You install the new Excel, run it... and suddenly you're faced with a window totally different of what you're used to. Calm down, it's true that the interface have got a little different, but in its core it is almost the same thing.


Are you seeing a rounded button on top-left corner? It's called "Microsft Officce Button"(creative, huh?). He works like the "File" menu of the previous versions, allowing you to create new spreadsheets, save, print, close, and so on.

On its right side there is the Quick Access Toolbar. It has the "Save", "Undo" and "Redo" buttons as default, but you can add more buttons at your will.

Below, there is the Ribbon, which occupies the larger part. It is a mix of the old Menu bars and Toolbars. It may look weird at first, but when you get used to it, it is really handy. When we let the mouse pointer at one button, the description that appears is far way better than in the older versions.

You may be wondering "Where is the Help menu?" - now it is a blue button, at the upper right side.

If you really haven't liked this new interface, you may use this to make it look like before. But besides the initial difficulties, I would suggest you to keep trying and get used to this new interface, it seems like it came to stay.

In the next post I will talk about other new components of the Microsoft Excel 2007 visual interface.

"Planning on planning" your year? Then use one of our free 2009 calendar, to print or use on screen.
The first one is a single page calendar, showing only the days and months of the year. It is based on an Office Online calendar model.

Single page calendar (Excel) - Single page calendar (PDF)

The second one is what I use on a daily basis. It has space for writing down your appointments. Sundays are highlighted, for ease of visualization. Each month fits one page.

Months calendar (Excel) - Months calendar (PDF)

Tip: are you learning a new language? Before you print the calendar, translate it to that language. This way you can memorize some words while using the calendar. If you want it in portuguese, there is an already translated version.