I noticed that Bits du Jour was offering a 70% discount on "Excel 2007 Ribbon to old Excel Classic Menu Toolbar" this Thursday, so I decided to download the trial version and take a look. Maybe it's something that would help people make an easier transition to Excel 2007, and at the discounted price of $8.99, it wouldn't be too big an investment.
The download went smoothly, and the installation took a bit longer than I expected, but nothing too serious. However, immediately after the installation a popup window appeared, asking me to send my name and email address, and subscribe to a newsletter.
I didn't want the newsletter, and tried to close the window, but there's no way to get rid of it. The X button has no effect, and the Send button demands that you fill in the boxes. Finally, I was able to close it with the Task Manager.
So, I haven't even tried the product and I've decided that I don't want anything to do with this company. I'll be uninstalling the trial version in a couple of minutes.
By the way, the trial version installs two of the old style menus (File and Edit), and if you want the rest you'll have to buy the full version. I won't be buying it, but maybe it's something you'd like to try.
It did make me realize one thing though -- it's not the menus I miss, it's the toolbars with their tiny rows of efficient little buttons.
Why invest even $8.99 when you don't have to? If you're set on getting a Classic UI, download the starter edition of Patrick Schmid's Ribbon Customizer. Not only do you get the classic UI for Excel, Word and Powerpoint, but you can also create your own tabs. :)
I thought that I wanted something like this when I first used the betas. I still thought that I wanted it when I was using Office 2007 part of the time, but mostly 2003. Then, I went cold-turkey on Excel 2007 and a few days later I was over it.
I think that is the best solution. Just use 2007 and hunt around for what you need. After a couple of days, the new interface is old hat.
That's not to say that it is "better." I'm pretty neutral on that point.
Tim: I agree. Go with it and get used to it.
Nevertheless I do think the new UI (in quite some situations) requires a lot more clicks to get your work done. Which is quite the opposite of what MSFT tried to achieve!
I saw a post on Andrew's blog about this topic; "Bring Back Those Old Style Menus". It's quite easy to activate the menu's that are still there:
http://blog.livedoor.jp/andrewe/archives/50820196.html
No add in or code needed
You can add the old menu items with RibbonX
See this example from Charlie Woodall:
You can add classic menus to Excel 2007 with XML. No VBA is necessary. Here is the XML file along with the add-in that contains it. The add-in will add a ClassicUI tab to the ribbon.
http://cid-c71180b441714fdc.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Excel/ExcelClassicUI.xml
http://cid-c71180b441714fdc.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Excel/ExcelClassicUI.xlam
A Slight modification to Charlie's add-ins, It removes the Ribbon Tabs and only gives you the Classic Menus
http://cid-af0f671fc64e8122.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Ribbon/Classic|_UI.xlam
http://cid-af0f671fc64e8122.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Ribbon/menus.TXT
http://cid-af0f671fc64e8122.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Ribbon/Excel.qat
Another freeware excel menu-2003 from below site. Even if after loding addins you can delete the addins afterwards, it still works, you can use classic menu from addins tab.
http://shahshaileshs.web.officelive.com/Addins.aspx