Quick Access Toolbar

Quick Access Toolbar

How to customize it to fit your needs

When I first heard about the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT), I had no idea how powerful it could be. Not only can it put your favorite commands just a click away, it might just expose you to your favorite tool you didn't even know existed.

Where is the QAT? 

It is just to the right of the Excel logo, and by default it comes almost empty. That is what we are going to change right now. Click on the down arrow just to the right of the Quick Access Toolbar to start customizing.

Customizing

The drop down menu that appears is a quick customizing tool.  It has some of the more basic commands that may be nice to have closer, but there are many more I want to show you. Select "More Commands" towards the bottom of the menu.

So many options...

If you know some of your favorite commands, you can find them easily by typing the first letter of the command. On the right you will see some of my favorites that I like to keep in my QAT.

Auto Sum is a nice time saver that adds whatever data is immediately above or left of your selected cell. 

Save As is a tool I use everyday. I use Google Drive to access my documents on several computers. This means I can't use templates because they save on the hard drive.  So I make Master files for all my calculators and then select Save As to rename and preserve the Master file. Pinning to the QAT saves me a click on all those docs.

Freeze panes is a powerful tool for viewing your data next to the relevant headings and row titles. Having it close at hand is a time saver.

Insert Page Break allows you to push data that gets interrupted by a page onto the next page. Select the cell above the data, and with just a click you have rearranged your printing without disturbing your data.

Speak Cells is not only a hilarious way to communicate with Excel, but a very effective way to double-check your data entry.  After entering dozens of entries, quickly check your work by selecting the newly entered data and click speak cells.  Now you can look at the original data on paper and listen to your electronic data.  Correct any errors and don't forget to say thank you.

Camera and Button are some commands that I use, that the normal user probably wouldn't. If you want more info on these commands, leave a comment to let me know.

Prioritize your QAT

Easily reorganize the QAT by moving the commands up or down.  The toolbar will display the top command on the left and the bottom command on the right.

Enjoy!

Without losing any screen space for data you now have whatever tools you chose at your fingertips. No more trying to remember which tab and group these commands are in.  

Keep updating the QAT to fit your skill level and type of documents you are creating and editing.

If you want more explanation on the QAT and want to see it being customized, then click-through to the YouTube version of this blog HERE.

Until next time,

Nathan

-Every cell = a calculator!
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