As you start to use the Excel 2010 ribbon, you will notice that it has a different arrangement of icons depending on the resolution of your monitor. This can lead to some confusion as you try to help your coworkers over the phone.
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Excel 2010 In Depth chapter 2 - The Mysterious Morphing Ribbon!
Well hey, welcome back to the MrExcel netcast, I'm Bill Jelen, live from the country of Trinidad, beautiful beaches here, working on the podcast for “Excel In Depth” chapter 2.
Now this chapter is about the ribbon, but I want to talk about something that is specific.
If you are a person who gives help over the phone, you know, a co-worker might call you up, or your mom might call you up and say “Hey, how do I do this in Excel?” And you try and walk them through it in the phone, very, very frustrating here.
Let's go to the Page Layout tab, and say that you need them to go to the Print Area drop-down.
So you might say, “Hey, look in the Page Setup group, there are three columns of icons.
I need you to go the second column, the third icon, and that column is called Print Area.” Alright, and whoever you're helping is might say “I don't see that” and you get frustrated and you say “OK wait, you see the tabs across the top, Home, Insert, Page Layout, clicked on Page Layout?” And like “Yeah, I'm on Page Layout.” And you say “You don't see three columns of icons in the Page Setup dialog?” and you know you start to get really frustrated, like what's wrong with them?
You might say “Are you sure that you're in Excel 2010 or 2007, you're not in Excel 2003?
Are you sure you’re not in Word?” You know, just crazy things.
Well, here's what's happening.
The ribbon looks different depending on what sized screen you have.
So, if someone that has a wider screen than you, it's possible those three columns of icons are actually seven separate large icons.
Alright, or you might be looking at this screen and telling them to go to that section, “You head to the fourth icon in the group.” Well, at some point, you know, it's not the fourth icon in the group, it actually gets down to just a single icon, Page Setup, and they have to open the Page Setup drop-down to even see the icons.
Alright, so just be aware of this, that as you're giving help over the phone, if they have a larger or smaller monitor, or even if they are working side-by-side with two applications, there's a good chance that they're not seeing the same ribbon icons that you're seeing.
They might be collapsed or minimized, or something like that.
You know, it's funny, if you get small enough, Microsoft just gives up, they say “Well, there's no way that you can possibly be working in this application.
We really don't need to show you the ribbon at all, we're just going to keep the application there.” Kind of a interesting oddity, interesting if you're MrExcel I guess.
So, there you have it, as you start to work with your coworkers, be aware that they may not be seeing the same screen as you.
Well, I want to thank you for stopping by, we’ll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel!
Excel 2010 In Depth chapter 2 - The Mysterious Morphing Ribbon!
Well hey, welcome back to the MrExcel netcast, I'm Bill Jelen, live from the country of Trinidad, beautiful beaches here, working on the podcast for “Excel In Depth” chapter 2.
Now this chapter is about the ribbon, but I want to talk about something that is specific.
If you are a person who gives help over the phone, you know, a co-worker might call you up, or your mom might call you up and say “Hey, how do I do this in Excel?” And you try and walk them through it in the phone, very, very frustrating here.
Let's go to the Page Layout tab, and say that you need them to go to the Print Area drop-down.
So you might say, “Hey, look in the Page Setup group, there are three columns of icons.
I need you to go the second column, the third icon, and that column is called Print Area.” Alright, and whoever you're helping is might say “I don't see that” and you get frustrated and you say “OK wait, you see the tabs across the top, Home, Insert, Page Layout, clicked on Page Layout?” And like “Yeah, I'm on Page Layout.” And you say “You don't see three columns of icons in the Page Setup dialog?” and you know you start to get really frustrated, like what's wrong with them?
You might say “Are you sure that you're in Excel 2010 or 2007, you're not in Excel 2003?
Are you sure you’re not in Word?” You know, just crazy things.
Well, here's what's happening.
The ribbon looks different depending on what sized screen you have.
So, if someone that has a wider screen than you, it's possible those three columns of icons are actually seven separate large icons.
Alright, or you might be looking at this screen and telling them to go to that section, “You head to the fourth icon in the group.” Well, at some point, you know, it's not the fourth icon in the group, it actually gets down to just a single icon, Page Setup, and they have to open the Page Setup drop-down to even see the icons.
Alright, so just be aware of this, that as you're giving help over the phone, if they have a larger or smaller monitor, or even if they are working side-by-side with two applications, there's a good chance that they're not seeing the same ribbon icons that you're seeing.
They might be collapsed or minimized, or something like that.
You know, it's funny, if you get small enough, Microsoft just gives up, they say “Well, there's no way that you can possibly be working in this application.
We really don't need to show you the ribbon at all, we're just going to keep the application there.” Kind of a interesting oddity, interesting if you're MrExcel I guess.
So, there you have it, as you start to work with your coworkers, be aware that they may not be seeing the same screen as you.
Well, I want to thank you for stopping by, we’ll see you next time for another netcast from MrExcel!
