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Quick Access Toolbar By Richard Rost 
4 years ago
Add Features. Open Forms, Reports. Run Macros. In this video I'm going to show you how to customize the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Access. You can add commonly used features, make buttons to open forms and reports, and even run macros. Aaron from Montreal, Canada (a Platinum Member) asks: I see in a lot of your videos you have buttons on that toolbar across the top of your Access window. That looks cool. How do you set that up? I'd love to be able to put some commands I use often up there. Can you use it to open forms and reports? MembersMembers will learn how to assign commands to global keystrokes that will work throughout Microsoft Access. Want to press CTRL-M to open your Main Menu, or SHIFT-F1 to print a report? We'll learn how using AutoKeys and SubMacros. We'll also learn how to run global functions with the RunCode command.
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Keywordsmicrosoft access, ms access, ms access tutorial, #msaccess, #microsoftaccess, #help, #howto, #tutorial, #learn, #lesson, #training, #database, quick access toolbar, open form, open report, macros, Run an Access macro by using a keyboard shortcut, autokeys, runcode, openform
IntroIn this video, I will show you how to use the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Access to add your most-used commands for easy access. You will learn how to customize the toolbar with features like Run Query, Design View, and Print Preview, as well as how to set up custom toolbar buttons to open forms, reports, and run macros. I will walk you through adding, rearranging, and removing commands, plus creating simple macros to launch forms and reports directly from the toolbar. This tutorial is perfect if you want to work more efficiently in Microsoft Access.TranscriptWelcome to another TechHelp video brought to you by AccessLearningZone.com. I am your instructor, Richard Rost.In today's video, I'm going to show you how to use the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Access. We're going to add some commonly used features to it. I'm going to show you how to use it to open up forms and reports and how to run a macro. Today's question comes from Aaron in Montreal, Quebec, up in Canada. Aaron says, I see in a lot of your videos, you have buttons on that toolbar across the top of your Access window. That looks cool. How do you set that up? I'd love to be able to put some commands I use often up there. Can you use it to open forms and reports? Well of course, Aaron, that little guy is called the Quick Access Toolbar. It's right up there. You'll probably see in some of my other videos, in fact all of them, I've got some custom buttons up there that I've added for my own system. Let me show you how to do it for yours. Here I am in my TechHelp free template. This is a free download. You can grab a copy of this database off my website if you want to. You'll find a link down in the description below the video. As you can see up here, I've got a bunch of buttons that I added to my Quick Access Toolbar. I've got buttons like Run Query, Design View, Print Preview, and so on, and some custom ones over here like Open Main Menu that I've set up on my system. If you download a copy of this database, you won't have those buttons because the default setting is to save the Quick Access Toolbar changes on the computer that you're on, not in the database. I will show you how to change that setting in the extended cut for the members. But how do you make changes to this guy? Right-click on it and go right here where it says Customize Quick Access Toolbar. This menu appears. Here you can see a list of popular commands, commands not on the ribbon, all commands - there's tons of them. File Tab, Print Preview Tab, Home Tab, and so on. This is basically a list of all the different commands that are available on the ribbon. I've added Run, Design View, Print Preview, and Format Painter. I use those all the time so I want those available up in the Quick Access Toolbar. I've also got some custom buttons that I've set up to open up my Main Menu, open up my Search Form, open up the Customer Form, and so on. I'll show you how to set these up in a few minutes. But first, go over here on the left-hand side and find the command that you're looking for that you want to add to the Quick Access Toolbar. So let's say you use Find a lot. Click on Find, hit the Add button, and it puts it right over here. You can move it up or down with these little buttons over here all the way up to the top - means all the way over to the left on the Quick Access Toolbar. So I got Find over there. What else do you want? Let's take a look here. Let's find something that's not on this popular command list. Let's drop this down. Let's go to External Data tab and then, Export to RTF file. Add that over there. So you can find pretty much everything that's on the ribbon in these lists. But I got these two things there. There are a couple other features down here like Show the Quick Access Toolbar. You can hide it if you don't want to see it. Or where do you want to see it - above the ribbon or below the ribbon? I like it above. All right, come over here and hit OK. It says you have to close and reopen the database. You generally don't have to. Hit OK and you'll see your changes right up there. There are the two buttons that I added. If you click on them, it'll run that feature. There's Find and Replace. I'm not going to click on that one. Want to get rid of them? Right-click, Customize, come over here, click, and then remove, and then OK. Now they're gone. What's with this open main menu button I got right here? I got some other ones for some things like a customer form and my YouTube