In Office 2007, all the tools you need at any moment, such as the text-formatting functions in Word or cell-formatting functions in Excel, appear in the Ribbon at the top of the screen. The Ribbon contains functionality that pertains to the document at hand. All the options that were hidden within the menus of previous Office applications are now visible on the ribbon.
Tip – It’s called a “Ribbon” because you can hover your mouse pointer over the ribbon and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to scroll through the ribbon, much like scrolling through an old paper scroll that’s mounted on two spindles.
Options or functions that relate to the Office program in general appear in the “Office Button” or “Office Start Button.” This is the round button with the Office logo at the top left in Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The button glows gold when you hover your mouse pointer over it. When clicked, it reveals options such as Print, Save As, Close, Send and Program options.
If you’re having trouble finding options you used to use in Office 2003, click on the links below. These Web sites are interactive resources that allow you to select which options you used in Office 2003, and they’ll automatically show you where those options exist in Office 2007 applications.
Word 2007
Excel 2007
PowerPoint 2007
Outlook 2007
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Published 11/6/2009