Microsoft KB Archive/295403

= How to customize or reset a menu in an Office for Mac program =

Article ID: 295403

Article Last Modified on 1/31/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 2001 for Mac
 * Microsoft Word 2001 for Mac
 * Microsoft Word X for Mac
 * Microsoft Excel X for Mac
 * Microsoft PowerPoint X for Mac
 * Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac
 * Microsoft Excel 2004 for Mac
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 2004 for Mac

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This article was previously published under Q295403





SUMMARY
This article describes how to perform the following menu customizations in the Macintosh versions of Microsoft Excel, of Microsoft PowerPoint, and of Microsoft Word:
 * Create a menu.
 * Change the name of a menu.
 * Add commands to a menu.
 * Remove a command from a menu.
 * Position a menu.
 * Delete or reset a menu.



MORE INFORMATION
The standard menus that are built into Microsoft Office programs include most of the functions that users perform. These menus should not be modified extensively, but supplemented with menus that you design to allow for your own work style.

Create a menu
To create a menu, follow these steps:
 * 1) Open an Office 2001 for Mac program to a blank document, to a blank worksheet, or to a blank presentation.
 * 2) On the Tools menu, click Customize.
 * 3) Click the Toolbars tab.
 * 4) Click the Menu Bar command in the Toolbars list. This displays a customizable copy of the menu bar.
 * 5) Click the Commands tab, and then click New Menu under Categories.
 * 6) Under Commands, click New Menu, and then drag the new menu to the location on the menu bar or to the toolbar where you want it to appear.

The Customize dialog box and the menu bar should both be visible. You may have to move the Customize dialog box if it is covering the menu bar.

Change the name of the new menu
Note The Customize dialog box must remain open at all times while you modify menus.
 * 1) While holding down the CONTROL key, click the new menu, and then click Properties.
 * 2) In the Name box, type the new name, replacing any other text. When you finish, click OK.

Add a command to a menu

 * 1) In the Customize dialog box, click the Commands tab.
 * 2) Under Categories, select a category or the ALL Commands option. Under Commands, drag the command that you want to add to the new menu.

When you rest the mouse pointer over the new menu, the menu opens to display a list. Position the mouse pointer over the list. An indicator then shows where the command will be displayed when you drop it. After you position the command where you want it, drop the command on the list. After you add several commands in this way, you can drag the commands to rearrange them on the menu.

You can repeat this process by dragging several commands from various categories to the new menu.

Remove a command from a menu
To remove a command from a menu, follow these steps:
 * 1) Open the menu, and then drag the item that you want to remove from the menu to the document area of the Office program that you are using.
 * 2) Drop the item there.

Note The Customize dialog box must remain open while you modify menus. Close the Customize dialog box only after you finish.

Adding or removing buttons, menus, and commands
To add or remove buttons, menus, and commands, follow these steps:
 * 1) Start one of the programs that are listed in the &quot;Applies To&quot; section.
 * 2) On the Tools menu, point to Customize, and then click Customize Toolbars/Menus.
 * 3) On the Toolbars tab, select the check box that is next to the toolbars and the menu bars that contain the items that you want to customize. The toolbars and the menu bars that you select appear on the screen.
 * 4) On the Commands tab, click a category in the Categories list.
 * 5) Leave the Customize Toolbars/Menus dialog box open (you might have to move it out of the way), and do any one of the following:
 * 6) * To add an item to a toolbar, drag it from the Commands list to the toolbar.
 * 7) * To add an item to a menu, drag it from the Commands list to rest the menu. When the menu appears, point to where you want the item to appear, and then release the mouse.
 * 8) * To remove an item from a toolbar, drag it off the toolbar.
 * 9) * To remove an item from a menu, click the menu, and then drag the item off the menu.
 * 10) When you are finished adding or removing items, click OK.

Note If you add a built-in menu to a toolbar and then make a change to the commands that are on it, those changes will also appear on the menu bar. If you do not want these changes to appear, you can reset the built-in menu to its original settings.

Additionally, when you delete a built-in button, a menu, or a command, the item is still available in the Customize Toolbars/Menus dialog box. However, when you delete an item that you created, it is permanently deleted.

Warning You can remove or configure menus in such a way that you cannot return to the Customize command when you want change the menus again. Because all menu customizations are stored in files, you can remove or rename these files to reset the menus and toolbars back to the default setting. The following table lists what file these customizations are stored in and the location of that file.

NOTE: Microsoft Entourage does not contain the functionality to customize a menu.

Position a Menu
Although menus are typically put on a special toolbar that is named the menu bar, you can drag menus to any toolbar and to any allowed position on that toolbar when you have the Customize dialog box open.

WARNING: If the menu is not in an allowed position when you drop it, the mouse pointer displays an X next to it, and the menu will be deleted. There is no Undo command for these actions.

Delete or Reset a Menu
To delete or reset a menu, follow these steps:
 * While the Customize dialog box is open and the menu bar is visible, hold down the CONTROL key, and then click the menu that you want.
 * Click Delete or Reset in the New dialog box.

To reset all menus back to default, follow these steps:
 * 1) On the Tools menu, click Customize.
 * 2) On the Toolbar tab, click Reset.
 * 3) In the dialog box that appears, click OK.

NOTE: In Word, if you are prompted to choose which template to reset the menus to, select the Normal Global Template.

