Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar, or QAT, is the row of buttons to the right of the Office button, in the upper-left corner of the PowerPoint window. It contains a few buttons by default, such as Save and Print, and you can add others to it. For example, I use Format Painter a lot, but every time I need it, I don't want to have to click the Home tab. By adding Format Painter to the QAT, I make it available all of the time, without having to remember which tab it is on.

Adding Already-Available Commands to the QAT

If the command is already available on a tab or menu, then adding it to the QAT is easy. Just right- click it and choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. You can use this method to combine all of your most-used commands and buttons in a single location, so that you do not have to switch among the tabs as frequently.

However, in order to use this method, the command already has to be available somewhere within PowerPoint's Ribbon or Office menu. As a result, you cannot use this method to add capabilities to PowerPoint that it does not already have by default.

Removing Commands from the QAT

To remove a command from the QAT, right-click it on the QAT and choose Remove from Quick Access Toolbar. If you want to add it again later, you can use the method in the preceding section if the command exists on a tab or menu. You can use the method in the following section if it does not, or if you cannot seem to find it on any of the tabs or menus.

Adding Other Commands to the QAT

Besides the standard set of commands, PowerPoint also contains a secret list of extra commands and capabilities. Most of these are old features from previous versions of PowerPoint that Microsoft is phasing out, or for which there was no room on the Ribbon. For example, one very useful command, Send to Microsoft Word, is available only if you add it to the QAT in PowerPoint 2007. This command exports your notes pages to Word so that you can adjust their layout.

The list from which you can select commands for placement on the QAT is known as the command well. To add a command from the command well to the QAT, follow these steps:

1. Choose Office PowerPoint Options. The PowerPoint Options dialog box opens.

2. Click Customization.

3. Open the Customize Quick Access Toolbar drop-down list, and choose For All Documents or choose a particular presentation name from the list. You can only customize for either one presentation or for all presentations.

4. Open the Choose Commands From drop-down list and select a category. There are categories for every tab, as well as some extra ones at the bottom of the list:

   • Macros: Any macros stored in the current presentation or template appear here.

   • Commands Not in the Ribbon: The collection of commands that do not have Ribbon or Office menu equivalents; this is where you will find the hidden goodies.

   • All Commands: A complete list of all commands; use this list when you think a command is already available on a tab but you do not know which one.

5. Select a command from the list, and click the Add>> button to move it to the Customize Quick Access Toolbar list, as shown in Figure B.1.

   
   Figure B.1: You can add commands to the Quick Access toolbar from the Customization section of the PowerPoint Options dialog box.

6. Add any other commands that you want.

7. (Optional) Perform any of the following tasks, if necessary:

   • To reset the QAT, click Reset.

   • To modify a macro after adding it to the QAT, select it and click Modify.

   • To change the order in which buttons appear on the QAT, select a button and click the Up- or Down-arrow button to the right of the listing.

8. Click OK to accept the changes.