How to Hide the Ribbon When Launching Microsoft access database?

Hide the Ribbon When Launching Microsoft access database

Having Ribbons in your Microsoft access database application helps a lot when you need to use all the tabs that are present on the ribbon. However, there are times that you need to prevent the tabs on the ribbon from displaying when launching the application. MS Access, by default, does not provide an option for hiding the ribbon. Because of that,you have to opt for external approaches. One way is to create and apply a customized ribbon that can hide all the built-in tabs.

Before you begin, make sure system tables are displayed in the Navigation Pane. To do this, change a setting in the Navigation Options dialog box so you can view the USysRibbons table once it is created.

Follow these steps:

Right-click the Navigation Bar at the top of the Navigation Pane, and then click Navigation Options.

You should be able to see the Microsoft access database system tables in the Navigation Pane.

Create the USysRibbons system table

The procedure below explains how to create the USysRibbons system table which you will use later to store your Ribbon customization Xml.

1. On the Create tab, click Table Design.
2. Add the following fields to the table. Make sure you type the field names correctly.

FIELD NAMETYPEFIELD SIZE1. ID1. AutoNumber1. Long Integer1. RibbonName1. Short Text1. 2551. RibbonXml1. Long Text1.

1. If you want, you may include more fields to this table.
2. Select the ID field and click Primary Key that’s on the Design tab, in the Tools group.
3. Press CTRL+S and name the new table as USysRibbons. Click OK to save the changes.

Add Ribbon customization XML to the USysRibbons table

This is how to create the XML with this configuration:

1. Right-click the USysRibbons table in the Navigation Pane then click Open to display the table in Datasheet view.
2. Copy the following data and paste it into the table.

IDRibbonNameRibbonXML(AutoNumber)Custom Tab

1. Close the USysRibbons table.
2. Close the database and open in again.

Apply the custom Ribbon

Since the custom Ribbon XML has been added to the table, it’s time to apply the custom Ribbon.

If you want to apply the custom Ribbon to the entire database, do the following:

1. Launch Access and open the database.
2. Click File then Options to open Access Options dialogue box.
3. Click Current Database and locate Ribbon and Toolbar Options.
4. Select the Ribbon Name list then click the Ribbon that you want — in this case, Custom Tab.
5. Click OK.

If you choose to apply the custom Ribbon to a specific form or report, here are the steps:

1. Right-click the form or report that you want to apply the custom Ribbon to and click Design View.
2. Press F4 to display the property sheet if it’s not already shown.
3. Under Selection type, make sure that the object type (Form or Report) is selected.
4. On the Other tab of the property sheet, click the Ribbon Name list, then click the Ribbon that you want to be displayed when opening the form or report — in this case, Custom Tab.
5. Press CTRL+S to save.
6. Close the form or report.
7. Reopen it.

Now, the Ribbon that you selected is displayed.

My name is Ben Beitler (based in London, UK) and I have been building, consulting & training with Microsoft Access databases for over 20 years.