This Microsoft Help & Tips page presents my attempt to show you how you can customize the Ribbon UI without resorting to a "commercial" third party Add-Ins (i.e., Add-Ins that you have to pay for).  The methods presented here will help show you how to regain complete control of your Ribbon UI look and functionality.

The ribbon is customized using an XML script.  While you don't have to be a rocket scientists to customize the Ribbon UI, you do have to be willing roll up your sleeves and learn just a little about XML structure and the ribbon controls themselves.

An excellent resource to gain some technical background and information about Ribbon customization is available in a series of Microsoft articles titled "Customizing the Office2007 Fluent Ribbon for Developers (Parts 1, 2, and 3):"

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338202.aspx
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa338199.aspx
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa722523.aspx

In my opinion the real value of these articles, once you see how the ribbon is customized here, is as a reference for exploring additional ribbon controls and their methods, attributes and callbacks.

Ribbon customization can be applied to a single document, all documents based on a particular Word template, or globally using a Word template Add-In. 

In the examples that follow, I perform the customization using the Office 2007 Custom UI Editor and a Word VBA Template Add-In.  I used this approach because the Custom UI Editor automatically builds the Open Office XML file relationships and makes them transparent to you the user, the approach doesn't require any expensive additional developer's software like Visual Studio, and any specialized customization involving ribbon callbacks can be done using VBA.

The Office 2007 Custom UI Editor is available for free download from the OpenXMLDeveloper.org:   Custom UI Editor

Ok, enough background.  Now on to the process of customizing the Ribbon UI. 

The first example is very basic.  Here I will show you how to "hide" a single built-in control on the ribbon.  Lets hide the "Macros" group from the "View" tab.  You might want to do this to make room for a different control.

Ribbon before customization

Ribbon After customization

- Close the template and close Word.

- Start the Office 2007 Custom UI Editor application and open the template file that you just created.

Note: You can't physically remove the built-in controls on the ribbon.  Instead you use the "visible" attribute of the control to determine if that control is shown on the ribbon.

In the XML script above we have created a set of instructions that:

  1.  Hides the built-in GroupMacro control on the built-in View tab.

See if you can follow how these instructions were defined in the XML script above.

- Save and close the CustomUI file.  

Tips: 

      The XML script shown above is validated against the schema definition for ribbon extensibility.  When you begin to create your own XML script with the Custom UI Editor it is a good practice to always validate your script against the schema definition before closing the editor.  The schema definition provides the rules for creating valid hierarchical instructions for customizing the ribbon.  You can download and review a a copy of the schema definition from the MSDN website:
 CustomUI Schema      

After creating and saving the XML script using the Custom UI Editor, the template's Open Office XML format file will contain a new CustomUI folder with a CustomUI.xml file that is used to define the custom ribbon. 

As I stated earlier, this example employs a Word Template Add-In.  When the Add-In is loaded Word will look inside the zip-format XML file structure for a folder called _rels, and then looks inside that folder for a file called .rels, Word then reads that file to find out where any customizations are stored and executes custoization instructions accordingly.

The beauty of the Office 2007 Custom UI Editor is the relationships with other parts of the Open Office XML file container are created for you automatically.  If you are interested in exploring and creating the relationships manually then read those articles linked above.

- Place the template in your Word Startup folder and start Word.  Your ribbon should now appear modified as shown above.

Once again:

- Open Word.  Create and save a new macro enabled template.  For this example I created and saved a template named  "MVP FAQ Example 1"

- Close the template and close Word.

- Start the Office 2007 Custom UI Editor application and open the template file that you just created.

Reminder: You can't physically remove or edit built-in controls on the ribbon.  Instead you use the "visible" attribute of the control to determine if that control is shown on the ribbon.

In the XML script above we have created a set of instructions that:

  1.  Hides the built-in GroupClipboard and GroupEditing controls on the built-in Home tab.

  2. Creates a new custom group "Editing and Clipboard" positioned before the built-in GroupFont.

  3. Adds built-in buttons, controls, menus , and dialogBoxLauncer to the new custom group along with a custom separator.

See if you can follow how these instructions were defined and arranged in the XML script above.