members forms and so on. They're just buttons that open up different forms that I have on my different databases. Now, if this is closed, that's my main menu, and I click on that, it opens up the main menu. How do you do that? You have to have a macro right there. I've got a macro called open main menu. This guy does that. Watch. This button just runs that macro. How do you set up a macro to do that? I cover macros in depth in my Microsoft Access Advanced Level 1 class. There's a link to it right there. If you want to learn a lot more about setting up macros, I got six different levels of classes on just dealing with macros. I listed Access Expert 5 too because I cover a lot more with customizing the ribbon and the Quick Access Toolbar in Access Expert 5. You'll find links to both of those down below. Let me give you the quick and dirty as far as how to set up this macro. Let's say I've got my customer form looks like that. This button opens up main menu. Now I've got a little button right there. This is open customer form, but it gives me an error message because this database doesn't have the macro called open customer F. We're going to have to make that. It's in a different database. How do we create a macro? Go to Create, come over here and pick Macro. I'm so used to going to Module. I only use modules. I almost never use macros. In fact, one of the only reasons I ever will use a macro is to do this - to set up these little buttons for the Quick Access Toolbar. So go to Macro. All right, this thing appears. We can close the action catalog. This is really easy. You're going to come in here, versus new action, and type in open, and OpenForm is the first one. You can drop this list down and you'll see a whole bunch of stuff in here, but we want OpenForm. What's the form name? It's CustomerF, and again, you can drop this down, CustomerF. There are a bunch of other commands on here you don't need. Let's just save this. Control-S, save. This is going to be open customer F. Now I can close that. If I run that macro from over here, open customer F, it opens it up. Since I have a button up here that already runs that macro, look at this. This button runs that macro. There's the form. Now, let's add a button to a form up here that I don't already have built. Let's say I want to open up the order form. Where's the order form? There's the order form. We need a macro first. So let's go to Create, Macro, click here, OpenForm, which form, OrderF. Save it - open order F as my open order F macro. If I run it from here, there it is. Now we have to add that up here to the Quick Access Toolbar because I don't have it up there. I call it Quick Launch Toolbar all the time. It's the Quick Access Toolbar officially. I think in an older version it used to be called the Quick Launch Toolbar. I just have to Google it. My brain's turned off. The Quick Launch Toolbar was a feature that goes back to Windows 7. It's been gone for a little while. Now it's called the Quick Access Toolbar up here in Office. Right-click, Customize the Quick Access Toolbar, come to this dropdown here, go to Macros. There's Macros. There's a list of all the macros in the database. Click on open order F. Add it. There it is. Slide it down to the bottom or wherever you want it. If you want to change the little picture of it there, see how I got custom pictures on these - I got a little happy face for my customers, I got a search form with a little magnifying glass. All you do is go to Modify and here's a little gallery of all the different icons that are available. Let's say this is orders, so let's find something that looks like orders. How about this thing here? Hit OK. There's my open order form. Hit OK. Hit OK again. There it is. There's a little button to open up my order form. See that? That doesn't go to any particular order, but it just opens up the form. That's handy if you're bouncing around. You want to watch everything open and you want to just click on that to switch that form. That's nice and easy, or I'll switch back to my main menu. That's mostly why I have this button here. Same thing if you want to open up a report. Create Macro, drop this down, OpenReport, what's the report name? I'll open up my order invoice R. How do you want to view it? I like to do Print Preview. I don't like sending stuff straight to the printer. I like to go to Print Preview, look at it, make sure it's OK, then I hit the print button. That's why I've got this button up here, which goes to Print Preview. Same thing. Then we can save this, open invoice R, close that, right-click, Customize, Macros, open invoice R, move it where you want it, then hit OK. There it is. I didn't customize the button. There you go. There's your invoice. See how easy that is? Once again, Access Expert 5 if you want to learn a lot more about customizing that Quick Access Toolbar and the ribbon, and Access Advanced 1 if you want to learn more about macro design. If you want to learn more in the extended cut for the members, I'm going to show you how to make system-wide shortcut keys. In addition to having those buttons across the top in the Quick Access Toolbar, we can actually make system-wide shortcut keys. If you want to open up your main menu with Control-M, you could do that. If you want to open up that report with Control-Shift-R, you can do that too. It will work across your entire database. We'll have to learn how to set up something called sub-macros and the special AutoKeys macro and how to write global functions. I'll teach you how to run code segments from inside there too. Lots of stuff coming up in the extended cut for the members. Silver members and up get access to all of my extended cut videos. Gold members can download these databases. How do you become a member? Click on the Join button below the video. After