Customizing Toolbars
Author: Geetesh Bajaj
Product/Version: PowerPoint 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Date Created: July 25th 2006
Last Updated: February 25th 2009
Excerpt/Capsule:.
PowerPoint's toolbars make it easy to finish tasks with one click rather than using the more intensive option of using the menus. Although, there are so many toolbars in PowerPoint, making them all visible all the time can make the interface look cluttered.
To make the interface more streamlined, PowerPoint allows you to edit the default toolbars, and even create one of your own. This is a great option -- imagine creating a toolbar with all the options you like to use -- this tutorial shows you how you can do that!
Follow these steps to customize/create your own toolbar:
- In PowerPoint, choose View | Toolbars | Customize, as shown in Figure 1
Figure 1: Customize the toolbars
- This opens the Customize dialog box that you can see in Figure 2.
Figure 2: The Customize dialog box
The Customize dialog box has three tabs, as explained below:
- The Toolbars tab has the list of all the toolbar present in PowerPoint, use the check boxes (see Figure 2 above) to hide and unhide the toolbars.
- The Commands tab (see Figure 4 on this page) is where you can select the individual command categories and options that you want to add to your new or existing toolbar.
- The Options tab provides settings for PowerPoint's toolbars.
- The Toolbars tab has the list of all the toolbar present in PowerPoint, use the check boxes (see Figure 2 above) to hide and unhide the toolbars.
- To create your own new toolbar, make sure that the Toolbars tab is visible. Then choose New (see Figure 2 above) to create a toolbar. When clicked, this opens the New Toolbar dialog box (See Figure 3). Provide a name to the new toolbar and click OK.
Figure 3: Your new toolbar
- This will create a new empty toolbar that contains no icons. To add a command, select the Command tab and then choose the commands you want from any of the Categories and drag it to the new toolbar as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4
Note: You can also add commands (icons) from the existing toolbars by dragging them to your new toolbar while the Customize dialog box is open. Remember, this will move the command altogether from your existing toolbar -- if you just want to copy, Ctrl-drag the icon and drop it on the new toolbar.
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