# Toolbars

Toolbars are one of the main ways of interacting with Opus - they let you perform operations on files and launch programs. Some important points to note about Opus toolbars are:

* All toolbars and menus in Opus are [configurable](../../customize/creating_your_own_buttons/editing_the_toolbar) via the [Customize](../../customize) function.
* In Opus, toolbars and menus are the same thing.
* Toolbar buttons can run [internal commands](../../reference/command_reference/internal_commands), [scripts](../../scripting) and launch [external programs](../../customize/creating_your_own_buttons/passing_files_to_external_programs), and can pass along the names of selected files and other information automatically.
* Toolbar buttons can have associated _hotkeys_ that let you launch the function from the keyboard rather than the mouse. From the Customize dialog you can elect to always enable a toolbar's hotkeys - even if the toolbar isn't current open, its hotkeys will still work.
* Toolbars can either be displayed in the Lister, or can be [floating](../../additional_functionality/floating_toolbars) on the desktop, or both. You can even float multiple copies of the same toolbar if desired.
* Toolbar buttons can consist of a text label, a graphical image, or both.
* Toolbars can be set to [appear automatically](toolbars/dynamic_toolbars) when changing to a certain display mode, or visiting a certain folder.
* Multiple toolbars can be saved to a [Toolbar set](toolbars/toolbar_sets) which can then be reloaded later.
* Specific Listers can be saved with their own toolbars using the [Lister Layouts](https://github.com/Chaoses-Ib/DirectoryOpus/blob/main/Manual/basic_concepts/the_lister/toolbars/layouts/README.md) system.
* The toolbars that a Lister displays by default are stored in what is known as the _Default Toolbar Set_ - this is used whenever a Lister doesn't have its own set of toolbars defined in the Layout it came from. Use the **Settings / Toolbars / Set As Default Toolbar Set** command to update your default toolbar set if you want to change which toolbars are used by default.\
  \* Opus ships with five [factory-default toolbars](toolbars/the_default_toolbars) - you can edit them but you can't delete them. You can create as many other toolbars as you want.

You can turn toolbars on and off using the list in [Customize](../../customize), from the **Settings / Toolbars** menu, or by right-clicking an empty space on any toolbar to bring up its context menu.

More:

[The Default Toolbars](toolbars/the_default_toolbars)\
[Dynamic Toolbars](toolbars/dynamic_toolbars)\
[Toolbar Sets](toolbars/toolbar_sets)
