Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

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Charles Kenyon
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Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by Charles Kenyon »

My FAQ and Usersguide pages predate the Ribbon versions of Word but I've tried to update them to consider the ribbon interface. I just was reminded of a rather comprehensive blog about Word.
http://infobitt.blogspot.com/2010/06/wh ... -word.html
This is focused on Word 2002 and should be useful for those using any of the menu versions of Word. It is well laid-out and understandable.

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HansV
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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by HansV »

Chris Greaves will be delighted!
Best wishes,
Hans

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:
10 May 2022, 16:16
Chris Greaves will be delighted!
Chris Greaves is horrified and anxious:-

horrified: "Word processing is the act of typing, editing and printing out of textual/graphical information ... " and there I have been using it as a platform for VBA applications for these past twenty-five years.
I have done a bit of research (well, trial and error actually) and discovered that I could have used Word Processing(1) to create a Resume. Just think - I could have applied for a job back in 1997, instead of working my fingers to the bone. And damaging my left-hand Shift key through overuse.

anxious: I see that the comments go as far as 2010, but I am still in 2003, so I have seven years of knowledge to catch up on with.

Cheers.
and thanks to Charles!

Chris

(1) There was a word-processor at SBTC where I worked in Singapore; It was about the size of the old IBM 1620, but it had a CHAIR you could sit at while you used it.
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SpeakEasy
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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by SpeakEasy »

>the Ribbon versions of Word

I wrote a tiny piece of VBA back in 2010 that restores the classic menus to the post-2007 ribbon-based Office apps(well, Word and Excel at least) ...

classicmenus.png
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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by HansV »

Might that persuade Chris to finally upgrade to a newer version? Nah, I don't think so...
Best wishes,
Hans

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Charles Kenyon wrote:
10 May 2022, 15:51
My FAQ and Usersguide pages predate the Ribbon versions of Word but I've tried to update them to consider the ribbon interface.
Hello Charles. If I have asked you before and just forgotten that I had done so, please forgive me, and put it down to old age (of my Office2003 cd).

In your experience, are there any major differences between the keyboard assignments for commands in Word2003 vs. (say) Word2007?
and if so, are there any that stand out in your mind?

By keyboard assignments I mean the use of the menu system, Alt+F,O for file open, Alt+A,I,T to insert a table and so on.
We might include universal shortcut key combinations such as Ctrl+C, Ctrl+A, Ctrl+Z.
I do not mean the shortcut keys I assign to my homegrown macros.

By stand out I refer to changes in keyboard assignments, such as the switch (from '97 to 2003, I think it was), when Alt+Insert+Index became Alt+Insert+Reference+Index.

I rather think that if today I went back to teaching Office (Hans's version, whatever that is; I can't even keep up with version numbers any more) I would survive quite well by barking out the keyboard combinations rather than puzzling over where MS had hidden the command in the ribbon.

Thanks, Chris
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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by HansV »

The old keyboard shortcuts for Word 97-2003 menu commands such as Alt+A, I, T still work in all later versions.
Best wishes,
Hans

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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by ChrisGreaves »

SpeakEasy wrote:
10 May 2022, 16:56
I wrote a tiny piece of VBA back in 2010 that restores the classic menus to the post-2007 ribbon-based Office apps(well, Word and Excel at least) ...
Hello Speakeasy, a commendable effort! Does your system allow you to get rid of the ribbon and provide the user with a facsimile of the Office97/2003 menu system? I think that in your screenshot the ribbon is taking up valuable screen space.

Here is my screen for comparison.
Untitled.png
I count 31 lines of text available in Times New Roman 12 point font.

The top line contains just eight of my 181 application toolbars; "Under" has an extensive menu system which offers 587 user macros, some of which appear in the screen shot, so I can still pack a punch without a ribbon!
The purple arrows indicate 4+3 non-text areas of the window.
Thanks, Chris
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SpeakEasy
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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

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>Does your system allow you to get rid of the ribbon and provide the user with a facsimile of the Office97/2003 menu system?

Sadly not, as the classic menu is hosted on a ribbon. I normally set the ribbon to collapse when not in use deal with this .

