Windows Tips

More Fun With Cascading Menus

If you read May's Windows Tips, you know how to move your My Documents folder--or any other folder--to the Start menu to get a cascading menu of all the files and folders nested inside (see "Quickly Get to Previously Accessed Files or Sites.") It's certainly handy, but this technique does have some limitations. For example, it forces you to keep your work documents on the same drive as Windows--not always possible on a crowded drive. But reader Leo Manzer knows how to turn any folder or drive--or the Network Neighborhood--into a cascading menu. You can even do some basic file management from your new menus.

Check prerequisites. You need to have one of the following configurations: Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows 98 with Internet Explorer 5, or Windows 95 with Internet Explorer 4's Desktop Update (and Internet Explorer 5 installed thereafter). Make sure that you have the latest version of IE 5; this tip may not work with beta versions. If your system doesn't meet these threshold requirements, skip to "Seek alternatives," below.

Build it. Right-click an empty area of your taskbar and choose Toolbars, New Toolbar. Navigate through the tree diagram of your disks, select a drive or folder, and click OK. Windows creates a toolbar on your taskbar. (If the toolbar's icons seem too big, right-click the new toolbar and choose View, Small.) Position the pointer over the title of the toolbar, and drag it to the right until all items on the toolbar except its title disappear. (Drag down if your taskbar is along a vertical edge of your screen.) You'll see a double arrowhead (>>) next to the title, indicating that some of the toolbar is out of view. Anytime you want to access this folder or drive as a menu, click the (>>)symbol. The menu shows files as menu choices and subfolders as submenus.

Customize it. Add as many taskbar document menus as you want. If you like these menus, consider dragging the taskbar dividers to turn the Desktop or Quick Launch toolbars into menus as well. To rearrange the menus on the taskbar, drag a toolbar title to a different location on the taskbar. To rearrange the order of icons within the menu, just drag and drop them where you like. To sort menu items by name, display and right-click the menu, and choose Sort by Name.

Make a megamenu. If you like this menu, you can reduce clutter by making one big menu that includes all your desktop items, Control Panel, the Printers folder, all hard disks on your system, and even Network Neighborhood. Just right-click the taskbar and choose Toolbars, New Toolbar, as before. Scroll to the top of the folder list, select Desktop, and click OK. Then drag the toolbar title as described above until you see the symbol for your new supermenu. At this point you can close the default Desktop menu (which doesn't show My Computer and Network Neighborhood) and eliminate the menus for individual drives or folders.

Use the keyboard. It takes a few keystrokes, but you can get to your new menu without using the mouse. To display and then close the Start menu, press Ctrl-Esc, Esc; next press Tab repeatedly until you highlight the menu you want. (If you inadvertently select a menu you don't want, press Esc and continue tabbing.) To navigate through the menu and submenus, press the first letter of a menu item or use the arrow keys. When you've selected the file you want, hit Enter. To minimize the number of keys needed, drag the title of the toolbar you use most often and drop it next to the Start button. That way you can display its menu with a simple Ctrl-Esc, Esc, Tab.

Try a floater. If you want to launch your menu from a tiny floating toolbar, position the pointer over the toolbar title and drag it to the desktop. To make it less conspicuous, right-click in an empty area of the toolbar and choose Show Text to remove the menu check mark and hide the toolbar labels. Make any other custom changes you want (I prefer to right-click, choose View, Large icons, and uncheck Show Text. Then drag an edge of the toolbar, and resize it to its smallest size (at least one icon will remain visible). As before, you access your menu from the >> symbol. To keep the menu visible at all times, right-click the toolbar's title bar and choose Always on Top.

Manage files. You can even do some basic file management from these magic menus. For example, you can right-click menu items and choose Delete or Rename. To copy or move files in menus, you can right-click and use the Cut, Copy, and Paste commands--or you can drag and drop items between the submenus. One quirk to watch out for: When dragging and dropping between drives, Windows usually copies files rather than moving them; but when you drag from a menu, Windows always moves the file (regardless of the destination) unless you right-drag and choose Copy Here.

Seek alternatives. Okay, so what should you do if your system doesn't satisfy the minimum requirements mentioned earlier (under "Check prerequisites")? In that case, I highly recommend using Scrollworks Cascader. Though it won't let you make a menu out of any folder, it can instantly generate menu versions of the Control Panel, the Printers folder, desktop items, the My Documents folder, My Computer, Network Neighborhood, and more. Unfortunately, however, the drives in the My Computer and Network Neighborhood menus will not appear as submenus. Scrollworks Cascader is easy to use, and it doesn't require any memory-resident program to operate once you've set up your menus. You can register for only $10. The program is available on PC World Online's FileWorld, or from its creators at www.scrollworks.com.