Ribbon tabs in excel

Microsoft has introduced Ribbon interface from Office 2007 and later version. This interface will replace the traditional menu and toolbar with a collection of icons at the top of the screen. This Ribbon icons grouped based on the functions under different tabs. Users find that the Ribbon tabs in excel is easier to use as compared to menu and toolbar.

Ribbon tabs in excel

Excel provides 3 option on display of ribbons. This ribbon selection option is provided on  title bar.

  1. Auto hide: this will hide the entire ribbon and we can access this ribbon by pressing Alt key.
  2. Show tabs : This will show only tab of ribbon bar without icons, we can access the function icons by pressing Alt Key of clicking on tabs.
  3. Show tabs and commands : This option will show entire ribbon bar with function icons.

To toggle the Ribbon’s visibility, press Ctrl+F1 or double click a tab at the top.
By default when excel opened it will show Home tab in ribbon.

Ribbon tabs in excel

Ribbon tabs in excel

The commands are grouped under different tabs under ribbon based on its functions. Different commands can be accessed by clicking on given tabs.

Following are the tabs in the excel ribbon.

Home: This is the most popular bar and displayed by default when excel is opened. This tab contains the basic Clipboard commands, formatting commands, style commands, commands to insert and delete rows or columns, plus an assortment of worksheet editing commands.

Insert: This tab provides options to insert something in a worksheet- a table, a diagram, a chart, a symbol, Pivot table and so on.

Page Layout: This tab contains commands that affect the overall appearance of your worksheet, including some settings that deal with printing.

Formulas: Use this tab to insert a formula, name a cell or a range, access the formula auditing tools, or control how Excel performs calculations.

Data: Excel’s data related commands are on this tab, including data validation commands.

Review: This tab contains tools to check spelling, translate words, add commands, or protect sheets.

View: The view contains commands that control various aspects of how a sheet is viewed. Some commands on this tab are also available in the status bar.

Developer: This tab isn’t visible by default. It contains commands that are useful for programmers. To display the developer tab, choose file options and then select customize ribbon. In the Customize the ribbon section on the right, make sure Main tabs is selected in the drop- down control, and place a check mark next to developer.

Add- Ins: This tab is visible only if you loaded an older workbook or add-in that customizes the menu or toolbars. Because menus and toolbars are no longer available in Excel 2013, these user interface customizations appear on the Add-Ins tab.
The above mentioned Ribbon tabs in excel are standard tabs in ribbon. This can be changed with add-ins and macros.The command icons will automatically be adjusted for display depending on excel window width.

Contextual tabs

There are some hidden tabs in excel. Which will appear only when an object is selected this is called as contextual tabs. Whenever an object (such as a chart, a table, or a smart art diagram) is selected, specific tools for working with that object are made available in the Ribbon.

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