Fixing Office 365 Ribbon Toolbars
2020-01-15
After a recent update to Microsoft Office 365, I was surprised to see the Office Toolbar/Ribbon behave weirdly when I tried to pin it. Previously, when I pinned it, it would just stay on the screen in the format it was in. However, after the update, pinning the Toolbar resulted in it completely changing - and it became bigger and (in my opinion) less useful. It turns out the issue is related to some Touch settings in Office!
EDIT: After reviewing this source material, I noticed it actually started in Office 2013. What I think happened is that by default the setting was "Mouse" and some recent update to Office 365 changed that default to "Touch" - so I had to change it back.
So, after the recent update, my toolbar goes from this:
to this after I pin it:
The reason is "Touch" versus "Mouse" settings in the Ribbon bar. Per Microsoft:
Turn Touch Mode on or off
Touch Mode spaces the buttons a little farther apart on the screen, so they’re easier to tap. You can turn on Touch Mode by tapping the Touch Mode button on the Quick Access Toolbar.
Or tap the Touch/Mouse Mode hand icon on the Quick Access Toolbar and tap Touch.
If you don’t see the button or the icon on the Quick Access Toolbar, you can add it.
- Press, hold, then release any button on the Quick Access Toolbar, then tap Customize Quick Access Toolbar.
- Under Popular commands, tap Touch Mode or Touch/Mouse Mode, and tap Add.
To turn Touch Mode off, tap the Touch Mode button again. Or tap the Touch/Mouse Mode hand icon and tap Mouse.
More touch tips
To make text and objects bigger, swipe from the right edge of the screen, tap Start, swipe up, tap All Apps, tap Control Panel (under Windows System), tap Appearance & Personalization, tap Display, and tap Medium – 125%.
To see touch in Office, check out the Office Touch Guide.
My name is Rick Towns and I am an amateur astronomer and computer programmer from Canada. This is a collection of interesting posts I've gathered over the years.