Customizing a Toolbar

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated May 25, 2013)

Word allows you quite a bit of latitude in how you can customize the program to reflect how you want to do your work. One of the elements of the program you can change is the toolbars. You can add, remove, or edit buttons that appear on any toolbar.

To customize a toolbar, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Customize from the Tools menu. Word displays the Customize dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Toolbars tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box.

  3. In the list of toolbars, make sure the toolbars you want to edit are selected.
  4. Click on the Commands tab. (See Figure 2.)

    5. Figure 2. The Commands tab of the Customize dialog box.

  5. In the list of Categories, select the major category that contains the command you want to add to the toolbar. For instance, if you want to add one of your macros to the toolbar, you would choose Macros in the list of Categories.
  6. In the list of Commands, select the command you want to add to the toolbar.
  7. Use the mouse to drag the command from the Commands list to its new location on the toolbar. When you release the mouse button, the icon or wording for the command appears.
  8. Repeat steps 5 through 7 to add new toolbar commands.
  9. Click on Close to dismiss the Customize dialog box.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1675) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Adjusting Border Color

Want to make a particular cell or range of cells stand out? One way to do it is by changing the border color of the ...

Discover More

Calculating Averages by Date

When you have a huge amount of daily data to analyze, you may want to calculate an average of values for any given date ...

Discover More

Macros in Template Files

People often place macros in template files to perform any number of tasks. This tip describes a situation where the link ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Getting Rid of Custom Toolbars

If you start Word and get a bunch of unwanted toolbars displayed on the screen, you can be scratching your head (or ...

Discover More

Forcing Custom Toolbars to Stay in Position

Word 2002 and Word 2003 use dynamic toolbars that can adjust themselves based on usage patterns of the tools. This can ...

Discover More

Resetting Toolbars to Their Default

Customize Word enough, and you may at some point want to set the toolbars back to their original condition. Here's how to ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is five minus 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2019 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.