How to use the Quick Access Toolbar to save time

Many people haven’t noticed the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). Or don’t make any use of it. But it’s one of the biggest time-savers in PowerPoint (and Excel, Word and Outlook). Once you’ve started using it you won’t look back.

Why you should be using the QAT

All the commands you use most often are right there all the time. You don’t have to find the right ribbon then find the right button. Even if the command is hidden away in a dropdown. The alignment commands are a perfect example: Home > Arrange > Align > Left align. That’s four clicks — if you put Left Align on your QAT it would only be one.

How to set it up

The real key to making it useful is to put it below the ribbon. There are two key advantages:

• All your most-used commands are closer to your slides — so they are quicker to reach and click
• You have the full width — so room for even more commands

To do this right-click on the QAT and select Show Quick Access Toolbar below Ribbon.

What to put on it

In short, all the things you find yourself using frequently. There are two ways to add commands to it:

• As you go: right-click on a Ribbon button you use a lot and select Add to Quick Access Toolbar

• Thought-out: right-click on the QAT, select Customise Quick Access Toolbar… and then locate, add and organise as you wish

That second option takes a bit of time. To speed things up, you can import the QAT that we use and customise it to your needs.

You will find that you have a core of commands you use all the time. And there will be commands that you want to add for a specific task. Before long, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.

Bonus commands

There are commands you can add from the Customise QAT window that don’t even exist on the ribbon. There’s even a filter for them. Try these:

• Email: creates a new email with the current document already attached. Which makes forwarding the deck you are working on really quick.
• Paste and Keep Text Only: when you’ve got a lot of text to paste in from other sources and you need to strip out the formatting. Many other types of paste are available if there is a particular type of paste you find yourself doing frequently.
• Demote/Promote: for indenting and outdenting text levels.

Take it one step further

If you like having all your most-used commands in easy reach, you can even create your own tab on the Ribbon. Use our favourites as a starting point.

More tips

Find more tips like this here.