The Mini toolbar is a floating palette which automatically appears when you highlight text. Initially all the options it contains are discreetly dimmed. However, when you position the cursor over its controls, the Mini toolbar becomes activated.
It contains a number of buttons for formatting your text. All of these buttons can also be found in the Home tab of the Word Ribbon. The top row of buttons allows you to alter the font, size and colour of our text and also contains Word's nifty Format Painter. The Format Painter tool allows you to copy the format of the selected text to other areas of your document.
The second row of the Mini toolbar contains buttons for making your text bold, italic or centre aligned. It also has options for altering the colour of the highlighted text, indenting text and inserting bullets.
The Mini toolbar provides users with a very convenient way of quickly formatting your text without having to go back to the Ribbon to find the options they are looking for. However, there are times when it can be an inconvenience. This is particularly true when using the very useful drag-and-drop facility within Microsoft Word.
This useful feature allows you to highlight text and simply drag it to a new location. However, what you sometimes find is that, as you are about to drag, your cursor collides with the Mini toolbar and instead of dragging your text you end up changing its format.
As a Word user, you'll decide whether you like the Mini toolbar facility. If you decide it is more trouble than it's worth, Word allows you to deactivate this facility. From the Office button, choose Word Options. In the Popular category, the very first option is "Show Mini Toolbar on selection". If you have had enough of the Mini toolbar, simply deactivate this option. Now, whenever you highlight text, the Mini toolbar will not appear.
Even if you have asked Word not to show the Mini toolbar, it is still possible to display it by simply right-clicking on selected text. - 16732
It contains a number of buttons for formatting your text. All of these buttons can also be found in the Home tab of the Word Ribbon. The top row of buttons allows you to alter the font, size and colour of our text and also contains Word's nifty Format Painter. The Format Painter tool allows you to copy the format of the selected text to other areas of your document.
The second row of the Mini toolbar contains buttons for making your text bold, italic or centre aligned. It also has options for altering the colour of the highlighted text, indenting text and inserting bullets.
The Mini toolbar provides users with a very convenient way of quickly formatting your text without having to go back to the Ribbon to find the options they are looking for. However, there are times when it can be an inconvenience. This is particularly true when using the very useful drag-and-drop facility within Microsoft Word.
This useful feature allows you to highlight text and simply drag it to a new location. However, what you sometimes find is that, as you are about to drag, your cursor collides with the Mini toolbar and instead of dragging your text you end up changing its format.
As a Word user, you'll decide whether you like the Mini toolbar facility. If you decide it is more trouble than it's worth, Word allows you to deactivate this facility. From the Office button, choose Word Options. In the Popular category, the very first option is "Show Mini Toolbar on selection". If you have had enough of the Mini toolbar, simply deactivate this option. Now, whenever you highlight text, the Mini toolbar will not appear.
Even if you have asked Word not to show the Mini toolbar, it is still possible to display it by simply right-clicking on selected text. - 16732
About the Author:
The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, a UK IT training company offering Microsoft Word training courses at their central London training centre.
