Khan Muhammad Kawser
In this tutorial, you are introduced to Excel’s Ribbon feature. Excel ribbon makes your work faster and smoother. After reading this article you will be able to know how to show, hide, & customize Excel ribbon. You will also get to know the basic components of Excel ribbon, Quick Access Toolbar, etc.
Introduction to Basic Components of Excel Ribbon
The ribbon is the long narrow region located above the work area where there are some tab names, buttons, and icons to work with. The menus and toolbars have been replaced with the Ribbon from Excel 2007. In Excel ribbon, commands are grouped in specific categories. For example, the ‘Clipboard‘ group is made up of ‘Paste‘, ‘Cut‘, ‘Copy‘, and ‘Format Painter‘ commands in the ‘Home‘ ribbon.
There are five basic components of the Excel Ribbon. They are the Quick Access Toolbar, Tabs, Groups of commands, Command buttons and icons, and Dialog Box launchers.
- Quick Access Toolbar: This customizable toolbar holds commonly used commands. You can add more commands to this toolbar using ‘File⇒Options⇒Quick Access Toolbar’ command. Whatever tab (Home/ Insert/ Page Layout/ Formulas/ others) you are using, this toolbar is always visible.
- Tabs and their names: Tab names are HOME, INSERT, PAGE LAYOUT, FORMULAS, DATA, REVIEW, VIEW, and DEVELOPER. A tab name contains some groups of commands. Click the INSERT tab (by default HOME tab is selected) and you will see Tables, Illustrations, Apps, Charts, Reports, Sparklines, Filters, Links, Text, and Symbols like groups of commands.
- Groups of commands: In the INSERT tab, the Tables group of commands is made up of PivotTable, Recommended PivotTables, and Table command buttons.
- Command buttons & icons: In the INSERT tab, the Tables group of commands is made up of PivotTable, Recommended PivotTables, and Table command buttons. Every command button has an icon to recognize it easily.
- Dialog box launchers: Some groups may have more commands than they are showing in the Ribbon. For example, the PAGE LAYOUT tab’s Page Setup group has more commands than it is showing in the ribbon. How did we understand this? As there is a small arrow located in the lower-right corner of the Page Setup group. Click on this small arrow and the dialog box will appear in the screen with more commands.
Read More:Â Understanding contextual tabs in Excel Ribbon
1. Excel Ribbon Tabs
Each tab on the Ribbon contains groups of commands. Don’t be afraid to see a huge number of commands on each tab. If you go through all the tutorials on this website, you will be familiar with each of the common Excel commands.
Tab names are HOME, INSERT, PAGE LAYOUT, FORMULAS, DATA, REVIEW, VIEW, and DEVELOPER. A tab name contains some groups of commands. Click the INSERT tab (by default HOME tab is selected) and you will see Tables, Illustrations, Apps, Charts, Reports, Sparklines, Filters, Links, Text, and Symbols like groups of commands.
Read More: How to Get Developer Tab in Excel (3 Quick Ways)
Click here to know details about Quick Access Toolbar.
2. Understanding Contextual Tabs in Excel Ribbon
When you will work with charts or shapes or these kinds of objects then special types of tabs will appear in the Excel Ribbon Tab zone. These contextual tabs contain commands related to objects that you have selected.
For example, if you add a rectangular shape to your worksheet and select it, a contextual tab naming ‘FORMAT’ will appear after the last tab in the tab zone.
We shall add a shape to the Excel worksheet. Follow the following steps:
Steps:
- Open your Excel program and create a new worksheet. When you have opened your worksheet, click the Insert tab.
- Click on the ‘Shapes’ button of the ‘Illustrations’ group of commands.
- Click the ‘Rounded Rectangle’ shape from ‘Rectangles’.
- Click anywhere on your worksheet to place your selected ‘Rounded Rectangle’ shape.
- Select the new shape by clicking on it. You will see the contextual tab, labeled ‘Format’. ‘Format’ tab will be visible only if you select the shape.
Read More: How to show the Developer Tab on the Ribbon
3. Group of Commands in Excel Ribbon
Under every tab, the command buttons reside in a group. A group contains loosely similar commands. Under the ‘INSERT‘ tab, the ‘Tables‘ group of commands is made up of ‘PivotTable’, ‘Recommended PivotTables’, and ‘Table’ command buttons.
4. Dialog Box Launcher of Excel Ribbon
Some groups may have more commands that they are showing in the Ribbon.
For example, the ‘PAGE LAYOUT’ tab’s ‘Page Setup’ group has more commands than it is showing in the ribbon. How did we understand this? As there is a small arrow located in the lower-right corner of the ‘Page Setup’ group. Click on this small arrow and the dialog box will appear on the screen with more commands.
5. Show Ribbon Tabs and Commands All the Time
Your ribbon tabs and commands may be hidden in your worksheet. To show/unhide the ribbon tabs and commands all the time do the following-
- Press on the Ribbon Display Options icon option on top.
- After that click on to Show Tabs and Commands option.
Read More: How to Restore Ribbon in Excel (5 Quick Ways)
5.1 Show Ribbon Tabs Only
To show only the ribbon tabs do the following
- Press on the Ribbon Display Options icon option on top.
- After that click on to Show Tabs option.
5.2 Hide the Ribbon Tabs
To hide the ribbon tabs do the following.
- Press on the Ribbon Display Options icon option on top.
- After that click on to Auto-hide Ribbon option.
6. Customize Excel Ribbon
To customize Excel Ribbon do the following.
- First, right-click on the mouse button on the empty space of the ribbon.
- Click on the Customize the Ribbon.
- A new box (Excel Options) will appear in which you can edit, remove, rename or add any tab that you want. You can even form a new group of tabs.
7. Customize Quick Access Toolbar
- First, right-click on the mouse button on the empty space of the ribbon.
- Click on the Customize Quick Access Toolbar.
- A new box (Excel Options) will appear in which you can add or remove any tool you want.
8. Using Excel VBA to Hide/Unhide Ribbon
You can use the following code to hide the Excel Ribbon.
Sub Workbook_Open()
CommandBars.ExecuteMso "HideRibbon"
End SubSource:Â stackoverflow.com
Things to Remember
- Ribbon in Excel is a handy tool to use Excel proficiently. you can customize tabs in your ribbon by going to the Options menu in the File Section.
Conclusion
I hope this article will help you to know what Excel Ribbon is. I think you will find interest in this article. If you have any kind of queries, feel free to ask me in the comment section.Â
