First introduced in Excel 2007, the ribbon is the strip of buttons and icons that sits above the work area. The ribbon replaces the menus and toolbars found in earlier versions of Excel.

The ribbon contains tabs labeled Home, Insert, Page Layout, Formulas, Data, Review, View, and Help. When you select a tab, a set of groups appears in the area below the ribbon, and within the groups are buttons representing various commands.

When Excel opens, the Home tab appears, along with the groups and buttons within it. Each group represents a function. The Number group contains commands that let you format numbers, such as increasing or decreasing the number of decimal places. The Cells group contains options for inserting, deleting, and formatting cells.

When you select a command on the ribbon, a context menu or dialog box may display additional options related to the selected command.