Customize The Menus In Your Toolbar

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To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we used two different typefaces: Boldface type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas and URLs. Sans serif type shows the names of files and the names of commands and instructions that users should type into the computer.

CUSTOMIZE THE MENUS IN YOUR TOOLBAR 

I use just a handful of functions in Microsoft Office’s toolbar menus. Is there some way to shorten the dropdown list or add the ones I frequently need?

Yes, to both questions. If all you want to do is shorten the list, click on Tools , Customize , move your cursor over the target toolbar menu, grab the icon you want to remove, and drag it off the menu.

Likewise, if you wish to add a function to the toolbar, go to the Customize screen and click on the Commands tab, which opens an array of function Categories (see screenshot below). Select the category containing the function you want to add, then click on the target icon and drag it to your toolbar.

But if you want to add or subtract a command to one of the dropdown menus on your toolbar (such as File, Edit, View, etc.), click on Rearrange Commands on the Customize screen and select the menu you want to edit in the box next to Menu Bar.

Then, under the Controls section, select the action you want to implement: Add, Delete, etc., and highlight the target function. After you’ve made all your changes, click on Reset to save them to your Normal.dot (or whichever template you use) and click on Close.

You also can customize the toolbar to keep track of the commands you use so only they appear in the dropdown menu. To initiate that customization, click on the Options tab and, under Personalized Menus and Toolbars, remove the checks next to Always show full menus and Show full menus after a short delay (see screenshot below). Finally, click on Reset menu and toolbar usage data to initiate the tracking feature.

If at any time you change the way you work with any Office application and want to reset the toolbar dropdown menu memory, click on Reset menu and toolbar usage data, and click on Yes (see screenshot below).