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How to Customize the Quick Access Toolbar in Office 2013/2016

2 minute read

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Today we’re going to look at an often-overlooked secret weapon for productivity in Office: the Quick Access Toolbar. Customizing this toolbar is one of the best ways to save time by creating shortcuts to your frequently-used commands in each Office product.

What is the Quick Access Toolbar?

You’ll see the Quick Access Toolbar above the Ribbon (by default) on Office 2013/2016 programs like Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook. It’s the home for one-click icons for your favorite or most often used commands and actions.

For example, if you frequently freeze panes in Excel, you can add that command to the Quick Access Toolbar so you can access it with a single click, rather than navigating to the View tab first.

How do you customize the Quick Access Toolbar?

If you want to add a command from the Ribbon, all you have to do is right-click and select Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

If you want to add a command that you can’t right-click, open the drop-down menu in the toolbar and select More Commands. From there, you can choose an action from the Popular Commands section, or select and choose from another option, like All Commands, in the drop-down menu.

Once you have your Quick Access Toolbar customized to your liking, you can get used to using those icons to take actions rather than navigating through the Ribbon. You also may wish to hide the Ribbon to save space and simplify your screen.

For a visual demo of adding commands to the Quick Access Toolbar, check out the video above.

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