Here's the full code

Code: Select all

Option Explicit

Public Sub MakeOldMenus()
    Dim OldMenu As CommandBar
    Dim OldMenu2 As CommandBar
    Dim lp As Long

    ' Delete our current custom menus, if they exist
    KillMenus

    ' Create an old-style toolbar
    ' Set the last argument to False for a (slightly) more compact menu
    Set OldMenu = Application.CommandBars.Add("Old Menus", , True)
    Set OldMenu2 = Application.CommandBars.Add("Old Menus2", , False)

    ' Now copy the old style menu items onto our custom menu
    ' using IDs to avoid language issues
    On Error Resume Next
    With Application.CommandBars
        .FindControl(, 30002).Copy OldMenu
        .FindControl(, 30003).Copy OldMenu
        .FindControl(, 30004).Copy OldMenu
        .FindControl(, 30005).Copy OldMenu
        .FindControl(, 30006).Copy OldMenu
        .FindControl(, 30007).Copy OldMenu
        .FindControl(, 30008).Copy OldMenu ' Does not exist in Excel - error handling will skip it
        .FindControl(, 30011).Copy OldMenu ' Does not exist in Word - error handling will skip it
        .FindControl(, 30009).Copy OldMenu
        .FindControl(, 30010).Copy OldMenu
    End With
    On Error GoTo 0
    ' For additional fun, add Standard and Formatting toolbars below menu
    ' Unfortunately we cannot display them in the ribbon in quite the same way as we might want
    For lp = 1 To Application.CommandBars("Standard").Controls.Count
        Application.CommandBars("Standard").Controls.Item(lp).Copy OldMenu2
    Next

    For lp = 1 To Application.CommandBars("Formatting").Controls.Count
        Application.CommandBars("Formatting").Controls.Item(lp).Copy OldMenu2
    Next

    ' Make menu and tollbars visible. They appears in the Add-Ins tab
    Application.CommandBars("Old Menus").Visible = True
    Application.CommandBars("Old Menus2").Visible = True
End Sub

Public Sub KillMenus()
 '  Delete our current custom menus, if they exist
    On Error Resume Next
        Application.CommandBars("Old Menus").Delete
        Application.CommandBars("Old Menus2").Delete
    On Error GoTo 0
End Sub

(Mind you, I am clearly using a bigger screen than you, as I get 47 lines of 12pt Times Roman visible when the ribbon is showing and 52 when it isn't)

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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by ChrisGreaves »

SpeakEasy wrote:
11 May 2022, 12:36
(Mind you, I am clearly using a bigger screen than you, as I get 47 lines of 12pt Times Roman visible when the ribbon is showing and 52 when it isn't)
So The Ribbon costs you five lines of text? That is, with a maximized Window your eye/brain has five lines less of data to process?
That is a reduction of roughly ten percent in data content, right?
Thanks, Chris
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Charles Kenyon
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Re: Good resource for menu versions (pre Word 2007) of Word

Post by Charles Kenyon »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
13 May 2022, 12:54
SpeakEasy wrote:
11 May 2022, 12:36
(Mind you, I am clearly using a bigger screen than you, as I get 47 lines of 12pt Times Roman visible when the ribbon is showing and 52 when it isn't)
So The Ribbon costs you five lines of text? That is, with a maximized Window your eye/brain has five lines less of data to process?
That is a reduction of roughly ten percent in data content, right?
Thanks, Chris
Since the Ribbon has been around for 15+ years, it is a bit late to complain. MS isn't listening anyway.
Greg Maxey wrote a simple XML add-in to put the menus, standard and formatting toolbars on the screen back in 2007. You can download it from here.
https://gregmaxey.com/word_tip_pages/ri ... ntrol.html
00 deleteme 1.png
The user can hide the other tabs if desired. That could also be written into Greg's Add-In.
To download it, search for Classic UI

If "upgrading," I strongly urge you to avoid 2007 which was, in my opinion, a beta release.

Here is my article on minimizing/collapsing the Ribbon.
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mso ... 8531874262
You can work with the full screen if you want.
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