Learn PowerPoint | Interface & Basics

Quick Access Toolbar

Works with PowerPoint 2007

by Geetesh Bajaj, April 3rd 2008

Introducing the Quick Access Toolbar
Customizing Quick Access Toolbar
Add a Command Quickly to the QAT
Placing Quick Access Toolbar Under Ribbons

Introducing the Quick Access Toolbar

Although the entire concept behind the new Ribbon interface in PowerPoint 2007 was to do away with menus and toolbars, one toolbar still exists -- and this entirely customizable toolbar is called the Quick Access Toolbar -- or QAT for short. By default, this toolbar contains the Save, Undo, and Redo icons -- but you can use it to store many more of your often used commands.

By default, the QAT can be found right next to the Office Button -- Figure 1 shows the location of the QAT .


Figure 1: Quick Access Toolbar (or QAT)

As you can see, the area next to the Office Button is not too large enough to hold more than a few icons -- fortunately, you can place the QAT under the Ribbon tabs so that it has more screen real estate and can sport more icons -- I'll explain how you can do that later in this tutorial.

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Customizing Quick Access Toolbar

Here's how you can customize the QAT by adding more icons for your often used commands:

1. Click the Office Button to bring up the menu that you can see in Figure 2. Select the PowerPoint Options button towards the bottom-center of this menu (highlighted yellow in Figure 2).
   
   
   Figure 2: Access PowerPoint Options
   
   
2. This opens a dialog box of the same name, as shown in Figure 3, choose the Customize tab in the left list so that the relevant options are available in the right side of this dialog box.
   
   
   Figure 3: Customize
   
   The Quick Access Toolbar options are explained below:
   
   
   1. Choose commands from: Here you will find list of all the commands which can be added in QAT. Click on the drop down list to choose the category of commands that you want to work with.
   2. Customize Quick Access Toolbar: Here you can see the commands that have already been added to the QAT -- all new commands that you add to the QAT show up here.
   3. Add and Remove buttons: These buttons are used to add commands from the Choose commands from (see A above) list, or remove commands from the Customize Quick Access Toolbar (see B above) list.
   4. Arrange Commands: These arrow buttons allow you to reorder the sequence of icons visible in the QAT.
      
      
3. Add the commands you use often - Figure 4 shows the E-mail command added to the Customize Quick Access Toolbar list.
   
   
   Figure 4: Command added
   
   Press OK when you are done adding, editing, or removing the commands to get back to the PowerPoint interface.
   
   
4. Figure 5 shows two new commands added to the QAT.
   
   
   Figure 5: Customized QAT

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Add a Command Quickly to the QAT

Many times you don't want to make the long trip to the PowerPoint Options dialog box to add a command to your QAT -- the easiest way to add any command to the QAT is by right-clicking the relevant command in any tab of the Ribbon, and then choosing the Add to Quick Access Toolbar option as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6: Add any command to the QAT with a right-click

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Placing Quick Access Toolbar Under Ribbons

There are two ways you can move the QAT to the area under the Ribbon tabs -- let me first show you the longer way!

Access the PowerPoint Options dialog box by choosing Office Button | PowerPoint Options. Choose the Customize tab, and check the option that says Show Quick Access Toolbar below the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 7. Click OK to get back to the PowerPoint interface.


Figure 7: Change the QAT location

This will move the QAT to under the Ribbon tabs (see Figure 8).


Figure 8: QAT below the Ribbon tabs

And now for the easier way -- right-click anywhere in the Ribbon area, and choose the Show Quick Access Toolbar Below The Ribbon option (refer to Figure 6 earlier on this page).

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