How to get the Classic 2003 menu back

Why did you even try to answer this question? You must be running through questions and mailing in ridiculous answers to increase your rating? It does not make you an expert just because you put some random answer on hundreds or thousands of questions.

If you re-read my question, I already stated that I knew the procedure to toggle the freakin' RIBBON.  BTW, it's minimize, not minimise and it is not an answer to my question...you just repeated something that I said I was already aware of.

If you are going to take the time to answer, please provide a value added answer otherwise stay off the message board!

Sanwin2,

I came here because I am addressing other users, Microsoft MVPs, and support personnel. You would know this if you read Josh Meisels', (Microsoft Outlook Program Manager), blog entry onhttp://blogs.msdn.com/b/outlook/, dated 19 Aug. 2010.

For you and any other expert on here that doesn't think Microsoft is looking at these posts, here is Josh's entry:

"Hello Readers,

Many of you have posted comments on our previous posts asking for help with specific features or questions with Outlook 2010. While we enjoy hearing your thoughts about Outlook, we cannot support individual users via blog comments.

That’s why we want to introduce you to answers.microsoft.com, a community forum where you can post questions and receive responses from other users, Microsoft MVPs, and support personnel. Best of all, support fromanswers.microsoft.com is free!

If you’re an Outlook expert, test your skills by answering other users’ questions onanswers.microsoft.com. If you have questions about Outlook or Microsoft Office, check out the answers forum to see if other people have asked your question, or ask your own. You can also find forums for other Microsoft products such as Windows, Security Essentials, or Windows Phone. We hope you find the answers forum a useful reference!

Josh Meisels

Outlook Program Manager"

When Gordon says "Minimize the Ribbon" he is referring to the <CTL F1> toggle shortcut. It minimizes the PHAT ribbon GOOEY to show just the tab titles. It is an approximate replica of the old menu.

Use <CTL F1> in combination with the <alt> shortcut. In the old versions you could press and HOLD the <ALT> key as you navigated through the rest of the commands. DO NOT DO THAT ANYMORE. Touch and immediatly RELEASE the <ALT> key to immediately display the menu access letters. The as you press the appropriate letter, the shortcut letters for the next level down display. Sure some of the old shortcuts still work. It is trial and error to figure out which are good and which aren't. So it may be better in the long run to start learning the new shortcuts. In the old menus, there were a max of I think 19 items in a menu. Now I've counted up to 70 commands in a single Ribbon. No wonder they need 2 characters for many of the shortcuts. I just wish I could have some of whatever it was they were on when they assigned the new shortcut letters ... wow, confusing.

That being said, I agree completely. The Ribbon Gooey is too much: too much screen real estate and too much change. 4 years later and I still STRONGLY resent the unilateral decision by MS to throw out all of MY PERSONAL INVESTMENT of time and MONEY in learning the Menu UI Shortcuts over the last 20 years. I have my favorites down to muscle memory. I don't have to think about them, they just happen.

Personally I'm still astounded and perplexed that MS didn't provide backward compatibility with the menu. It would have been a trivial effort to create a "menu tab" or an Option to toggle between Ribbon and Menu. That way they could have had the "best of both worlds". The new Ribbon for new customers/users, and the old menu for long time "power users". Reverse compatibility has been built in to the very roots of Windows and Office. So why was this change the exception. 

Both the menu and the ribbon are simply shells on top of the underlying command that access the actuall functionality. The underlying commands did not change, VBA still works just fine.

PS: I too hope that selected comments from these discusson forums make it back to the development teams. That is why I too make similar observations and comments.

If this proposed solution has resolved your issue(s), please mark it as  Propose as Answer  to let others know the solution that worked for you

Please click on the  "Vote as Helpful" button! 

 BTW, it's minimize, not minimise

Oh no it's not - it's MINIMISE in proper English.

Gordon,

Touché - I didn't realize a Redcoat would be replying to my post. In Atlanta, we are not accustomed to The Queen's English.

