But, before digging deep into how you can use it, let’s discuss what exactly it is and where you can find it in Microsoft Excel.
What Is Quick Access Bar?
The Quick Access bar is the area on the left-hand side of the screen in Microsoft Excel. In the default configuration, you have Save, Undo, and Redo available there. Adding more functions to Quick Access Bar allows you to access multiple features with a single key-press.
How to Add Features in Quick Access Toolbar:
Suppose you work in an office where you have to print many spreadsheets throughout the day. Adding a Print button to the Quick Access Toolbar will save you from going to the File menu to print your document many times a day.
It will only reduce one extra click but surely, create a significant impact. Now, let’s see how you can add Print Function to the Quick Access Toolbar:
To do this, click the Down Arrow button in the Quick Access Toolbar just before the Redo option.
From here, you can see that you have already selected Save, Undo, and Redo options, which can be accessed through the Quick Access Toolbar by default.
In the available options, you will find Print Preview and Print feature as well.
Select the Print Preview and Print feature and left-click on it to add it to the Quick Access Toolbar. You can now print any document immediately from the Quick Access Toolbar without going to the File menu.
Now, what if you want to add more frequently used options in this toolbar that aren’t readily available in the drop-down menu when you click the downward arrow button?
For that, click on the More Commands option located at second last on that drop-down menu.
After clicking More Commands, you will have an entire range of options one could add to the Quick Access Toolbar.
In the Popular Commands collection, you will find most of the commonly used options, like adding borders, deleting cells, email, etc.
Moreover, you can also select specific functions available in all the tabs of Microsoft Excel, like features of the View Tab, Insert Tab, Data Tab, and Review Tab.
Now that you can locate the desired options from the More Commands option, let’s find out how to add them to the Quick Access Bar.
An example of how the process works will help make the picture clearer!
Let’s say you want to add a Delete Cell option to your Quick Access bar. To add that, click on the drop-down menu and then go to More Commands, as explained earlier.
In the Popular Commands menu, you will see the Delete Cells option.
Select Delete Cells by left-clicking and then click on Add » as you can see in the below image.
You will see the Delete Cells feature added on the right-hand side with Save, Undo and Redo features. Now, you can easily access the delete cells option from the Quick Access Toolbar.
Likewise, if you use any other option more often, you can add it whenever you want. Now, let’s discuss how you can remove any command from the Quick Access toolbar that you have added recently?
The process is similar to the one used earlier for adding features in Quick Access Toolbar, but there are few differences. So, let’s discuss it here.
How to Remove an Added Option From Quick Access Toolbar:
Using the same steps as earlier, choose More Commands from the drop-down menu of Quick Access Bar.
There you’ll see a list of features already available in the Quick Access Toolbar, such as Save, Undo, Redo, and Delete Cells.
Suppose you want to remove the Delete Cells options that you previously added. Select the Delete Cells option with the help of left-click, and click on < < Remove.
After clicking on « Remove, you will see only three options in the Quick Access Toolbar with Delete Cells feature removed. Similarly, you can add or remove any other feature with few clicks.
Alternatively, you can remove the individual feature directly from the Quick Access Bar without going to the More Commands section. Simply left-click on the option you wish to remove and select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.
How Many Options Can You Add to Quick Access Toolbar at One Time?
There are no limitations on the number of features you can add to the Quick Access Toolbar at once.
However, if there are too many, choosing a particular feature from a range of different options can cause confusion. Add a few options by prioritizing them according to how many times you’ll use them each day.
How to Reset the Quick Access Toolbar
Let’s say that you have customized your Quick Access Toolbar in Excel, but you want to return it to the default setup for some reason. In this case, you can reset the Quick Access Toolbar without removing the individual features.
To do this, select More Commands from the toolbar’s drop-down menu. This time, click on the Reset button located in the lower right corner and choose Reset Only Quick Access Toolbar.
A confirmation dialog box will appear. Choose Yes, and settings in the Quick Access Toolbar will return to the default.
Get More Out of Your Quick Access Toolbar
You now know how to add and remove options from your Quick Access Toolbar, and how this will save you time in using functions by omitting the need to locate them from different tabs and menus.
At first, try adding one or two functions to the Quick Access Toolbar to see if it makes any difference. Once you’re comfortable with it, keep adding as many as you want.
