QAT For One DB
By Richard Rost
14 months ago
Customize Quick Access Toolbar for One Database File
In this Microsoft Access tutorial, I will show you how to customize the Quick Access Toolbar for a single database. We will cover setting up database-specific buttons, creating macros to open forms, and adding separators for better organization. This tutorial will help you tailor your Quick Access Toolbar to meet the unique needs of each of your databases.
Heather from Levittown, Pennsylvania (a Platinum Member) asks: How can I customize the Quick Access Toolbar for just one database? I have buttons that run macros to open forms, like you demonstrated in your QAT video, but each of my databases requires different buttons.
Prerequisites
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Keywords
TechHelp Access, customizing quick access toolbar Microsoft Access, quick launch toolbar single database, customize buttons Access database, Access QAT for specific database, quick access toolbar individual database, macros to open forms Access, techhelp quick access toolbar, customized macros Access forms
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Transcript
We got one for the beginners today. Today we're going to talk about customizing the Quick Access Toolbar, or sometimes I call it the Quick Launch Toolbar. I think that's what it used to be called, for a single database in Microsoft Access.
Today's question comes from Heather in Levittown, Pennsylvania, one of my Palette and a members. Heather says, how can I customize the Quick Access Toolbar for just one day? I've got buttons that run macros to open forms like you demonstrated in your QAT video, but each of my databases requires different buttons.
Okay, so there's two things you can do. You can have buttons for Access as a whole on your system, so every database you use, or you can set up buttons for each individual database. Let me show you how. First of all, if you have not yet watched the video that Heather's talking about, go watch this first. I show you how to set up the Quick Access Toolbar, what it is, how to create a macro that will run a form that will open a form for you, which I'm going to go over quickly again today, but watch this video first.
Okay, here I am in my TechHelp free template. This is a free database you can download on my website if you want to. Now you can see here I've already customized the Quick Access Toolbar, and you can see I've got things on here like save, undo and redo, design view, run a query. What is that? Datasheet view, form view. Okay, Form painter I use a lot. I've got a printer button for print preview, and then I've got buttons to open the Visual Basic Editor, and this one will open up the code for the form that you happen to be on.
Now, next to that, I got this guy, which is customized for my database. I click on this, if this guy is closed, I click on this, and it opens the main menu. What it is, is a macro right here, it's called open main menu, and then on the Quick Access Toolbar, you can make it run macros, which open forms, which is pretty much, there are very few ways I actually use macros, and that's one of them. The other ones, the auto exec macro, which is I got a whole other video on that one.
All right. Anyways, let's say you've got a special form. Let's pretend it's the customer form, okay? This is actually true for me. For most of my databases, I'll have a main menu form. It's always named main menu F. So I'll just copy that and the open main menu macro into that database, and I can just keep this button here for probably 99% of the databases that I built. All right. But they don't always have a customer form. So let's make a macro real quick that opens up that customer form. And I'll just copy this one. If you want the step-by-step, watch the other video. I already did it. So copy, paste, this will be open customer F, okay? And we'll just modify this guy right-click, design, and we'll just change the form name. I can close this thing. Change the form name here to customer F. I'm not customer contact that. Where are you? Customer F. All right. Save it. Close it. And now if I run this, it opens up the customer form.
Okay, great. I want to put that up here on the quick launch toolbar, the Quick Access Toolbar, same thing. All right. So we're going to drop this down, go to more commands. All right. Here we are. Also I forgot to mention in the other video, there's a separator too. I like to put a separator at the end of the all documents one. Right up here, there's all documents. And if you drop this down, you'll see there's for your database, right there. That's the trick. So I was going to show you in today's video. You click on that and you can see there are no custom buttons just for this database. Let's go back to the other one for a minute. See this thing here, it's a separator. You can find that right there. You can add a separator. So I just added two of them. I got two separators up there. We don't need two. All right. Remove that one. But this will tell you where the end of the all of Access buttons are.
Okay. So let's go back up here, click on this guy for this database. And now it's blank. Now you just add whatever buttons you want to have only in this database. Okay. So let's just go up here. I'll go to macros. I'll go open customer F. Click on that. Let's modify it. I'll make it a let's go where's the smiley face. There's my customer. And you can put whatever you want in here in the display name. All right. Open customers. Whatever you want to call it. It okay. It okay. And there you go. And there you go. And you got a little happy smiley face anywhere you are in your database. Just click on that. Boom. There's your customers. And you can do any number of buttons over here that you want to. If you notice in this title slide here, I added this guy. I didn't put the separator in here, but I put this guy in there. And this database only is the caption. That's the same thing I just did with the open customers. And that's it. That's how you put buttons up here just for this database.
Now if you open up another database and it closes this one, we make another copy of my original database. This is a copy of a copy. So this is a new copy of the database and you can see it's not up there. It's only in this database though. Okay. There he is. Well, happy smiley face guy. That's it. If you like learning with me, make sure you check out my four-hour long Access Beginner 1 class. I know it's four hours, but it goes by quick. I like to have fun when I teach, so you'll have a good time. I also have a shorter version, which is only 30 minutes. I put this one together for all the people that are like, I don't want to waste four hours learning all the beginner stuff. Well, I distilled it down and went through it quickly and watched this video. If you're short on time, but that's going to do it. That's your TechHelp video for today, folks. Hope you learned something. Live long and prosper my friends. I'll see you next time.
