How to customise the Quick Access Toolbar in Outlook

If you have attended a training course with me then you’ll know I LOVE a good productivity hack. Using the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) in any of the Microsoft 365 apps is a must, but when it comes to Outlook, we get an extra added bonus. Outlook has three, yes that’s right, three (3) Quick Access Toolbars to customise.

Note: The Quick Access Toolbar is currently only available in Outlook Classic version.

All the standard Microsoft 365 programs have the QAT including Access, Excel, OneNote, PowerPoint and Word. The QAT allows you to add commands from the program onto the toolbar for quick, direct access. Think of it as a location to hold all your favourite commands.

The QAT is always on the screen and doesn’t move even when you are navigating between the different tabs. Below you can see what my QAT looks like with my favourite commands shown for Outlook.

The Quick Access Toolbar can be displayed in two different locations. By default, it is shown in the top left corner of the application, above the Ribbon area. You also have the ability to move the toolbar below the Ribbon area which gives you the advantage of a wider area to display command buttons.

The Quick Access Toolbar is a huge time saver as it removes the need for you to switch between multiple tabs on the ribbon when working with features you use frequently. Instead, add them to the toolbar for quick and easy access.

Below you can see what the QAT looks like when displayed above, or below the ribbon:

Now that covers the main QAT, but what about the other two? Where are they?

The additional 2 x Quick Access Toolbars are located on the window for any emails you receive, and another when you send a new email. These additional QAT’s are only visible if you are opening an email/new email into a separate window. They do not appear if you are reading or writing emails using the Reading pane.

Below you can see the QAT on an email I have received and opened into a separate window:

And now you can see another QAT on an email I am about to send:

There are several ways you can customise the Quick Access Toolbar, so let’s check out the options.

1) Customise the QAT using the menu

One quick and direct way to customise any of the QAT’s is using the drop-down menu displayed on the right side of the toolbar. The drop-down menu includes some suggested commands you may want to add as well as the option to go and select commands from ANY the program has available.

To include a suggested command, follow these steps:

1. Click on the drop-down menu displayed on the right-hand side of the Quick Access Toolbar

2. You will see some suggestions available which include Reply, Reply All, Forward etc:

3. If you wish to add any of the options to the toolbar simply click the command and you will see the button is added to the toolbar.
4. The buttons will appear in the order that you select them; you can change the order as shown later in this post.

2) Customise the QAT using the More Commands option

If you use a particular function on a regular basis, save yourself some time by adding it into the Quick Access Toolbar. This method works best for all 3 of the QAT’s.

To add ANY command to the QAT:

1. Click on the drop-down menu displayed on the right-hand side of the Quick Access Toolbar.
2. From the menu select More Commands.
3. The Outlook Options dialog will appear:

4. You will see the column on the left will displaythe Popular Commands category.
5. Click the Choose commands from drop-down menu and you will also see you can view Commands Not in the Ribbon, All Commands and Macros plus you will see an option to view the command buttons included on each individual tab from the Ribbon.
6. Spend a few moments and go through these options so that you become aware of what you can add to the toolbar.
7. Now select the category you wish to choose a command from. For my toolbar I want to include the Quick Steps gallery so I will select Home (Mail) Tab, then I’ll scroll down to locate the Quick Steps button.
8. Select the command and click the Add button or you can alternatively double-click the command and it will be added to the Quick Access Toolbar which is displayed on the right.
9. If you wish to change the order that the command buttons appear on the toolbar simply use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to the right of the Quick Access Toolbar list:

10. Once you are happy with the commands and the order they appear, click OK to view the customised toolbar

To change the location of the QAT

To change the location of the toolbar, follow these steps:

1. Click on the drop-down menu displayed on the right-hand side of the Quick Access Toolbar.
2. Select Show Below the Ribbon.
3. To move the toolbar back to the top, repeat the process and you will see the Show Below the Ribbon option has changed to Show Above the Ribbon.

Remove commands from the Quick Access Toolbar

If you decide you wish to remove items from the toolbar, simply right mouse click the command icon and select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.

My last great tip is the ability to import/export any customisations you have made on your toolbar and use them on different computers. If you wish to customise the toolbar and use the same customisation across multiple computers then you can export a customisation file, copy the file to cloud storage or a USB, and then import the customisations onto computer using Microsoft Outlook.

To import/export, follow these steps:

1. Click on the drop-down menu displayed on the right-hand side of the Quick Access Toolbar.
2. Select More Commands.
3. In the bottom right corner, you will see the Import/Export button:

4. Click the button and choose if you want to Import customization file or Export all customizations.
5. If you export all customisations, ensure you save the file to a location you will be able to find, such as the Desktop. You can then transfer the file to a USB, network drive or email the file to be accessed from another computer.
6. To import simply open the application on the new computer, click the drop-down menu for the Quick Access Toolbar and select More Commands. Click the Import/Export button and choose Import customization file, navigate to the file and select it.
7. A warning message will be displayed alerting you that all current customizations will be replaced if you are sure click Yes. The customisation will now be imported.

So I hope this helps you to explore and customise the Quick Access Toolbar in Outlook and understand there is more than just one available. Feel free to add any comments or questions below.