Customize Excel Right-Click Menus

iconmenurighterDo you ever right-click on something in Excel, and the command that you wanted to use isn’t on that pop-up menu?

For example, if right-click on a cell, there is no command to turn off the gridlines.

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If you can’t find the command on the right-click menu, you have to go to the Excel Ribbon or Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) instead, and try to find the command on one of the tabs there.

What commands would you add to a right-click menu? Are there commands that you added to the QAT, that would be even better in a popup menu?

Customize the Right-Click Menus

Fortunately, Doug Glancy has created a solution to the right-click menu problem, with his MenuRighter Add-in. With Doug’s free add-in, you can add commands to the pop-up menus, so the items that you need are easy to find.

The add-in is not for sissies! You need to know where the commands were on the old Excel 2003 menus – or be willing to poke around and find them.

Then, you select the right-click menu where you want to add the command, and click the buttons to add the command, and save the changes.

In the screen shot below, I have selected the ToggleGrid command from the Forms toolbar, and am adding it to the Cell popup menu, just above the Hyperlink command.

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Find the Right Right Menu

There is a large collection of Targets, so it can be tricky to select the correct one. There are two Cell targets, so how can you decide which right menu is the right one?

While the MenuRighter is open, you can check the box for Show Labels on Menus. At the bottom of the list at the right, you can see the identity for the selected Cell target – 28-Cell.

If I right-click on cell A2, the popup menu also shows 28-Cell, so that confirms that I selected the Cell target that I want.

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Use the Modified Right-Click Menus

After I added the Toggle Grid command to the Cell menu, I clicked Apply Changes, and closed the MenuRighter window.

Then, I can right-click on a cell, and turn the gridlines on or off.

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It’s a command that I use frequently, so it’s very convenient to have it in the right-click menu. Thanks Doug, you made life in Excel a little easier!

Download the MenuRighter Add-in

For more instructions, and to download the MenuRighter add-in, you can visit Doug Glancy’s website: MenuRighter Add-in.

Watch the MenuRighter Video

To see the steps for adding a command to a right-click menu, by using the free MenuRighter add-in, you can watch this short Excel video tutorial.

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0 thoughts on “Customize Excel Right-Click Menus”

  1. “MenuRighter”. “yoursumbuddy”. Not only does Doug have good ideas, he also got my sense of humour. Looking forward to playing with the addin.
    One thing I happily discovered in xl2010 was that menus that I created programatically for 2003 show up automatically in the [AddIns] tab on the ribbon. This has saved me lots of learning/conversion time trying to move the user interface for frequently used functions and custom functions to the ribbon.
    It might be an idea to build a utility similar to MenuRighter to populate the [AddIn] tab on the ribbon.

  2. Debra, I just noticed that my last comment is “…awaiting moderation”.
    I know, “all things in moderation”. But don’t you trust me YET?? 🙂

  3. Havent downloaded this addin as yet, but wanted to check – does it only manage the menu on the “cell” right click menu, or does it add them to the row, column, chart, pivot and so on menus?
    to be honest though, i should just get off my lazy arse and build one myself, but then thought that if someone else has done the work for me…… 🙂

    1. Debra, thanks for posting my addin. I really appreciate it.
      @AlexJ, good to know somebody (or should I say sumbuddy) shares my sense of humor.
      A couple of more things about MenuRighter:
      You can add commands from any Excel 2003 menu, including all shortcut menus, the File, Edit and other main menus and any commands contained on them. You could add the entire File menu. You can also add menus or buttons you’ve created, i.e., the ones that AlexJ mentions show up in the Addins tab in 2007/2010.
      The addin starts up with Add Commands as the default Source menu, but if you clear the Source box, you’ll see the list of all the shortcut menus, including the Worksheet Menu Bar and Chart Menu Bar.
      Commands can be added to any right-click menu: Cell, Row, Column, Ply (the Tab menu,) List Range Popup…
      You can also use MenuRighter to delete existing buttons or move them around. For example, I delete the Cut, Copy and Paste buttons from the Cell and other frequently used menus.

  4. Hi,
    I have downloaded the MenuRighter, as recommended, but i do not understand who to install it permanently in my excel 2012.
    Hope that yoy can give me a short fast explanation to how

  5. I do not know if you are still moderating this old post, but I am hoping you can help me find the Wrap Text command. Whichever source command I start from (Cell. or Add Command.Format.) I can only get as far as the … entry (Cell.Format Cells…. or Add Command.Format.Cells…). Could you point me in the right direction?

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