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I want to fix the file menu, stop it taking the whole Word 2013 window.

In Office 2013, its design is that when clicking File, instead of just getting a file menu, you get this (I continue describing my issue below the image) screenshot of not a pure file menu

I want to not get that info page above, I want just a plain file menu, like for example in office 2003(the last office I had!) or like notepad or wordpad, a file menu that doesn't take up the whole screen

I want to be able to see the document I am writing, while the file menu is brought down(just as with any other menu)!

I hope it's only a default design and that it's changeable, is there an option?

Slight correction- I notice there are no menus in Office 2013, only ribbons.. Is there a file ribbon or file menu? I want to see the document while i'm opening or saving it!

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    I don't think you're going to get an answer any time soon. It's just the way Office 2013 is designed. What is the actual problem here? Why do you feel you need to see the document while the file menu is open? The options under it have basically no effect on the appearance of the document. If you just don't like it, then that's not really a problem we can solve for you. :) Sep 9, 2013 at 17:30
  • well, sometimes the reason why i'm opening a particular file is because of what i've just been doing with the current file. And if I can see the current file up till the moment I open the next one then I don't have to rely as much on my short term memory. It's good if the screen can neatly show you what you're doing and have been doing. Suppose I choose Open, then go to the toilet and forget what I was typing which determined what file i'd made the decision to open. The screen normally shows it. Same with Print. It helps to see the contents not just the filename..
    – barlop
    Sep 9, 2013 at 18:33
  • I notice print now has a little preview within it (not necessarily as good as print preview).. and you can open without the "backstage view" so see the document.
    – barlop
    Sep 9, 2013 at 18:34

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I realised that this is an old thread, but like you, I was looking for a way in Word 2013 to keep the document visible while using 'Save As', and I've just figured out a bit of a quick fix. Thought that you might be interested.

If you add the 'Save As' icon to the Quick Access Toolbar (on the top-left corner of Word 2013), when you click it, the 'Save As' window appears, while your document remains visible in the background... thus, bypassing the need to go through the [FILE] tab/ Info page. Or you can just hit F12 to 'Save As'.

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  • +1 that's pretty good, I see that clicking just 'save' as you say, doesn't do it even for an unsaved document it doesn't bring up the save as window, but adding a 'save as' button.. clicking that, yep. Very good.. it'd mean using 'save' and 'save as' unless one wants the 'save as' window all the time but as you say, it's a quick fix. F12 is "save as"(hovering over the button shows that). so that's another way to get the 'save as' window.
    – barlop
    Feb 14, 2014 at 8:34
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this may be of interest

it is possible to get the old menus,

http://www.addintools.com/documents/office/where-page-setup.html http://www.addintools.com/documents/word/where-print-preview.html

enter image description here

enter image description here

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  • it's possible this may cause a window to come up sometimes about buying it
    – barlop
    Feb 14, 2014 at 8:32
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A quick review- looks like all the menus are gone in office 2013(and probably 2010 too). The ribbons I see in 2013 are Home, Insert, Design, Page Layout, References, Mailings, Review, View

To the left of Home, it says "File" in blue, but it is not a ribbon. And clicking it brings up something that takes up the whole screen and you can't even see your document, but one doesn't have to click that to access open,save..

Many of the useful options that were in menus, are in the ribbons. but not some, like Open, Save,Undo,Redo. These are in a Quick access toolbar which you can add to.

conclusion

so, since you would open and save from the quickaccess toolbar, the file screen shouldn't be such a nuisance.

you can choose file..options..save..don't show backstage when opening or saving.. then at least when the options dialog is open, you can still see the document

if you do ctrl-p to print(file..print), you can't see the document and similarly with the options dialog(file..options) But open and save, you can see the document by ticking "don't show backstage"

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