With Project 2010, the Microsoft Office ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar are introduced to the Project user interface. This is a substantial change to the way you access Project 2010 features and tools. If you’ve been working with any other Microsoft Office applications that use the ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar, you have a head start in understanding how commands are organized. Instead of arranging commands in menus and toolbars, the ribbon presents commands graphically and logically organized in tabs and groups, as shown in Figure 1-26. Often the tabs change depending on which view you’re showing. The Quick Access Toolbar shows a handful of the most commonly used commands.
Throughout the procedures in this book, directions to find a command are given in the following format: “On the Task tab, in the Schedule group, click Link Tasks.” Sometimes the directions are abbreviated to something like “Click Task, Schedule, Link Tasks.”
The look of the ribbon adjusts according to the resolution of your screen and the size of your Project 2010 window. Narrower screens show all groups, but the buttons might be smaller or moved to a drop-down menu instead of appearing directly on the ribbon.
You can hide the ribbon so that only the tab labels are showing, without a tab’s groups or buttons. When you click a tab in the minimized ribbon, the full ribbon appears. After you click a button, the ribbon is minimized again. This is a great way to give yourself more working space in the project plan, either temporarily or after you’re familiar with where commands are on the ribbon.
In the upper-right corner of the Project 2010 window, click the Minimize The Ribbon icon.
To show the full ribbon again, in the upper-right corner of the Project 2010 window, click the Expand The Ribbon icon.
Even though menus are gone, you can still quickly apply commands with keyboard shortcuts, called access keys. Every command on the ribbon can be executed by using access keys, which get you to a command in two to four keystrokes. To use access keys to execute a command on the ribbon, follow these steps:
Press and release the Alt key.
KeyTips are displayed above each feature in the current view, as shown in Figure 1-27.
Press the letter shown in the KeyTip that corresponds with the tab you want to use. Do this even if the tab you want is already showing.
The tab you select becomes active, and the KeyTips for the features on that tab appear, as shown in Figure 1-28.
Press the letter shown in the KeyTip that corresponds with the command you want.
Depending on the command, a dialog box might open, a drop-down menu might appear, or the command might be executed.
To use access keys to execute a command on the Quick Access Toolbar, follow these steps:
Press and release the Alt key.
Press the KeyTip number that corresponds to the command you want.
The command is executed.
Suppose that you used a certain command in earlier versions of Project, and now you can’t find it on the Project 2010 ribbon. Locate it by following these steps:
On the File tab, click Options.
The Project Options dialog box appears.
In the left pane, click Customize Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar.
A list of commands appears in the Project Options dialog box.
In the Choose Commands From box, click All Commands.
All commands throughout Project 2010 are listed.
Scroll through the list to find the command you want.
To find where the command is located on the ribbon, rest the mouse pointer over the command name.
The location of the command appears, including the name of the tab, group, and command.
The commands are listed in alphabetical order. You might need to look in a couple different places if you’re not sure of the exact command name.
You might also try clicking Commands Not In The Ribbon in the Choose Commands From box. If you need to use a command that’s not on the ribbon, you can add it to the Quick Access Toolbar or to a custom group.
For more help on finding commands, use the interactive ribbon guide in Project 2010 online Help at www.microsoft.com/project/en/us/ribbon_guide.aspx. Click a graphic of the toolbars and menus from Microsoft Project 2007 to learn where those commands are located on the Project 2010 ribbon.
Customize the Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar
You can customize the ribbon in a variety of ways. You can add a custom group with the commands you want to an existing tab. You can even create your own custom tab with custom groups arranged on them. For details, see Customizing the Project 2010 Ribbon.
You can also customize the Quick Access Toolbar with commands you use most frequently. For details, see Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar.
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