The Ribbon (Visual Designer) item provides advanced tools that make it easier for you to design and develop a custom Ribbon. Use the Ribbon (Visual Designer) item to customize the Ribbon in the following ways:

• Add custom or built-in tabs to a Ribbon.

• Add custom groups to a custom or built-in tab.

  Note:
  A built-in tab or group is one that already exists on the Ribbon of a Microsoft Office application. For example, the Data tab is a built-in tab in Excel. The Connections group is a built-in group on the Data tab.

• Add custom controls to a custom group.

• Add custom controls to the Microsoft Office menu.

For more information about how to customize a Ribbon by using the Ribbon (Visual Designer) item, see Ribbon Designer.

Use the Ribbon (XML) item if you want to customize the Ribbon in a way that is not supported by the Ribbon (Visual Designer) item. Use the Ribbon (XML) item to customize the Ribbon in the following ways:

• Add built-in groups to a custom tab or built-in tab.

• Add built-in controls to a custom group.

• Add custom code to override the event handlers of built-in controls.

• Customize the Quick Access Toolbar.

• Share a Ribbon customization between add-ins by using a qualified ID.

For more information about how to customize the Ribbon by using the Ribbon (XML) item, see Ribbon XML.

A new Ribbon code file is added to Solution Explorer. This file contains the Ribbon XML class. You must create callback methods in the Ribbon Callbacks region of this class to handle user actions, such as clicking a button. Move your code from the event handlers to these callback methods and modify the code to work with the Ribbon extensibility (RibbonX) programming model. For more information, see Ribbon XML.

You must also add code to the ThisAddIn, ThisWorkbook, or ThisDocument class that overrides the CreateRibbonExtensibilityObject method and returns the Ribbon XML class to the Office application.

For more information, see Ribbon XML.

Outlook does not display the Ribbon in the main application window. Instead, Outlook displays the Ribbon in an Inspector. You can add a Ribbon for each Inspector to an Outlook add-in project. For more information, see Customizing a Ribbon for Outlook.

Because a project can contain more than one Ribbon, you can select which Ribbon to display at run time.

To select a Ribbon to display at run time, override the CreateRibbonExtensibilityObject method in the ThisAddin, ThisWorkbook, or ThisDocument class of your project and return the Ribbon that you want to display. The following example checks the value of a field named myCondition and returns the appropriate Ribbon.

Note:
The syntax used in this example returns a Ribbon that was created by using the Ribbon (Visual Designer) item. The syntax for returning a Ribbon that is created by using a Ribbon (XML) item is slightly different. For more information about returning a Ribbon (XML) item, see Ribbon XML.

Protected Overrides Function CreateRibbonExtensibilityObject() As  _
    Microsoft.Office.Core.IRibbonExtensibility
    If myCondition = True Then
        Return New Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonManager _
            (New Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.OfficeRibbon() _
                 {New Ribbon1()})
    Else
        Return New Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonManager _
            (New Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.OfficeRibbon() _
                {New Ribbon2()})
    End If
End Function

    protected override Microsoft.Office.Core.IRibbonExtensibility
CreateRibbonExtensibilityObject()
    {
        if (myCondition == true)
        {
            return new Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonManager(
                new Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.OfficeRibbon[] 
                    { new Ribbon1() });
        }
        else
        {
            return new Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.RibbonManager(
                new Microsoft.Office.Tools.Ribbon.OfficeRibbon[] 
                    { new Ribbon2() });
        }
    }