Customizing Sections in the Action Bar

You can reorder icons, create or remove sections, and add or remove commands from the action bar through the Customize dialog box, or directly from the action bar.

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin:
  • You cannot:
    • Customize the View section.
    • Add commands to flyouts.
    • Move individually commands in a flyout, you can only move the entire flyout.
    • Administer the action bar customization.
  • When you customize a section, this creates a duplicate version of the original section with your customization. Changes made to commands located in the original section are not replicated to the customized section (which is the one that is displayed). To retrieve the original command behavior, use the Reset Section or the Reset All Customizations command.

Add, Remove, or Duplicate Commands

You can customize sections in the action bar by adding or removing commands to sections. You can move commands within the same section, or across sections. You can also move commands to and from the standard area.

  1. From the Tools section of the action bar, click Action Bar Customization , or right-click anywhere in the action bar, and then select Customize Mode.
  2. You can either:
    • Drag the selected command to its new location.
    • Right-click anywhere in the action bar, and then select Add Commands.... Then, drag commands from the Customize dialog box to the action bar.
    • Press Ctrl while moving to duplicate the command, and make it available in both the former and the new location.

    When you cannot drop a command, the pointer changes to .

  3. Optional: To remove a command from a section, right-click it, and then select Remove Command.
    Important: To acquire or remove licenses using Me > Preferences > Common Preferences > General > Licensing > Shareable Products, do not forget to first exit, then restart your session before accessing this tab. Otherwise, you do not recover your customization.

    Acquiring or releasing shareable products means that the user interface is recomputed using the last preferences saved. Therefore if you have not previously saved your customization, it is lost.

  4. To duplicate a command in the same section, right-click it, and then select Duplicate Command.
  5. To restore the section to its original state, right-click it, and then select Reset Section.
  6. To exit customization mode, right-click anywhere in the action bar, and then select Exit Customize Mode.

Add, Rename, or Remove Sections

You can create your own sections, then rename or remove them.

  1. From the Tools section of the action bar, click Action Bar Customization , or right-click anywhere in the action bar, and then select Customize Action Bar.
  2. Right-click anywhere in the action bar, and then select Add Section.
    A new section is created with the following default name: Section 1.

    You can now add commands to the new section.

  3. To change the section name, right-click the section label, and then select Rename Section.
  4. Enter the new name in the Rename Section dialog box, and then press Enter.
  5. To remove a section, right-click the section name, select Remove Section, and then click OK.
  6. To exit customization mode, right-click anywhere in the action bar, and then select Exit Customize Mode.

Manage Command Groups and Secondary Areas

You can organize commands in groups and subgroups.

  1. From the Tools section of the action bar, click Action Bar Customization , or right-click anywhere in the action bar and select Customize Mode.
  2. Right-click the section where the new group is to be added, and then select Add Group.
    The new group is added at the end of the section.

  3. Drag the command of your choice to the new group.

    When you have transferred a command to a subgroup, you can move it back to a section group.

  4. To remove a group, right-click it, select Remove Group, and then click OK to confirm the removal.
  5. To create a secondary area, right-click the appropriate group, and then select Add Secondary Area.
    A separator with an arrow is added at the end of the section.

    When the secondary area is collapsed, it looks as follows:

    Important:
    • A group can contain only one secondary area.
    • The secondary area is expandable: you can hide or show its content by clicking the arrow next to the separator.
  6. Drag commands to the secondary area.
  7. To remove a secondary area, right-click it, and then select Remove Secondary Area.
  8. Optional: You can:
    • Right-click a section, and then select Reset Section to restore the section to its original state.
    • Right-click the action bar, and then select Reset All Customizations to restore it to its original state.
  9. To exit customization mode, right-click anywhere in the action bar, and then select Exit Customize Mode.

Manage User-Defined Sections from the Customize Dialog Box

You can create and customize sections through the Customize dialog box.

  1. Select Me > Preferences > Customize.
  2. In the Customize dialog box, click the Sections tab.
  3. Click New....
    The New Section dialog box opens and an empty section named "UserSection001" is displayed. The default section number is incremented for each new section you create.
  4. In the Section Name box, enter the name of the new section.
  5. Click OK.
    The new section is added to the list, and an empty section is placed at the rightmost position of the action bar.
  6. Click Add Commands, and then use the Commands List dialog box to select the commands you want to add to the new section.

    Note: You can select multiple commands at the same time.

  7. Click OK.

    Inversely, you can remove commands from the selected section through Remove commands....

  8. Optional: When you have created a section, you can click the appropriate commands to rename or delete the section, or restore the section contents or position.
  9. To customize an existing section, select it in the Sections tab.
  10. Use the appropriate commands to rename the section, add, or remove commands.