Customizing Command Bars

Outlook has two ways to customize command bars to show the buttons and menus you use the most and remove the ones you don't use. If you've customized toolbars in older versions of Office, you're familiar with the first method, in which you drag menus and buttons around with the mouse. The second method is to use the Rearrange Commands button found on the Commands tab of the Customize dialog box (see Figure 5.2). The Rearrange Commands option is new to Office 2003 and gives users the opportunity to use an interface to add, delete, and move the commands. Rearrange Commands keeps the menu in view until you're finished editing it, which is especially helpful when you're editing submenus.

Figure 5.2. Use the Customize dialog box to create customized toolbars.

If you're having problem with your customizations disappearing, see "Customizations Won't 'Stick'" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter.

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It's usually better to create new toolbars and add custom tools to them rather than adding custom buttons or menus to the default toolbars. It's too easy to reset the default toolbars before realizing you have some custom tools on them.

Using Rearrange Commands Option

Rearrange Commands is a new way to customize tools in Office 2003. Open the Customize dialog box using Tools, Customize, and click the Rearrange Commands button on the Commands tab (see Figure 5.3).

Figure 5.3. Rearrange Commands provides a simple interface for customizing command bars.

Choose the menu or toolbar you want to rearrange by selecting the Menu Bar or Toolbar radio button and then choose the menu or toolbar from the drop-down list. The entries are listed in the order they appear on the Menu Bar and toolbars, from left to right, and include submenus. Table 5.1 lists all the options available when you use Rearrange Commands.

Table 5.1. Rearrange Commands Options

Button	Action
Add	Opens the Add Command dialog; use it to add additional tools
Delete	Deletes the selected command
Move Up	Moves the selected command up one position
Move Down	Moves the selected command down one position
Modify Selection	Opens a dialog so that you can change how the button or menu looks
Reset	Removes all customizations made to the selected menu or toolbar

When adding a tool, if you first select the item in the Controls list that's in the position below where you want to add a tool, and then choose Add; the new tool will be added above the selection.

You can select a command in the Rearrange Commands dialog box and use the Move Up or Move Down button to change positions on the command bars.

Choose the Modify Selection button, and then choose Begin a Group to add separators between the tools to group commands. This adds the separator above the selected command. As with commands, you can use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to move separators into new positions.

The Reset button on Rearrange Commands restores the command bar shown in the window to its default settings, removing all of your customizations, including any changes made to submenus.

Working with the Personalize Menus Feature

When you select a menu and see just a few commands on it, along with a round button at the bottom, it means that you have personalized menus enabled (see Figure 5.4). If the menu doesn't expand after a few seconds, click on the button to expand the menu. If you don't like personalized menus, you can disable the option in the Customize dialog box on the Options tab.

Figure 5.4. Personalized menus show the most frequently used commands when you first open the menu.

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If you're a new user, it's often easier to learn where to look for commands if you disable personalized menus until you're familiar with what's on the menus.

Personalized menu usage data is stored in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\MSOUT11.PIP. Each Office program has a *.pip file in this directory that contains the usage data for its toolbars. You can reset the data for the Outlook toolbar by choosing the Reset menu and Toolbar Usage Data button on the Options tab of the Customize dialog box.

If this is your first time using Outlook, other settings on the Options tab that you might find helpful are Show ScreenTips on Toolbars and Show Shortcuts in ScreenTips (see Figure 5.5).

Figure 5.5. Choose your toolbar settings using the Options tab, including personalized menu settings, large icons, and ScreenTips settings.

CAUTION

Changes made on the Options tab of the Customize dialog box affect all Office programs, not just Outlook.

Outlook's toolbars dock at the top of the window by default, but they can be placed anywhere on the screen. You can dock them on the sides of Outlook's window or float them on the screen. When toolbars are floating, you can drag any edge in or out to adjust the height and width of the toolbar, from horizontal to vertical.

Move toolbars by hovering the mouse over the resize handles on the left end of the toolbar. Click and drag the toolbar to the desired location. When you drag a toolbar close to the window edge, it changes shape and docks on the window edge. When toolbars are docked on the left or right window edges, the icons rotate so that they're always in the correct position; text labels on the buttons remain vertical.

NOTE

Who would want their toolbars docked vertically? Everybody who uses a high-resolution setting on their monitor and has a lot of white space on the right side of the window. By moving the toolbars to the sides, it frees up enough space at the top of the screen to show more lines of text on the screen.

Two or more toolbars can share a row to save screen space. When you place multiple toolbars on one row, some tools won't fit on the screen. Look under the Toolbar Options button at the right end (or bottom, if your toolbar is vertical) of the toolbar for the hidden buttons. When you choose a hidden button, the button shows and a less-used tool moves to the overflow area. This is part of the personalized menu feature, but acts independently of the personalization settings in Tools, Customize, Options.

NOTE

Although you can't close the Menu Bar, you can dock it on any window edge or float it on the screen. When placed on the top or bottom of the window, the Menu Bar cannot share the row with toolbars, but it can when docked vertically.