Listen, I am not trying to be a jerk. I am just so damned frustrated by this stupid RIBBON and was hoping for an answer, an answer that would give me what I was looking for. I do not want workarounds or shortcuts, although they have their place. I just want the simple option of using either the menu or the ribbon.

As Rohn007 stated, it is astounding that MS took this approach and "didn't provide backward compatibility with the menu."

Anyway, your answer struck me wrong in my moment of frustration. I was wrong and I "Apologise". I just hope MS will see the frustration they are causing with this iteration of the Office Suite and provide a fix. 

CK

Rohn,

Thanks for your insight and I really hope someone gets the message here. This seems to be a new trend with MS...don't even get me started on Windows 7.

They need to know that change does not equal better. I don't know, maybe we are the ones who need to learn this lesson. I understand they have to keep putting out new products to keep their revenue stream going and I guess the real problem is, we buy into the hype that the new products will be better. We are then stuck with frustration when their new offerings fall short of our lowest expectations. This problem gets compounded further when MS and other companies pigeonhole us into new products by ending support for older products and not allowing the new products to be backwards compatible. 

Thanks again,

CK

Although I don't speak for Microsoft, it is well aware of the complaints from some users about the ribbon, but it has now been around since Office 2007 was being developed some four years ago. Office 2010 expanded the use of the ribbon to some of the elements (such as Outlook) which previously didn't have it. There are no plans to revert to a menu driven version of Office.

There are third party ribbon modifications out there, as you acknowledge (some of them free) but they do not recreate the menu system. They merely create an illusion of menus from the ribbon tools and frankly get in the way of learning to use the ribbon, whilst failing to achieve the 2003 interface which was the intention. My friend Greg Maxey has a free one on his web site -http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Ribbon_Menu_Controls.htm and lots of information on editing the ribbon.http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Customize_Ribbon.htm

There is no answer to your problems because what you are asking for is not going to happen. If you want to stick with Microsoft's new product range, you will have to deal with the ribbon.
Or you could install the old Office 2003 that you are familiar with,
Or you could go for something else. Open Office is menu driven. An Office clone it ain't.

FWIW I too hated the ribbon when I came to it and reluctantly adopted it as I provide support for Word, but now, although I have Word 2003 (and 2010 for that matter) on my PC, I rarely use it. I find it easier to work with Word 2007, both as a vba programming platform and as a document editor. I have simply edited the ribbon to suit the way I work.

<ck7kk12> wrote in message news:*** Email address is removed for privacy ***...

Rohn,

Thanks for your insight and I really hope someone gets the message here. This seems to be a new trend with MS...don't even get me started on Windows 7.

They need to know that change does not equal better. I don't know, maybe we are the ones who need to learn this lesson. I understand they have to keep putting out new products to keep their revenue stream going and I guess the real problem is, we buy into the hype that the new products will be better. We are then stuck with frustration when their new offerings fall short of our lowest expectations. This problem gets compounded further when MS and other companies pigeonhole us into new products by ending support for older products and not allowing the new products to be backwards compatible.

Thanks again,

CK

Apology accepted. 

Yes, there is technological life above the 49th parallel. It is too easy to mix spellings.

I can sympathise with frustration (both with the Ribbon Gooey <sic> and this forum). When I first saw your response, my frustrated response was ... .  I've been getting other snarky responses from regular posters that have been getting under my skin.  But why bother continuing a flame war  ... it may save on heating expenses <grin>, but ultimately it's not worth the effort.

If this proposed solution has resolved your issue(s), please mark it as  Propose as Answer  to let others know the solution that worked for you

Please click on the  "Vote as Helpful" button! 

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook-help/learn-where-menu-and-toolbar-commands-are-in-office-2010-HA101794130.aspx - Silverlight applets Mapping 2003 to 2010 commands for all Office apps.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx - flash applets mapping Office 2003 menus to 2007 ribbon.