Outlook Quick Access Toolbar

By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer 

If you haven’t been introduced to the Outlook Quick Access Toolbar, let me have the honor of making your acquaintance.  Your Outlook Inbox, Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts have multiple tabs with multiple ribbons of multiple buttons.  That’s a lot of buttons with a lot of places to memorize in order to find them.  For example, I know there’s a Recover Deleted Items button in my Outlook Inbox, but I use it so infrequently that my brain doesn’t readily know where to find it.  With the Quick Access Toolbar, this is no longer an issue. 

If there are buttons (like the Recover Deleted Items button I referenced above) that you are constantly hunting for, hunt no more.  Simply find the button and right click on it.  Choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar.  The button will now be added to an area just below the ribbon of buttons and it will be viewable no matter what tab you’re in.   

I also use the Quick Access Toolbar for buttons that I use frequently.  For example, in my Outlook Tasks, I have the Save & Close button saved to the Quick Access Toolbar when I’m in a task.  When I’m working on updating the body of a task, if I need to insert an email to the task, I need to go to the Insert tab of the task in order to do so.  If I then want to Save & Close the task, I have to go to the Home tab in order to find that button.  But with the Quick Access Toolbar, I don’t have to make two clicks.  The Save & Close button is available for use whether I’m in the Insert or the Home tab.   

The Quick Access Toolbar is a favorite button haven that saves you clicks each day.  It’s also a feature in other Microsoft products like Word and Excel.  The location might be in the very upper left-hand corner of these programs as opposed to below the buttons ribbon.  If you find yourself hunting for a button in any Microsoft program, add the button to the Quick Access Toolbar to save yourself some time. 

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Sincerely Yours,  

Focus to Evolve Team  

www.focustoevolve.com