How to hide Microsoft Office Ribbon menu

Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010 Ribbon menu was intended to be simpler and in the process Microsoft not only accomplished that, but it also looks pretty elegant. One of the downside with this new Ribbon menu is that is very long in height — different than menus we are used to –; this could be a disadvantage for smaller and low resolution screens.

For example working with low resolution devices such a netbook, it could be pretty functional to minimize the Ribbon menu to better utilize the screen space.

Well, now there are some simple shortcuts to minimize the Microsoft Office Ribbon menu, you can just simply double-click one of the Ribbon menu tabs like Home or Insert and the Ribbon menu will compress up to the tab line, to undo this just double-click again any of the tabs; to temporary bring the menu back you only need to click any tab. Another way to acomplished the same thing is by going to the up-right corner of the application window and click the arrow. And last you can simply use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F1.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows expert and the Editor-in-Chief who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He is also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 12 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows, software, and related technologies, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.