The context menu in Windows 7 can be a useful feature to quickly access often-used features. However, if you prefer clicking buttons, you may want to add buttons to the toolbar in Windows Explorer to perform tasks such as copying, pasting, and deleting files and folders. Windows XP allowed you to customize the toolbar in Windows Explorer, adding buttons as desired. That feature was removed in Windows Vista and Windows 7. However, there is an easy way to access features in Windows Explorer in Windows 7. Custom Explorer Toolbar allows you to add and remove buttons from the toolbar in Windows Explorer.
Download Custom Explorer Toolbar from
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/custom_explorer_toolbar.html.
Custom Explorer Toolbar does not require installation. To run the program, simply extract the .zip file you downloaded and double-click on the .exe file.
If the User Account Control dialog box displays, click Yes to continue.
NOTE: You may not see this dialog box, depending on your User Account Control settings. See our post, Windows 7 – How to configure UAC (User Account Control), for more information.
The Custom Explorer Toolbar main window displays. Select an option from the Action drop-down list to indicate whether you want to add or remove the buttons selected in the Buttons List.
Specify when you want to display the selected buttons on the toolbar in Windows Explorer by selecting One or more items are selected or Items are not selected (in Windows Explorer) from the Toolbar Mode drop-down list.
Choose the buttons you want to add to or remove from the toolbar in Windows Explorer by selecting or unselecting check boxes in the Buttons List.
NOTE: Custom Explorer Toolbar displays all available Explorer button in the Buttons List. However, you may not see all selected buttons on the toolbar.
The Folder Types check boxes allow you to specify for which folders in Windows Explorer the selected buttons will be available. The Generic Folders option covers almost every type of folder and the Generic Library option covers the main libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Video). If you want to display the selected buttons for certain libraries and not others, select the Documents, Music, Pictures, and/or Video check boxes.
Once you have made your selections, click Do It ! to add or remove the selected buttons in Windows Explorer.
We added the Copy, Delete, Paste, Select all, and Navigation pane buttons to Windows Explorer.
If you have reduced the size of your Windows Explorer window, you can access the additional buttons by clicking the double, right arrow (or chevron) button to access the extra commands.
To remove buttons from the Windows Explorer toolbar, open Custom Explorer Toolbar again, if it is not already open. Select the Remove the specified toolbar buttons option from the Action drop-down list and select the check boxes in the Buttons List for the buttons you want to remove. We chose to remove the Burn button to save some room, because we don’t burn many CDs or DVDs. Click Do It ! to remove the selected buttons.
To close Custom Explorer Toolbar, click Exit.
Using the Remove the specified toolbar buttons option, you can easily remove the buttons you added to the toolbar, restoring the toolbar to it’s original state.
by Lori Kaufman