Customizing the toolbar will give a student visual icons to make it easier to perform a variety of command options without having to look through all the menus. Some students perform best when the number of icons is limited. Add more icons as the student understands the picture representation. Below is an example of a customize toolbar.

Open a Word Document

1. Drag down the View menu to Toolbars and choose Customize. (Alternative: Right click on a blank area in the toolbar & choose Customize.)   
2. Click the Toolbars Tab.
3. Click the New button on the right side of the screen.
4. In the New Toolbar window type the name of the toolbar you are creating. (For example Jolene's Toolbar) and click OK
5. In the Make toolbar available be sure that Normal is selected and then click OK. This will allow the newly created toolbar to always be a choice.
6. A small toolbar will appear on your screen.
*The Macintosh Version- the "Make Toolbar "option is available is in the main Customize Toolbar window

 Leave the Customize window open, but click on the Commands Tab

Add a button to the newly created toolbar 

1. Choose a category from the Categories column
2. Drag the desired option from the Commands column onto the new toolbar.
*Icons that have … means a window will open BEFORE the command is processed. For example Print…. Means the print window will open first and the student can choose which printer to use. A plain Print command, the document will go straight to the default printer.

View the Toolbar
 The new toolbar may be selected for any document by dragging down the View menu and clicking the Toolbars option. The new toolbar will be in the list. Click on it to select it.

 *It is best to hide all the other toolbars and show only the customized student toolbar

Remove the Toolbar 
1. Click on the View menu and select the Toolbar option
2. Click on the Toolbar tab
3. Click on the toolbar name to be removed and choose Delete from the right side of the window
4. Click OK at the warning message window