Creating a New Toolbar

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 22, 2023)

As you are customizing Excel to reflect your working habits, there may be times when you want to create your own custom toolbar. You can create a toolbar by following these steps:

  1. Choose Customize from the Tools menu. This displays the Customize dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Toolbars tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box.

  3. Click on New. This displays the New Toolbar dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

    4. Figure 2. The New Toolbar dialog box.

  4. Provide a name for your toolbar in the Toolbar Name box.
  5. Click on OK to close the New Toolbar dialog box. The toolbar appears at the bottom of the list of toolbars on the Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box. The empty toolbar should also be visible on your screen.
  6. Click on the Commands tab in the Customize dialog box. (See Figure 3.)

    7. Figure 3. The Commands tab of the Customize dialog box.

  7. In the list of Categories, select the major category which contains the command you want to add to the new toolbar.
  8. In the list of Commands, select the command you want to add to the toolbar.
  9. Use the mouse to drag the command from the Commands list to its new location on your toolbar. When you release the mouse button, the icon or wording for the command appears.
  10. Repeat steps 7 through 9 to add more toolbar commands.
  11. Click on Close to dismiss the Customize dialog box.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2722) 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

Synchronized Workbook and Worksheet Names

When you work on older workbooks in Excel, you may notice that the name of the worksheet tab and the workbook itself are ...

Discover More

Calculating Months of Tenure

Need to know the number of months between two dates? It's easy to figure out if you use the DATEDIF function.

Discover More

Restoring Items in the Recycle Bin

Placing something in the Recycle Bin does not mean it is gone forever. After placing something there, you may change your ...

Discover More

Solve Real Business Problems Master business modeling and analysis techniques with Excel and transform data into bottom-line results. This hands-on, scenario-focused guide shows you how to use the latest Excel tools to integrate data from multiple tables. Check out Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and Business Modeling today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Random Resetting of the Standard Toolbar

Excel allows you to easily customize what appears on its various toolbars. If you make customizations to the Standard ...

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

Editing a Toolbar Button Image

Don't like the toolbar button images in your version of Excel? Don't fret; you can pull up the button editor and make ...

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}] (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 3 + 7?

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 SITES
 

Copyright © 2026 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.