Making Short Work of Menu Names

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 4, 2017)

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Passing Parameters to Functions

Functions can be used to perform repetitive tasks and return values to your main program. You can also pass values to a ...

Discover More

Selecting Different Trays in a Mail Merge

When you create a mail-merged document, you might want some pages of the document printed on paper from one printer tray and ...

Discover More

Fixing Odd Sorting Behavior

When you sort data that contains both numbers and text, you may not get exactly the result that you expected. To know what is ...

Discover More

Program Successfully in Excel! John Walkenbach's name is synonymous with excellence in deciphering complex technical topics. With this comprehensive guide, "Mr. Spreadsheet" shows how to maximize your Excel experience using professional spreadsheet application development tips from his own personal bookshelf. Check out Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Removing Items from a Context Menu

Context menus appear when you right-click an item in Excel. If you want to modify the menu that appears, the way to do so is ...

Discover More

Resetting Dynamic Menus

Excel's menus, by default, only display the most common commands that you use. After a time you may want to reset the usage ...

Discover More

Resetting Excel Menus

Excel allows you to easily change what appears on its menus. If you later want to return to Excel's default menu structure, ...

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.

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

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}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 8Mpixels. 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 5 + 0?

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.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2017 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.