Deployment of programs and replacement for 2003 Toolbars

In Office 2003 and previous versions I have successfully used custom toolbars for users who need to use custom controls across multiple workbooks.

For example, a user might open FileX, change a couple settings on the toolbar and then run an ODBC import from Oracle into FileX. User would then close FileX, which pertained to Account 1234 and open FileY which pertains to Account 4567, change a setting or two on the toolbar and run an import into FileY which pertains to that account, and so forth. 

This method works extremely well  because the toolbars could be temporarily turned on/off by users, but as soon as it is needed it is there. User simply turns on the toolbar they need, click the buttons and off they go. For deployment, I had a self-installing toolbar so all the user had to do was save the program file in a "Macros" folder and open the file manually the first time. The toolbar would install and that was that. Updates? Just email a new file and instruct the user to overwrite their existing file. Done. This has worked perfectly for years.

I'm not finding a good replacement for this functionality in 2007. I know about Add-in's but have not worked with them much. Can they be coded to self-install? e.g. If opened manually, they self-install for the user? Is the Add-in the way to go for XL 2007? Is there a better alternative to this approach? Once installed, can a user then hide the customization temporarily if desired? BTW, sometimes this sort of set up is distributed only to an individual and other times many persons may share the custom program (which I put on the network and set to open "Read Only"). Advice? Suggestions?

 Hi,

In experimenting with add-ins I did develop some VBA that can be tied to a button on the ribbon so that the user can choose whether that particular add-in should be constantly available (i.e. installed) or not (i.e. user must open manually each time they need it). On first blush this seems to come close to the old functionality using toolbars, but still not quite there since the various programs are still not exactly at the users' fingertips.

A user using say five different customizations would not likely want five tabs on all the time, so they would likely opt not to have them on all the time. This means the user must remember where all the program files are and the file names so they can manually open them when needed.

I would appreciate any input on this.

Working with ribbon is very different in 2007 than commandbars in 2003, and as of yet is not as flexible.

iT is a different paradigm, so it doen't get resolved by just creating an addin, or some other simple thing, you need to understand the ribbon properly and what you can and cannot do.

If you are seriously interested, get this book http://www.amazon.com/RibbonX-Customizing-Office-2007-Ribbon/dp/0470191112/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209720049&sr=8-1 It is a comprehensive guid to the ribbon, and programming it - but be warned, it is not trivial.