Making Short Work of Menu Names

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 7, 2021)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Most third-party add-ins for Excel add their own menus to your menu bar. Add a few add-ins, and before you know it you could expand your menu bar beyond what can be easily displayed in a single row. (This depends on the resolution of your monitor, of course.)

If you find your menus running beyond what can fit in a single row, one solution is to configure Excel so that your individual menu names are shorter. Follow these steps:

  1. Right-click any choice in the menu bar. Excel displays a Context menu.
  2. Choose Customize from the Context menu. (It should be the last choice in the menu.) Excel displays the Customize dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Customize dialog box.

  3. Right-click the menu name you want to shorten. (Right-click on the actual menu name; don't click on anything in the dialog box. For instance, right-click the Windows menu name.) Excel displays a list of configuration options for the menu.
  4. Change the name shown in the Name field. (For instance, shorten Window to Win.)
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for any other menu names you want to shorten.
  6. Close the Customize dialog box.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2381) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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