To customize the Microsoft Outlook toolbar

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To customize the Microsoft Outlook toolbar

Customizable toolbars and menus were introduced in Outlook 98. (Toolbars and menus are treated as essentially the same thing.) Outlook adds-in written with C++ also can add items to the toolbar.

Outlook 98 and later versions | Outlook 2000 and 2002 hyperlink and macro buttons
Tools | Other Methods | More Information

Outlook 98 and later versions

To customize the toolbar and menu in Outlook 98 and later versions, right-click anywhere on the toolbar, and then choose Customize. Drag new commands from the Commands tab to the toolbar. Drag unwanted command away from the toolbar to remove them. You can also right-click on any button or menu command to customize it.

To reset a toolbar or menu to its original appearance, in the Customize dialog, on the Toolbars tab, select the toolbar, and then click Reset.

Outlook 2000 and 2002 hyperlink and macro buttons

When you add new buttons in Outlook 2000 and 2002, you can use them to run other programs, Internet hyperlinks or macros that you create in Outlook VBA.

To add a program or Internet link:

Drag any button from the Commands tab of the Customize dialog to the toolbar.
Right-click the new button, and enter a new Name.
Choose Assign Hyperlink | Open.
In the Assign Hyperlink dialog, select a file or web page. You can also type in any other type of URL, such as mailto:somebody@anycompany.com to send an e-mail message.
Click OK, then Close to finish adding the hyperlink button.

To add a macro, you must first create the macro in VBA. Then, follow these steps:

From the Commands tab of the Customize dialog, drag the macro to the toolbar.
Right-click the new button, and enter a new Name, and then press Enter. If you want the button to open with a keyboard shortcut, insert the & character before the character in the name that you want to use as the shortcut. Outlook will assign Alt+character to that button.
Click Close to finish adding the hyperlink button.

Tools

Outlook Custom Form Launcher

Freeware component to launch a custom Outlook form from a button on the main toolbar. Also can launch Web URLs and any file or program. Register to get the ability to have multiple buttons.

Other Methods

If you use WordMail as your e-mail editor, you can create additional toolbars to use with e-mail messages. To do this, you must open your default e-mail template (usually Email.dot) in Word itself, then use View | Toolbars | Customize to create a new toolbar (or add a button to an existing toolbar). Note that you won't be able to change the Outlook Send Mail toolbar. After you save Email.dot, create a new message in Outlook. You should be able to use View | Toolbars to see the new toolbar you created in Word.

You can add a link to a particular form to the Microsoft Office toolbar using this command for the shortcut:

<path>\Outlook.exe /c IPM.MyForm

where <path> is the path to Outlook.exe on your machine and IPM.MyForm is the name of a form you have created and published to Personal Folders.

If you want to add a menu command to a particular type of item, this can be done by creating a custom form action. See Creating a "New Fax to Contact" Action for an example.

You may be able to use the Msmail32.ini file to add a custom menu command; see Upgrading from Microsoft Mail 3.x for Windows from the Office 97 Resource Kit.

More Information

To launch a custom form

Go to a Web Site from a Custom Toolbar Button in Outlook 2000 (Microsoft)

OL2000 - How to Customize Toolbars and Menus

OL2000 - How to Use Personal Menus and Personal Toolbars explains why sometimes your toolbars customize themselves!

OL2000- Custom Font Drop-down Toolbar can Cause Problem

Add a Custom Address List to Your Outlook 2000 Toolbar

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Updated Jul 15 2008