Skip to main content
/3 min read

Customize the Excel Quick Access Toolbar

QAT Customization

1

Right-Click Ribbon Command

Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

2

Or QAT Dropdown

Click the small arrow at end of QAT > More Commands.

3

Reorder

Use up/down arrows to put most-used commands first.

4

Use Alt+Number

QAT items get Alt+1, Alt+2, etc. shortcuts automatically.

Master Excel at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop's Excel Bootcamp covers formulas, pivot tables, data analysis, and VBA.

Learn how to customize the Excel Quick Access Toolbar.

Customizing the Excel Quick Access Toolbar

  1. Excel gives us a lot of tools to work with to make using the application easier—including the Quick Access toolbar, which puts the buttons you use most often right there at the top of the screen.
  1. So let's look at the Quick Access Toolbar. By default, it contains three buttons—Save, Undo, and Redo. Pretty handy, but we can do better.
  1. To add buttons to it, you can click the triangle at the far-right end and choose from a list of frequently-used commands, or from that menu, choose More Commands.
  1. First, I'll add Quick Print, which will print a copy of the active worksheet, no questions asked, to my default printer, anytime I click the button. That was easy!
  1. Easier still? Removing buttons you no longer want—you can either re-select a checked button on the menu, as I'm doing here after clicking that triangle on the far right end of the Quick Access Toolbar, or right-click the unwanted button and then choose Remove from Quick Access Toolbar from the pop-up menu.
  1. Now, let's use More Commands to add more buttons. In the resulting Excel Options dialog box, you see two columns—the one on the right shows the buttons already on the Quick Access Toolbar, the one on the left shows the commands you can add. Just select them on the left, and click the Add button in the middle, between the columns, and the button or buttons are added.
  2. To get a bigger list of commands to choose from, I’m going to change from Popular Commands at the top of the left column to All Commands.
  1. Now I’ll add the Add a Chart button, and the Add a Hyperlink buttons, and then by pressing the letter S on the keyboard, I can move quickly to the commands beginning with the letter S, where I’ll choose Save As.
  2. If you change your mind about which button you added, you can select it on the right and the click the Remove button between the columns.
  1. To rearrange the buttons on the Quick Access Toolbar, click the command you want to move, and click the up or down triangle buttons on the right. Remember that moving a button up moves it to the left on the Quick Access Toolbar, down moves it to the right, as the toolbar is horizontal. I’m going to move Save As up to be right next to Save.
  1. Another thing you can do with the Quick Access Toolbar? Once I've clicked OK to save my changes, I can right-click the Quick Access Toolbar and choose to display it below the ribbon. Here you see it there, and then I'll put it back.
  1. Note that choosing Customize the Quick Access Toolbar also opens that Excel Options dialog box, the same one we saw when I chose More Commands.
  1. As always, Microsoft gives you more than one way to do just about anything—so try them all, and then stick with the ones you find easiest to remember and use.