Reconfiguring Excel s Menus

Reconfiguring Excel's Menus

Excel's menus initially display only the most commonly used commands. If you leave a menu open for a few seconds or click the double-headed arrow at the bottom of a menu, Excel displays all the commands that the menu contains. In most cases, you want to leave the menus as they are; you don't want to remove commands because you might need access to those commands later. However, you should know that Excel's menus are just as customizable as its toolbars . You can add or remove commands from the menus or rearrange commands according to your needs. Follow these steps to customize a menu:

1. Open the Tools menu and choose Customize . The Customize dialog box appears, as you saw in Figure 12.1.

2. To move a menu command, open the menu that contains the command, drag the command to the desired position on the menu, as shown in Figure 12.9, and release the mouse button.

   Figure 12.9. With the Customize dialog box open, you can move items on any menu.

   

3. To add a command to a menu, click the Commands tab.

4. In the Categories list, click the category for the command you want to add to a menu.

5. Scroll down the Commands list to find the desired command.

6. Drag the desired command from the Commands list over the name of the desired menu in the menu bar. Without releasing the mouse button, let the mouse pointer rest on the menu name until the menu opens, and then drag the command to the desired location on the menu and release the mouse button.

7. To remove a command from a menu, right-click the command and choose Delete , or drag the command off the menu to a blank area in the worksheet.

8. When you are finished customizing Excel's menus, click the Customize dialog box's Close button.

Tip

To move an item from one menu to another, drag the command you want to move over the name of the menu to which you want to move the command. The menu opens. Drag the command to the desired location on the destination menu, and then release the mouse button.

Tip

To return a menu to its original condition, display the Customize dialog box and then right-click the name of the menu you want to restore (in Excel's menu bar) and choose Reset . You cannot restore a menu without the Customize dialog box displayed.