Early word processing programs required you to remember arcane key combinations to perform simple operations such as saving and printing. Later, menu commands were added which listed possible commands hierarchically. Next in the evolution of the word processor and the search for easier and more efficient methods of interacting, the toolbar was added.
A toolbar is a row of buttons toward the top of the main application window which contains buttons for the most common menu commands. Toolbar buttons give a visual cue as to their function and require less mouse movement than selecting the corresponding menu command. The toolbar is a convenience, though, since all the functions available from the toolbar are available from menu commands.
In Microsoft Office the toolbar is context sensitive. That is, the toolbar buttons change depending on the type of document that has focus. For example, the toolbar displayed for a Word document might look like:
And the toolbar for an Excel document might look like:
The above examples show what a toolbar might look like because the actual contents of the toolbar are customizable. You can create toolbars which contain the toolbuttons for the menu commands you use most often. To change the contents of a toolbar, on the Tools menu select the Customize.../Toolbar option.
There are no permanent descriptive words on a toolbar button. The function a button performs is indicated by the picture or icon on the button. So what can you do if you don't recognize the menu command a button represents? If you pause the mouse cursor over a toolbar button a popup menu will appear which represents the function of that button. For example:
Copyright 1997 by the Curators of the University of Missouri