Hi Jim,
You're correct that MS discontinued the Office Shortcut
Bar (OSB) after Office XP. As you mentioned MS does
not recommend installing an older version of Office
to get just the OSB as, among other things, you'll likely
get prompted to install all of the Office XP updates
from
http://officeupdate.com
Here are some options you may want
to consider.
1. 3rd party products.
There are what appear to be free 3rd party toolbars
that some folks say they like using.\
This one is is similar to use to the OSB
http://jetaudio.com/products/jettoolbar
and one that is a bit more techie oriented but with
added features would be this one.
http://windowspowerpro.com/xsamplebar.htm
2. Using Windows Toolbar Customization Features
You can use the Quicklaunch toolbar in
Windows or 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 as well.
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.
=======
Bascom,
I just installed MS Office 2003 and discovered to my
amazement that Microsoft decided that they would no longer
support the MS Office Shortcut Bar in 2003. Their web
site documents this as well as a "not recommended" work
around by installing a portion of a previous version of
Office. I am looking for someone who has gone through the
process so I can resume my normal level of productivity.
Regards,
Jim Michalek >>
--
I hope this helps you,
Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP
*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
The Office 2003 System parts explained
http://microsoft.com/uk/office/preview/system.asp
MS on 'Why Office System 2003'
http://microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/2003/10-13productivity.asp