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

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Introducing the Quick Access Toolbar

Although the entire concept behind the Ribbon interface in PowerPoint 2010 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 above the File Menu and Backstage View -- Figure 1 shows the location of the QAT.


Figure 1: Quick Access Toolbar (or QAT)

As you can see, the area above the next to the File Menu and Backstage View 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 File Menu to bring up the Backstage View that you can see in Figure 2. Now select Options from this menu.
   
   
   Figure 2: Options
   
   
2. This opens the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 3. Choose the Quick Access Toolbar tab from the list on the left side of the dialog box. This shows the relevant options on the right side.
   
   
   Figure 3: PowerPoint Options dialog box
   
   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 Combine Shapes, Copy, and Cut commands added to the Customize Quick Access Toolbar list.
   
   
   Figure 4: Commands added
   
   Press OK when you are done adding, editing, or removing the commands to get back to the PowerPoint interface.
   
   
4. Figure 5 shows three 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 Ribbon

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 File Menu | Options. Choose the Quick Access Toolbar 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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