Types of commands on the Ribbon

Types of commands on the Ribbon

When you hover your mouse pointer over a Ribbon command, you’ll see a pop-up box that contains the command’s name and a brief description. For the most part, the commands in the Ribbon work just as you would expect them to. You’ll fi nd several different styles of
commands on the Ribbon:

■ Simple buttons: 

Click the button, and it does its thing. An example of a simple
button is the Increase Font Size button in the Font group of the Home tab. Some
buttons perform the action immediately; others display a dialog box so that you
can enter additional information. Button controls may or may not be accompanied
by a descriptive label.

■ Toggle buttons: 

A toggle button is clickable and conveys some type of information by
displaying two different colors. An example is the Bold button in the Font group of
the Home tab. If the active cell isn’t bold, the Bold button displays in its normal color.
If the active cell is already bold, the Bold button displays a different background color.
If you click the Bold button, it toggles the Bold attribute for the selection.

■ Simple drop-downs: 

If the Ribbon command has a small down arrow, the command is a
drop-down. Click it, and additional commands appear below it. An example of a simple
drop-down is the Conditional Formatting command in the Styles group of the Home tab.
When you click this control, you see several options related to conditional formatting.

■ Split Button : 

A split button control combines a one-click button with a drop-down.
If you click the button part, the command is executed. If you click the drop-down
part (a down arrow), you choose from a list of related commands. An example of a
split button is the Merge & Center command in the Alignment group of the Home
tab Clicking the left part of this control merges and centers text in
the selected cells. If you click the arrow part of the control (on the right), you get a
list of commands related to merging cells.

 Check boxes: 

A check box control turns something on or off. An example is the
Gridlines control in the Show group of the View tab. When the Gridlines check box
is checked, the sheet displays gridlines. When the control isn’t checked, the grid-
lines don’t appear.

■ Spinners:

Excel’s Ribbon has only one spinner control: the Scale to Fit group of the
Page Layout tab. Click the top part of the spinner to increase the value; click the
bottom part of the spinner to decrease the value