How to Change Office 2007 to Look Like Office 2003
With the release of Microsoft Office 2007, long-time users of Microsoft's Office suites got a surprise. Gone were the familiar menus that had been a staple of the product (and a standard in the software industry) for years. Microsoft replaced its menus with ribbons, a completely new concept in software user interface. These ribbons were promised to be logically organized---and they are so logically organized that there is no way to customize them without extensive programming skills. Many users liked the new look, but there were as many who despised the change. Using some specialized software, it's now possible to change your Office 2007 applications back to the look of Office 2003.
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Things You'll Need
- Any one of the following products:
- Ribbon Customizer or
- Classic Menu for Office 2007 or
- UBitMenu
Instructions
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Select one of the software programs. They all can convert Microsoft Office ribbons style into the classic menu style. The three programs are very similar, with a few differences. UBit will only work with Excel and Word. UBit places the classic menu into the ribbons as an option, so you just click on the appropriate ribbon to switch to the classic menu look of 2003. Classic Menu for Office 2007 is available either as a package, with all Office 2007 products included, or as individual programs. Ribbon Customizer installs as a tab and allows more customization, in addition to the classic 2003 menu. All of the products are comparatively priced.
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Install the software of your choice. Since all of the programs will make Office 2007 look like Office 2003, use your budget and the options each offer as your guide. Ribbon Customizer has a free version, and since it includes other ways to customize your ribbon, you may prefer it. The free version does not give you access to all of the customized ribbon schemes, but you can use it to turn your Office 2007 into Office 2003.
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Choose Classic Menu for Office 2007 if you only want to customize one of the products in Office. The full Office version is around $30.00 (as of February 2010), but you can buy the individual Office programs at half the cost.
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Open Microsoft Office or any one of the programs individually. You will see an added ribbon that will feature your customized classic 2003 menu. Select the classic 2003 menu and your Office 2007 products will now look like the classic version. The features of 2007 remain intact. The classic menu ribbon features a one-click option to return to the Office 2007 look at any time.
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