The Microsoft Excel 2007 Ribbon is the most vital part of the Microsoft Excel interface and contains the majority of the program's features. The Ribbon is arranged into a series of Tabs, each of which contains groups of related commands. Tabs are accessed simply by clicking on the name of each Tab. Within each Tab, commands are divided in groups: the name of each group is shown at the bottom of that group.

The Home Tab contains the most often used commands. Here you'll find the commands which one uses all the time; clipboard such as Cut Copy and Paste; commands for formatting the data within your cells; choosing the font; changing the alignment and the format of numbers; commands for chopping and changing cells such as inserting rows and columns; and finally you will also find commands for sorting and editing your data.

As the name suggests, the Insert Tab is used to add or insert elements into your worksheets. Some of these elements are built into Excel such as charts; other elements are inserted from outside the program such as pictures, for example, inserting your company logo.

The Page Layout Tab contains commands to control the appearance of your worksheets as a whole. Here, you'll find settings like the margins, orientation, the size of paper and the area of the worksheet to be printed. You will normally visit the page layout Tab before printing your worksheets.

The Formulas Tab contains those controls relating to the most powerful aspect of Excel: formulas and functions. Here you can insert functions, look for errors in formulas and control the way in which Excel handles formulas and carries out calculations.

In the Data Tab you will find commands for importing information into Excel from sources such as databases; sorting information and also filtering (in other words returning data which matches certain criteria).

Here you'll also find advanced tools for consolidation, validating data and performing "What if?" analysis. Also, in the outline section, there are commands for assigning different levels to the different columns and rows of the worksheet. Excel's powerful outlining commands make large worksheet easier to manage and to navigate.

The general theme of the Review Tab is protection and checking. It is here that you will find the spell-checker as well as facilities for users to add their comments to a worksheet. There are also commands for protecting workbooks and worksheets.

The View Tab contains commands relating to the way in which your worksheets and workbooks are viewed. Here you'll find commands for zooming in and out on your work and for viewing multiple workbooks and worksheets simultaneously.

The Developer Tab is all about automation. It is here that you'll find commands for creating macros. Macros are Visual Basic code which can be written to automate just about any aspect of Microsoft Excel.