pschmid.net: Putting You & I back into Office 2007's Ribbon UI

False positive virus alert with RibbonCustomizer setup program

Patrick Schmid — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:34:19 +0000

I posted earlier that the setup program of RibbonCustomizer triggered a virus alert with some virus scanners (see report). Kaspersky, one of the affected virus scanners, just informed me that it was a false positive virus alert and that the problem will be fixed as soon as possible. I will keep updating this post as I receive more replys from other anti-virus vendors. RibbonCustomizer will be available again for download now.

Virus scanner that trigger false alerts:

AntiVir 7.8.1.15, definitions from 2008.08.05 - confirmed as false positive, fixed with definitions from 2008.08.13
Avast 4.8.1195.0, definitions from 2008.08.13
F-Secure 7.60.13501.0, definitions from 2008.08.06 - confirmed as false positive, fixed with definitions from 2008.08.10
Fortinet 3.14.0.0, definitions from 2008.08.05 - confirmed as false positive, fixed with definitions from 2008.08.11
GData 2.0.7306.1023, definitions from 2008.08.06
Ikarus T3.1.1.34.0, definitions from 2008.08.06 - confirmed as false positive, fixed with definitions from 2008.08.13
K7AntiVirus 7.10.413, definitions from 2008.08.13
Kaspersky 7.0.0.125, definitions from 2008.08.06 - confirmed as false positive, fixed with definitions from 2008.08.09
Norman 5.80.02, definitions from 2008.08.05
VBA32 3.12.8.2, definitions from 2008.08.05
ViRobot 2008.8.8.1329, definitions from 2008.08.08
Webwasher-Gateway 6.6.2, definitions from 2008.08.05 - fixed with definitions from 2008.08.13

I want to assure all of you that all files distributed here are always thoroughly checked for viruses before being made available.

RibbonCustomizer bug fixes

Patrick Schmid — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:56:51 +0000

I just posted a new RibbonCustomizer release with lots of bug fixes related to custom image handling.

Unfortunately, I had to change the image handling code substantially. This new release cannot read images created with the previous one. It should simply not load them and you can add them manually again. If you encounter problems with this, please use the support options.

Download the latest beta

RibbonCustomizer - Use custom images

Patrick Schmid — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:56:02 +0000

The newest beta version of RibbonCustomizer lets you now use your own custom images as icons on the Ribbon. The only limitation is that you cannot assign custom images to Microsoft commands. But you can assign your own images to all your macro buttons.

Important warning: Files generated with the newest beta release cannot be read by any older release. Any older release will most likely crash when trying to read a file with a custom image in it. Therefore, upgrade all your copies to the newest beta release, if you plan on using your own images.

Download the latest beta release now.

MVP again

Patrick Schmid — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:37:17 +0000

I just got renewed as Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for OneNote for another year.
Due to my new job, I haven’t been very active recently. Hopefully, I will have more time going forward to be more active again!

RibbonCustomizer - New beta build

Patrick Schmid — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:03:57 +0000

It has been a long time since I posted a new build of RibbonCustomizer. My new job has been keeping me very busy. I just didn’t have time to work on the add-in. Things have settled down a bit and I fixed a bunch of bugs in the add-in.

You can get the latest beta build as usual from http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer/betaprogram.php

You can also look forward to new features in the not too distant future…

RibbonCustomizer: pick your own icons!

Patrick Schmid — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 23:17:18 +0000

It has been a while since I released an new beta build of RibbonCustomizer. But, here is one

A lot of bug fixes went into this release, but the most notable change is the ability to pick your own icons. You can now use any Office 2007 icon for your macro buttons, or simply change the icon of any Office 2007 control you are using in your own group.

Download the new beta build.

P.S.: You cannot use your own custom icon in this build. I will provide that feature as well, but I wanted to just post this build as is, because it has been a while since there was a new build.

imageMso list

Patrick Schmid — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 05:23:00 +0000

A developer can use Office 2007 icons in RibbonX via the imageMso attribute. To do so, she needs to only specify the idMso of the control which has the desired icon. Unfortunately, this is not as easy as it sounds, because any idMso available in any of the five ribbon applications (Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word) can be used irrespective of the application. That means, an idMso from an Excel command can be used in Word as imageMso.

To make this easier, I created a unique imageMso list. This list was created by first finding all unique idMso’s across all ribbons (some 3,400 idMso’s), and then removing all the idMso’s that didn’t have their own icons, as well as all duplicates. The list differentiates between unique 16×16 and 32×32 icons, as well as unique pairs of 16×16 and 32×32 icons.

Download the imageMso list (Excel 2007 format).

Finding your way around the Office 2007 Ribbon

Patrick Schmid — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:27:40 +0000

Microsoft has made available to sets of aids for helping users find their way around the Office 2007 Ribbon. The first set are the Online command reference guides. These are Flash applications that will show you the 2003 UI, allow you to click on the command you are looking for, and then show you where to find that particular command in Office 2007. You can find them using the follow links. There is no guide for Access.

