How Many Items Can be Added to the Quick Access Toolbar?

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 5, 2020)
This tip applies to Word Word in Microsoft 365


1

Liz is thinking of upgrading to Office 365. She tried it as a free trial, but it only seemed to allow adding a very few items to the Quick Access Toolbar. So, Liz is wondering if Microsoft has reduced the number of items that can be put on the QAT.

The short answer is no, they haven't decreased the number. What Liz may be detecting is that Microsoft increased the width of the tools you can add to the QAT. (They did this to make it easier to use the tools on a touch screen.) This means that the number of tools visible on the screen will appear to be fewer than in older versions of Word. You can keep adding them just like you always have, though.

In fact, there doesn't seem to be an upper limit to the number of tools you can add. The number of tools displayed will be limited by the resolution and size of your monitor, as mentioned, but you can keep adding, even if you can't immediately see all the tools. If not all of the tools can be displayed, then Word displays a >> icon at the right side of the QAT. Click the icon, and you'll see more tools on a "pop-out row." If you have even more tools (in other words, the number of tools can't be displayed in the pop-out row), then at the end of that row you'll see a drop-down arrow you can click to display even more tools.

A common request made by those with many tools on their QAT is that the overflow be automatically displayed on a second row, without the need to click the >> icon. If you would like to lend your voice to this request, you can do so by visiting this page on Microsoft's User Voice site:

https://word.uservoice.com/forums/304924-word-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/42069706-qat-overflow-to-2nd-row

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13806) applies to Microsoft Word Word in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Repeating Table Rows with Manual Page Breaks

Need to make sure part of a table is on one page and part on another? The way to do so is not to use manual page breaks, ...

Discover More

Replacing All AutoCorrect Entries

Word's AutoCorrect feature can be a great tool to improve your writing. Depending on the type of writing you do, you may ...

Discover More

Pasting Text with Track Changes

Track Changes is a great tool for developing documents. If you want to copy text from one document to another, with ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Displaying the Navigation Pane when Opening a Document

The Navigation pane can be a big help in moving around a document. If you want to make sure it is always displayed for ...

Discover More

Setting User Information

Need to change the information that Word stores about you? Here's how to find the info.

Discover More

Controlling Scroll Bars

Scroll bars are helpful if you have a document that won't fit entirely within the program window. Here's how to turn off ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is eight minus 6?

2020-12-05 22:22:18

Thiers Halliwell

I use several COM Add-ins with MS Word, but in its 'wisdom' it sometimes decides to omit them because it considers they slow the start-up process, meaning that I have to reload them manually using the Developer/COM Add-ins pane.
Is there any way of making the Add-ins permanently 'sticky'?


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.