Different types of Buttons in Excel Ribbon

The Buttons in Excel Ribbon are of different types and they behave differently. The command buttons in Excel Ribbon can be classified into following types.

If you keep the cursor over a Ribbon Button, a small popup box will be shown. The popup box contains a brief description about the command.

One-click Command Buttons

One-click Command Button is a normal button type in Excel Ribbon, which executes the command everytime when it is clicked.

Example : "Increase Font Size" Button (Home tab > Font). When you click on "Increase Font Size" Command button everytime, it executes the command and the size of the font is increased.

 

Toggle Buttons

Toggle button is another type of Excel Ribbon Button. An Excel Ribbon Toggle button can stay in two states. Excel Ribbon Toggle button allows the user to change a setting between two states.

Toggle button is desgined in such a way that when clicked on a Toggle button, it's color is changed to let you know that the state of the Toggle button is changed.

Example : Bold button (Home tab > Font).

Below image shows "Bold" Toggle button, when not clicked. You can see the Active Cell is A1. The text omnisecu.com is not Bold.

Below image shows the same "Bold" Toggle button in Excel Ribbon, when clicked on it. The color of "Bold" Toggle button is changed now. The text omnisecu.com is now changed to Bold.

Split Buttons

Split buttons are another type of buttons with a Drop-down menu in Excel Ribbon. Split Buttons have a small down arrow at its end. Excel Ribbon Split button has a Button part and a Menu part. When clicked on the button part, it acts like a regular button and execute the command. When clicked on the menu part, Drop-down list of related commands are displayed.

Example : Underline Split Button (Home tab > Font).

Below image shows Underline Split Button when not clicked.

Below image shows when the down arrow in Excel Ribbon Split button is clicked.

Drop-down menu buttons

Excel Ribbon Drop-down menu buttons also buttons, with a Drop-down menu. Drop-down Menu Buttons also have a small down arrow at its end. Drop-down menu buttons drop down a menu when clicked. Drop-down Menu buttons don't run a command directly, but they just display a Drop-down menu. Unlike Split button, when you click on the button, no command will be run. It will just display a menu with more options.

Example : "Conditional Formatting" Drop-down Menu Button. (Home tab > Styles)

Below image shows "Conditional Formatting" Drop-down Menu button.

 

Drop-down Menu button looks same as Split button. But when you click on it no command is run, but will display a menu list of related commands. You need to click on the menu item to perform the task.

Below image shows "Conditional Formatting" Drop-down Menu button, when clicked on the down arrow.

 

Rich menu

The Rich menu in Excel Ribbon is a type of Drop-down button with more information about the menu item. These additional help information explain more clearly what is the purpose of each menu item.

Example : "Freeze Panes" Menu Button. (Vew tab > Window)

Drop-down gallery

A Drop-down gallery in Excel Ribbon has more options than a normal Drop-down menu. The items inside Drop-down gallery can visually demonstrate the effect of menu items inside Drop-down gallery.

When mouse hover an item in Drop-down gallery, the related style is applied on Excel Worksheet, so that you can view the effect of the item on Excel Worksheet without applying it.

Check box buttons

An Excel Ribbon Check box button can stay in two states. Excel Ribbon Check box buttons are used for settings possible in two states, either "on" or "off".

Example : "Formula Bar" Check box in View tab, which can be used to make the Formula bar visible or hidden.