CONNECT Edition - The Ribbon

The basic techniques for using the Ribbon are similar to those in Microsoft Office and other Ribbon based user interfaces.

Here are a few tips that apply to all Power Platform products:

Changing Ribbon Workflow

At the top right of the Ribbon we have added the ability to move between a number of different Ribbon layouts, that we call Workflows, by picking the Workflow name from the pop-down menu.

To speed this up, following V8i design principles of bringing actions to your mouse cursor, press a key to pop this menu up at the cursor, then press the number of the Workflow that you want:

The key to open this menu varies by region/keyboard, some examples are listed below.

Region Keystroke
US (QWERTY) \
UK (QWERTY) #
France (AZERT) *
Germany (QWERTZ) #
Denmark (QWERTY) '

F2

Displays the KeyTips for Ribbon Tabs and Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)

Press the appropriate letter to activate the desired Ribbon Tab or number (combination) to activate a QAT tool.

ALT + <Letter>

These combinations can be used as an alternative to F2 to open tabs or go to the backstage. For example, Alt+F can be used to open the Backstage and Alt+H can be used to switch to the Home tab. These shortcuts are shown in the tooltips for all ribbon tabs.

F3

Displays the KeyTips for the open Ribbon Groups:

The KeyTips displayed in response to F3 have two conditions, those shown above are generated when Position Mapping is on, note how the KeyTips in each group start with the assigned Position Mapping letter followed by a sequential number (this is because the Auto-Generate KeyTips toggle is turned on and locked once Position mapping is on).

When If Position mapping is off (the default) the KeyTips follow a different pattern, shown below, based on the Ribbon Group name and the tool name. I feel that the Position mapping KeyTips are more readable.

Clearing the KeyTips

The KeyTips will clear once a tool is selected, to clear without selecting a tool press Esc or right-click to Reset.

F4

Press F4 to search for tools in the Ribbon, Backstage, and Quick Access Toolbar:

Select the Show Details option to see additional information about the listed tools:

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), like Microsoft Office, provides an easy way for individuals to have their most used tools immediately to hand, just click the down arrow at the right hand end then pick Customize Quick Access ToolBar:

Show/Hide Ribbon Tools

Similar to Toolboxes in V8i applications right-clicking on a Ribbon Group displays a pop-up menu listing all of the tools where they can be ticked on/off. Any changes made are stored in each user's preferences.

Ribbon Preferences

The Ribbon preferences offer controls for the size and display of Ribbon items, the default Ribbon Size, Medium, displays 24 x 24 pixel icons for the smaller buttons.

The Position Mapped Groups option is discussed in context in CONNECT Edition - Using Position Mapping to get to Tools Really Quickly!.

Show Popup KeyTip Hints controls whether KeyTips are initially shown for Ribbon Group Popups. This may be useful to gain initial familiarity, but as pressing ALT when the popups are open shows the KeyTips this can generally be left unchecked.

Ribbon Key-ins

There are many Ribbon related key-ins, some already in use in the UI. They can be very helpful when customizing the Ribbon or be assigned to Function key combinations or shortcuts. A few are listed below:

RIBBON GROUPPOPUP

Pops up a ribbon group at the cursor. The parameter to this key-in is the path of the group, e.g. Drawing\Home\Primary

RIBBON SETWORKFLOW

Switches to a given workflow. The parameter to this key-in is the name of the workflow, e.g. Drawing

RIBBON ACTIVETABKEYTIPS

Activates the KeyTips for the active tab. This is assigned to <F3>, by default.

RIBBON MENU WORKFLOW

Pops up a menu containing the workflows

RIBBON MENU TABS

Pops up a menu containing the tabs within the active workflow

TASK MENU

Pops up a menu containing the available tasks

Other ribbon key-ins can be explored in the Key-in Browser by typing “ribbon”.

Additonal Information

Look in the top level topic "The Ribbon" in CONNECT Edition help documents.