Office 2013 Feature Focus: Ribbon Display Options

In the final shipping version of Office 2013, Microsoft has added a nice new feature that makes it much easier to configure the applications’ ribbon interface. Called Ribbon Display Options, this feature lets you toggle the ribbon between three different states.

The Ribbon Display Options button appears in the top right of each Office 2013 application, to the left of the window control buttons.

When you tap this button, you’re presented with three display choices via a menu.

These choices are:

Auto-hide Ribbon. In this state, the application is placed into a full screen mode and the ribbon is hidden. You can still find display the ribbon, however, by mousing over the top part of the application window.

Show tabs. In this state, the ribbon is collapsed and only the ribbon tabs are visible, creating a streamlined looking version of the UI. The application remains windowed (or not) as it was previously, and clicking a ribbon tab will display that ribbon.

Show tabs and commands. In this state, which is the default, the full ribbon is shown.

Unlike some other Office 2013 features, Ribbon Display Options is not global. So changing it in one Office 2013 will not change the display of the ribbon in the other applications as well.