Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) can be customized in just a few click(s). You can add or remove items from the QAT as well as move the position of QAT above or below the Ribbon.

Add or Remove items from QAT

You can add the frequently-used commands to QAT at runtime. To add a command to the QAT at run-time:

1. Select the item you want to add to QAT.
2. Right-click the command. From the context menu, click on Add to Quick Access Toolbar.

You can also remove items from the QAT. To remove any item from the Quick Access Toolbar at runtime:

1. Select the item you want to add to QAT.
2. Right-click the command. From the context menu, click on Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.

Move the Quick Access Toolbar

You can display the QAT above or below the Ribbon, depending upon your requirements. To move the QAT below the Ribbon, click the drop-down arrow next to the QAT and select Show Below the Ribbon.

To move the QAT back to its location above the Ribbon, click the drop-down arrow next to the QAT and select Show Above the Ribbon.

Create Persistent QAT

To retain the QAT behavior across application runs, use QatItemNames property of Ribbon class. This property saves the items that users add or delete to the QAT during runtime, ensuring they are preserved for future sessions.

Below steps illustrate creating persistent QAT as shown in the following image:

1. In Visual Studio, go to Project | <ProjectName> Properties | Settings.

2. Click on Create or open application settings to open Settings designer.

3. Add a new setting by specifying the name, type and scope (User or Application). For example, this code uses a setting value with name QatItems, of type String and scope User.

4. Add the following code in FormClosing event to save the QAT items.

   //Saving the items in QAT
   Properties.Settings.Default.QatItems = customRibbon.QatItemNames; 
   Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
   

   type=note

   Note: Assign a value to the Name property of the RibbonItems so that the QatItemNames property saves these items.

5. Add the following code in Load event to load the saved items back to QAT.

   //Load the items saved in QatItems back to the QAT on the ribbon
   var savedQatItemNames = Properties.Settings.Default.QatItems;
   if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(savedQatItemNames))
   {
       customRibbon.QatItemNames = savedQatItemNames;                
   }
   

6. Run the application. In the first run, there are no items in QAT. Right click on the RibbonItems and add them to QAT. Close and rerun the application and observe the output.