How does one activate ribbon components from an xlam file ?

[Bob Phillips]

I had done something earlier with toggle buttons and the on/off feedback to the user seemed to be a little more better than buttons. So that's why I threw it in that way

Wasn't knocking it Paul, just remarking on what I used. I must admit ToggleButtons never come to mind for me for some reason.

One thing I REALLY don't like (philosophically) is having to use global variables to track status, but I've never found a way to avoid them

You could maybe try a static variable, although that of course restricts you to amending it from just one place (or create a globals class ).