Hi M.M.,
Over the last couple versions of Office and Windows the
Office Shortcut Bar was having some issues with other
software and the design layout of Windows screens changed
to focus users on the taskbars and the abilities of Windows
toolbars to be customized to do similar functions.
For working with Office 2003 you can use several approaches
1. You can use a 3rd party product (some are free).
2. You can customize or create custom Windows toolbars that
can break away to sit separately from the taskbar or use
the taskbar.
3. You can use an older version of Office's shortcut bar as is
Here is some information that may be helfup on each approach.
1. 3rd party products.
Note: If you try or choose one of the above tools please
post back to let others know how you like it as an
Office Shortcut Bar (OSB )replacement. It may help
others with the same issue and help to update the
information here.
There are both shareware and free 3rd party toolbars
that some folks say they like using. Here is a list of
some of them.
a. JetAudio Toolbar.
Similar in use to the Office Shortcut Bar(OSB)
http://jetaudio.com/products/jettoolbar
b. H-Menu, also similar to the OSB, but with more
features you can configure if you want to:
http://h-menu.com/main_en.htm
c. Powerpro
Similar in appearance to the OSB and can autohide,
but with additional popup configuration choices and
some more detailed (techie?) optional features.
http://windowspowerpro.com/xsamplebar.htm
d. Slickrun
While it doesn't look like the OSB it can be
a useful alternative once you're used to it.
For example you can type in 'Word' in the box
and it will launch Word, or you can type 'google'
and it launches your browser to the Google search page.
It can be locked in position on your desktop or it
can minimize to the system tray as an icon as well
as has a hotkey to pop it up.
http://bayden.com/slickrun/
e. Perfect Menu
http://www.pitrinec.com/pmeindex.htm
f. Drag Strip
http://www.aladdinsys.com/win/dragstrip/index.html
g. Objectdock
http://www.stardock.com/products/objectdock/
2. Use Windows Built-In Toolbar Customization Features
a. You can use the Quicklaunch toolbar in
Windows and drag copies of your Office shortcuts
to it, or
b. Create a new Toolbar by right clicking
on a blank spot on the Windows Taskbar, unlocking it
and creating a new toolbar(folder) and drag the Office
or other shortcut icons to it. You can tear off that
toolbar and place it and size it as needed anywhere on
your desktop.
3. Use an Older version of the Office Shortcut Bar
If you have an older version of Office with the shortcut
bar and running MSOffice.exe from Start=>Run doesn't
start it, you can do a custom install of the old version
of Office and choose just the Shortcut bar. (Note that this
may put a great deal of the core old Office files back on
the PC if you've removed the older version). The OSB
should work, but will be 'as is' and doesn't support
things like high resolution icons. You may also be
prompted to install updates to the older Office version
when visiting
http://officeupdate.com
======
I have just purchased MS Office Professional and unlike previous version of
Office, the Office Shortcut Bar did not automatically set up. I need step by
step information on how to set up the Office Shortcut Bar for this version. >>
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Let us know if this helped you,
Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP
*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
Office 2003 Editions explained
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/office/editions.mspx