Using the Modify Selection Menu

Use the Modify Selection menu to customize individual buttons or menus. After opening the Tools, Customize dialog box, right-click on any button on the toolbar or menu to show the Modify Selection menu for that command. If you use the Rearrange Commands dialog box on the Commands tab to edit your menus, select the command and choose Modify Selection to show the Modify Selection menu for that command. Table 5.2 is a list of the Modify Selections options.

Table 5.2. Modify Selection Options

Command	Action
Reset	Resets the button to its default appearance.
Delete	Deletes the selected command.
Name	Specifies the name of the button. Insert an & in front of the letter you want to use as a keyboard shortcut, and then hold Alt+ key to activate the command.
Copy Button Image	Copies the selected button image.
Paste Button Image	Pastes image to selected button.
Reset Button Image	Restores button image to default image.
Edit Button Image	Opens button editor so that you can create your own.
Change Button Image	Enables you to select from a limited selection of included images.
Default Style	Uses default style for the button, text only, image only, or text and image. The commands are shown in their default style on the Commands tab.
Text Only (Always)	Specifies that the button always uses text only.
Text Only (in Menus)	Specifies that only text is used when the button is in a menu. For example, the Tools menu has some commands that include images and others that are text only.
Image and Text	Specifies that the button use both images and text. The Reply and Forward buttons use both image and text on both menus and toolbars.
Begin a Group	Adds a separator above the command if on a menu, or to the left if on a toolbar.
Assign Hyperlink	Adds a hyperlink to change the action of the command.

Among these commands, Assign Hyperlink is a powerful, yet underused feature in Outlook. You can use it to create buttons to run or open almost any program or file, from Windows utilities (such as Notepad and Calculator) to Word documents and Access databases, open Web sites, and create preaddressed email messages.

For example, you can create a new button and enter calc in the hyperlink field so that when you press the button, Windows Calculator runs. (Some programs might need the full pathname, but many Windows utilities need only the filename.) You can use a Web address, mailto URL, or network path as a hyperlink.

To replace the Outlook bar by creating hyperlinked buttons to files and folders, see "Creating Hyperlink Buttons" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter.

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Outlook doesn't include blank buttons. Just pick one from the Commands tab of the Customize dialog box, add a hyperlink to it, and then edit the name and image. The hyperlink you use displays as the ScreenTip.

NOTE

When you assign shortcuts to buttons and menus, you should use a key that isn't already in use or that isn't visible on the screen. When a shortcut is assigned to two different buttons or menus, the first Alt+ keystroke selects the first button that matches the keystroke. When you press the character a second time, it cycles to the next instance. When it cycles to the command you want to use, you must press Enter to activate the button.

Adding and Deleting Commands

When you want to customize your command bars, open the Customize dialog by choosing the Tools, Customize menu. While the Customize dialog is open, you're in edit mode and the normal actions of the buttons and menus are disabled. When you select a button or menu item on the toolbars, an outline appears around the edge of it. Click and drag the button to position it where you'd like it.

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If the commands you use the most are missing from the toolbars, you can add them to existing toolbars or create new toolbars for them. If the toolbars have commands you don't use, you can remove them.

Create a new toolbar by selecting the Toolbars tab in the Customize dialog. Then choose New and enter a name for your toolbar.

To add additional commands to a toolbar, do the following:

1. Choose Tools, Customize and select the Commands tab.

2. Locate the command you need by browsing the Cate gories list and then the Commands list.

3. Drag the command to the toolbar or menu where you want it positioned and drop it.

To delete commands from a toolbar, do the following:

1. Select the command you want to remove and drag it from the toolbar until the cursor displays a small x. Be careful not to drag it onto another toolbar.

2. To delete the command from the command bar, release the mouse button.

To restore a toolbar to its default setting, see "Remove Customizations on Menus and Toolbars" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter.

Organizing Command Bars

Many menus and toolbars have small bars (called separators) between their buttons, which gives you the ability to group or organize the buttons. You can create new separators by dragging a command button or by using the Begin a Group command, which is found on the Modify Selection menu of a button.

Create separators between two buttons by dragging the rightmost button slightly farther from the left button or remove separators by dragging the rightmost button to the left. Create menu separators by sliding a menu item down, and remove them when you slide a menu item up.

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You can move or remove buttons from the command bars without opening the Customize dialog box by holding Alt and left-clicking a button. The cursor image changes and you can drag the button to a new position or drag it off the command bar to delete it.

Changing How Tools Are Displayed

As mentioned earlier, each command has a default display setting. The Commands tab of the Customize dialog box displays commands using the default settings. The default is one of the following settings and you can change any button or menu to use any of these:

• Text Only

• Text Only When Used on a Menu

• Text and Image

• Image Only

After opening the Customize dialog box, right-click on the button you want to change and choose the command from the Modify Selection menu. The change is applied immediately so that you can see how it looks.

