XL2000: Read/Write Permission Is Required for Customized Toolbars

When you modify an existing or customized toolbar in Microsoft Excel and then restart the program, Microsoft Excel does not retain the changes.

-or-

When you create a new custom toolbar and then restart Microsoft Excel, the toolbar is not available.

This problem occurs if you do not have read/write permission to the toolbar settings (.xlb) file. To customize toolbar settings and then use the setting changes, Microsoft Excel 2000 requires that you have read/write permission to the toolbar settings file.

This behavior is different from versions of Microsoft Excel earlier than Microsoft Excel 97. Earlier versions read customization changes from the toolbar settings file regardless of your permission status for the toolbar settings file.

To resolve this problem, obtain read/write permission to the toolbar settings file, and then modify the toolbar.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Toolbars allow you to organize the commands in Microsoft Excel so that you can find and use them quickly. For example, you can add and remove menus and buttons, create your own custom toolbars, hide or display toolbars, and move toolbars. In Microsoft Excel 5.0 and 7.0, toolbars contain only buttons. In Microsoft Excel 97 and 2000, toolbars can contain buttons, menus, or a combination of both.

When you quit Microsoft Excel 2000, changes that you make to the menu bar and built-in toolbars, to the custom toolbars that you create, and to the toolbars that you display are saved in a toolbar-settings file in the Windows folder. Microsoft Excel saves this settings file as Username8.xlb, where Username is your Windows or network logon name. If your computer is not connected to a network, or is not set up with a logon prompt, Microsoft Excel saves the settings file as Excel.xlb.

For more information about toolbars, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type customize menus and toolbars in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.