Toolbars in Access are not set in stone – if you don’t like the layout or want to move it somewhere else, no problem!

Believe it or not, we have already added and removed a type of toolbar in this lesson – the Task Pane. To see what toolbars are available to add or remove, click View à Toolbars:

We can see from the above picture that the Database and Task Pane toolbars are already visible, as indicated by the check mark beside each. Notice the third entry in the list, the Web toolbar. (The Web toolbar is used to browse the Internet from inside Access using your default web browser.) If you want to enable the Web toolbar, simply click the Web option under View à Toolbars.

So now we know how to enable and disable toolbars. Now we can do a bit of basic customization on the toolbars. Notice the small column of dots on the far left of each toolbar (including the Task Pane)?

If you place your mouse over one of these markers, your mouse will become a four-headed arrow () like the points on a compass. You can use these markers as ‘handles.” Now you can click and hold the left mouse button and drag toolbars around wherever you like. For example, if you want to put the Database toolbar (the one with New, Open, and Search icons) down the side of the Access window, click and hold the left mouse button down on the ‘handle’ beside the Database toolbar. Drag the mouse down to the lower left side of the screen and release the mouse button:

You can also make a toolbar ‘float’ on its own; that is it is not attached to the sides or top of the Access Window. You can even make the menu bar float by clicking the menu bar handle and dragging to the center of the Access window:

To re-anchor a toolbar, click and drag the title of the toolbar (Menu Bar in the picture above) back to the edge or top of the Access window. And that’s all there is to it! Now you know how to make the Access interface look just the way you like.

We are now ready to take a more in-depth look at some of Access’ functionality. The next two sections will make use of a template in Access. It might seem a bit confusing at first, but once we establish this base Access will become much easier to use in the future.