What are the issues with the Microsoft Project Ribbon Toolbar

The Microsoft Project Ribbon Toolbar has a few issues including:

• It consumes a large area of the screen,
• The commands are not in logical groups, and
• Some commonly used ones such as a Manual Page Break are not on it at all.

It is often better to hide the Ribbon Toolbar, display the Quick Access Toolbar below the Ribbon Toolbar and import the Eastwood Harris Quick Access Toolbar which has the commonly used commands grouped into logical groups.

The toolbars will not be covered in detail in this book as they operate the same way as all other Microsoft products but the key issues will be outlined.

The Ribbon Toolbar has Tabs along the top and Ribbon Groups, which are groups of Command Buttons, below the Ribbon Tabs. These Ribbon Groups were either menu items or toolbars in earlier versions of Microsoft Project.

The Ribbon Format tab Groups of buttons will change as different Views are opened. Two examples of different Formats Groups of buttons are displayed on the right.

Significant productivity improvements may be made by ensuring that frequently used functions are made available on the Quick Access Toolbar and right-clicking in the Quick Access Toolbar will display a menu allowing customizing of the Quick Access Toolbar, see the picture on the right.

• The Quick Access Toolbar should be moved below the Ribbon Toolbar by clicking on the Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon. It is recommended that you select this option and move the Quick Access Toolbar below the Ribbon Toolbar as more buttons may then be displayed and the bar is not truncated by the Project Name at the top of the screen.
• The Add to Quick Access Toolbar command will add a selected Ribbon Toolbar button to the Quick Access Toolbar. By default the Quick Access Toolbar is positioned at the top left-hand side of the screen and is always displayed.
• The Customize Quick Access Toolbar… opens the Project Options form Quick Access Toolbar tab where buttons may be added to or removed from the Quick Access Toolbar.
• Customize the Ribbon… opens the Project Options form, Customize Ribbon tab where buttons may be added to or removed from the Ribbon Toolbar.
• Collapse the Ribbon hides the Ribbon Toolbar and just leaves the menu displayed at the top. This was called Minimize the Ribbon in Microsoft Project 2010. Clicking on one of the menu items will display the Ribbon Toolbar. This is a recommended setting.
• The Ribbon Toolbar may also be minimized by clicking on the "UP" buttons in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Ribbon Tabs, Groups of command buttons and individual Command Buttons may be added to or removed from the Ribbon by selecting File, Options and selecting the Customize Ribbon tab.

Some Ribbon tabs will change their contents to suit the view that has been selected and is active; this is covered further in the next paragraphs.

One of the more noticeable changes in the initial release of Microsoft Project 2016 is that it put large spaces between the buttons in Quick Access Toolbar, making the Quick Access Toolbar less useful than in earlier versions.

This issue was resolved with automatic downloads, but if your version of Microsoft Project 2016 has large spaces between the toolbar then you need to check if your software is being updated.

In the two pictures on the right, you may see that there are many more Quick Access Toolbar buttons in the Microsoft Project 2013 screenshot than the Microsoft Project 2016 screenshot.

In the picture on the right, which is from Microsoft Project 2013 the:

• Quick Access Toolbar may be moved below the Ribbon bar by clicking on the Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon. THIS IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED SO THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF COMMANDS ARE ALWAYS VISIBLE.
• The Ribbon Toolbar has been hidden using Collapse the Ribbon. THIS IS ALSO STRONGLY RECOMMENDED TO MAXIMIZE THE SIZE OF THE SCREEN.

Click on the "Drop-down" button on the Quick Access Toolbar to display the Quick Access Toolbar menu.

• The buttons that are checked are displayed in the Quick Access Toolbar.
• Buttons left unchecked will be displayed in the drop-down menu by clicking on the Customize Quick Access Toolbar "Drop-down" button.
• More Commands… opens the Project Options form, Quick Access Toolbar tab where buttons may be added to or removed from the Ribbon Toolbar.

Both the Ribbon and Quick Access toolbars may be exported and imported from one computer to another and are compatible with both Microsoft Project 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019, allowing users to transfer their customized tool bars to other computers they use, or to import toolbars created by other users. To import and export toolbars:

• Select File, Options and select Customize Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar, and
• Use the Import/Export option at the bottom right hand corner of the form.

You should consider downloading and importing the Eastwood Harris Quick Access toolbar from www.eh.com.au, Software Downloads page. This toolbar has many of the frequently used functions added and grouped into logical groups.

To see more explanations like this then buy Paul Harris’ Microsoft Project book by which is available in paperback, spiral, Kobo, Kindle and iTunes from: https://www.eh.com.au/MSP2019.html.

These books are intended to be used:

• As a self-teach book and a two-day training course handout.
• Instructor PowerPoint slide shows are available for purchase and free pdf versions are available to educational organisations.