Office 2007 Ships with New User Interface

A redesigned user interface (UI) in several popular Office applications could prove simpler for average users and could particularly help users format documents for final presentation. However, the new UI might require retraining, particularly for expert users, and it might require updates to an organization’s business procedures.

Better Discoverability, Formatting

The new UI appears in the 2007 versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access, and in the Outlook 2007 e-mail editor (which uses Word 2007).

The new UI abandons the fixed structure of menus arranged in a menu bar. Instead, it features a “ribbon,” an enlarged toolbar that shows labeled command icons for the user’s current activity. The commands on the Ribbon change dynamically as the user works, presenting commands relevant to what the user is doing at the moment. The user can preview the effect of most formatting commands before committing to them. In addition, galleries show formatting commands with common combinations of options preselected, enabling users to quickly find the most appropriate choice and see how it will look. (For a graphical view of these choices, see the illustration “Ribbon and Galleries in Office 2007“.)