staying still was not an option ;-)
....

Too V1.

Where I work, IT upgraded everyone who got new PCs in 2005 from Office
97 to Office 2002, and last year upgraded everyone from either Office
97 or Office 2002 to Office 2003. They never installed Office 2000.
It's highly unlikely they'll ever install Office 2007. Maybe we'll get
Office 14 a year or two after it's released. I'll be ready when it
happens, but I'm not exactly burning with anticipation.

As for home use, I still see no compelling reason to upgrade from
Office 2000, and even so I use OpenOffice. Since I can log onto the
company terminal server farm using either Windows of Linux versions of
the Citrix client, I can work from home using my home machine without
needing to buy any software I don't have any use for personally.

But that doesn't mean I don't have opinions.

Ron

Yes, equally I will yours

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Ron de Bruin" wrote in message
...
I also add it to my site Nick

--

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


"Nick Hodge" wrote in message
...
Harlan

And life just got slightly better :-)

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui"
<commands
<command idMso="ApplicationOptionsDialog" enabled="false"/
<command idMso="FileExit" enabled="false"/
</commands
</customUI

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Nick Hodge" wrote in message
...
Harlan

Comments in line

"Harlan Grove" wrote in message
oups.com...
"Nick Hodge" wrote...
. . . I just feel that many of the features on old toolbars were
not discoverable, there's many I've not found/used surely. Now
whether they're more discoverable now is questionable?? For the
average to power user, it's probably a backward step . . .

One big example: I have the Forms toolbar docked on the right hand
side of my Excel 2003 window and the Drawing toolbar docked on the
bottom of it. Not trivial at all to get both on screen at the same
time in Excel 2007.

Harlan, I agree this one, there is no way I know of to move stuff around
the application frame or place near your area of work, e.g tear off


Now there were/are some thoroughly pointless built-in toolbars, such
as the Borders toolbar, that's a much, much bigger PITA to use that
the Border tab in the Format Cells dialog. Getting rid of them is
definitely a good thing. Unfortunately, MSFT got rid of the useful
ones too.


That has to be IYO, as some users... not me, will use that feature
frequently. What's one man's PITA is another man's nirvana. (That's
MSFT's with there Watson SQM data)

. . . and MS 'claim' to have used data collected from the 'User
Experience' program, which most experienced people 'turn off'
...

I believe they did, but I also believe the people who opted in were
disproportionately nonbusiness users using few if any of the more
important business features. How many home users are fetching data
from ODBC data sources? How many are running pivot table reports on
OLAP cubes? How many are using more than 20 different worksheet
functions in their home budgets? On the flip side, how many business
users are allowed to use bandwidth to participate in the program?


That's my contention too, hence I've turned mine on, but I'd agree that
many corporates would not allow by policy, connections of this type.
They need to find a better way of getting this information from a
broader group *pre* beta, as by that stage, particularly with the
'ownership' issue, it's often too late and 'minds are set'. Not that
Companies like Boeing, Ford, etc are not helping to drive, but they have
a very narrow view and one policy per Company I concede.

for example the ribbon is now 'owned' by another group. The
officeMenu (RibbonX element) is owned by the UI team across apps
and even the charting (and shapes) is partly controlled by an
OfficeArt team. . . .
...

Nothing new. Excel has suffered from ever closer integration since
Excel 5 when the first major menu overhaul happened.


And I see that going even further with more of a Worksesque type
'shell'

. . . (Take the dictator app from the other day...no issue in 2007) .
. .

Really? It's possible for the ribbon not to appear at all? That means
not even the row of tabs.

Sure (Jim Rech's)

Sub RemoveRibbon()
Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro "SHOW.TOOLBAR(""Ribbon"",False)"
End Sub

(I know you'll laugh at ExecuteExcel4Macro...I can hear you ;-))


It's possible to hide the QAT and the Office logo which gives access
to file system/printer commands and Excel settings?

See above


BTW, how does one leave the ribbon, QAT and Office logo in place but
disable file system/printer commands as was possible in earlier
versions by disabling but not hiding specific menu items? That is,
does RibbonX allow modification of the Office logo menu?


Sure, you can, the first disables the save menu and the second
re-purposes the print button

<commands
<command idMso="FileSave" enabled="false"/
<command idMso="FilePrint" onAction="myPrint"/
</commands

And this will add an item to a menu on the officeMenu

<officeMenu
<menu idMso="FileSendMenu"
<button id="button1" imageMso="FileOpen" label="Open"
description="Open Something" onAction="OpenMe"/
</menu
</officeMenu


The following will leave you with a blank canvas and just the 'crucial
officeMenu operations. These can be disabled or re-purposed. (See below
ribbonX for one drawback to date)

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2006/01/customui"
<ribbon startFromScratch="true"
</customUI

The really unfortunate bit currently is you cannot remove, or probably
more usefully replace the office button icon, or individually remove the
Excel options or Exit Excel buttons. But then I think we all know this
is very V1 and someone has to work with it or we can't suggests
amendments in the real world and staying still was not an option ;-)

I found this link, (three parts) really useful in my limited training so
far

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx

I have a developing area on my site

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx

and Ron de Bruin's is probably more complete

http://www.rondebruin.nl/ribbon.htm

I know you and many others need a lot more convincing, but we also can
try and adopt and be constructive in our criticism and become
influencers in future changes, bearing in mind MSFT are NOT going to
return to the old commandbars model (I laughed at the launch that
Application.StatusBar, has become Application.CommandBars("Status
Bar")!).

Try it and let's get some dialog going to MS on how to make it better,
it certainly needs that, I agree, but again IMVHO...I like the
direction.

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

Harlan

But that doesn't mean I don't have opinions.

And without sounding patronising (which means it will) I quite like your
opinions ;-)

Don't think were too far apart here, I'm just trying to work with V1.0,
you're choosing to wait, sure we'll end upon the same road.

--
HTH
Nick Hodge
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Southampton, England
DTHIS
web: www.nickhodge.co.uk
blog: www.nickhodge.co.uk/blog/

FREE UK OFFICE USER GROUP MEETING, MS READING, 27th APRIL 2007
www.officeusergroup.co.uk

"Harlan Grove" wrote in message
oups.com...
"Nick Hodge" wrote...
...
And I see that going even further with more of a Worksesque type 'shell'
...

Why not resurrect Bob but give it office rather than home furniture?

Sure (Jim Rech's)

Sub RemoveRibbon()
Application.ExecuteExcel4Macro "SHOW.TOOLBAR(""Ribbon"",False)"
End Sub

(I know you'll laugh at ExecuteExcel4Macro...I can hear you ;-))
...

Not at all. ExecuteExcel4Macro is the only way to make Excel/VBA pull
anything from closed workbooks using dynamic external references other
than entering them as cell formulas in hidden ad hoc workbooks.

Guess I need to refresh my XLM skills.

The really unfortunate bit currently is you cannot remove, or probably
more
usefully replace the office button icon, or individually remove the Excel
options or Exit Excel buttons. But then I think we all know this is very
V1
and someone has to work with it or we can't suggests amendments in the
real
world and staying still was not an option ;-)
...

Too V1.

Where I work, IT upgraded everyone who got new PCs in 2005 from Office
97 to Office 2002, and last year upgraded everyone from either Office
97 or Office 2002 to Office 2003. They never installed Office 2000.
It's highly unlikely they'll ever install Office 2007. Maybe we'll get
Office 14 a year or two after it's released. I'll be ready when it
happens, but I'm not exactly burning with anticipation.

As for home use, I still see no compelling reason to upgrade from
Office 2000, and even so I use OpenOffice. Since I can log onto the
company terminal server farm using either Windows of Linux versions of
the Citrix client, I can work from home using my home machine without
needing to buy any software I don't have any use for personally.

But that doesn't mean I don't have opinions.