In this Rapid Fire Excel Tutorial, we provide some tips for using the Microsoft Excel ribbon in Excel 2007 and Excel 2010 as efficiently as possible. 

n short, 

1. Learn the basic layout of the ribbon. Also know that the three most important tabs to be familiar with are the Home, Insert, and Data tabs. 

2. Learn how to close and open the ribbon. The ribbon takes up quite a bit of screen space in Excel 2007 and 2010. Learning how to close the ribbon (ctrl-F1 among other methods) will save you time and make you a more efficient Excel user. 

3. Learn how the Alt key works. The Alt key allows you to quickly access all of the functionality of the ribbon. Learn how to use it quickly and easily and navigate in and out of the layers of the ribbon by using the indicated letters as keyboard shortcuts, or escape to move up a level.