Configure Browser Toolbar Customizations

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2

In this dialog box in Internet Explorer® Maintenance (IEM), you can customize the toolbar of Internet Explorer. For installations of Internet Explorer 6 only, you can change the background bitmap for the toolbar. For installations of Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 8, you can add custom buttons from which you can launch scripts or programs.

You must be a member of the Administrators group to work with IEM and Group Policy objects (GPOs).

Background bitmap

You can provide a custom bitmap for the background for the toolbar. To do this, do the following:

To add a custom bitmap to the Internet Explorer 6 toolbar using IEM

  1. In IEM, expand Internet Explorer Maintenance.

  2. In the left pane, click Browser User Interface, and then in the right pane, double-click Browser Toolbar Customizations.

  3. Click Customize toolbar background bitmap, and then type the location and name of the bitmap file.

Note

The toolbar background should be the size of the toolbar and light-colored enough to show black text.
If you enable themes in Windows®, IEM does not use your custom toolbar background. To use a custom toolbar background, switch to the Windows Classic theme.

Custom buttons

You can add, edit, or remove custom buttons from your users' browsers. To do this, do the following:

To add, edit, or remove custom buttons in Internet Explorer using IEM

  1. In IEM, expand Internet Explorer Maintenance.

  2. In the left pane, click Browser User Interface, and then in the right pane, double-click Browser Toolbar Customizations.

  3. Select the Delete existing toolbar buttons, if present check box to delete all of the toolbar buttons that were added manually to the users' browser. The standard buttons that were installed by default with Internet Explorer will remain.

  4. Then, do one or more of the following:

    • To add a custom button: Click Add, and then do the following:

      In Toolbar caption (required), type the text that should appear when users hover over the toolbar button. The recommended maximum length is 10 characters.

      In Toolbar Action, as script file or executable (required), type the name and location of the script file or executable file that will run when a user clicks this button, or click Browse to find the file.

      In Toolbar color icon (required), type the name and location of the file that represents the button in its active state, or click Browse to find the file. The icon consists of 20 x 20 pixel images for active and inactive states.

      In Toolbar grayscale icon (required), type the name and location of the grayscale icon for the toolbar that appears on black-and-white monitors, or click Browse to find the file.

      Select the This button should be shown on the toolbar by default check box to display the toolbar button in the users' browser. You should clear this check box if you want to offer a set of custom buttons, but want your users to be able to choose whether or not to use the new buttons. In this case, the buttons you add will appear in the Customize Toolbars dialog under Available toolbar buttons. The user can access this dialog box in Internet Explorer by clicking Tools, clicking Toolbars, and then clicking Customize.

    • To edit a custom button: In the list of toolbar buttons, click the button that you want to change, and then click Edit.

    • To remove a custom button: In the list of toolbar buttons, click the item that you want to delete, and then click Remove. The toolbar button is immediately removed from the list and when you apply the custom settings to your users' browsers, the button is not available.

Note

Only custom buttons can be removed this way. The default buttons for Internet Explorer cannot be removed.

Additional references