XL97: How to Use a Toolbar Settings File from a Network Share

This article contains information about using a Microsoft Excel toolbar settings file that is stored on a shared location on a network.

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. Now toolbars can contain buttons, menus, or a combination of both.

When you quit Microsoft Excel, changes you make to the menu bar and built-in toolbars, custom toolbars you create, and toolbars you display are saved in a toolbars 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 Excel8.xlb.

Microsoft Excel 97 also allows you to use a toolbar settings file from a shared location on the network. This allows you to log on to any computer that has access to the network and gain access to a personal toolbar and menu settings file on the network server.

To use this feature, you must add a key to the registration database on each of the computers that is connected to the network.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.


To use a Microsoft Excel toolbar settings file from a network share:

1. Copy the user's toolbar settings file to a shared folder on the network. This file is located in the Windows folder on any computer on which the user logged-on and ran Microsoft Excel.
   
   Note that running Microsoft Excel creates a local toolbar settings file called Username8.xlb, where Username is the Windows or network logon name of the current user.
2. On the Start menu, click Run. In the Open box, type regedit and click OK.
3. Open the following subkey (folder) in the registry:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\8.0\Excel\Microsoft Excel
4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and click String Value.
5. Type CmdBarFile as the name of the new string value.
6. Leave the CmdBarFile string value selected, and click Modify on the Edit menu.
   
   This step opens the Edit String dialog box. In the Data Value box, type a valid path to the shared folder on the network that contains the user's toolbar file.
   
   The following example shows the syntax to use for the string:
   \\Servername\Sharename\
   where Servername is the name of the server on which the shared folder that contains the toolbar setting file is located, and Sharename is the name of the shared folder.
   
   IMPORTANT: The path must end with a trailing backslash, and the user must have read/write permission to the shared folder and the toolbar file.

For more information about toolbars or menus, click Contents and Index on the Help menu, click the Index tab in Excel Help, type the following text
and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Menus" topic. If you are unable to find the information you need, ask the Office Assistant.