Which version of UltraEdit do you use?

Which GUI mode do you use?

What did you customize exactly?

I suppose you are using UltraEdit for Windows v23.00 or a newer version.

There are 4 different GUI modes in UE v23.00 and v23.10 and even 6 different GUI modes in UE v23.20.

The GUI modes are:

• Ribbon Mode
• Ribbon Compact Mode
• Toolbar/Menu Mode - Contemporary menus
• Toolbar/Menu Mode - Contemporary menus with Large buttons
• Toolbar/Menu Mode - Traditional menus
• Toolbar/Menu Mode - Traditional menus with Large buttons

Before starting with customization of ribbon, menu or toolbar it is advisable to save the currently used layout as a custom layout.

Custom layouts are never overwritten by an automatic update of the standard layouts on first start of UltraEdit after an upgrade to a new major version which introduces new commands or removes commands not further available. The customization of a standard layout can be lost after first start of UltraEdit after an upgrade.

A custom layout is never touched by UltraEdit and so customizations are never lost after an upgrade. But this means of course also that new commands must be also added manually to a custom layout and not anymore available commands must be also removed manually from a custom layout after an upgrade which introduces new commands or does not further support some commands.

However, a switch to one of the standard layouts and back to custom layout for quick cross-checking can be done very quickly by a few mouse button clicks. It is also easily possible to start a second instance of UltraEdit after an upgrade, select in this second instance a standard layout, manually update in first instance the custom layout according to what is shown in second instance, close first the second instance of UE and last the first instance of UE with custom layout.

For opening the Layout Manager:

• In Ribbon Mode
  • open ribbon tab Layout,
  • click with primary (left) mouse button on down arrow below Layout item on left side to open the popup menu,
  • click with primary (left) mouse button on first popup menu item Manage Layouts.
• In Toolbar/Menu Mode - Contemporary menus without or with Large Buttons
  • open menu Layout,
  • open submenu Layout,
  • click with primary (left) mouse button on first submenu item Manage Layouts.
• In Toolbar/Menu Mode - Traditional menus without or with Large Buttons
  • open menu View,
  • open submenu Layouts,
  • click with primary (left) mouse button on first submenu item Manage Layouts.

Then click on button Save current state as..., enter a Name and a Description, click on button OK and click on button Select layout.

Now your custom layout is ready for customization.

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1. Ribbon Mode and Ribbon Compact Mode

The following steps are required to get a user tool to ribbon:

• Click with secondary (right) mouse button on the ribbon and click with primary (left) mouse button on context menu item Customize the Ribbon...
• On right side click on button New Tab which adds to the list on right side:

  Code: Select all

  [ ] New Tab (Custom)
      New Group (Custom)

Move the tab down using down arrow button to be later on right side.
• Click with primary (left) mouse button on New Tab (Custom) to select this list item and click next with primary (left) mouse button on button Rename.
  Alternatively click with secondary (right) mouse button on New Tab (Custom) and click with primary (left) mouse button on context menu item Rename....
• Enter a good name for this ribbon tab, for example My Tools.
• Click with primary (left) mouse button on New Group (Custom) to select this list item and click next with primary (left) mouse button on button Rename.
  Alternatively click with secondary (right) mouse button on New Group (Custom) and click with primary (left) mouse button on context menu item Rename....
• Enter a good name for this custom group on custom ribbon tab.
• On left side select from list Commands not in the Ribbon.
• There are now two possibilities:
  
  • The list on left side contains the commands:
    User tool 1
    User tool 10
    ...
    User tool 19
    User tool 2
    User tool 20
    ...
    User tool 25
    User tool 3
    ...
    User tool 9
    
  • The list on left side does not contain any User tool X command, but instead contains the command with the Menu item name defined for the user tool in Tool Configuration.
  Select either User tool X or the command with the right name and click on button Add > >. This adds the user tool to custom group on custom ribbon tab with the command name as shown before in commands list on left side.
• Click on button Rename in case of command name is User tool X and enter the name for this command which is most advisable the Menu item name as configured for the user tool.
• Click on button OK.

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2. Toolbar/Menu Mode - Contemporary menus without or with large buttons

A configured user tool is automatically available in menu Advanced in submenu User tools with configured Menu item name.

But it can be also added to a custom menu.

For adding the user tool to a custom menu:

• Click with secondary (right) mouse button on the main menu and click with primary (left) mouse button on context menu item Ribbon mode.
• Do all the steps as described above for adding the user tool to a custom ribbon tab in a custom group.
  It is not possible to add the user tool command directly to a ribbon tab. Commands can be only added to a group. But the name of the group does not matter in this case, just the name of the ribbon tab.
• Click with secondary (right) mouse button on the ribbon and click with primary (left) mouse button on context menu item Contemporary menus of submenu Toolbar/Menu Mode.

The main menu bar contains now a new custom main menu with name of the ribbon tab and with the user tool with defined name as menu item.

Note 1: An ampersand & left of a character in ribbon tab name defines the mnemonic key for the custom main menu. This ampersand is displayed as & in ribbon mode on using UE for Windows v23.xx, but is interpreted as mnemonic key (Alt+character) specification in toolbar/menu mode (character underlined). If there is no character explicitly specified as mnemonic key, one of the characters in menu name is automatically chosen as mnemonic key. Update: The ampersand in ribbon tab name for mnemonic key in menu name in menu mode is not displayed anymore in ribbon mode since UE for Windows v24.00.

Note 2: An ampersand & before a character in Menu item name in Tool Configuration defines the mnemonic key for the user tool menu item in toolbar/menu mode. This ampersand is NOT displayed in ribbon mode. Adding an ampersand on command name on customizing the ribbon is not saved at all.

For adding the user tool to any toolbar:

• Click with secondary (right) mouse button on a toolbar and click with primary (left) mouse button on last context menu item Customize...
• Click on tab Toolbars and enable the wanted toolbars and disable the not needed toolbars.
• Click on button New... to add a new toolbar with a custom Toolbar Name and click on OK. Then drag & drop the floating new toolbar to wanted position between the other toolbars.
  This step needs to be done only when the user tool should be added to a custom toolbar instead of adding it to one of the standard toolbars like Main.
• Switch to tab Commands.
• Select on left side the category User tools.
• Drag & drop the User tool X to the toolbar where it should occur in the enabled toolbars.
• Close the toolbar customization dialog with a click on button Close.

The configured Menu item name of the user tool is used as tooltip with displaying also the ampersand in menu item name if there is one added at all.

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3. Toolbar/Menu Mode - Traditional menus without or with large buttons

A configured user tool is automatically available in menu Advanced at bottom with configured Menu item name.

In UE < v23.00 the (traditional) main menu could be customized within UltraEdit. But this is not possible in UE for Windows v23.20 as the traditional menu is built-in.

For adding the user tool to any toolbar on using traditional menus read the step by step list above for adding the the user tool to any toolbar on using contemporary menus as this is exactly the same procedure.