Whilst Microsoft are busy tweaking Office 2010, the beta versions of which can be downloaded from here, the rest of us are still coming to grips with the changes they made back in 2007 to that staple of home and office computers.
The bold interface changes made to Office 2007, once you get used to it, is actually much better than its predecessors especially because of its incredible attention to mouseless navigation. However, after a conversation I had with a friend during the week I realised that the changes are still frustrating for someone that only uses the software occasionally and has the old Office navigation drilled into their subconscious.
Luckily there’s a free and easy plugin for that.
UBitMenu is a free plugin that literally brings back the classic menu and toolbars to Word, Powerpoint and Excel. Once installed you’ll notice an addition to the Office ribbon, called “Menu”, which you will find nestled between “Home” and “Insert”. Clicking “Menu” will bring you most of the old 2003 menu options arranged just the way you remember them. It’s free for home use and only €10 for commercial use. The plugin will even work in Office 2010, which hasn’t deviated much from the Office 2007 interface design.
If you want to add even more options to Microsoft Office, why not try the OfficeTab plugin – which enables you to navigate multiple open documents the same way you would webpages in Firefox or IE7. Very nifty.