MenuRighter

MenuRighter is an Excel addin that lets you add almost any “classic” menu control – such as the Edit menu, Freeze Panes button, or addin menus – to any Excel right-click menu.  So if you still remember where Goal Seek was in Excel 2003, it’s just a right-click away.  It was featured by Debra Dalgleish on her Contextures Blog.

Download the MenuRighter 2007/2010 addin                  Download the MenuRighter 2003 addin

MenuRighter isn’t just for Excel 2007 and 2010.  I use it in 2003 as well.  I like the ribbon just fine, but in any version of Excel there are some controls I like to have close at hand, including those from my own addins.  Here’s how it works.

Installing MenuRighter

When the MenuRighter xlam is installed in 2007 or 2010, a new menu group appears in the Development tab.  There is a lone MenuRighter toggle button, which you click to show or hide the MenuRighter form.

When the Excel 2003 xla is installed, a MenuRighter button is added at the end of the Tools menu.

Using MenuRighter

The form’s left side contains the classic toolbars and their controls.

The Source box opens to the Add Command menu (basically the Excel 2003 Customize menu).  Clearing the Source box fills the list below it with all available menus, including “Worksheet Menu Bar,” right-click menus, and others, as shown below.

When MenuRighter starts up, the “Add” button is disabled. It becomes enabled when an addable control is in the Source box.

The Source box works like VBA’s Intellisense. Typing, hitting Enter, Tab or a period, along with using the up and down arrows, will autocomplete the controls in the list below.

Below, “Worksheet Menu Bar.Edit” has been selected in the Source box and the Add button is enabled. To add the Edit control, click the Add button or double-click in the Source box.

Notice that the Row menu has been selected in the Target box on the form’s right side.  The Edit menu will be added above the selected Paste Special control. If no control is selected in the Target list the control is added at the end of the menu.

Below, the Target list is shown with the Edit menu added. At this point the changes aren’t applied. To do so, click the Apply Changes button, which is now enabled.

When you click Apply Changes the actual target menu pops up and you can use the edit menu right away! Or later.

Other MenuRighter Controls

Show Current shows what the Row menu looks like without the changes in the Target list applied. The Reset to Current button resets theTarget list. The Reset to Default resets the target menu to the Excel default.

The Top, Up, Down, Bottom and Remove buttons all act on the target menu as expected. You can also double-click on a list item to remove it from the menu.

If you make changes in the Target list and then close the form without applying the changes or scroll to another target menu, you’re prompted to apply the changes.

The Show Labels on Menus button adds a control to the end of all menus that shows the menu’s ID and caption.  Below, the Row menu, number 30, is shown with a label.

Adding MenuRighter and Other Addin Controls

You can add the Menu Righter control itself to menus. In Excel 2003 or earlier, just navigate the Source box to Worksheet Menu Bar>Tools and it will be there. In Excel 2007/2010 MenuRighter adds a MenuRighter commandbar and button when it opens (and deletes it when it closes).  Navigate to this in the Source list to add MenuRighter to a context menu.

You can add controls from custom toolbars or addins as well, as long as those addins create classic menus.

Download the MenuRighter 2007/2010 addin                  Download the MenuRighter 2003 addin