Tip: "idMso" is the fixed internal tag for built-in controls.   The idMso must match a valid control name.  You can determine the name of most of the built-in controls using the Office Button>Word Options>Customize and scrolling your mouse over the built-in in command.  The idMso appears in screen tip in parenthesis e.g., Popular Commands | File (FileSave).  Additionally, a  complete list of Ribbon UI control names and types can be download from Microsoft:
List of Control IDs 

        On the other hand, "id" is a arbitrary user defined unique tag for custom controls like the separator used in the example above.  You can use practically anything you like but it must be unique for each control used.  A best practice is to stay consistent and use some sort of numerical sequence. 

- Save and close the CustomUI file.

- Place the template in your Word Startup folder and start Word.  Your ribbon should now appear modified as shown above.

The range of modification to the Ribbon UI using built-in controls and a few custom separators is practically endless.  With a valid, and yes lengthly, XML script you can create a custom tab containing almost all the classic menus and toolbars!

Lets creat the custom tab "My Tab" shown below.  It contains two custom groups "Macros" and "Shortcuts."  The Macro group contains a button control for displaying the VB Editor and a dropdown for calling several macros from a list.  The Shortcut group contains two toggle buttons.  One toggles the display of bookmarks while the other toggles the display of hidden text.

Once again:

- Open Word.  Create and save a new macro enabled template.  For this example I created and saved a template named  "MVP FAQ Example 2"

- Close the template and close Word.

- Start the Office 2007 Custom UI Editor application and open the template file that you just created.

Reminder:  "idMso" the fixed internal tag for built-in controls while "id" is a arbitrary user defined unique tag for custom controls. 

Also note the addition of the "onLoad="RibbonControl.Onload" in line 2 and the the instructions that I have indexed under the "id" attribute of the controls.  These are attributes or methods of the ribbon and its controls that use callbacks to interface and communicate with a VBA project in the template. 

When Word executes this ribbon XML script in this example it really doesn't know (yet) how many items to put in the dropdown control or which label to apply.  It also doesn't know which image or label to to associate with the toggle buttons.  When the ribbon XML script is executed Word gets this information form data that you provide in a VBA project associated with the ribbon XML script.

- Save and close the Custom UI file.  

 - Now lets create the VBA project. 

Warning: When you first open your template file in Word or click on My Tab you might think the world is coming to an end.  There will be several errors generated and displayed.  This is normal at this point because the ribbon XML script is looking for instructions from a VBA project doesn't exist yet.

- Start Word, open the template and open the VBA Editor.

Note: The module names are arbitrary.  RibbonControl is used to match the callback specified in the XML script.  The project name and name specified in the XML script could be anything  you like.

Option Explicit
Public myRibbon As IRibbonUI

Sub Onload(ribbon As IRibbonUI)
'Creates a ribbon instance for use in this project
Set myRibbon = ribbon
End Sub

'Callback for DropDown GetItemCount
Sub GetItemCount(ByVal control As IRibbonControl, ByRef count)
'Tell the ribbon to show 4 items in the dropdown
count = 4
End Sub

'Callback for DropDown GetItemLabel
Sub GetItemLabel(ByVal control As IRibbonControl, Index As Integer, ByRef label)
'This procedure fires once for each item in the dropdown.  Index is received as 0, 1, 2, etc. and label is returned.
label = Choose(Index + 1, "Select from list", "Macro 1", "Macro 2", "Macro 3")
End Sub

'Callback DropDown GetSelectedIndex
Sub GetSelectedItemIndex(ByVal control As IRibbonControl, ByRef Index)
'This procedure is used to ensure the first item in the dropdown is selected when the control is displayed
Select Case control.id
  Case Is = "DD1"
    Index = 0
  Case Else
    'Do nothing
End Select
End Sub

