Create a Toolbar

In addition to the built-in toolbars, you can create your own to contain all the commands you use most frequently.

To create a toolbar

• Right-click any toolbar and click Customize...
• Select the Toolbars tab

The Toolbars tab in the Customize dialogue box is displayed.

• Click New...

The New Toolbar dialogue box is displayed.

• In the Toolbar name: box, type a name for the toolbar
• Click OK

The new toolbar is displayed, without any buttons or menus, and the Customize dialogue box is redisplayed.

• Add buttons and menus to the new toolbar in the normal way
• When you have added all the buttons and menus you want, click Close

To remove a toolbar

• Right-click any toolbar and click Customize...
• Click the Toolbars tab

The Toolbars tab in the Customize dialogue box is displayed.

• Select the toolbar you want to delete
• Click Delete

An alert box is displayed to confirm the action.

• Click OK

Note: You cannot delete the built-in toolbars.

To add a custom menu to a toolbar

• Display the toolbar to be amended
• From the Customize dialogue box, select the Commands tab
• From the Categories: list, select New Menu
• From the Commands: list, click-and-drag New Menu to the toolbar
• Click the Modify Selection button in the Customize dialogue box

The Modify Selection menu is displayed.

• Type a menu name in the Name box on the shortcut menu
• Press Enter
• Click the New Menu button on the toolbar

An empty menu box is displayed.

• From the Customize dialogue box Categories: list select a command type
• From the Commands: list, click-and-drag a button to the empty menu box
• Click-and-drag additional buttons as required
• Click Close

The Menu Bar

The Menu bar is a special toolbar at the top of the screen that contains menus such as File, Edit, and View. You can customise the Menu bar as you would any built-in toolbar. For example, you can add and remove buttons and menus on the menu bar. However you cannot hide the Menu bar.



Create a Form

Whenever you create a new item in Outlook (a mail message, a task or an appointment for instance) a new form of the appropriate type is opened.

If you are familiar with forms design in MS Access or Visual Basic, you may want to try customising Outlook forms to suit your own organisation's requirements.

To create a custom form

• From the Tools menu, select Forms then Design a Form...

The Design Form dialogue box is displayed.

• Choose the type of form you want to base your new form on and click Open

The form is redisplayed in design view.



You can use the editor to change the fields available on a form, set default values, add custom controls and so on. Elements of the form can be automated using VBScript, a version of Visual Basic for Applications. Refer to the online help for more information.

Save and Publish a Form

If you have created a form for your own use, you can save it as an Outlook Template file (.OFT) in the Office templates folder (buried deep in the Windows system folder) or in the Personal Forms Library.

If you want others to use the new form, you can either save it to a public folder or to the Organization Forms Library.

To save a form as an Outlook template

• Open the custom form
• From the File menu, select Save As...

The Save As dialogue box is displayed.

• In the Save as type: box, select Outlook Template (.OFT)

The Templates folder is selected by default.

• Click Save

To publish a form in the forms library or to a folder

• Open the custom form
• From the Tools menu, select Forms then Publish Form

• In the Look In: box, select the library or folder to which to publish
• Enter a Display name: and if necessary a Form name:
• Click Publish

To use a form

• From the File menu, select New then Choose Form...
• From the Look In: box, select the library or folder containing the form

Tip: To select a form saved as a template, select User Templates in File System.

• Select the form and click Open