UbitMenu is a free add-on for MS Office 2007 that provides the option to use an MS Office 2003-style interface alongside Office 2007’s "Ribbons" style interface. It is installed as an additional menu in Office 2007 applications (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint), allowing for switching back and forth at will between the older and newer style interfaces.
One of the most frequent reactions that I’ve heard when people (friends/colleagues at work) upgrade from MS Office 2003 to MS Office 2007 is "why in the world did they change the interface?". Other comments go something like this: "I knew the old interface like the back of my hand; I’ve been using the old interface for years; why did they have to change it?; why am I being forced to embark on a whole new learning curve?". And so on. I’ve seen many instances where people revert back to Office 2003 partially because of this, or otherwise reinstall Office 2003 in conjunction with Office 2007 and only use the latter when they absolutely have to.
If this describes you then you will be happy to learn that UbitMenu provides the interface of the old Office 2003 interface even when using Office 2007. Here are more notes this program:
- How it works: once installed, UbitMenu will add a tab entitled "Menu" to the Office 2007 ribbons; clicking on this will display the emulated Office 2003 interface. You can switch back and forth to any of the Office 2007 tabs at any time if you need to.
- Scope: emulates the classic menu of the following Office 2003 applications: Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Also emulates Excel 2003 keyboard shortcuts and toolbars.
- Omitted functions: UbitMenu, if I understand correctly, brings back some functions which are omitted in Office 2007 but not all (in some instances the functionality is gone completely).
- Language: although the developer’s site is in German, there is an English language version available (as well as a handful of other languages).
- Uninstallation: uninstall from the add/remove programs Control Panel just as you would any other program.
The verdict: this program does a terrific job at approximating
the MS Office 2003 interface. If you need to use Office 2007 but miss the interface of old Office this program is exactly what you’re looking for. I know that in many situations (such as corporate settings) the use of the newer version of office is pretty much mandatory, and those users will be happy to find that they can have the best of both worlds (although note that UbitMenu is free for use in a non-commercial environment only, and the corporate version is paid).
Version Tested: 01-04
Compatibility: any system that runs Office 2007.
Go to the download page (choose the appropriate language installer; approx 360K). Also see the program page (in German) or the Google-translated English version.
Long ago refused to use any of Micro$oft products, free SoftMaker Office 2006 is enough for my dayly needs.
This sounds extremly cool!
Do you know it is also simple to uninstall and if it supports also non english languages ?
I’ll stick with Open Office.
Just goes to show if you force people to use a cumbersome, poorly designed interface for long enough, they will claim it’s better when it actually gets fixed. I work with people who use the Win 98 style start menu, no quicklaunch and have to close 17 windows to get to My Documents. Brilliant program for these types, since it’s in a tab, it’s a bit like “training wheels” for Office 07. Long live the ribbon! Death to Clippit! (oh, nevermind, he’s already long dead)
Embrace the change and discover all the amazing new features which are available in the new menus.
It is worth attending a training course that will take you through the main “Office 2007 differences and new features” as that will make you more productive.
Besides, the new user interface is not going to go away any time soon!
Clever little tool, though!
While I wouldn’t want to denigrate anyone’s abilities, I think the folks who revert back to 2003 are really losing out on what is a quantum paradigm jump forward in interface development. I wasn’t that fond of the ribbon when I first switched myself, but it didn’t take that long to get used to (it’s really not all that different than the menu systems) and now I find I regularly use features I hadn’t known existed prior to 2007.
That being said, I think it’s silly for companies to convert to the new version without training their employees on the differences. But, seeing as most companies regularly do very silly things..
Those who have experienced the “Office button stops working” bug will embrace this nifty addon. Personally, I wouldn’t have MS Office on any of my personal systems if they paid me to install it. I prefer applications which embrace the establish open standards and aim to please the customer, instead of the Accounting Department and MS stockholders by releasing a “new” and expensive package every couple of years, that deliberately breaks the established standards for the primary purpose of selling old wine in new bottles.
