How to Customize the Quick Access Toolbar in Excel (2024)

You can access the most frequently used commands that you use in Excel faster and easier. It’s exactly what the Quick Access Toolbar is designed for 😊

In this article, you’ll learn how you can customize your Quick Access Toolbar so you can access the commands without having to find them in their respective tabs 🔍

Let’s get started!

Before you scroll, make sure to download this free practice workbook we’ve prepared for you to work on.

What is the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT)?

The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) is a collection of shortcuts to the commands, features, and options that you most often use in Excel. It is located above the Excel ribbon.

By default, your Quick Access Toolbar has the AutoSave, Save, Undo and Redo buttons.

quick access toolbar buttons in an Excel window

Your Quick Access Toolbar is totally customizable!

It has a predefined set of default commands you can add to it. You can add any built-in commands you want and even add commands of your own 😀

These commands will then be easily accessible for you for almost any part of Excel, no matter which ribbon tab is currently opened.

okup column.

How to add a command to the Quick Access Toolbar

You can add commands as you want to your Quick Access Toolbar like this.

Below is an example of a customized quick-access toolbar 👇

customized quick access toolbar

There is no limit to adding commands to your Quick Access Toolbar but not all commands will be visible depending on the size of your screen 💻

Let’s customize your Quick Access Toolbar!

Open your practice workbook to get started.

  1. In your Quick Access Toolbar, click the drop-down button.
customize quick access toolbar

The drop-down list will show you popular commands you can add to your Quick Access Toolbar. Some of these commands include New, Open, or Email commands and more..

drop down menu of customize quick access toolbar

Let’s add the New File command to our Quick Access Toolbar.

  1. Click the New option.
new customizations

There it is! You have added a new command to your Quick Access Toolbar 👍

custom command in active workbook

By adding the New File command, you don’t have to go to File Tab and click the New option to create a new workbook. You can just click the New File command button.

Add more commands to your Quick Access Toolbar, it’s certainly not limited to one 😉

Add more commands to the Quick Access Toolbar

If you don’t see the function you want in the list, there are tons more hidden away in a menu.

You can find more when you click the More Commands button in the drop-down list.

  1. Click the drop-down arrow again.
simply click drop down arrow
  1. Click More Commands to customize the quick access toolbar.
add commands

The Excel Options Window will appear showing you all the commands you can add to Quick Access Toolbar. You will be surprised how many commands there are in Excel 🤯

Customize quick access toolbar

You can choose commands from the Popular Commands, Commands Not in the Ribbon, All Commands, and even Macros! If you’re looking for a specific command in the Excel ribbon tabs, you can do that too.

excel command frequently

For now, let’s choose commands from Popular commands. Say, we are going to add the Calculate Now command.

  1. Click Calculate Now.
  2. Click Add.
customize the quick access

It will appear in the next box.

customize the quick access
  1. Finally, click OK.
click add buttons

You will see the newly added commands in the quick access toolbar 😊

add to quick access

Now you can access them easier and faster. You don’t have to look for them in the specific ribbon tab they belong to👀

Alternatively, you can open the Excel options window when you right-click the QAT and Click Customize Quick Access Toolbar.

This will automatically open the Excel options window so you can do QAT customizations.

select customize quick access

Again, you can always add more commands to your Quick Access Toolbar! You get to decide which specific commands you want to add but it’s better to choose your frequently used commands for faster and easy access.

How to remove a command from the Quick Access Toolbar

Removing commands in your Quick Access Toolbar is as easy as adding them 😊

The easiest way to remove either the default or custom commands from the Quick Access Toolbar, right-click it and select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar from the pop-up menu.

Say, we want to remove the new commands we’ve added earlier. Here’s how 👇

  1. Right-click on the command button.
  2. Select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.
right click

There! You can no longer see the New File command in your Quick Access Toolbar.

excel quick access toolbar

Remove commands at once

If you have a lot of commands to remove from your quick access, you can remove them at once when you open the Excel Options Window. You can find all the commands you’ve added and select which ones you want to remove.

  1. Click on the drop-down button.
command labels
  1. Select More Commands.
command labels
  1. Click the command you want to remove. For our example, the Calculate Now command.
  2. Click the Remove button.
new commands
  1. Do the same for other commands you’ve added. Only the default commands will be left.
default settings
  1. Click OK.
first command

Here’s the result 👇

default ribbon tab

In this way, you don’t have to necessarily right-click and remove each command to remove them one by one 😀

How to move the Quick Access Toolbar

By default, the Quick Access Toolbar is located at the top left of the window but you can move it below the ribbon. This is useful especially if you need to use it constantly.

It’s easy to move the Quick Access Toolbar. Here’s how to do that.

  1. Click the downward-facing arrow at the end of the toolbar.
customize quick access toolbar
  1. Select Show Below the Ribbon.
customize quick access toolbar

This is the result.

below ribbon tabs

This way, you can customize the Quick Access Toolbar and see all the commands below the ribbon like this.

favorite commands

Alternatively, you can right-click the QAT and select Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon option.

keyboard shortcut

Would you like to move your Quick Access Toolbar below your Excel Ribbon or let it remain in our default location? 😊

That’s it – Now what?

Nice work 🎉 Now, you can get fast and easy access to your most often-used commands in Excel by QAT customizations. Add and remove commands as many as you want to your Quick Access Toolbar.

This helps you save so much time each time you find and run default and custom commands in Excel.

If you want to save more time in your work, make excel work for you by knowing features and functions that can help you organize, manage and calculate data in your worksheets.

Three of the most essential functions are the IF, the SUMIF, and the VLOOKUP function. Once you learned how these functions work and apply them, you’ll see Excel on a whole new level 🚀

Learn these functions and a lot more when you signup for my free online email course! It’s easy and free, I promise!

Other resources

What’s next after learning QAT customizations? You might want to learn How to Use Excel’s Status Bar! Learn how to tweak, optimize, and set up your Status bar here.

If you want things done quickly and easily in Excel, our Best Excel Shortcuts article might be the one for you. Learn 11 Best Excel Shortcuts You’ll Ever Need (With Examples) with this link.

I hope this was a helpful read 👋

Frequently Asked Questions

The Quick Access Toolbar in Excel is located above the Excel Ribbon. It contains the AutoSave, Save, Undo and Redo default Excel commands.