Which version of office are you using ? From office 2003 help:
The Office Shortcut Bar is not available in Microsoft Office 2003. However, you can use the Windows XP Start menu or the Windows Quick Launch bar in Windows XP or Windows 2000 to quickly open an Office program, file, or folder.
An easy way is to right-click on the start menu toolbar, pick Toolbars > New Toolbar and create a new folder. Put any shortcuts into it, then dock it to one side of the screen. Free.
Sorry I wasn't clearer. The PC I would like to use it on does not have MS Office and I would like a similar shortcut bar that I could use it to organize the desktop.
create a new toolbar like stated above. You can drag the new toolbar off of an unlocked taskbar and it becomes a window. Then you can dock it to any side of the screen you wish. If you don't like this though, you can check out AquaDock which can be put on any side of the screen as well.
I miss that shortcut bar, it was one of my favorite things in Office. Kept the desktop uncluttered. There's an alternative, FreeBar, have a look at it.
I miss that shortcut bar, it was one of my favorite things in Office. Kept the desktop uncluttered. There's an alternative, FreeBar, have a look at it.
I am posting this here for anyone who is interested, but this functionality is actually pretty much built right into Windows.
Here are the steps to make your own toolbars:
here are the basic steps:
1) right click on a "blank" area in your taskbar/startmenu area so you get the context menu with the "Lock the Toolbars" option. Make sure that it is UNCHECKED so toolbars are not locked into place.
2) The very same context menu also has a "Toolbars" entry in it, mousing over will give you a list of common toolbars, any already shown ones (most likely quick launch) will be checked. There is also an option in this list for "New Toolbar" that is the one you want to click (for a custom toolbar).
3) You will get the "select folder" dialog now. Navigate and select the folder you want to make a toolbar for. In your case, it sounds like you would want to point to a folder where you dumped a bunch of shortcut files.
4) toolbar will now be created and be visible in your taskbar. From here you can simply leave it, or drag it out (because we turned locking off)
They can free float or dock somewhere else. Right clicking on them gives you similar settings of right clicking on the taskbar. To drag a toolbar out, you need to click on the little dotted thing on the left side of the toolbar (not sure if it has a name, might just be called a size grip)
Play with the settings to see what you like best. I generally set mine to not show text or titles, and I generally use Large icons instead of small (for my top toolbars as seen in screenshot) Bottom line is you can't really screw anything up, and you can always get things back to just how you had them if needed.
Attached is a screenshot of my desktop. I have 2 toolbars docked to the top of my screen, "quick launch", and "My Computer". The My Computer toolbar has custom icons for my drive letters (which I will be making a utility to do and provide shortly if anyone is interested in that).
I am posting this here for anyone who is interested, but this functionality is actually pretty much built right into Windows.
Here are the steps to make your own toolbars:
here are the basic steps:
1) right click on a "blank" area in your taskbar/startmenu area so you get the context menu with the "Lock the Toolbars" option. Make sure that it is UNCHECKED so toolbars are not locked into place.
2) The very same context menu also has a "Toolbars" entry in it, mousing over will give you a list of common toolbars, any already shown ones (most likely quick launch) will be checked. There is also an option in this list for "New Toolbar" that is the one you want to click (for a custom toolbar).
3) You will get the "select folder" dialog now. Navigate and select the folder you want to make a toolbar for. In your case, it sounds like you would want to point to a folder where you dumped a bunch of shortcut files.
4) toolbar will now be created and be visible in your taskbar. From here you can simply leave it, or drag it out (because we turned locking off)
They can free float or dock somewhere else. Right clicking on them gives you similar settings of right clicking on the taskbar. To drag a toolbar out, you need to click on the little dotted thing on the left side of the toolbar (not sure if it has a name, might just be called a size grip)
Play with the settings to see what you like best. I generally set mine to not show text or titles, and I generally use Large icons instead of small (for my top toolbars as seen in screenshot) Bottom line is you can't really screw anything up, and you can always get things back to just how you had them if needed.
Attached is a screenshot of my desktop. I have 2 toolbars docked to the top of my screen, "quick launch", and "My Computer". The My Computer toolbar has custom icons for my drive letters (which I will be making a utility to do and provide shortly if anyone is interested in that).
Almost exactly what I wanted. Thanks. It's apparent that it's not a well-known feature.
Well the MS Toolbar looks better with it's color gradients and the MS Toolbar toolbars all appear on one toolbar and they expand and contract to fill the bulk of the overall toolbar when selected/not selected. The Customization features of the MS Toolbar are also more robust. None of those things however are a big deal.