Why upgrade to Word 2010? Here are my main reasons. In Word 2007, there is no way for the user to customize the Ribbon. A developer can customize the Ribbon by writing XML code. But there is no way for an ordinary user to make any changes to the Ribbon. That represented an enormous step backwards from the functionality we'd had since, oh, Word 95 or maybe even earlier. What you cannot do is make any changes to a built-in group.You can show or hide built-in tabs or built-in groups.You can add a new tab, add groups to the tab, and add controls to each group.In Word 2010, the user can customize the ribbon. However: beware of the Big Bug that will delete all your customization efforts. Echo Swinford has a good description of the bug.
She writes about PowerPoint, not Word, but the principles are the same. One of the cool things about the Ribbon is that it expands and contracts to reflect the window size. In Word 2007, if a developer customized the Ribbon and created a custom group, it did not expand and contract. In Word 2010, custom groups expand and contract just like built-in groups. you are working on a laptop or a netbook with a tiny screen.Įven customizations made from within Word by users expand and contract.