PowerPoint Tips Blog

Helping you with presenting, PowerPoint, and speaking

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Tips
  • E-Store
  • Training
  • About
  • Affiliates
  • Advertise
  • Contact
You are here: Home / User Interface / Save PowerPoint customizations for the Quick Access Toolbar and ribbon

Save PowerPoint customizations for the Quick Access Toolbar and ribbon

July 14, 2015 by Ellen Finkelstein 3 Comments

READ LATER - DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS PDF >> CLICK HERE <<

powerpoint-tips-save-powerpiont-customizations-1Do you customize the Quick Access Toolbar? (The QAT is that row of icons above or below the ribbon.) How about the ribbon? If not, you should because you’ll work faster. I explain how to customize the Quick Access Toolbar in “Work Faster in PowerPoint.”

And I explain how to customize the ribbon in “Customize the PowerPoint interface.”

Not only can you save PowerPoint customizations, but you can go back and forth between customization settings!

Use multiple configurations

Do you do PowerPoint training like I do? If so, you might want to show the default settings to your students for training but use your own customizations when you’re creating slides on your own. Or maybe you just want the flexibility to save various ribbon & QAT configurations? You can!

First make the changes that you want. I added the Pick Up Object Style and Apply Object Style buttons. These are similar to the Format Painter, but often work better for text because you don’t have to select the text as precisely. I also added the Flip Horizontal button because I use it a lot and it takes a few clicks to get to.

powerpoint-tips-save-powerpiont-customizations-2Choose File, Options, Customize Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar. You’ll see your customizations on the right. Here you see the Quick Access Toolbar pane of the Options dialog box.

Click Import/Export at the bottom right corner.

From the drop-down list, choose Export All Customizations.

This opens up a File Save dialog box where you can save a file with the extension .exportedUI. You can save it anywhere, but rename it so that the name says something about the customizations you made. Then click Save.

Back in the PowerPoint Options dialog box, you can click Reset to return to “factory condition,” that is remove all customizations. You might do this for a training session when you don’t want to show customizations that most of the trainees don’t have.

When you want to go back to your customizations, click Import/Export again and choose Import Customization File. Find the file you saved and click Open to reapply all of your customizations!

How do you or might you use this feature of PowerPoint? Leave a comment and please use the share buttons because other people might find this useful.

Share
Tweet
Share14
+11
Shares 15
READ LATER - DOWNLOAD THIS POST AS PDF >> CLICK HERE <<

Related posts:

  1. Customize the PowerPoint interface
  2. Work faster in PowerPoint
  3. Importing art into the clip gallery
  4. How to copy a PowerPoint slide to Microsoft Word

Filed Under: User Interface

3
Leave a Reply

avatar
This comment form is under antispam protection
2 Comment threads
1 Thread replies
0 Followers
 
Most reacted comment
Hottest comment thread
3 Comment authors
Ellen FinkelsteinMyron ToewsGerman Viera (@slidemodel) Recent comment authors
avatar
This comment form is under antispam protection
  Subscribe  
newest oldest most voted
Notify of
German Viera (@slidemodel)
Guest
German Viera (@slidemodel)

Hi Ellen,

Great technique. I´ve been using the customized tool bar for a while and It makes my job with PowerPoint much easier. I like the suggestion of saving the options and resetting. Generally, I use different computers when working (my mac, my home notebook, some virtual machines I use for specific trainings, and when I travel even hotel PC´s at conference rooms). I´ll keep my customized file handy so I can import it when needed.

Thanks for sharing.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
7 years ago
Myron Toews
Guest
Myron Toews

Very helpful — the old normal.dot files! What I personally would love is some easy way to replicate my Word QAT to PowerPoint and Excel. I use all three a lot, and for all of them I add things I use a lot for my science writing — super and sub scripts, underline, bold, insert objects, on and on. It is a pain to have to customize each of these individually so that I find the same tool at the same place in each program. If you know a way to trick PPT into accepting a WORD customization, that would… Read more »

Vote Up0Vote Down 
4 years ago
Ellen Finkelstein
Guest
Ellen Finkelstein

Myron, the 3 programs are different enough that I can’t see it being possible to have one customization work for all.

Vote Up0Vote Down 
4 years ago
wpdiscuz   wpDiscuz

Free Video Training!

13 Techniques that Will Make Designing Your Slides EASY!

And get the PowerPoint Tips Newsletter with tips and resources for presenters. Plus 5 bonus tips!

BirdSend Email Marketing Tool
4-up-ads PresenterMedia PoweredTemplate High-Persuasion Secrets Power Pointers Quarter Hour


Recent Posts

Recent Posts

  • Using PowerPoint’s cartoon people
  • Which version of PowerPoint should you buy?
  • Add a customizable, live web feed with Cameo
  • Get a designer look with abstract images to create backgrounds for slides and shapes
  • Creating and using a strong call-to-action slide

Connect with me!

Connect with me! Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Ellen Finkelstein, Inc. · Fairfield, IA · Tel: 515-989-1832

Privacy, Refund, and Other Legal Stuff

wpDiscuz