menuSeparator Element

The menuSeparator element specifies a horizontal separator line in a menu control. Like the separator control, the menuSeparator can be used to draw a line, except this control creates a horizontal line instead of vertical line.

Graphical View of menuSeparator Attributes

The following example shows a horizontal separator control between two buttons:

This is specified using the following XML:

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2009/07/customui">
	<ribbon>
		<tabs>
			<tab id="customTab"
			     insertBeforeMso="TabHome"
			     label="Custom Tab">
				<group id="customGroup"
				       label="Custom Group">
					<menu id="menu"
					      label="Menu"
					      imageMso="HappyFace">
						<button id="button1"
						        label="Button 1"
						        imageMso="FileSave"/>
						<menuSeparator id="separator"/>
						<button id="button2"
						        label="Button 2"
						        imageMso="Bold"/>
					</menu>
				</group>
			</tab>
		</tabs>
	</ribbon>
</customUI>

Parent Elements

menu
officeMenu
dynamicMenu

Children Elements

The menuSeparator does not support child controls of any kind.

Required Attributes

The id and idQ attributes are mutually exclusive. At least one of these attributes MUST be specified.

ATTRIBUTE	WHEN TO USE
id	Create your own menuSeparator
idQ	Create a menuSeparator shared between namespaces

Optional insert Attributes

The insertAfterMso, insertAfterQ, insertBeforeMso, and insertBeforeQ attributes are mutually exclusive. If none of these attributes are specified, the controls SHOULD be appended to the existing set of controls, in the order they are defined in the XML.

INSERT ATTRIBUTE	ALLOWED VALUES	DEFAULT VALUE	WHEN TO USE
insertAfterMso	Valid Mso Group	Insert at end of group	Insert after built-in control
insertBeforeMso	Valid Mso Group	Insert at end of group	Insert before built-in control
insertAfterQ	Valid Group idQ	Insert at end of group	Insert after shared namespace control
insertBeforeQ	Valid Group idQ	Insert at end of group	Insert before shared namespace control

Optional Attributes and Callbacks

STATIC ATTRIBUTE	DYNAMIC ATTRIBUTE	ALLOWED VALUES	DEFAULT VALUE	VBA CALLBACK SIGNATURE FOR DYNAMIC ATTRIBUTE
title	getTitle	1 to 1024 characters	line	Sub GetTitle (control As IRibbonControl, ByRef returnedVal)

Using Built-in menuSeparator Controls

Like the separator and labelControl elements, Microsoft doesn't expose any menuSeparator controls for us to use.

Creating Custom menuSeparator Controls

Separating a custom Excel menu with textual separators

Copy and paste the following XML code into customUI14.xml. If you don't know how to do it, read this article: Creating a Custom Ribbon.

<customUI xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2009/07/customui">
	<ribbon>
		<tabs>
			<tab id="customTab"
			     insertBeforeMso="TabHome"
			     label="Custom Tab">
				<group id="grpSaveFiles"
				       label="Save File">
					<menu id="menuNewFile"
					      label="Save As File Type"
					      size="large"
					      imageMso="FileCompatibilityChecker">
						<menuSeparator id="menuSep01"
						               title="Save in 2007 format"/>
						<button idMso="FileSaveAsExcelXlsx"/>
						<button idMso="FileSaveAsExcelXlsxMacro"/>
						<menuSeparator id="menuSep02"/>
						<button idMso="FileSaveAsExcelXlsb"/>
						<menuSeparator id="menuSep03"
						               title="Save in 97-2003 format"/>
						<button idMso="FileSaveAsExcel97_2003"/>
						<menuSeparator id="menuSep04"
						               title="Save in other format"/>
						<button idMso="FileSaveAsOtherFormats"/>
					</menu>
				</group>
			</tab>
		</tabs>
	</ribbon>
</customUI>

In this XML code, notice that unlike the other menuSeparator controls, menuSep02 does not specify a title attribute. This is how we will create a thin line to separate the menu items, rather than use a title bar with a line.

Separating a custom Excel menu with linear separators

Alternately, maybe you prefer to have thin lines and to avoid the distraction created by titles. The uniform appearance of a menu with just faint lines and no titles gives the menu a totally different feel.