- [Deborah] Do you find it difficult
to locate commands on Microsoft Word's ribbon?
Do you find yourself constantly searching
for the same commands over and over?
You can actually modify the ribbon itself
to put commands, any command, within easy reach
so you never have to go hunting for them again.
Hi, I'm Deborah Savadra with Legal Office Guru,
your resource for Microsoft Office for legal professionals.
And in today's video I'm going to show you
how you can modify the Ribbon
to make your favorite commands easier to find.
Yes, you can actually modify the Microsoft Word Ribbon.
The demonstration you're about to see
is an excerpt from my Basic Word Skills
for Legal Professionals course.
In the lesson leading up to this excerpt,
I've covered the basic parts of the Ribbon.
Tabs, command groups, dialog launchers,
and contextual tabs.
Just to quickly recap,
you'll need to know what the ribbon is,
what the tabs are
and that each tab has its own set of command groups
that contain, well, individual commands.
Now that you have those basic concepts down,
we'll pick up the lesson at the point
where I begin showing you
how to add your own command groups to an existing tab
and how to create your own personal tab
to hold whatever commands you want quick and easy access to.
Once you understand the various parts of the ribbon,
you may want to explore adding some commands to it
to make them easier to find,
particularly those that aren't already on the Ribbon.
There are two ways to do this.
You can place your own command group on any existing tabs,
such as the Home tab or you can create your own custom tab
to group all of your favorite commands in one place.
You cannot add commands to any existing command group.
In other words, if it's a command group
that's already in Word as delivered, you can't change it.
But you can add your own command group to any existing tab.
Let's say, for example, I want some finer control
over my automatic paragraph numbering.
The home tab's already pretty crowded,
but there's also a paragraph command group
on the Layout tab.
So it may make sense to add
a paragraph numbering command group
to the end of the Layout tab, which does have some room.
That way I can have all
of my favorite paragraph numbering commands in one place
without having to go through different dialog boxes
or contextual menus.
To start the process, we'll go to File,
Options,
Customize Ribbon.
Over on the right is a list of the various tabs
on the Ribbon and underneath each tab,
the command groups within each tab.
I'll expand the Layout tab and see the command groups
that already exist:
Page Setup, Paragraph, and Arrange.
To add a new command group to the Layout tab,
I'll select the Layout tab by clicking on it.
Then click new group here at the bottom right.
By default, the group will be named New Group Custom,
but you can rename it with the Rename button.
I'm going to rename mine Paragraph Numbering.
Now it's time to add some commands to this command group.
I can add the standard paragraph numbering commands
that are already listed on the Home tab
by clicking on Choose Commands from the dropdown on the left
and limiting the selection of commands to the main tabs.
Then expanding the Home tab
and the Paragraph command group within it.
Then I can select
the paragraph numbering related commands here
and with my new paragraph numbering command group selected,
on the right,
click the Add button to add one or more
of those commands to my new command group.
But while this gets these commands grouped
into my new command group,
this also just duplicates what's already on the Home tab.
However, I can also add new commands
that aren't already on the Ribbon to the same command group
so I can have one-stop access
to all of the paragraph numbering commands I use frequently.
One example is the Adjust List Indents command,
which doesn't currently show on the Ribbon.
I would usually have to right click
on an automatic paragraph number
to access that command via a contextual menu,
but within the Customize Ribbon area
of the Word Options dialog box,
I can find that command by choosing All Commands
from the Choose Commands From dropdown
and finding Adjust List Indents
in the alphabetical list shown below.
Again, with my new command group already selected.
I can choose Adjust List Indents and then click Add
to add it to my new paragraph numbering command group.
I can also use the up and down arrows over here to the right
to rearrange the commands into whatever order
makes the most sense to me.
But what if you want your own custom tab all to yourself,
you can create your own custom tab
that'll sit alongside the Home, Insert, Design,
et cetera, tabs at the top of the Ribbon
by clicking the New Tab button down here
near the bottom right of the Word Options dialog box.
Rename it anything you want.
I'm going to use Deborah's Favorite Commands.
Then populate it with whichever commands
you want to have quick access to
using the same process I demonstrated earlier.
Once you set up everything just the way you like,
click OK and you'll see your new command groups
in the tabs you've chosen.
Congratulations, you just customized your Word interface!
Easy, huh?
I bet you've thought up all sorts of things you want
on your own custom tab.
These are the kinds of things
no one ever shows Microsoft Office users
and yet this is one of the many power tips contained
in my Basic Word Skills for Legal Professionals course.
The course has 45 lessons covering everything
from tips on the interface,
like what you've just seen to formatting essentials
to lessons on working with tables,
columns, footnotes, and more.
It's especially geared toward those using Word
within a law practice, like attorneys,
paralegals and legal assistants.
For more information on the course,
go to legalofficeguru.com/courses
and click on the Basic Word Skills course,
or click the YouTube card
in the upper right-hand corner of the screen now
to go directly to the webpage describing the course.
(enchanting music)