Creating a New Toolbar

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 22, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


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.

  4. Click on New. This displays the New Toolbar dialog box. (See Figure 2.)
  5. Figure 2. The New Toolbar dialog box.

  6. Provide a name for your toolbar in the Toolbar Name box.
  7. 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.
  8. Click on the Commands tab in the Customize dialog box. (See Figure 3.)
  9. Figure 3. The Commands tab of the Customize dialog box.

  10. In the list of Categories, select the major category which contains the command you want to add to the new toolbar.
  11. In the list of Commands, select the command you want to add to the toolbar.
  12. 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.
  13. Repeat steps 7 through 9 to add more toolbar commands.
  14. 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. ...

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