The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) in Microsoft Office 2007

The NFB's Access Technology Tips had the following article on how to better access commands in Microsoft Office.

With the introduction of the Ribbon in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word 2007, Microsoft Office made a great change to the user interface of these applications. To ease the transition of existing Office users to the Ribbon, and to provide an optimized experience for users who are already accustomed to the Ribbon, these applications provide a Quick Access Toolbar (QAT). Any of the commands in the Ribbon can be easily added to this toolbar, allowing for easy access to commonly-used commands. Below, we'll describe how to add commands to the QAT, and how to use them once they are there.

Adding a command to the QAT using the keyboard

• Begin by opening up Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, or Word 2007
• Press the ALT key to select the active tab of the Ribbon and active the access keys
  • See this article for more general information about how to use the Ribbon with a keyboard
• Navigate to any tab using the LEFT and RIGHT ARROWS, or by typing the access key associated with that tab
• Once you've selected the desired tab, use the LEFT and RIGHT ARROWS or the TAB key to navigate to a command that you use frequently
• When the desired command has focus, hit SHIFT + F10 to bring up the shortcut menu
• Press ENTER on the first option in that menu, which is "Add to Quick Access Toolbar"
• Now, that command has been added to the QAT.

Accessing commands on the QAT using the keyboard

• After you've added a command to the QAT, hit ALT to select the active tab in the Ribbon and activate the access keys
• Now, there are two ways to access the QAT
  • You can either hit the access key to directly run the command
  • You can hit the UP ARROW from the home tab to enter the QAT, then use the LEFT and RIGHT ARROWS to navigate all of the QAT commands
  • Once you have focus on the desired QAT command, hit ENTER or SPACE to run that command

As you can see, by adding frequently-used commands to your QAT, you can access them with a few easy keystrokes!

For more information, please visit the Microsoft Office site.