FIND ICONS ON THE RIBBON

Problem: The new ribbon user interface might be great for people new to Excel, but I knew the old Excel perfectly well. Why did Microsoft put pivot tables on the Insert tab instead of the Data tab, where they belong?

Strategy: The transition does not take that long, you follow a few basic rules.

Here are some simple guidelines:

• The Home tab contains the most frequently used commands. If you want to find something, start looking on the Home tab. Nearly everything from the Excel 2003 Edit and Format menus is located on the Home tab. Everything from the Excel 2003 Formatting toolbar is on the Home tab.

• The most-used commands on the Excel 2003 Insert menu are not on the Insert tab in Excel 2010! Instead, commands to insert cells, rows, columns, and worksheets are on an Insert drop-down on the Home tab. Commands to insert a function or a name are on the Formulas tab. Insert Comment is on the Review tab.

• The Pivot Tables command has been moved from the Data menu to the left side of the Insert tab.

• Most Excel 2003 File menu commands are on the Excel 2010 File tab. This tab is called the Backstage view and is discussed in detail later. A few File commands are elsewhere. For example, Save Workspace is on the View tab. Page Setup and Print Area are on the Page Layout tab. In Excel 2007, the File menu is behind the Office decoration in the top left corner of the screen.

• Everything on the old Window menu and most things from the old View menu are now on the View tab.

• Help is now the blue question mark icon at the top right of the window. Everything else that used to be on the Help menu is now under File, Help. Except Clippy. Clippy has retired.

• Items from the Data menu are generally on the Data tab, with the exception of the Pivot Tables command.

• The old Tools menu has been split among many tabs. You will find these commands spread among the Review, Formulas, Home, Data, View, and File tabs.

Microsoft does not provide a classic mode, but third party companies do. Check out the Classic Excel Menu from AddInTools.com or Toolbar Toggle.

With both of these add-ins, you can work in the Excel 2003 menu, and then switch over to the ribbon menu when you need to access new features.

SERIOUSLY, I REALLY CAN'T FIND THIS

Problem: I've looked everywhere, and I can not find certain commands.

Strategy: I will show you some strategies for finding icons, but first, here are the ones that through me for a loop:

• Help is now the blue question mark at the top right of Excel.

• Save Workspace is now on the right side of the View tab.

•Protect Sheet is now on the Review tab.

• Move or Copy Sheet is in the Format dropdown on Home.

• Insert Rows, Insert Columns is in the Insert dropdown on Home.

• The "X" to close Excel is missing from Excel 2007. It is at the bottom of the Excel 2010 File tab. In either case, you should add the Exit to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Alternate Strategy: You can find any command in the Customize dialog box. Hover over the command to see a tooltip explaining where to find the command in Excel 2010. Follow these steps to locate a command.

1. The top-left corner of Excel contains a tiny strip with icons for Save, Undo, and Redo. Right-click that strip and choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar.

2. The top left dropdown starts with Popular Commands. Open that dropdown and choose All Commands. You now have an alphabetical list of 2000+ commands.

3. Scroll through the list. When you find your command, hover. A tooltip appears showing you the ribbon tab, the group, then the command.

Gotcha: Sometimes, the tooltip will indicates that your command is in the dreaded Commands Not In The Ribbon category. You will have to add these commands to the Quick Access Toolbar in 2007/2010 or to the Ribbon in 2010.

WHERE ARE MY MACROS?

Problem: Did Microsoft abandon the macro facility? Where are the buttons to record a new macro, run a macro, and so on? How do I get to the Visual Basic Editor?

Strategy: Most of the macro icons are hidden. Due to beta tester outcry, Microsoft reluctantly added three macro options to the extreme right end of the View tab. You use the Macros dropdown to view macros, record a macro, or use relative references while recording a macro.

To access the rest of the macro functionality, you need to enable a hidden Developer ribbon tab. In Excel 2007, choose Office Icon, Excel Options, Popular, Show Developer Tab in the Ribbon. In Excel 2010, choose File, Options, Customize Ribbon. Add a checkmark next to Developer.

The Developer tab offers macro commands, buttons from the former Forms toolbar and Control Toolbox, and XML settings.

Additional Details: When you are recording a macro, instead of seeing the Stop Recording icon floating above the Excel window, you now see it in the Status Bar, next to Ready.

The same area of the status bar includes a Record Macro button when you are not recording a macro. However, because there is not a Relative References button, you cannot effectively record macros without using either the View tab or the Developer tab of the ribbon.

WHAT HAPPENED TO TOOLS, OPTIONS?

Problem: Where is the Excel 2003 Options command? Did Microsoft simplify the 13-tabbed Options dialog?

Strategy: Instead of Options, Microsoft now provides an Excel Options dialog. You access it with File, Options.

The new Excel Options dialog has 9 categories instead of the previous 13 tabs. It incorporates most settings that used to be in the Options dialog, plus Tools, AutoCorrect, Tools, Macro, Security, Tools, Add-Ins, and many options from the old Help menu.

In what seems like a confusing move, Excel took a few options from the old General tab, combined them with some new options, and moved them to the General category in the Excel Options dialog. In Excel 2007, this was called Popular.

The Advanced category in Excel 2010 offers 10 different sections. You will find that many of the former tabs from the Excel 2003 Options dialog have moved to the Advanced category in Excel 2010. Instead of flipping from tab to tab to tab in Excel 2003, you can scroll through the long list of Advanced options in Excel 2010.

The following table maps the Excel 2003 Options dialog tabs to the Excel 2010 Excel Options dialog categories:

Excel 2003 Tab Excel 2010 Category
View Advanced (Groups 4 - 6)
Calculation Formulas & Advanced (Group 6)
Edit Advanced (Groups 1 and 2)
General General and Advanced (Group 9)
Transition Advanced (Group 10)
Custom Lists Advanced (Group 11) or Popular in Excel 2007
Charts Advanced (Group 4)
Color Save
International Advanced (Group 1)
Save Save
Error Checking Proofing
Spelling Proofing
Security Removed from the dialog; select File,
Save as, click the Tools button, and
choose the General category

The final four categories in the Excel Options dialog do not correspond to the Excel 2003 Options dialog:

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