Displaying Toolbars

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 12, 2020)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


A toolbar is nothing but a collection of buttons or icons that are used to perform some common task in Excel. Normally, toolbars appear just below the menu and just above the ruler. They can, however, appear almost anywhere on your screen, depending on the toolbar and how your Excel screen has been configured.

The beauty of toolbars, besides increasing productivity, is that they are completely customizable. You can change tools and toolbars to suit your needs. You can even develop different toolbars for different document templates. Information on how to customize toolbars is covered later in this issue.

Excel allows you to control which toolbars are displayed at any given time. To turn a toolbar on or off, simply select the Toolbars option from the View menu. Excel displays a submenu that lists many of the toolbars available. All you need to do is select one of the toolbars available. When you select one of the toolbar names, Excel displays that toolbar. When you select it again, Excel removes the toolbar from your screen. If a check mark appears to the left of one of the toolbar names, the toolbar is visible.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2065) 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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Changing Outline Heading Level

Working with a document's outline can be a great way to organize your writing. Word provides a variety of tools for ...

Discover More

F4 No Longer Changes Cell References

Excel has a wide variety of keyboard shortcuts that can help make it easier to use the program. When one of those ...

Discover More

ExcelTips Ribbon 2024 Archive (Table of Contents)

ExcelTips is a weekly newsletter that provides tips on how to effectively use Microsoft's best-selling ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! This guide will provide you with all the information you need to automate any task in Excel and save time and effort. Learn how to extend Excel's functionality with VBA to create solutions not possible with the standard features. Includes latest information for Excel 2024 and Microsoft 365. Check out Mastering Excel VBA Programming today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Large Toolbar Buttons

Do you wish that the buttons on your Excel toolbars were easier to see and use? The answer could be to turn on the large ...

Discover More

Renaming a Toolbar

Create your own toolbars and, at some point, you may have a hankering to change their names. Here's how you can make the ...

Discover More

Customizing a Toolbar

Toolbars make it easy to quickly access your most common commands. Excel allows you to customize your toolbars so that ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 4?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.