Answer Line: Prep an Old PC for a New Home

A Better Office Toolbar

The Shortcut Bar that comes with Microsoft Office 97 and 2000 is a convenient way to launch Office applications, record appointments, and start other tasks. For many people, however, the Shortcut Bar is simply a waste of Windows resources and screen real estate.

Dave Meekins of Los Angeles describes two tricks for tapping the advantages of the Office Shortcut Bar without wasting space. The first trick is best if you use only a few of the Shortcut Bar's icons. Open the folder containing your Shortcut Bar icons--it will probably be C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Shortcut Bar\Office. Then drag the shortcuts that you regularly use to the taskbar's Quick Launch toolbar.

For easy access to all the Shortcut Bar's icons, right-click the taskbar and select Toolbars, New Toolbar. In the New Toolbar dialog box, navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Shortcut Bar\Office (or whichever folder the icons are in), and click OK. This creates a toolbar on your taskbar.

To regain screen space lost to the toolbar, drag its left edge until nothing is visible except its title (Office) and the button with the chevron--the greater-than symbol (see FIGURE 2). You can click the chevron for a pop-up menu of everything in the Shortcut Bar.

Now that you don't need the Shortcut Bar, you can remove it by double-clicking the colorful box in its upper-left corner. In the resulting dialog box, click No.