'Callback for DropDown onAction
Sub myDDMacro(ByVal control As IRibbonControl, selectedID As String,  selectedIndex As Integer)
Select Case selectedIndex
  Case 0
    'Do nothing
  Case 1
    Macros.Macro1
  Case 2
    Macros.Macro2
  Case 3
    Macros.Macro3
End Select
'Force the ribbon to restore the control to its original state
myRibbon.InvalidateControl control.id
End Sub

'Callback for Button onAction
Sub MyBtnMacro(ByVal control As IRibbonControl)
Select Case control.id
  Case Is = "Btn1"
    Macros.ShowEditor
  Case Else
    'Do nothing
End Select
End Sub

'Callback for Toogle onAction
Sub ToggleonAction(control As IRibbonControl, pressed As Boolean)
Select Case control.id
  Case Is = "TB1"
    ActiveWindow.View.ShowBookmarks = Not ActiveWindow.View.ShowBookmarks
  Case Is = "TB2"
    'Note: "pressed" represents the toggle state. So we could use this instead.
    If pressed Then
      ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText = False
    Else
      ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText = True
    End If
    If Not ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText Then
      ActiveWindow.View.ShowAll = False
    End If
End Select
'Force the ribbon to redefine the control wiht correct image and label
myRibbon.InvalidateControl (control.id)
End Sub

'Callback for togglebutton getLabel
Sub getLabel(control As IRibbonControl, ByRef returnedVal)
Select Case control.id
  Case Is = "TB1"
    If Not ActiveWindow.View.ShowBookmarks Then
      returnedVal = "Show Bookmarks"
    Else
      returnedVal = "Hide Bookmarks"
    End If
  Case Is = "TB2"
    If Not ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText Then
      returnedVal = "Show Text"
    Else
      returnedVal = "Hide Text"
    End If
End Select
End Sub

'Callback for togglebutton getImage
Sub GetImage(control As IRibbonControl, ByRef returnedVal)
Select Case control.id
  Case Is = "TB1"
    If ActiveWindow.View.ShowBookmarks Then
       returnedVal = "_3DTiltRightClassic"  'The idMso of a built-in control
    Else
      returnedVal = "_3DTiltLeftClassic"  'The idMso of a built-in control
    End If
  Case Is = "TB2"
    If ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText Then
      returnedVal = "WebControlHidden" 'The idMso of a built-in control
    Else
      returnedVal = "SlideShowInAWindow" 'The idMso of a built-in control
    End If
End Select
End Sub

'Callback for togglebutton getPressed
Sub buttonPressed(control As IRibbonControl, ByRef toggleState)
'toggleState (i.e., true or false) determines how the 'toggle appears on the ribbon (i.e., flusn or sunken).
Select Case control.id
  Case Is = "TB1"
    If Not ActiveWindow.View.ShowBookmarks Then
      toggleState = True
    Else
      toggleState = False
    End If
  Case Is = "TB2"
    If Not ActiveWindow.View.ShowHiddenText Then
      toggleState = True
    Else
    toggleState = False
    End If
End Select
End Sub

Tip: Notice the  Select Case statements in the callback procedures.  You can use the same callback procedures and appropriate Case statements to process multiple controls.

I realize that the information and examples that are presented in this FAQ page won't make you an expert.  I am no expert either, but I am excited about learning more about Ribbon customization and I hope that you are too.   I have created several AddIns that use ribbon customization and posted them on my personal website.  One in particular that contains some advance Ribbon customization techniques is: Table Cell Data (Word 2007 Version)

Just remember that ribbon customization doesn't take rocket science!! 

   1.  All of the various Ribbon controls and their attributes are described in the technicals articles referenced above.

   2.  You can determine the idMso of most of the built-in commands using the Office Button>Word Options>Customize and scrooling your mouse over the built-in in command.  The idMso appears in screen tip in parenthesis e.g., Popular Commands | File (FileSave).  A complete list can be download from Microsoft: List of Control IDs 

   3.  The schema used to validate the XML script in the Custom UI Editor can be downloaded from Microsoft:
        CustomUI Schema      

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