Excel: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA101491511033.aspx

Outlook: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102221621033.aspx

PowerPoint: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/HA101490761033.aspx

Word: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA100744321033.aspx

If you prefer a tabular form showing you where which 2003 command can be found in 2007, you can find buried in Help the links to the Ribbon mapping workbooks. Those Excel files are comprehensive and can be printed (they are not the smallest one either, the Word one is e.g. 3 MB):

Access: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128601033.aspx

Excel: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128621033.aspx

Outlook: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128631033.aspx

PowerPoint: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128641033.aspx

Word: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC102128591033.aspx

RibbonCustomizer gets its own logo and icons!

Patrick Schmid — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:49:15 +0000

RibbonCustomizer has been using an icon from Microsoft Office (you might have recognized it as the icon used for Office button, Prepare). Not anymore! RibbonCustomizer has now its own logo and icons designed by Terberg Design.
Here is a preview of the logo:

Watch for the new logo and the icons on this website and upcoming beta versions soon!

RibbonCustomizer: Added support for menus, boxes and button groups

Patrick Schmid — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 01:28:41 +0000

I just posted another beta version of RibbonCustomizer V1.2. This one has added support to create the following items:

menu
box
buttonGroup

If you don’t know what these RibbonX elements do, look at the Classic UI tabs. The Classic UI tabs are three rows of item. Each row is a separate box. The first row is only menus, while the second and third row contain buttons grouped together in button groups.

To add these items to your customizations, look in the same Custom Item list that you can find macros under.

Get the newest beta.

“Clip to OneNote” Firefox Extension

Patrick Schmid — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 20:49:03 +0000

There is a useful Firefox extension that allows you to send webclippings from Firefox to OneNote. It was developed by Gmx Lee for OneNote 2003. You can get it directly from his website. Even though it was developed for OneNote 2003, it also works with OneNote 2007.

Unfortunately, the latest Firefox version it supports is 1.5. To get it to work with later Firefox versions, you have to edit the file so that it will install in later versions. Editing the file isn’t everyone’s thing, so I decided to provide the edited file as download here.

Download the edited Clip to OneNote Firefox (up to V3) extension

Note: This is not my extension! You are on your own with it. I will not provide any support nor answer any questions nor help you using it!

Macro support for RibbonCustomizer

Patrick Schmid — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 21:24:32 +0000

You can now use RibbonCustomizer to add macros to your Ribbon in Access, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word. The support in Outlook is flaky, so I might have to remove it in a later build.

If you want to give it a try, download the latest beta version.

Update: In my excitement about posting this, I forgot to mention how to actually use it

To add a macro, go into the Customize Ribbon dialog, then either create a new group or select an already created one. Switch to the Customize Group tab. On the right hand side, select Custom Items from the drop down, then pick Macro and click Add Command. After that, you have to provide the name of the macro and then its label.

OneNote 2007: Switch notebook from client-server sync to peer-to-peer sync while offline

Patrick Schmid — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:27:43 +0000

My girlfriend and I have a shared OneNote 2007 notebook to keep track of our move to Germany. That particular notebook is stored on my desktop and available to use on my desktop, my tablet and my girlfriend’s laptop. Right now though, my desktop is sitting in a shipping container in a US port waiting for the ship to take it to Germany while its hard drives went over the Atlantic in my carry on luggage.

When I got to Germany, I realized that our notebook would not sync anymore because the server containing the notebook (my desktop) was not there. Considering that this is the notebook we use for our move, keeping it in sync is very important right now.

I figured I could ask my fellow OneNote MVPs and the members of the OneNote team if they had any suggestions what to do in this situation. The biggest problem was that changes had been made to the notebook on both computers, so the two copies were out of sync. If they had not been out of sync, I would have just created a new shared notebook (stored on my tablet) and copied the sections from the current one into it. But with them out of sync, I would have been forced to manually go through each section and page…

Thankfully, Daniel Escapa, a OneNote program manager, had a great suggestion that worked flawlessly:

Find a USB key
On you Tablet right-click on the notebook and choose properties
Choose to sync the notebook to a new location, and have it saved to the USB key
Try the same on the other machine

After following these steps, I now have the notebook synced again on both laptops via the USB stick. I could have chosen a network share (hosted on my tablet) instead of the USB stick, but then I couldn’t keep them in sync when both laptops are not on the same LAN (which will be the case while we are apartment hunting in Berlin).

So if you ever find yourself with several OneNote clients that hold the same notebook offline, but with no access to the server containing the notebook, now you know what to do.

Thanks Daniel for this suggestion!

Website update

Patrick Schmid — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 07:05:51 +0000

Just a quick note that the forums are now integrated into the main layout of the website. See it for yourself: http://pschmid.net/office2007/forums

As usual, any feedback is appreciated.

Moving…

Patrick Schmid — Tue, 29 May 2007 13:55:53 +0000

After six years of living in Bethlehem, PA, USA, I am moving away. I have accepted a job as business consultant in Berlin, Germany. I will remain a Ph.D. Candidate here at Lehigh University as I will finish up my degree over the next two years.

My girlfriend and I are moving together. We are both extremely excited and are looking forward to our new life in Berlin.

This move is keeping me quite busy right now, so updates to my blog, forums and RibbonCustomizer will be sparse over the next few weeks. When I find some time, I will work on adding macro functionality to RibbonCustomizer though. I have parts of that already implemented.

Back to the move. The packers are coming tomorrow…