Is it possible for the layout and format of Command items in an Excel Ribbon Group to be controlled by the user (i.e. through "normal" use of Excel, without recourse to XML hacking or UI editors)? Specifically, is it possible to control whether they appear as small icons without text on two lines (i.e. the default), versus large icons with text on a single line (i.e. what Excel sometimes decides to do for no apparent reason)?
Both of those layouts do arise, but it's not clear how Excel is choosing which one to use or if/how the user can control it. It appears, however, to depend on how the Group and its constituent Command items were added to their containing Tab.
As an example, see the following screenshot. It shows a custom Tab called "Compare Group Formats" to which I have added two Groups. The Group on the left, "Font (added as a Group)" is just the default "Font" Group, added as a single entity. The one on the right, "Font (added as individual Commands)" is a new custom Group containing exactly the same Command items, but with each one added individually.§
Notice that although the two Groups contain (when using "Customize Ribbon") the same Command items, and in the same order, there are six differences between the way the two Groups appear in the actual Ribbon:
- Icon size: small in default; large in custom
- Icon text: none in default; present in custom
- Layout: narrow with icons on two rows in default; wide with icons on a single line in custom (perhaps because of the larger footprints of the Command items)
- Use of sub-menu": "Format Cell Font" is pushed into a sub-menu (bottom right corner) in default; it is left fully visible alongside the rest in custom
- Missing command: "Show Phonetic Field" is completely omitted in default, but is shown alongside the rest in custom, even though it is present in both Groups when using Customize Ribbon
Note that "crowding" in Ribbon tabs affects the above. I've shown the two groups in an otherwise empty tab so as to focus on the problem, and that lets the custom group at least spread itself out. That may well be why it's choosing the largest footprint Command item icons/text -- because it can. But the layouts are different, and the custom tab seems to do whatever it feels like, which is non optimal since the whole point of the Ribbon seems to be to allow the user to customize things to his own liking.
SO: what is producing the various layout differences, and is there any way the user can control it?
§ FWIW, this is all so I can have an alternate version of the "Home" Tab, with all the same Groups as the original, but with various Commands I never use removed. That is necessary because it's not possible to remove individual Commands from a Group if it is added as a single entity