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If you're having trouble remembering what some toolbar buttons do, change the buttons from Image Only to Text And Image until you're familiar with them. You can also enable ScreenTips to help you learn the button images.

Along with changing how the button name and image are displayed, you can also change the button's name and the keyboard shortcut that activates it. However, it's not a good idea to change the name or shortcut for the default commands. Doing so leads to confusion if someone else uses your computer or if you tell someone to look for a command by name and you forget that you changed the name. When you create custom toolbars, you'll want to change the name and possibly include shortcuts.

To change the name or keyboard shortcut, open the Customize dialog box and right-click on the button. Enter a new name in the Name field and place an ampersand (&) in front of the character you want to use as the shortcut.

If you don't like an image, you can either edit it or paste an image from another tool or program. All Office programs have the same Customize dialog box and editing options. You can copy a button image from Word or Excel and paste it on a button in Outlook. You can also copy any 32x32 pixel bitmap (.bmp) and paste it as a button image.

The Button Editor is a primitive graphics editor that enables you to create a simple button graphic or edit existing button images (see Figure 5.6). To use it, select a color and click in the Picture grid, dragging the cursor to paint a section. A second click in the grid erases the color, or you can select Erase and click or drag the cursor to erase colors.

Figure 5.6. The Button Editor included with Outlook offers only basic editing features. Select Erase to create transparent areas. Select Color Picker to choose from additional colors.

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You can paste a bitmap of almost any size in the paste dialog. However, because the button image can only be 32x32 pixels, larger bitmaps won't be recognizable. It's better to resize the image to 32x32 pixels using an image editor and then paste it as a button image. You'll also want to crop larger images as much as possible before resizing them.

To disable personalized menu settings, see "Show All of Your Menus and Tools" in the "Troubleshooting" section at the end of this chapter.

Repositioning Commands on Toolbars

You can position the commands anywhere you'd like: in a different order on the existing toolbar, on a different toolbar or menu, or on a new toolbar.

When you are just moving the command, hold the Alt+click and drag the button to a new position on the toolbar or to another toolbar without opening the Customize dialog. If you're planning more customizations, use Tools, Customize and open the Customize dialog. Drag the buttons around to reposition them.

NOTE

When you use the personalized menu feature, Outlook remembers the most frequently used commands and displays them, hiding the less used commands. You might need to disable this feature if you have problems finding commands or if your custom buttons don't seem to stay where you position them.

Modifying Drop-Down Lists

Along with normal command bar buttons, Outlook includes command buttons that contain drop-down lists. You're already familiar with the New button on the Standard toolbar as well as the menus on the Menu Bar. There are also menu commands on some of the menus. These commands have triangles pointing to the right to indicate that they contain more menus.

Creating Custom Buttons for Drop-Down Lists

When you create hyperlinks on a button, you can edit any command button without affecting the behavior of other buttons that were created using the same button. For example, if you need three buttons, you can drag three copies of the Mail Message button from the Customize, Commands dialog to a toolbar and assign different hyperlinks to each button without affecting the action of the original Mail Message command. You can't do this with the predefined drop-down buttons if you drag a drop-down button to a toolbar and edit it, the changes are mirrored in the original button. In the case of the New menu, the changes are reflected on both the New button on the Standard toolbar and the New menu on the File menu.

Creating Custom Menu Commands

To create custom drop-down buttons, you need to use the blank New Menu button found in Tools, Customize on the Commands tab. Scroll to the bottom of the Categories list to locate the New Menu category, and then drag the New Menu button from the Commands list to a menu or toolbar.

When you place the New Menu button on a toolbar, the button has the small triangle pointing down, indicating that the button is a drop-down button. When you place it on the submenu button, the triangle points right, as shown in Figure 5.7. When the New Menu button is placed on the Menu Bar, it looks like the other menus and doesn't have the triangle. Although you are unable to create new menu bars, the menu commands offer the same functionality on the toolbars.

Figure 5.7. When you use menu commands on a toolbar, the commands include triangles to indicate they include submenus. You can position menus and tool buttons on a toolbar, menu, or submenu.

All New Menu drop-down buttons have most of the Modify Selections menu options dimmed, and you're limited to deleting the button, resetting it, editing its name, and beginning a new group. You're also limited to using text, not images, for the buttons.

After you've added and named the New Menu command, you can drag buttons to the submenus. To do this, drag a tool button and hover the mouse over a menu; it opens and you can then move the mouse over the opened menu and drop the tool on it. You might find it easier to use the Rearrange Commands option on the Commands tab to arrange the submenus.

Resetting Command Bars to Default Settings

After you make changes to your command bars, you might decide that you want to restore the default settings. You can reset individual command bars easily:

1. Choose Tools, Customize to open the Customize dialog box.

2. Select the Toolbars tab.

3. Select the menu or toolbar by name.

4. Click the Reset button.

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If you customized multiple command bars and want to return them all to the default settings, delete outcmd.dat. This removes all customizations, including every custom toolbar you created and you must re-create the toolbars if you want them.