Customizing the Outlook Ribbon for faster access to the Mail Archiver Add-In

Introduction

You have deployed the Exclaimer Mail Archiver Outlook Add-In to users in your organization. Your users switch between using the Add-In and composing e-mail frequently; for example searching for customer quote e-mails in the Archive and then sending a follow-up e-mail to those customers.
This requires your Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013 users to switch between the tabs on the Outlook Ribbon frequently and they would like a faster way to quickly access the Mail Archiver Outlook Add-In interface.

Resolution

It is possible to customize the Microsoft Outlook Ribbon so that the most frequently used buttons from the Mail Archiver Outlook Add-In appear on:

• The Quick Access Toolbar:
  
• The "HOME" Ribbon tab which is the default Ribbon tab used when Microsoft Outlook is loaded:
  

The steps below explain how to either:

• Manually add the buttons you require to the Quick Access Toolbar or Home Ribbon tab
• Automatically add the most frequently used buttons (Search, Restore to Folder and Sign Out) to the Quick Access Toolbar or Home Ribbon tab by importing a customization file into Microsoft Outlook

The screenshots below are from Microsoft Outlook 2013 however the steps are the same for Microsoft Outlook 2010.

Home Ribbon Tab

Manually adding the buttons you require

1. Right-click the Ribbon at the top of the main Outlook window
2. From the menu, click Customize the Ribbon...
3. The Outlook Options dialog appears
4. From the drop-down menu under Choose commands from: click Main Tabs
5. The list underneath changes to show the list of tabs in the Ribbon
6. Next to 'MAIL ARCHIVER' click the + to expand this item. You will see underneath all the buttons from the Mail Archiver Ribbon:
   
7. From the drop-down menu under Customize the Ribbon: click Main Tabs
8. Next to 'Home (Mail) click the + icon to expand this item. You will see underneath all the buttons currently on the Home Ribbon
9. Click the New Group button at the bottom to create a new group to hold the Mail Archiver buttons
10. Right-click the 'New Group' and from the menu choose Rename to provide a suitable name
11. Using the Add >> and << Remove buttons in the middle add and remove available buttons from the left to the Ribbon on the right as required. You can also use the Up and Down arrows on the right to re-order the buttons or groups
    
12. When you are complete, click OK to save your changes

Importing a customization file

Note: Following these steps removes all existing customizations from Microsoft Outlook. This is a limitation of Microsoft Outlook.

1. Click here to download the customization file
2. Right-click the Ribbon at the top of the main Outlook window
3. From the menu, click Customize the Ribbon...
4. The Outlook Options dialog appears
5. Click the Import/Export button.
6. From the menu, click Import customization file
7. The File Open dialog appears
8. Select the file you downloaded in the first step
9. Outlook will ask 'Replace all existing Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar customizations for this program?'. If you are sure you wish to proceed click Yes
10. The customization is applied and the buttons appear on the Ribbon

The Quick Access Toolbar

Manually adding the buttons you require

1. Click the Mail Archiver tab from the Ribbon
2. Right-click the button you require to be on the Quick Access Toolbar and from the menu click Add to Quick Access Toolbar
3. The button appears on the Quick Access Toolbar, but may be greyed out until you sign in

Importing a customization file

Note: Following these steps removes all existing customizations from Microsoft Outlook. This is a limitation of Microsoft Outlook

1. Click here to download the customization file
2. Right-click the Quick Access Toolbar at the top of the main Outlook window
3. From the menu, click Customize Quick Access Toolbar...
4. The Outlook Options dialog appears
5. Click the Import/Export button
6. From the menu, click Import customization file
7. The File Open dialog appears
8. Select the file you downloaded in the first step
9. Outlook will ask 'Replace all existing Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar customizations for this program?'. If you are sure you wish to proceed click Yes
10. The customization is applied and the buttons appear on the Quick Access Toolbar

Applies To

• Microsoft Outlook 2010
• Microsoft Outlook 2013