Putting Shift+F4 On the Quick Access Toolbar

Kitty has been editing books using Word for nearly 30 years, and she is beginning to feel some pain in her left forearm from all the Shift+F4 usage. Kitty would like to make a Quick Access Toolbar button to repeat a search, so she can spare her left arm and keep her right hand on the mouse. She is not seeing a way to do this, though, so wonders if there is any way she can accomplish the task.

Yes, there is a way to do this, using Word's built-in tools. Here's how you can add the proper tool to the Quick Access Toolbar:

1. Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
2. At the left side of the dialog box click Customize (Word 2007) or Quick Access Toolbar (Word 2010 or a later version). (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Quick Access Toolbar area of the Word Options dialog box.

3. Using the Choose Commands From drop-down list, choose All Commands.
4. 4 In the list of commands, locate and select the Find Next command.
5. Click the Add button. The Find Next command moves to the right side of the dialog box.
6. Click OK.

The Find Next tool should now appear in the Quick Access Toolbar. You can do a search, as normal, and then when you want to repeat the search, you just click the Find Next tool.

If you prefer a macro-based approach, you can always create a very short macro and add it to the Quick Access Toolbar. Here's one that will work:

Sub RepeatFind()
    Selection.Find.Execute
End Sub

Told you it was short! It functions the same as the Find Next tool previously discussed.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13597) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365.