It's possible to customise the Ribbon without extra software, but many add-ons have been created to allow more drastic changes. One is the Getting Started Ribbon, which gives control over the groups of icons displayed in the Ribbon tabs¬both the ordinary tabs and those that appear for specific tasks, such as tables. More control is possible with Ribboncustomizer. This adds an icon in the
View tab that opens a window where different groups of icons can be added to tabs, including the dynamic ones that appear when editing tables.

If the change is just too much to bear, the Ribboncustomizer also comes with the ClassicUI tab. This creates a new tab with all the icons and menus from Office 2003 and before. Another version is also available from Addintools. If you're stuck with Office 2007, these add-ons are a way of returning to a familiar interface, but we wouldn't recommend them for anything other than making a transition to the new interface. They are not a complete replacement either, so using one can mean learning even more changes, which is not ideal.

Although the Ribbon might seem a little strange at first, it quickly becomes far more intuitive than the old toolbars. The Quick Access toolbar keeps essential icons visible at all times and the old keyboard shortcuts from previous versions of Office still work. The Ribbon even makes it easier to use the keyboard, as the keys for shortcuts are clearly shown. Even though it is possible to return to the old style of menus and toolbars, we can't see much advantage in doing so.