word 2007 customize quick access modify

[Allan Editor]

I am trying to edit the quick access toolbar. I want to, for example,
abbreviate long names such as "Para keep with next," which I use all the
time. It seems like there is an option to Modify, but that button is never
activated. I have also tried right-clicking on the What gives?

In previous versions, I was also able to edit the icons themselves so they
would be easier to see. This seems like it would be much more important with
the near-invisible icons in Word 2007. How do people with 12-inch monitors
and 60-year-old eyes see anything? If I somebody can get the Modify button
to work for me, does that control editing the icons also? Thanks very much!

 

[Jay Freedman]

I am trying to edit the quick access toolbar. I want to, for example,
abbreviate long names such as "Para keep with next," which I use all the
time. It seems like there is an option to Modify, but that button is never
activated. I have also tried right-clicking on the What gives?

In previous versions, I was also able to edit the icons themselves so they
would be easier to see. This seems like it would be much more important with
the near-invisible icons in Word 2007. How do people with 12-inch monitors
and 60-year-old eyes see anything? If I somebody can get the Modify button
to work for me, does that control editing the icons also? Thanks very much!

Sorry, for Office 2007 Microsoft went overboard with the "nobody ever customizes
anything, so we won't let them" philosophy. You're out of luck with this
version, though we've been promised that things will get better in the next
version.

The Modify button is enabled _only_ for buttons that run macros, not for any of
the built-in commands. You can change the icons only through the Modify button,
and then only to one of the 40 or so icons that are provided there. The easiest
workaround is to record or write a macro that executes the built-in command, and
then make a Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) button for the macro and use Modify on
it.

If you have a custom toolbar in a template from a previous version, you can use
the technique in http://www.gmayor.com/Toolbars_in_word_2007.htm to bring them
into 2007.

If you feel like getting fancy, you can modify the ribbon rather than the QAT.
Here are a couple of references: http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Customize_Ribbon.htm,
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Ribbon_Custom_Icons.htm, and
http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Ribbon_Images_Labels_Part1.htm and the remaining parts
of that series.

 

[Allan Editor]

Thanks, Jay! I will try the gmayor fix when I get some free time.
Allan