Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

The Ribbon

In previous versions of Windows, there were all kinds of crazy ways to shape, sort, group, slice, and dice the contents of an Explorer window. In Windows 8, somebody at Microsoft got fed up and decided to stuff them all into one convenient place: the new Ribbon.

The Ribbon is a glorified toolbar. (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and other Microsoft programs have Ribbons, too.) In File Explorer, it comes with several tabs full of buttons. They can differ from window to window; for example, in a window full of pictures, you get buttons that are especially useful for managing picture files (Figure 6-8).

You can collapse the Ribbon to get it out of your way; it is, after all, pretty tall. You do that by clicking the button at the window’s upper-right corner, or by pressing Ctrl+F1. (Later, you can bring it back by clicking the button, or by pressing Ctrl+F1 again. But that might not be necessary; even when the Ribbon is collapsed, its tab names—File, Home, Share, View, and so on—are still visible for quick clicking.)

Tip

The Ribbon also goes away in full-screen mode, in which your Explorer window fills the entire screen. (Press F11 to start or stop full-screen mode.)

You can also get rid of it permanently, using the free Ribbon Disabler program. You can download it from this book’s “Missing ...