Part IV: Professional Database Development
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The Quick Access toolbar designer also contains up and down arrows to the right of the selected
list that enable you to reorder the left-to-right appearance of the Quick Access toolbar commands.Be warned that you can add virtually any number of commands to the Quick Access toolbar.
When more commands are contained than the Quick Access toolbar can display, scroll arrows
appear at the far right side. However, because the whole idea of the Quick Access toolbar is to
make commands quickly available to users, there is no point in loading up the Quick Access tool-
bar with dozens of commands that only make it more difficult for the user.Editing the Default Access Ribbon
An entirely new feature in Access 2010 is the ability to edit the default Access ribbon. Changes
made to the ribbon stay with Access on the machine where the changes were made, but an option
to export modifications is available in the ribbon designer.The Customize the Ribbon window (see Figure 29.12) uses the “two list” paradigm, just like the
Quick Access Toolbar designer, except that the ribbon designer is a bit more complex. You select
the category of ribbon you want to modify (File Tabs, Main Tabs, Macros, All Commands, Popular
Commands, and so on) from the drop-down above the list on the left side, and then use the left-
and right-pointing buttons between the lists to add or remove items from the ribbon.From the perspective of Access, there is just one ribbon, but it has a number of Main tabs on it:
Print Preview, Home, Create, External Data, Database Tools, Source Control, and Add-Ins. Within
a Main tab are a number of groups such as Views, Clipboard, and Sort & Filter. You cannot add or
remove tabs or commands from the default ribbon, but you can remove individual groups.You can take away entire built-in groups, but you can’t remove individual commands within a
group. You can use the buttons below the right list to add new custom tabs or to add new groups
within existing ribbon tabs, and then add commands to the custom group. Using a new custom
tab or group is the only way to add commands from the left list to the ribbon definition on the
right side.You can’t add commands directly to tabs. Commands must reside within groups on a tab. It’s easy
to add a command to a group: Select the command from the list on the left, select the custom
group to receive the command in the list on the right, and click the right-pointing arrow between
the lists.If your objective is to take “dangerous” commands away from your users, you have to remove the
built-in group containing the bad command, add a custom group, move it to the appropriate tab,
and then add only the commands you want your users to have in the group. Right-click the new
group and select Rename from the shortcut menu, or select the new group and click the Rename
button under the Customize the Ribbon list. The Rename dialog box appears (see Figure 29.13).
Use this dialog box to assign a new name to the group and select the group’s icon.