CNET Editors' review
Classic Menu for Word 2007 recreates the look and feel of Word 2003 in Word 2007. Why would anyone want to do that, especially now that a new version is available in Office 2010? Some users don't want, need, or like change; Word 2003 was more than good enough for them. That's where Classic Menu for Word 2007 comes in. It integrates all the improved functionality of Word 2007 in Word 2003's style and interface, so you can enjoy improved performance with a familiar, comfortable feel--and the productivity that comes with it.
Like most Office add-ins, Classic Menu is a simple affair to install, though you must have Office 2007 on your PC; it's compatible with Windows versions XP to 7, too. Basically, the program adds the old-school menus and toolbars of Word 2003 to the Word 2007 ribbon. You can choose to hide the Word 2007 tabs entirely, for an even more familiar feel. We think it's a good way to transition to Word 2007 to leave the tabs visible, since many users will certainly want to try out the new interface. The Classic Menu Manager, accessible via the Start button, manages properties and settings, though this is a fairly simple-to-use add-in that will pose little challenge to most users' technical abilities. There are few extras, since this software's job is fairly straightforward, but one we liked is the ability to access classic menus via common shortcuts by simply adding an extra Q to the keyboard shortcut sequence.
If you've used one version of a program for years and now face an "improved" version that maybe doesn't change any of tools you actually use, you can have your cake and eat it, too, by simply re-creating your familiar environment without sacrificing the upgrade.
Editors' note: This is a review of the full version of Classic Menu for Word 2007 5.20. The trial version is limited to 15 days.
Publisher's Description
From Addintools:
Classic Menu for Word 2007 allows you to work with Word 2007 as if it were Word 2003. All the new features in Microsoft Word 2007 have been added into the Main Menu, Standard Toolbar and Formatting Toolbar. User can browse the whole menus with keyboard shortcuts (insert Q into the original shortcuts of Office 2003. For example: press Alt + T to open the "Tools" menu in Word 2003, you just need to press Alt + Q + T to open the "Tools" menu in Word 2007). Supports all languages that are supported by Microsoft Word 2007 including: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, and more. Add the menus and toolbars to the Quick Access Toolbar, and you can use Word without the ribbon. Easy to enable or disable the menus and toolbars. Easy to install and uninstall. Quickly find and execute the command that you need. The Menus tab can be shown on the left of Home tab, or shown as the last tab.
What's new in this version: Version 7.25 fixed If there is a symbol and in the file name, the Recent Files will be empty issue.
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All versions:
3.3 starsout of 6 votes
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Results 1-6 of 6
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"The Classic Was a Good Thing"
Version: Classic Menu for Word 2007 6.05
Pros
Yes, some people don't want to change, but for productivity sake, why should we?
Cons
None worth mentioning
Summary
Cheers to classics
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"Not bad, but the Alt-based commands still don't work"
Version: Classic Menu for Word 2007 5.25
Pros
It brings back the menus
Cons
You can't access the menus with the Alt key like you could in older versions of Word
Summary
I'm glad someone came out with a product to help people around the monster Microsoft has created known as the Ribbon. This add-in does bring the classic menus back. However, they cannot be accessed with the Alt button plus a letter. For example, to pull down the Tools menu, you could hit Alt+T in Word '03 and earlier. If you wanted to run the "Word Count" command from that menu, you hit W. Thus Alt+T,W was the quick word count command. You can't use any of these Alt-based quick commands in Word '07/10 with this add-in.
In short, it's good that this add-in exists. It will help people find commands via the old menus. However, it's still not as good as simply using the older versions of Word. -
"Works great! Love it."
Version: Classic Menu for Word 2007 5.25
Pros
Great to see the "classic" menu again. 2007 menu is difficult to work with.
Cons
No problems.
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"Fabulous Idea, but not quite ready"
Version: Classic Menu for Word 2007 4.5
Pros
Looks great
Cons
Crashed Microsoft Word when I tried to save a document
Summary
If only this software worked, instead I spent a blissful hour working on a document with the old familiar template, but when I hit save Word crashed and I recieved the following error
WINWORD.EXE- APPLICATION ERROR
The Exception unkown software exeption (0x0000409) occured in the application at location 0x01519ae3f.
When I unistalled the program, the problem went away -
"gggrrreeeaaattt!!!!"
Version: Classic Menu for Word 2007 3.0
Pros
aaaaaaaaaaaa
Cons
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Summary
works great
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"s"
Version: Classic Menu for Word 2007 3.0
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