Monday, July 9, 2012

Customizing the RootsMagic 5 Toolbar

I had a phone call yesterday from a local society colleague who has recently switched from Family Tree Maker 11 (yes, from, what, 2001?) to RootsMagic 5, and knew that I had some RootsMagic 5 experience.  He asked:

"There were really useful 'Back' and 'Forward' buttons on the FTM 11 Toolbar, where are they in RootsMagic 5?"

I had to admit I didn't know...so while he was on the phone, I checked the "Help" menu (you do use the Help menu, don't you? It's great!) , and used a search term of "toolbar" and quickly saw the "Customize the Toolbar" article in the list of help articles:


 The "Customize the Toolbar" article provides a step-by-step description, with images, of the process to add an item to the Toolbar.  The first instruction is to right-click anywhere on the Toolbar line:


After selecting "Customize" from the  dropdown menu, then select the "Commands" tab:


The "Back" and "Forward" buttons are on the "Search" list, so I highlighted the "Search" list above and followed the directions.  To add a button from the right-hand column to the Toolbar, left-click the desired button, and drag the button to the Toolbar and release the mouse.  In the screen below, I have dragged the "Back" button to the right-hand side of the Toolbar:


I dragged the "Forward" button to the Toolbar also.  But I decided that I wanted to put both buttons over on the left-hand side of the Toolbar.  With the "Customize the Toolbar" menu open, I left-clicked the "Back" button and dragged it to the left-hand side of the Toolbar, and released the mouse.  I did the same for the "Forward" button and the result looks like this:


Now I have the "Back" and "Forward" buttons exactly where I want them, and have improved my navigation capabilities in the process.  I had not explored the Toolbar very much previously.  Now I'm wondering what other Toolbar items I want to add.  I've already added the "Research Log" feature and the "Place List" features.

To Delete a button from the Toolbar, open the "Customize" menu, right-click on the Toolbar button you want to delete, and select "Delete" from the dropdown menu.

The Toolbar can be used for one click access to a feature rather than going to a Menu item and selecting from a dropdown list (two clicks).

I learned something from my colleague's question, and he did too.  His comment was "I really like the versatility and customizing features of RootsMagic 5, and the Help function rocks!"  I agree.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/07/customizing-rootsmagic-5-toolbar.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver

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