you click the Join button, you'll see a list of all the different membership levels that are available, each with its own special perks. Silver members and up will get access to all of my extended cut TechHelp videos, one free beginner class each month, and more. Gold members get access to download all of the sample databases that I build in my TechHelp videos, plus my Code Vault where I keep tons of different functions that I use. You'll also get a higher priority if you decide to submit any TechHelp questions to me, and you'll get one free Expert class each month after you've finished the Beginner series. Platinum members get all the previous perks, plus even higher priority for TechHelp questions, access to all of my full beginner courses for every subject, and one free Developer class each month after you've finished the Expert classes. These are the full length courses found on my website, not just for Access too. I also teach Word, Excel, Visual Basic, and lots more. You can now become a Diamond Sponsor and have your name or company name listed on a sponsors page that will be shown in each video as long as you're a sponsor. You'll get a shout out in the video and a link to your website or product in the text below the video and on my website. But don't worry, these free TechHelp videos are going to keep coming. As long as you keep watching them, I'll keep making more, and they'll always be free. QuizQ1. What is the primary purpose of the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Access?A. To provide one-click access to frequently used commands and features B. To store all database objects C. To format text and controls in forms D. To manage user permissions Q2. How do you add a command to the Quick Access Toolbar? A. Drag the command onto the toolbar from the navigation pane B. Right-click the toolbar and choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar C. Type the command in a search box D. Press Ctrl + T Q3. Where are Quick Access Toolbar customizations typically saved by default? A. In the Access database file B. In each form object C. On the local computer, not the database itself D. In the Access user's cloud account Q4. To add a feature or command not on the ribbon to the Quick Access Toolbar, what step should you take in the customization dialog? A. Search under "Commands Not in the Ribbon" B. Modify system settings in Windows C. Add a new module first D. Export the command from another database Q5. How can you remove a button from the Quick Access Toolbar? A. Restart Access with admin privileges B. Right-click, choose Customize, select the button, and remove it C. Drag the button off the toolbar D. Delete the associated database object Q6. What is typically needed to open a form or report directly from the Quick Access Toolbar? A. A VBA module B. An associated macro C. A linked external file D. A saved import specification Q7. What is the main function of the macros described in the video? A. To automate printing reports upon opening Access B. To enable toolbar buttons to open specific forms or reports C. To perform data backups D. To synchronize tables between databases Q8. How do you create a macro in Microsoft Access to open a specific form? A. Create macro, select action OpenForm, specify the form name, then save B. Format the form in design view C. Right-click the form and select "Add macro" D. Drag the form onto the toolbar Q9. Once a macro is created, how do you add it as a button to the Quick Access Toolbar? A. Drag the macro to the toolbar B. In Quick Access Toolbar customization, pick Macros, select your macro, and add it C. Assign it from the Navigation pane D. Email the macro to yourself and import it Q10. What can you do in the Modify dialog when adding a macro button to the toolbar? A. Assign a custom icon for the button B. Schedule automatic opening times C. Change record sources D. Set form permissions Q11. According to the video, which view does the instructor prefer for opening reports via the toolbar button? A. Layout View B. Form View C. Print Preview D. Datasheet View Q12. What advanced feature mentioned will be covered in the extended cut for members? A. How to design forms B. How to create system-wide shortcut keys using macros C. How to set up password-protected databases D. How to import CSV files Q13. Which membership tier allows you to download all sample databases built in TechHelp videos? A. Silver B. Gold C. Bronze D. Free Q14. What is a unique perk of being a Platinum member? A. Access to beginner Access classes only B. Diamond Sponsor listing C. Access to all full beginner courses for every subject taught D. Discounts on Access software Q15. What does the instructor emphasize about the ongoing availability of free TechHelp videos? A. They will end in 2025 B. They will always cost a fee C. They will continue to be free as long as people watch them D. Only members can view them Answers: 1-A; 2-B; 3-C; 4-A; 5-B; 6-B; 7-B; 8-A; 9-B; 10-A; 11-C; 12-B; 13-B; 14-C; 15-C DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks. SummaryToday's video from Access Learning Zone focuses on how to use the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Access. I am going to discuss how you can customize this toolbar by adding commands you frequently use, including opening forms, running reports, and even launching a macro. This question comes from Aaron in Montreal, who noticed the custom buttons on my Quick Access Toolbar in several videos and wanted to know how to set these up, especially for opening forms and reports.The Quick Access Toolbar is found across the top of your Access window. You may have seen in my other videos that I keep my most used commands up there for convenience. For demonstration, I am using my free TechHelp template database, which you can download from my