Making Microsoft Office 2007 Look Like Microsoft Office 2003?

By: Ang Biondo

Unfortunately Microsoft™ did not incorporate a choice or way to change the ‘Office © 2007 applications to the classic look.  I do include a solution however, at the end of this article.<br/>Microsoft™ will be dropping support for its ‘Office ® 2003 © products soon and, it has a lot of people concerned.  The Microsoft™ “Lifecycle support policy is to support a product for 10 years, or 5 after its replacement makes its debut.  You can read the full text by clicking on: Microsoft ^TM Lifecycle Support Policy FAQ’s . 

Microsoft™ made many changes and improvements to ‘Office 2007 ® incorporating over 1500 commands which necessitated the need to restructure the classic menu ribbon we were all so familiar with.  Many ‘Office © users are concerned the dramatic change to the new ribbon menu of the ‘Office © 2007 applications will impair their efficiency at the office.   The change in the menu structure and overall appearance is alien to them.  Those that have used ‘Office since its inception are used to transparent upgrades and the classic look.  From the first version of Microsoft™ Office© all subsequent versions had that familiar look and classic menu.  Improvements and new features were incorporated into it.  Microsoft™ Office 2007© changed that.  It didn’t look anything like its predecessors.

Basically Microsoft™ literally ran out of room on the classic ribbon menu for additional features and was forced to create a  new look to accommodate new features for its newest version of Microsoft™ Office.  You can see the story of the evolution of the new ribbon menu on Jensen Harris’s blog at: The Story of the Ribbon.  Jensen Harris is the Microsoft™ Production manager responsible for the new look. You can download the video and pick up some good pointers on ‘Office ® at the same time.

It seems most people are concerned with the learning curve when upgrading to ‘Office ® 2007.  It seems ‘Office © users who find it most difficult to make the transition to the new format are those who only use ‘Word©, or Excel©.  Most power users who use all or most of the applications in the ‘Office suite usually make the transition in a relatively short period of time.  But that is not to say I haven’t heard complaints from them as well. I admit the learning curve is somewhat difficult for many. 

With the end of support looming in the not too distant future, many companies are upgrading their networks to ‘Office © 2007 and the employee’s who are so accustomed to the friendly classic look of past versions of ‘Office © will be forced into the apparently hostile environment of ‘Office © 2007.

If it’s any consolation, I have been using Microsoft™ Office ® 2007 Professional since it was first introduced.  I consider myself an average user but, admit I have multiple computers and installed it on only one of the systems while I still ran ‘Office © 2003 on my main computer.  Being, I wasn’t thrown into it and had time to acclimate to it, I wasn’t intimidated by it and had time to familiarize myself with it.  I guess being retired helped a little too.

For those who don’t have the luxury of time to adjust to the new environment of ‘Office © 2007, there is hope.  Someone out there has heard your cries for help.  They have developed a plug-in to change the menu structure and appearance of ‘Office ® 2007 to look and feel like ‘Office ® 2003.  The company, Addintools Technology LTD sells the plug-in/s for $29.95 U.S. for all modules or $15.95 U.S. for the individual modules.  You can purchase their products directly from them at:  http://www.addintools.com/.  If you are interested, you can view the screen shots of what ‘Office © 2007’s applications look like with the “addintools” installed by clicking here.

From what I see the screenshots are fairly close to the ’03 ‘Office © applications, except for ‘Access © which looks more like ‘Excel © to me.  Other than that I think they are as close to the ’03 ‘Office © products as you can get.  The extra features of ‘Office © 2007 make it impossible to be exact.  The downside, is having to shell out $30.  That seems a little high for a plug-in.  Especially since the new look is probably going to become the new classic look for the ‘Office menu.

Next week:  Some pointers and short-cuts for Microsoft™ Office Professional ®

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