The document describes some key features of Microsoft Office 2007's user interface, including the ribbon interface, contextual tabs, live preview, mini toolbar, and quick access toolbar. The ribbon replaced the traditional menu bar and organizes commands into tabs. Contextual tabs only appear when relevant objects are selected. Live preview temporarily applies formatting when hovering over buttons. The mini toolbar provides formatting options on text selection without right-clicking. The quick access toolbar at the top allows customizing frequently used commands across applications.

1. FEATURES OF OFFICE 2007

2.  User interface
 Office button
 Ribbon
 Contextual Tabs
 Live preview
 Mini Toolbar
 Quick Access Toolbar
 Other UI features
 Smart Art

3. User Interface
 The new user interface (UI), officially known as
Fluent User Interface,[21][22] has been
implemented in the core Microsoft Office
applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access,
and in the item inspector used to create or edit
individual items in Outlook. These applications
have been selected for the UI overhaul because
they center around document authoring.[23] The
rest of the applications in the suite will also be
changed to the new UI in subsequent versions.[24]
The default font used in this edition is Calibri.
Original prototypes of the new user interface were
revealed at MIX 2008 in Las Vegas.[25]

4. Office button

5.  The Office 2007 button, located on the top-left of
the window, replaces the File menu and provides
access to functionality common across all Office
applications, including opening, saving, printing,
and sharing a file. It can also close the
application. Users can also choose color
schemes for the interface. A notable accessibility
improvement is that the Office button follows Fitt's
law.[26]

6. Ribbon

7.  The Ribbon, a panel that houses a fixed arrangement of
command buttons and icons, organizes commands as a
set of tabs, each grouping relevant commands. The
Ribbon is present in Microsoft Word 2007, Excel 2007,
PowerPoint 2007, Access 2007 and some Outlook 2007
windows. The Ribbon is not user customizable in Office
2007. Each application has a different set of tabs which
expose the functionality that application offers. For
example, while Excel has a tab for the graphing
capabilities, Word does not; instead it has tabs to control
the formatting of a text document. Within each tab, various
related options may be grouped together. The Ribbon is
designed to make the features of the application more
discoverable and accessible with fewer mouse clicks[27] as
compared to the menu-based UI used prior to Office 2007.
However, many users feel that the existing menus should
have been left alone.[28][29] An online survey reports the
ribbon menu has decreased productivity by an average of
20% for users.[30] Moving the mouse scroll wheel while on
any of the tabs on the ribbon cycles—through the tabs.

8. Contextual Tabs
 Some tabs, called Contextual Tabs, appear only
when certain objects are selected. Contextual
Tabs expose functionality specific only to the
object with focus. For example, selecting a
picture brings up the Pictures tab, which presents
options for dealing with the picture. Similarly,
focusing on a table exposes table-related options
in a specific tab. Contextual Tabs remain hidden
except when an applicable object is selected.

9. LIVE PREVIEW
 Microsoft Office 2007 also introduces a feature
called "Live Preview", which temporarily applies
formatting on the focused text or object when any
formatting button is moused-over. The temporary
formatting is removed when the mouse pointer is
moved from the button. This allows users to have a
preview of how the option would affect the
appearance of the object, without actually applying
it.

10. MINI TOOLBAR
 The new "Mini Toolbar" is a type of context menu that is
automatically shown (by default) when text is selected.
The purpose of this feature is to provide easy access to
the most-used formatting commands without requiring a
right-mouse-button click, as was necessary in older
versions of the software. Because the Mini Toolbar is
automatically displayed, it remains semi-transparent
until the mouse pointer is situated on the control in order
to allow an almost-unobstructed view of what is beneath
it. It also appears above the right-click menu when a
user right-clicks on a selection of words. The Mini
Toolbar is currently not customizable, but can be turned
off.

11. QUICK ACCESS TOOLBAR
 The Quick Access toolbar, which sits in the title bar,
serves as a repository of most used functions,
regardless of which application is being used, such
as save, undo/redo and print. The Quick Access
toolbar is customizable, although this feature is
limited compared to toolbars in previous Office
versions. Any command available in the entire
Office application can be added to the Quick
Access toolbar, including commands not available
in the Ribbon and macros. Keyboard shortcuts for
any of the commands on the toolbar are also fully
customizable, similar to previous Office versions.