Office 2010: How do I remove or hide the ribbon?
Posted by David Kirk in Microsoft Office
The ribbon user-interface in the new versions of Office is still not universally loved. Trying to find ways to remove or hide it is a frequent request. In Office 2010 the ribbon can be hidden way with one simple mouse click. This function is available to the entire office suite include Word, Outlook, Powerpoint, and Excel.
Killing the ribbon through preferences or hacks has been commonplace since this new interface was released. Now it can be hidden with one mouse click.
Clicking the down arrow in the upper right hand corner of the application (near the question mark) will open or close the ribbon interface. It’s better demonstrated through the pictures below.
Ribbon open:
Ribbon closed:
About David Kirk
David Kirk is one of the original founders of tech-recipes and is currently serving as editor-in-chief. Not only has he been crafting tutorials for over ten years, but in his other life he also enjoys taking care of critically ill patients as an ICU physician.
View more articles by David Kirk
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The Conversation
Follow the reactions below and share your own thoughts.
July 22, 2010 at 9:00 am, Sharp300zx said:
Hallelujah! Conceptually, it may have seemed like a good idea but in practice it is a serious yet totally unnecessary productivity drop for the average working professional. Well done for listening and acting.
August 03, 2010 at 1:43 am, loose diamonds said:
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January 27, 2011 at 11:02 am, rrozema said:
Ok, this helps in recovering screen space that is taken up by the ribbon, which is good. I can see that people using the software frequently may find the ribbon useful as a shortcut to often used functions. However if you need to find a function that you only need occasionally and don’t know where it is on the ribbon, the ribbon’s messy layout makes it very hard to find it.
Is there a way to restore drop down menus (as in normal Windows behaviour) in office 2010?
March 30, 2011 at 12:59 pm, Ormot said:
The way to restore the drop-down menus is… switch to (free) OpenOffice
June 18, 2011 at 5:13 am, Vagablonde said:
I have not tried this myself as I hate the ribbons so stuck with a older office version
But I came across a post .
Free Classic Menu for Office 2010 – Show Classic Menus and Toolbars on Ribbon of Microsoft® Office 2010
The software brings familiar classic menus and toolbars of Microsoft Office 2003 to the Ribbon of Microsoft Office 2010 and allow you to work with Microsoft Office 2010 as if it were Office 2003, XP and 2000.
The software is free for personal non-commercial (home computers)
someone might find this useful