A few years back, I was at a workshop where the PowerPoint team was showing some of the new features in the soon-to-be-released PowerPoint 2010. As they were talking about the features, one of them mentioned the ability to combine shapes to create your own. I thought it was a pretty cool feature so I asked in what tab it was, and the reply was that it wasn't in a tab. Why Would You Need to Customize the Ribbon? Before we look at how to customize the ribbon, let's explore why it makes sense. There are a number of features I use quite a bit when it comes to building elearning courses. As it is now, I have to click on a number of tabs. For instance, I change the font from one tab, then go to another to crop an image, and then another to add an animation. Add frequently used features to a single tab. Why not put some of the more common features in a single tab? It doesn't matter if you can find them in other tabs. But it sure comes in handy if they're all in a single tab. Add those oddball, hard to remember features to a tab. Creating custom shapes is buried in PowerPoint and not easy to find. It makes sense to add those features to a single tab. This way when you do need one, you're not scratching your head trying to remember where it is. It doesn't really matter which