ITS Tech Tips: Office Tips

There's a button for that...

You can customize your toolbars in your Microsoft Office applications to suit your needs such as having two rows of buttons instead of one, adding/removing buttons, “undocking” a toolbar, showing/hiding a toolbar, or even creating one of your own.

Table of Contents
Two is better than one
Adding and removing
Location, location, location
Now showing
Just the facts please

Two is better than one

In Office 2000 - 2003 applications, the default is to have the Standard and Formatting toolbars appear docked on a single row. In using the Mac version, you use the formatting palette instead.

If you are on a PC, use this procedure to show all of the buttons on each of these toolbars, by showing these toolbars on separate rows.

• Click on Tools, Customize.
• Click the Options tab.

Under Personalized Menus and Toolbars,

• Select the Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows check box.

Note:While the Customize dialog box is open, the Standard and Formatting toolbars show on two rows even if the Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows check box is cleared. This allows you to view all of the buttons on these toolbars as you customize your toolbars and menus.

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Adding and removing

You can customize existing toolbars by adding buttons you use or removing those you don't.

The following are instructions for adding/removing buttons using Office XP/2003 on a PC. See special notes below for Office 2000 on the PC and Office 2004 on the Mac.

To add a button,

• Click on Tools, Customize.
• Click the Toolbars tab and select the check box for the toolbar you want to display.
• Click the Commands tab.

In the Categories box,

• Click a category for the command you want the button to perform.
• Drag and drop the command or macro you want from the Commands box to the displayed toolbar.
• Close the Customize window when done.

To remove a button,

• With the Customize window open, click and drag any button you want to remove off of the displayed toolbar.

Special Notes:

You can add/remove buttons the same way using Office 2000 applications but there is no “rearrange commands” option.

If you are on a Mac, the procedure is basically (with the drag and drop) the same but the Customize window looks a little different.

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Location, location, location

In any version of the Microsoft Office applications (2000, XP, 2003, 2004 for the Mac) you can move toolbars to a location more convenient for you.

A “docked” toolbar on a PC will have either a straight line or a dashed line to the far left.

• Position the mouse pointer over the line.
• Drag the toolbar to undock and move to a new location.

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Now showing

In any version of the Microsoft Office applications, you can display or hide any toolbar from the View menu.

• Click on View, Toolbars

Note: The following image is from the Mac version of Microsoft Word 2004.

If there is a check mark next to the toolbar name, it is currently being displayed.

• Click on a toolbar name to have it displayed (checked) or hidden (not checked).

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Just the facts please

If none of the predefined toolbars suit your needs, you can create one of your own with just the stuff you want on it.

In any version of the Microsoft Office applications,

• Click on View, Toolbars, Customize.
• On the Toolbars tab, click on the New button.
• Give your toolbar a name.
• Add buttons to your new toolbar just like any other toolbar (see steps above).

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Page last updated 08/14/06. Send questions or comments to ITS Training.