Every user of a modern computer with an operating system and application programs installed on it is faced with the use of some kind of toolbar every day, not really thinking about what it is and how to configure it based on your own needs and preferences. This is exactly what you are invited to talk about, especially since after considering the main issue, many users will gain knowledge on how to optimally configure such tools, which in a sense will even help optimize the work on the computer, significantly speeding up access to a particular system tool or a specific program.
Toolbar Types on Windows
So, before proceeding to a direct examination of the main issue, several important concepts should be clarified. Let's discuss what kind of toolbars are and what actually needs to be customized. No, of course, the Windows developers took care of working with such interface elements as conveniently as possible and without changing the standard settings. But for cases when the user is not happy with something, a loophole was provided through which you can change any such element beyond recognition, hide it, or, conversely, display it on the screen.
What toolbars will be considered further? The list can be represented as follows:
- control Panel;
- task bar;
- Start menu
- system tray;
- additional standard Windows panels;
- panels with application toolkit.
Let it not bother you that the list includes the standard control panel and the Start menu. By and large, they can also be attributed to the toolbars, however, the control panel will not be rebuilt at will, no matter how you want it. You can only change the appearance of the sections present in it. It is for this reason that we will not consider it.
Standard setting of the toolbar (tasks): basic parameters
So, let's start with the default settings. First of all, right-click on the free area of ​​the taskbar and select the property item for Windows 7 and below or the line of panel options for the tenth modification from the menu (we will not consider Windows 8, since there is no such tool in the main screen, and in version 8.1 the actions are similar to the tenth )
A properties window will appear in which the simplest settings can be made. Take Windows 7 as an example. In the properties window itself, there are three tabs that correspond to setting parameters for the taskbar, the main Start menu, and additional standard panels.
Task bar
First, consider the options that are present on each tab. You can immediately note that most of the options presented can be called up from the PCM menu on the taskbar itself. On the main tab there are settings, mainly related to the position of the panel on the screen, the effects of hiding and pinning. As additional options, you can use the button grouping setting, which allows you to significantly expand free space by placing documents of the same active application in the menu of only one button instead of several. You can also take advantage of changing the settings of the notification area and specify what will be displayed in the system tray (clock, wireless or network icons, battery for laptops, etc.) and in notification windows. In addition, you can enable or disable the display of hidden toolbar icons, which are accessed in the system tray by clicking on the up arrow button.
Separately, it is worth saying that, provided that the docking is disabled, additional elements can be added to the panel in the form of program shortcuts, files, folders, links or other objects in the form of system tools. And such operations are carried out by simply dragging the shortcut to the desired location on the panel from the “Desktop” or from the same “Explorer”.
Start menu
The Start menu, if we consider it just like a toolbar, has a lot of settings. In Windows 7, many users prefer to change the contents of the menu, turning off the display of recently used programs and documents, instead of fixing frequently used applications, which makes their call faster and more comfortable. Among other things, it’s completely elementary to enable or disable the display of standard elements such as custom folders of documents, videos, images, games, etc. Of particular note is the possibility of adding “Run” and “Administration” items to the menu. This will greatly facilitate access to some system tools and services.
Additional panels
Now let's see how to customize toolbars of standard types. They can be added either on the tab with options, or directly through the PCM menu on the taskbar. There are not many options here, because among standard tools you can find addresses, links, a tablet mode panel, etc. Sometimes there may be panels in the list that are created automatically when certain software is installed (for example, iTunes).
If none of the user's options suits you, you can create your own panel and add any necessary elements to it.
Note: similar settings in Windows 10 are made from the options menu, which will be redirected to when you select the appropriate settings. The same goes for the start menu.
Office toolkit customization
Now let's look at the toolbar in the Word. We take this application solely as an example, since in all other programs of the office suite, the settings, parameters, and the steps taken to install the necessary options are completely identical.
The Word toolbar itself, in the form in which it is installed by default, can be changed quite simply. To do this, use the menu called up by pressing the up arrow button located at the top right. When you select the first item, the panel will automatically be removed from the screen, when you activate the second, only the main section, the design and insert menu will remain, and when the third one is activated, the panel and all commands will be docked.
Adding buttons to the panel
Quite often, users lack the standard set of tools displayed on the main panel.
You can add the necessary functions through the parameters section, in which the tape settings item is used.
To simplify your task, you can simply use the PCM menu on the free area of ​​the main panel. After that, it remains only to select the main section and add the necessary buttons by highlighting them in the left block and moving to the right by pressing the button with two arrows.
The same applies to the parameters of the quick access panel, adding commands to which is performed by the same method using the RMB menu or when invoking the item of other commands from the section called by clicking on the button with the down arrow, which is located to the right of the save, return and cancel buttons ( the given solutions concern office packages not lower than versions 2010).
Panels in other applications
As for the panel settings in other programs, it all depends only on the specifics of the application itself and how to install the necessary options that the developer of a particular software originally put into it.
So, in the FL Studio music sequencer, it is enough to make a PCM on the free zone of the main panel and mark the elements necessary for display in the menu. If any of the blocks needs to be moved to another location, the menu removes the checkmark from the lock (pin) point of the Lock panel. After that, you just need to move the cursor to it, hold down the left mouse button and drag and drop to another location.
In other programs, the setting methods can vary quite a lot, but in most cases they are very similar.
Note: sometimes (and quite often) to set the display of additional tools and panels it is advisable to use the view menu, which is available in almost any application.
Instead of a total
That, in fact, is all that relates to the main aspects associated with the settings of panels and toolkits of various types. As it is already clear, sometimes it’s completely optional to go into various kinds of specialized settings sections, and it’s much easier to use shortcut context menus, which can significantly save time, especially since the called options and parameters are completely identical. This also applies to the settings of the system panels, and similar procedures in other application programs.