Adding “groups” to the QAT (Word 2007)

Did you know that you can add entire “groups” (as in groups of commands on various tabs of the Ribbon) to the Quick Access Toolbar (the QAT)?

For instance, you can navigate to the Home tab, right-click within the bottom border of the Paragraph group, click “Add to Quick Access Toolbar,” and voilà! You’ll see a new button on the QAT that contains a drop-down replica of the Paragraph group. Now you can have easy access to all of the commands in that group regardless of which tab is at the forefront.

You can do the same with the Page Setup group, the Table group, the Navigation group in the Header & Footer tab, and so forth. (For obvious reasons, it’s unlikely that you would want to add more than three or four groups to the QAT, but the ability to add groups certainly gives you some great options.)

To remove a group icon (or any other icon) from the QAT, simply right-click it and click “Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.”

Thanks to Donna Payne of Payne Consulting for this very cool tip, which she mentioned in passing at a presentation she gave for LegalTech L.A. last month.