FWIW, this isn’t the only alternative. There’s a shareware add-in from AddinTools that places all of the 2007 functions in menu format ala 2003. It’s not free but it is very complete
Regarding the comments about the old office menu system being broken, how? It worked. The new ribbon nastiness is what I consider broken, and refuse to use it. I want my menu options to always be in the same place, none of this moving around crap. I will stick to OpenOffice, thanks. Their menus don’t change constantly, and I know where to find stuff.
This is a good software to assist newbie users of MS 2007. Many people find it hard to use MS 2007, even those people who used to work with Microsoft Office, because of the fact that the interface is really different compare to the previous versions. So, I think this is a good aid for new users or average users of MS 2007. Thanks ,
RibbonCustomizer is another alternative that offers this functionality. It’s pretty straight-forward, but it also allows you to customize a ribbon along with having the classic menu.
http://www.404techsupport.com/2008/07/11/free-office-2007-ribbon-customizer/
This is a great tool!
The new interface is extremely unpopular.
It may not be going away soon, but it is slowing adoption of office 2007, plus the productivity gains are largely imaginary.
Some operations are unecessarily complex- inserting an image from a scanner or camera for example, used to take 3 or 4 clicks, and now is hidden in the clip organiser tool, and makes what was a simple task long winded.
Sadly it does not appear in the menus.
I would prefer transferring outlook from office 2003 in office 2007 instead of the interface, because I really miss my lookout
, microsoft why does lookout not work with outlook 2007 why???????????????????????????????
@alex:
check this: http://www.lookeen.com
my personal “follower” of lookout, hope this tool will satisfy your miss of lookout
(by the way, this tool is much better than lookout, try it)
The high demand for plugins of this type shows why Windows is so successful… Their design and programming is flawed beyond repair and when they actually try to fix things (office 2007 is not perfect, but still way better than 2003 and XP) people complain. Please, Windows-users revert from the habit. Perhaps you will realize that you have lived to many years, entangled in the MS-jungle, feeding the MS-monkey bananas, thinking he will help you out… Why should he? you keep feeding him.
Go with opensource software! It’s the only way to get good software..
thanks
Why does Ubit Menu misbehave with Excel? Every time I open Excel, I get “cannot open file” and Wrong format file” messages about the “.xlam” file. This has persisted even after uninstalling UbitMenu!
Carl, this has nothing to do with UBitMenu. There are hundredthousands of happy users out there. You must have some other AddIn installed that misbehaves. Please contact us directly and we will try to help.
dudes… when you change the keyboard short cuts and menu options, it *IS* bad form, no matter how you are going to slice it.
I don’t need the UI “fixed” because, using a word processor is not supposed to be a time consuming task. I have REAL work to do other than figuring out what is the 2007 keys of “ALT-V, N, enter” in 2003.
Its just like changing the meaning of CTRL-C, CTRL-X and CTRL-V every 4 versions of an application. See how you would like it if on the next version you hit CTRL-Z and it saves and exit a document.
Microsoft R&D and fan boys are generally very supportive of intrusive changes. I for one, will not take BS reasons like interface improvements w/o providing backward compatibility in interfaces.
If you got hours in your life to waste to learn a new proprietory interface, go ahead. I rather type with notepad instead.
Hi, I’m using UbitMenus and I love it but… How could I make it to appear immediately after launching an Office application, instead of having to click the menu tab every time… ? Is there any trick to do it? Thanks,
Valentin
The office 2003 ribbon should have been included standard in office 2007, to minimize retraining costs. These are typically greater than the cost of the software.
MS has done this quite often recently. They have forgotten what made them popular. Ensuring that each release was upwardly compatible, for at least 2 generations.
The ribbon itself is a great idea for those that don’t know office well. If you are a power user, there is a problem because the ribbon is static. It should adapt itself dynamically to prioritize the most frequently used commands. Also, it uses a lot of real-estate on the screen for what it does, as compared to old style menus.
Wow… this is so great… I feel like I just got back to my home town after being lost for a month !!
Free add-in for Word 2007 to show Office 2003 style menus and toolbars on the Office 2007 ribbon:
http://office.grifir.com
Love it! Thanks! I was going crazy with MS 2007.
c’est bon de publier les logiciel importants