Ribbon

What is the Ribbon?

The Ribbon is the replacement for the standard toolbar many Windows users have been used to for decades. It is the modern way to help you find, understand, and use commands efficiently and directly with a minimum number of clicks, with less need to resort to trial-and-error, and without having to refer to Help. The Ribbon was first introduced in Microsoft Office 2007 and continues to be used and evolved in many Microsoft products.

The Ribbon appears on top of the Main Window and in most Detail Views. By default it appears expanded at its full size, however it can be minimized to save room on your screen. It consists of tabs and actions (or buttons) that are grouped into sections, and the File menu on the far left.

There are some actions on the ribbon that are consistent throughout REV23 Desktop. However, there are some that appear only in lists views, some that appear only in detail views and some that are specific to certain data types.

The Ribbon in a generic List View. Notice the List View specific action ‘New’. Also in this example notice the different elements. The Home tab is selected showing us it’s actions. Also notice how the actions are contained in groups. For example, the ‘New’ button appears in the ‘Records Creation’ group.

The Ribbon in a generic Detail View. Notice the Detail View specific actions ‘Save’ and ‘Save and Close’ that appear in the ‘Save’ group.

Minimizing the Ribbon

If you’d like to collapse the ribbon to save room on your screen you can double click on one of the ribbon tabs and the ribbon will minimize (only the application button and tabs will be visible). To access the actions in the ribbon when it is minimized, single click a tab and the ribbon will drop down allowing you temporary access to the full ribbon. After you execute an action the ribbon will minimize itself again. To expand the ribbon, just double click the tab again.

There is also an arrow on the far right that allows you to collapse and expand the ribbon.

The ribbon in its minimized state. Notice the arrow on the right hand side that allows you to minimize and expand the ribbon as desired.

Collapsed Groups

In some situations when there are more items to display on the ribbon than it can fit on your screen, groups will collapse. These groups are recognizable by an arrow pointing down. In order to access that groups items you need to click the group and a popup window will appear allowing you access to those items.

Notice in this example the Workflow, Full Text Search groups are collapsed, while the View group’s icon sizes have been reduced.

Here, the Full Text Search group was clicked, allowing access to the search box.

The File Menu The File Menu button shows File Menu. Here you can print and export as well as access some other useful features that are view specific. The File Menu always appears in the top left corner of REV23 Desktop.

The file menu button. Depending on your selected skin the button may appear different.

The application button’s standard menu.

Also part of the ribbon is the Quick Access Toolbar, which as you might guess allows you quick access to your favorite actions. By default, it appears in the top left hand corner of the ribbon. However it’s position can be moved to below the ribbon if desired by clicking the ‘Customize Quick Access Toolbar’ button which appears on the right hand side of the list.

The Quick Access Toolbar shows the Refresh, Previous Record, Next Record, Log Off and Touch Mode actions by default.

The Quick Access Toolbar displayed below the Ribbon.

Any action can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar by right clicking it and select the ‘Add to Quick Access Toolbar’ item. Alternatively you can remove items from the quick access toolbar by right clicking the action and selecting the ‘Remove from Quick Access Toolbar’ item.

Right clicking an action such as the search box will show a popup menu that allows you to add an item to the Quick Access Toolbar.

Now the Quick Access Toolbar gives us fast access to the Search Box.