It is recommended that you spend a little time getting used to the ribbon and becoming familiar with the new interface. However, for all those menu and toolbar diehards, there is an alternative.

The Classic Menu for Office Professional Plus 2010 brings back the classic menus and toolbars to Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, and also holds all new features of Office 2010. The software helps you work with Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit) as if it were Microsoft Office 2003 (or XP, 2000).

You can download a free trial here, to see whether it works for you.

Click to enlarge

The image above illustrates the new (old) look and feel of the toolbar that the software replaces the ribbon with. And the changes re not just restricted to Microsoft Word: all programs in the Office 2010 suite get the classic toolbar.

Even though the old, classic toolbar gets installed, all the new functions and commands that were present on the ribbon are still in place. All new features and commands of Microsoft Office 2010 are added to the classic style interface. The Office 2010 ribbon tabs are kept fully intact, so you can truly get the best of both worlds.

The Classic Menu for Office 2010 not only supports 32-bit, but also supports 64-bit Microsoft Office 2010.