04-13-2012, 03:05 PM

Hi,
I am pretty new to the Mac world and not that great with computers. This problem might have an easy fix, but I have stumped my college tech support.
problem:
Somehow I lost the access to the toolbar ribbon in my 2011 word program for Mac's. The local college tech support and I have been unable to get my ribbon to expand, even though the box is checked to expand it. I really need some help and am not that great with Mac's or even PC's. If anyone can offer support that would be great.

Thanks,
montanakid

04-13-2012, 04:00 PM

Hi,
I am pretty new to the Mac world and not that great with computers. This problem might have an easy fix, but I have stumped my college tech support.
problem:
Somehow I lost the access to the toolbar ribbon in my 2011 word program for Mac's. The local college tech support and I have been unable to get my ribbon to expand, even though the box is checked to expand it. I really need some help and am not that great with Mac's or even PC's. If anyone can offer support that would be great.

Thanks,
montanakid

04-13-2012, 08:03 PM

Most likely it has been accidentally concealed.
On the right hand side of the screen (underneath the search box) you should see an icon arrow (there is another icon to the right of it for ribbon preferences). I am guessing that it is pointing down? Click it and, hopefully, the ribbon will appear and the arrow will point upwards.
It is a quick hide feature for when you want more screen space for your document.

04-13-2012, 08:11 PM

Answered in the other forum you posted this!

04-13-2012, 08:17 PM

Posts merged. Please do not double post.

04-13-2012, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by Pigstick

Most likely it has been accidentally concealed.
On the right hand side of the screen (underneath the search box) you should see an icon arrow (there is another icon to the right of it for ribbon preferences). I am guessing that it is pointing down? Click it and, hopefully, the ribbon will appear and the arrow will point upwards.
It is a quick hide feature for when you want more screen space for your document.

[QUOTE=montanakid]
Thanks for your reply, but no matter what I have tried nothing has fixed the ribbon. You are very correct the arrow on the right is facing down. It acts like it is going to expand for a second, but it just flashes instantly and nothing happens. I have no idea what caused this.

04-13-2012, 11:57 PM

The Ribbon, menus, icons, settings and many of the items that are present when you start Word up are embedded in the normal template. Sometimes this template may experience corruption. If it becomes corrupt the only cure is to remove it and allow Word to automatically create another.

You can try removing the template and see if Word creating a new one cures it. The normal template is called "normal.dotm" and here is where you can find it:

/Users/your user name/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/normal.dotm

Shut Word and any other Office application down and then move normal.dotm to your desktop or delete it but don't empty the trash. Word will create another when it's restarted.

04-14-2012, 02:49 PM

Hi chscag,
I am going to give your suggestion a try. I am pretty frustrated. I will try anything, this was a staple to my college paper writings.

Thanks for suggestion,
montanakid

04-14-2012, 04:44 PM

I'm having the same issue. it is very frustrating. I had no problems until the most recent update, same for you? The most likely fix I've heard so far is to reinstall & not accept any updates. I'm hoping to avoid that, as I'm sure you are.

I've tried all the above fixes, and a few others, with no luck.

04-14-2012, 04:58 PM

Hi,
Ya I have tried almost everythig and I think thats what I will have to do. Holding out till last minute cause like you said I don't want to have to do that. Bad timing for this to happen. I have a lot of projects that I'm working on and this really slows me down.
Thanks for posting,
Montanakid

04-14-2012, 06:27 PM

Hey Montana Kid,
My problem has been corrected, hopefully yours too. I opened Word & selected Help>Check for Updates.

I don't know if Mac released a new one, or I got it to somehow redownload, but that fixed it. Previous attempts to get updates didn't work. If all else fails, you might try getting the update here: Microsoft Office for Mac Downloads and Updates | Office For Mac

Good Luck.

04-14-2012, 09:13 PM

The latest update for Office 2011 was just released yesterday: 14.2.0. To be honest, I don't know what is included in the update, I was too busy to read through it and just applied the update and pressed on. Everything seems to be working much the same including the Ribbon of which was never a problem on my machine.

04-14-2012, 10:51 PM

Thanks, I'm going to give it a try. I hope this is the answer for me too.

04-19-2012, 09:10 AM

I have the same problem which appeared after the last update. I just switched from an older word version to word 2011 and am struggling with the ribbon band anyway.

Now I cannot get it to work. Very frustrating. The removal of the normal.dotm document did not do it for me. neither did the update.

Any other suggestions?

04-19-2012, 09:49 AM

Pooh! I went to the download center from microsoft and downloaded SP 2 (14.2.0). I installed it and my ribbons are back!

Strange thing was that I ran the automatic software update function in Word before the update and it told me that I was up to date. I installed the update anyway and now it works.

Thanks for your help everybody!