Customize the Office user interface in Office 2010

 

Applies to: Office 2010

Topic Last Modified: 2011-11-21

Banner stating end of support date for Office 2010 with link to more info

In Microsoft Office 2010, you can customize the new Backstage view, the ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar, and context menus.

The resources that are listed and described in this article will help you customize the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface in Office 2010 applications. Microsoft introduced the ribbon extensibility model in the 2007 Microsoft Office system as part of the Office Fluent UI. This was a new way to customize the user interface and create custom tabs and groups that were specific to users’ needs. Office 2010 extends the span of the UI extensibility platform by providing support for customization of the new Microsoft Office Backstage view.

In this article:

  • Customize the Backstage view

  • Customize the ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar, and context menus

Customize the Backstage view

In Office 2010, the Microsoft Office button is replaced by the File tab. The File tab brings you to the Backstage view. The Backstage view is customizable and lets organizations customize the UI to suit their needs.

For information about how to use and customize the Backstage view, see the following resources:

Customize the ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar, and context menus

In Office 2010, the Office Fluent UI is fully customizable. This includes the ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar, and the built-in context menus. By using the flexible XML-based markup and callbacks, you can create context menus by updating Open XML Format files or by using add-ins that are created in Microsoft Visual Studio.

In Office 2010, the applications that use the ribbon create one <App>.officeUI settings file for each application. Note that the customizations to the ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar in one Office 2010 application do not apply across all Office 2010 applications. That is because some commands do not carry over. This means, for example, that if you want to add the Track Changes command to the Quick Access Toolbar for both Word 2010 and Excel 2010, you must customize the Quick Access Toolbar in each application.

If you have customized a Microsoft Office 2007 QAT, you can take the settings file from the c:\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\<App>.qat, copy it to the Office 2010 location, and rename it to <App>.officeUI to use the 2007 settings.

For information about how to use and customize the ribbon, the Quick Access Toolbar, or context menus, see the following resources: