How to Customize the Google Toolbar

The Google Toolbar adds ease and speed to your Internet experience—with handy features such as the ability to search different databases from within the toolbar itself, the “Send To” feature that lets you send Web links to your blog, email, or mobile phone, and more. The toolbar itself is highly customizable—you can easily change the layout of the toolbar, add buttons you need, and remove the ones you don’t—so that you can create a toolbar that’s convenient to work with.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• An Internet connection
• Operating System: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows ME, or Windows 98
• The latest version of Internet Explorer or Firefox
• The Google Toolbar

Customizing the Toolbar in Internet Explorer

1. Click the “Settings” button at the right of the Google Toolbar.

2. Select the “Features” tab. Place a check mark in the box of any feature you want to appear on your toolbar.

3. Select the “Buttons” tab. Place a check mark in the box of any feature you want on your toolbar.

4. Get custom buttons by clicking the “Add” button.

5. Select the “More” tab to further customize your buttons and searches. Hold your cursor over text to see a tooltip explaining how each feature works.

6. Click “OK” to save your changes and exit the window when you’re finished.

Customizing the Toolbar in Firefox, Method One

7. Click the “Options” button on the Google Toolbar.

8. Select the “Browsing” tab. Place a check mark in the box of any feature you want to appear on your toolbar.

9. Select the “Search” tab. Place a check mark in the box of any feature you want to appear on your toolbar. On this tab you can also customize the way Google searches within the Toolbar.

10. Select the “More” tab. Place a check mark in the box of any feature you want to appear on your toolbar. On this tab you can also choose from three pre-made toolbar layouts.

11. Click “OK” to save your changes and exit the window when you’re finished.

Customizing the Toolbar in Firefox, Method Two

12. Right-click anywhere on the Google Toolbar and select “Customize”.

13. Click and drag buttons to and from the menu and the Google Toolbar.

14. Add spaces or separators if you want to define different areas of the toolbar.

Tips & Warnings

• Note that the Internet Explorer and Firefox versions of the Google Toolbar are slightly different—some features available in the Internet Explorer version are not available in the Firefox version, and vice versa. The same is true of customizing the toolbar—you’ll do it in different ways depending on the Internet browser you use.
• You can reset your toolbar to the default layout at any time by selecting the “Restore Defaults” option in any of the customization tabs in the “Options” menu.