
Because of the increased use of tablets, the products within Microsoft Office 2013 have been redesigned with a new mode to allow for easier access to the buttons and other commands within the Ribbon and Quick Access toolbar. This mode is called touch mode. When you enter touch mode within any product interface in the Office 2013 product line, the Ribbon and Quick Access toolbar are enlarged and extra space is added around the buttons and commands within the Ribbon and Quick Access toolbar so that you can more easily access them on your touch-based tablet.
Figure 1: A picture of Microsoft Office Word 2013 in its normal “Mouse” mode. Note the placement of the buttons within the Ribbon at the top of the application interface.
Figure 2: A picture of Microsoft Office Word 2013 when it has been placed into its “Touch” mode. Note that the buttons within the Quick Access toolbar and Ribbon have been enlarged and space has been added around the buttons.
To enable touch mode within any product in Microsoft Office 2013, click the small drop-down arrow at the right end of the Quick Access toolbar to display a listing of the most commonly used commands. Then click or tap the “Touch/Mouse Mode” command in the drop-down menu to add that button to the Quick Access toolbar.
Figure 3: A picture of Microsoft Office Word 2013. To enable the “Touch/Mouse Mode” button that allows you to toggle between “Touch” and “Mouse” mode, you must add it to the Quick Access toolbar. This picture shows the button at the right end of the Quick Access toolbar that you must click, and the command that you want to select is highlighted within the drop-down menu.
You can then enable or disable touch mode in by clicking or tapping the “Touch/Mouse Mode” button within the Quick Access toolbar. From the drop-down menu that then appears, you can select the mode you prefer to use: “Mouse” or “Touch.” When “Touch” mode is enabled the buttons within the Ribbon and Quick Access toolbar will appear larger and with more space surrounding them onscreen. You can select the “Mouse” choice to toggle touch mode off, restoring the default size of the buttons onscreen.
Figure 4: A picture of Microsoft Office Word 2013. After adding the “Touch/Mouse Mode” button to the Quick Access toolbar, you can then click it to choose between the “Mouse” and “Touch” modes, which are shown in the drop-down menu.