website. This template makes a good starting point if you want to follow along. On my toolbar, I have buttons for things like Run Query, Design View, and Print Preview. There are also custom buttons that let me quickly open forms I use all the time, such as my Main Menu. However, if you download the template, you will not see my custom buttons because toolbar settings are saved to the local computer, not in the database. In the extended cut for members, I show how to save these settings with your database so you can share them more easily. To modify the Quick Access Toolbar, simply right-click on it and choose the option to customize. From there, you will see a menu filled with commands, including popular options, commands that are not on the ribbon, and the complete list of everything available in Access. You can go through the tabs in this list, such as File, Print Preview, and Home, to find what you need. If there are commands you use every day, you can add them to your toolbar, rearrange their order, and set their position from left to right. Suppose there is a command you use often, like Find. Select Find from the list and add it to the toolbar, then adjust its position as needed. You can add almost any command you find in the ribbon this way, even from other tabs like External Data. For example, you can add an Export to RTF command directly from the list. There are also some settings related to the appearance of the Quick Access Toolbar. You can decide whether to show it above or below the ribbon or hide it entirely. Personally, I prefer to keep it above the ribbon. After you make changes, Access may prompt you to close and reopen your database, but you will usually see your changes immediately. You can test your new buttons to ensure they are working. Removing a command is about as simple as adding one. Right-click, go back into the customization menu, select the command, and remove it. Now, about those custom buttons you might have noticed such as one for opening the main menu or the customer form. These buttons are set up to run macros that open specific forms. For example, clicking the "Open Main Menu" button triggers a macro I created specifically to do this. If a macro or its target form is not present in the database, Access will show an error, so you need to make sure you have both set up. If you are new to macros or want to learn more about setting them up, I recommend my Microsoft Access Advanced Level 1 class, where I go into much more detail about macros. I also touch on customizing the Quick Access Toolbar more extensively in my Access Expert 5 class. To quickly review, creating a macro in Access involves going to the Create tab and selecting Macro. From there, you can choose an action like OpenForm and specify the form you want to open, such as CustomerF. Save your macro, and it will appear in the list of macros available to the database. Once your macro is ready, you can add it to the Quick Access Toolbar. Go back into the customization menu, switch the list to show Macros, and then add your new macro to the toolbar. You can also change the icon associated with your macro by selecting Modify, which lets you choose from a variety of pre-made icons, so your buttons are easy to identify at a glance. The process for reports is similar. Create a macro using the OpenReport action, point it at the report you want (such as an invoice), and decide how to display it, perhaps in Print Preview mode. Add that macro to your toolbar using the same steps as before. If you're interested in learning more advanced shortcuts, in the extended cut for the members, I cover how to set up system-wide shortcut keys using sub-macros as well as the special AutoKeys macro. This allows you to open the main menu or a report using keyboard shortcuts like Control-M or Control-Shift-R. I also explain how to write global functions and run code segments from your AutoKeys macro. The extended cut contains a detailed breakdown of all these advanced features. Silver members and higher get access to these extended cut videos and a free beginner class each month. Gold members can download all the sample databases from my TechHelp series, gain access to my Code Vault, and enjoy higher priority if they submit TechHelp questions. They also receive one free Expert class per month once they're done with the Beginner series. Platinum members receive all the earlier perks, even higher priority for questions, access to all the full beginner courses for every topic I teach, and a free Developer class each month after the Expert courses. These full-length courses cover not just Access but also Word, Excel, Visual Basic, and more. The free TechHelp videos will continue as usual, so you will always have access to new tutorials as long as you keep watching. You can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below. Live long and prosper, my friends. Topic ListIntroduction to the Quick Access Toolbar in AccessCustomizing the Quick Access Toolbar Adding common commands to the Quick Access Toolbar Rearranging buttons on the Quick Access Toolbar Removing buttons from the Quick Access Toolbar Choosing Quick Access Toolbar location (above or below ribbon) Creating a macro to open a form Creating a macro to open a report Assigning custom macros to Quick Access Toolbar buttons Changing Quick Access Toolbar button icons Using macros for Quick Access Toolbar customization Running macros directly from the Quick Access Toolbar Using Print Preview with reports via Quick Access Toolbar |
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| Keywords: TechHelp Access quick access toolbar, open form, open report, macros, Run an Access macro by using a keyboard shortcut, autokeys, runcode, openform qat PermaLink Customize the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Access |
