Ribbon Tips:
The Ribbon or Toolbar is fully customizable. 365 defaults to basic options. Learn your ribbon and begin to enjoy Word 365!
If you have been around computers as long as me, you have seen the many evolutions of Microsoft Word. The first training I ever presented on Word was 1999.
I developed a custom training manual to transition government employees from Corel WordPerfect to Microsoft Word. Our first class was, “Introducing the Mouse”. We then focused on transferring keyboard shortcuts to mouse clicks on the “Toolbar”, now known as the Ribbon.
Use the Ribbon
The Ribbon interface is alive and well in the current version of Word. Since it has been included in Office applications since Office 2007, you’re probably familiar with how it works, but if you need a refresher, see our Word 2010 cheat sheet.
In September 2018, Microsoft overhauled the way the Ribbon looks, and the company has continued to tinker with the design since then. It’s now flatter-looking, cleaner, and less cluttered, and it has high-contrast colors, which makes the icons and text on the Ribbon easier to see. Some time after Microsoft released Windows 11, the company again gave the Ribbon (and Office overall) a slight facelift, so it more closely aligns with that new version of Windows. But it still works in the same way, and you’ll find most of the commands in the same locations as in earlier versions.
The new look appears in both Windows 10 and Windows 11, but depending on your installation, it may or may not show up by default. You can check by clicking the icon of a megaphone near the top right of the screen above the Ribbon. In the Coming Soon screen that appears, look at the “Try the new experience” slider. If it’s “On,” it likely means you’re using the new interface. If it’s “Off” and you’d like to turn it on, move the slider to “On” and restart Word. That should turn on the new look. However, in my tests, changing back and forth was often flaky, especially on PCs running Windows 11.
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