In Excel 2003 and earlier versions, you can customize your toolbar. Add buttons for commands that you use frequently, to reduce the amount of time you spend digging through the menus and submenus. To make room, you can remove buttons that you never, or very rarely use.

In this example, you’ll customize the toolbar to add the Toggle Grid button:

1. On the Excel menu, click Tools, then click Customize.
2. Click the Commnds tab, then click on the Forms category.
3. Scroll to the end of the list of Commands, and find the Toggle Grid command.

 

4. Drag the command to one of your existing toolbars. You’ll see an I-beam that indicates where the button will be placed.



5. Close the Customize dialog box.

Now, to show or hide the worksheet gridlines, just click the Toggle Grid button. This is much quicker than going to Tools ► Options, and changing the Gridlines setting on the View tab.

On my toolbar I’ve added buttons for:

• Paste Values (Edit Category)
• Record New Macro (Tools Category)
• Toggle Grid (Forms Category)
• Set Print Area (File Category)
• Lock Cell (Format Category)

and a few others. The Lock Cell button is really useful when I’m setting up data entry forms, and want to lock and unlock parts of the worksheet.

Filed under: Excel, Toolbars