How to View or Hide the Toolbar in Excel 2007

View or Hide
1. Open Excel 2007. You will notice three distinct parts of the Excel 2007 window: The spreadsheet, the formula bar and the toolbar. The toolbar includes seven different tabs: Home, insert, page layout, formulas, data, review and view. The traditional functions such as file, save, save as and print are under the Office button in the upper left corner.
2. View the toolbar located near the top of the screen. This will be your default option. On Excel 2007, the toolbar is referred to as the ribbon. Rather than just a list of headings with drop down menus, Excel 2007 toolbar has a visual ribbon which is separated by tabs but clearly visualizes each of the options to better help you recognize the features you want to select. An added bonus to this layout is that you can see icons for each of the features without having to select a drop down menu, as they are located in your sight at all times.
3. Right click on the toolbar if you would like to hide it from your screen. If you are conducting data entry and do not plan on using the multiple features the toolbar provides, you may wish to maximize your spreadsheet working area and hide the toolbar. Each tab is broken into categories that are each labeled at the base of the toolbar. Right-click any base labels. Select the option to minimize the ribbon. This will hide the toolbar.
4. View the tab headings. With the toolbar minimized, these headings appear to be drop down menus, but they still function as tabs. Click on the tab headings and the toolbar will temporarily appear again. If you move your cursor away from the temporary toolbar it will return to hiding. This feature is especially useful if you need to maximize your available workspace and know where to find icons on the toolbar.
5. Right-click on the tab headings and remove the check mark next to hide ribbon, by selecting it. This will return to the toolbar to its default setting so it stays active and visible while you are working. New users might prefer to see the toolbar at all times, as they may be unfamiliar with many features or shortcut keys experienced users may know.