TOPICS:
Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar
Adding macros to the Quick Access Toolbar
Setting up buttons for each individual database
Creating a macro to open a form
Modifying an existing macro
Adding separators to the Quick Access Toolbar
Adding custom buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar for a specific database
Testing custom buttons in different databases
COMMERCIAL:
In today's video, I'm going to show you how to customize the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Access for a single database. You'll learn how to create custom buttons to run macros specific to each of your databases. I'll also walk you through setting up individual buttons for different forms, like the customer form, so your toolbar is tailored to your needs. Plus, we'll cover using separators to organize your commands. By the end, you'll know how to make your toolbar work perfectly for each database. You'll find the complete video on my Youtube channel and on my website at the link shown. Live long and prosper my friends.
Quiz
Q1. What is the Quick Access Toolbar sometimes referred to as?
A. The Quick Launch Toolbar
B. The Favorites Toolbar
C. The Macro Toolbar
D. The Form Toolbar
Q2. What is the primary function of the Quick Access Toolbar in Microsoft Access?
A. To add favorite websites
B. To customize and add commands for quicker access
C. To edit database tables directly
D. To manage user permissions
Q3. What type of button did the instructor demonstrate adding to the Quick Access Toolbar for a single database?
A. A button to open the Visual Basic Editor
B. A button to open a specific form
C. A button to save the database
D. A button to run a query
Q4. How do you begin customizing the Quick Access Toolbar for a specific database in Access?
A. Right-click on a ribbon command
B. Open the database options menu
C. Drop down the Quick Access Toolbar menu and select "More commands"
D. Right-click the desktop
Q5. Which macro was created in the video to open a new form?
A. Open Main Menu
B. Open New Form
C. Open Customer F
D. Open Database
Q6. What visual symbol did the instructor choose for the new button that opens the customer form?
A. A star
B. A folder icon
C. A smiley face
D. A check mark
Q7. What is the additional separator used for in the Quick Access Toolbar?
A. To delete unnecessary buttons
B. To mark the end of all buttons in Access as a whole
C. To organize macros alphabetically
D. To install new features
Q8. Where can you see custom buttons that are specific only to the current database?
A. Under a new tab in the ribbon
B. In the database properties
C. Under the "For your database" section in the toolbar customization menu
D. In the system settings
Q9. What happens to the custom Quick Access Toolbar buttons when you open a different database?
A. They appear in every database
B. Only the buttons specific to that new database appear
C. No buttons from the customized toolbar show up
D. All buttons including the custom ones carry over
Q10. What is recommended if you want a comprehensive and enjoyable learning experience for Microsoft Access beginners?
A. Watch a series of unrelated short videos
B. Join a forum discussion group
C. Enroll in a four-hour long Access Beginner 1 class
D. Self-study through trial and error
Answers: 1-A; 2-B; 3-B; 4-C; 5-C; 6-C; 7-B; 8-C; 9-B; 10-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.
Summary
Today's TechHelp tutorial from Access Learning Zone is geared towards beginners. We'll be discussing how to customize the Quick Access Toolbar (sometimes referred to as the Quick Launch Toolbar) for a single database in Microsoft Access. This topic comes from a question by Heather from Levittown, Pennsylvania, one of my Palette members. Heather wants to know how to set up the Quick Access Toolbar for different databases, each requiring unique buttons.
There are two ways you can configure the toolbar: for Access in general on your system, affecting every database, or for each individual database. If you haven't seen my initial video on setting up the Quick Access Toolbar, I recommend watching it first. In that video, I cover what it is and how to create a macro that runs and opens a form. I'll cover that briefly again today.
Let's start in my TechHelp free template database, which you can download from my website. I've already customized the Quick Access Toolbar to include buttons for actions like save, undo, redo, design view, running a query, datasheet view, form view, print preview, and opening the Visual Basic Editor. One button even opens the code for the form you're currently on.
Next, there is a customized button for my specific database. When clicked, it opens the main menu using a macro named "open main menu." On the Quick Access Toolbar, you can create buttons that execute macros to open forms, which is one of the few ways I use macros. Another frequent use is the auto exec macro.
Let's assume you have a specific form, like a customer form. In most of my databases, I have a main menu form named "main menu F." I typically copy the "open main menu" macro into each database, which covers almost all of my databases. However, not every database will have a customer form, so let's create a macro to open it.
First, make a copy of an existing macro. Rename it "open customer F" and modify it to open the customer form. Change the form name in the macro to "customer F," save, and close it. Running this macro will open the customer form.
Now, add this macro to the Quick Access Toolbar. Go to more commands, and you'll notice options for the toolbar in all documents and then for specific databases. In the specific database section, add the new macro. You can modify the button with a custom icon and name, like "Open Customers." Once added, you'll have a button that opens the customer form exclusively in this database.
If you open another database, the customized button won't appear because it's specific to the initial database. This ensures a tailored Quick Access Toolbar for each database you work with.
If you enjoy learning with me, check out my four-hour Access Beginner 1 class. It's comprehensive but fun and goes by quickly. There's also a condensed 30-minute version for those short on time. That's all for today's TechHelp tutorial. I hope you found it helpful. 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 List
Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar
Adding macros to the Quick Access Toolbar
Setting up buttons for each individual database
Creating a macro to open a form
Modifying an existing macro
Adding separators to the Quick Access Toolbar
Adding custom buttons to the Quick Access Toolbar for a specific database
Testing custom buttons in different databases
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