Word 2013 Bible

CHAPTER 30

Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar and Ribbon

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Customizing the QAT
• Adding Ribbon groups to the QAT
• Rearranging the QAT
• Resetting the QAT to the factory defaults
• Finding Ribbon customization settings
• Adding and removing tabs and groups with the desired commands
• Exporting and importing Ribbon customizations

The Quick Access Toolbar, or QAT, and Ribbon in Word 2013 present the most essential commands in Word front and center. Research has shown that the Pareto principle (80-20 Rule) often applies when it comes to software: 80 percent of users only use 20 percent of the features. If you are part of the 20 percent of users who need to explore the commands beyond what you see on the QAT and Ribbon, you can customize each of them to put the commands that are your personal essentials at your fingertips.

In this chapter, you learn how ridiculously easy it is to customize the QAT and Ribbon—how to remove commands that you don't use and how to replace them with tools that better match your needs. You also learn how to share Ribbon customizations by exporting what you create or by importing other customizations.

The QAT?

The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) is the collection of tools that appears above the Ribbon (by default) in the upper-left corner of the Word screen, shown in Figure 30.1. The default tools are Save, Undo, and Repeat. (The far-left button controls the application window; clicking it displays choices for working with the window size or closing Word.) ...