Figure 1: OSB Customize Dialog
by Michael Gordon
As compared to the Microsoft Office Manager (MOM) which was the lone toolbar supplied with Office 4.x, the new and improved Office Shortcut Bar (OSB) in Office 95 provides a wonderful capability for accessing both applications and documents on multiple toolbars. The default installation of Office loads the OSB on startup and places "Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar" in the Programs section of the Start Menu. You can easily prevent the OSB from auto-loading by removing the shortcut from the startup folder, usually C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.
The OSB comes with several pre-assembled toolbars. Only the Office toolbar is displayed initially, but right-clicking on an empty space on that toolbar will reveal the names of the other stock toolbars. Clicking on any name makes that toolbar visible. While you can have multiple toolbars, only one is displayed at a time. The other visible toolbars are represented by icons and clicking on an icon displays that toolbar.
New toolbars are based on either existing folders or started from scratch, and are constructed from shortcuts to programs, folders, and files. You can modify the default toolbars or create your own customized toolbars. The obvious way to do this is through the OSB Customize command (either right-click on the background of any toolbar and choose Customize, or click the time icon at the top left of the OSB and then choose Customize). Even though this method is the obvious one, as well as simple and easy to boot, avoid it! As you'll see shortly there is a much better way to build toolbars.
Figure 1: OSB Customize Dialog
The reason to avoid the obvious method is that you'll discover each button's image or icon comes from the original program, document, or folder that you connect the button to. And the button's name, the ToolTip that appears when the mouse is over the button, comes from the same place. Chances are you won't be really happy with the image; all images derived from folders look the same and so too will all Word documents, for example.
Say you want to be able to have two buttons for Excel, perhaps with differing startup switches-the images will be identical. And the names? Well, how happy will you be with a ToolTip that says something like "ws_ftp32.exe?" It's a marvelous shareware program, but the name isn't very descriptive. Maybe you'll want to change the image and the name; perhaps to use the Kermit the Frog icon which you've always liked and the clever name of "Frog went Walking." How?
There is no way to change the image or name through the OSB Customize dialog box itself. This doesn't mean it can't be done, just not through the obvious way.
Images are certainly easy to change-usually. If you right-click on any toolbar button, the resulting menu gives you a way to get to Properties and, then if the button represents a shortcut, to the Shortcut tab. There's an option here to change the icon; a piece of cake, no sweat. Instead of the WSFTP icon, you've got your little green friend. If the button is a shortcut to a DOS program, it's a little more complicated (Properties, then Program, then the Change Icon button), but again no real problem.
If the button points to a folder, things can get tricky. Take the Programs toolbar, which represents the folders under Start Menu\Programs. The buttons here may be for actual folders you or Windows Setup created, e.g., the StartUp folder which we'll assume you want to rename My Start Up (because in a sudden mental lapse you've succumbed to the Microsoft cuteness thing). Properties in this case will not lead to a Shortcut tab (because there's no shortcut) and hence, there's no way to change the icon. Now, you could create a shortcut to the folder-right-click on the button, select Create Shortcut and a new button appears on the toolbar. Right-click on this, Properties, Shortcut, and you can change the icon. Of course, you now have two buttons for the same thing on your toolbar. What to do? You can select the original button and right-click, then hide. You've got it! Everything is fine until the next time you use Start Menu / Programs and discover that both StartUp and My Start Up are staring you in the face.
The duplication of StartUp and My Start Up makes sense because, as you are starting to realize, toolbars represent folders and their contents. Each toolbar is a special view of a folder: Desktop, Favorites, Programs, Accessories. Even the Office toolbar displays the items which exist in MSOffice\Office\Shortcut Bar\Office. (New toolbars you create through OSB Customize are folders under Shortcut Bar.)
It's the realization that toolbars are just a view of a folder which is the clue to renaming, an option which does not appear when you right-click on a button. You need to discover the location where the shortcut file actually resides, go there, and rename it. This may take some searching. Through Customize, you added ws_ftp32.exe to your Office toolbar. So you go to MSOffice\Office\Shortcut Bar\Office and see the shortcut to ws_ftp32.exe. Select it, F2, then rename it and you've got "Frog went Walking."
So, it can be done. But not terribly easily: the reimaging is not too hard, but finding the shortcut in order to rename it is certainly awkward. And all of this is because you first created the button with OSB Customize. Okay, so how should you create toolbar buttons?
First off, consider leaving the stock toolbars alone and work with your own custom toolbars. This way if you want to configure your system with just the stock toolbars you turn them on and turn the custom ones off. Vice versa if you want a fully customized toolbar collection. To create a new toolbar go to Customize and choose the Toolbars tab. Click the Add Toolbar button and name it. That's it. A new folder is magically created below C:\MSOffice\Office\Shortcut Bar. Close the Customize dialog box.
Now, instead of creating buttons with OSB Customize, right-click on the desktop and select New from the pop-up menu. Then choose to create a shortcut. Use the Create Shortcut wizard to locate whatever you want, whether a program or a folder. The wizard then asks you to name the shortcut. When you're done, sitting on your desktop is your new shortcut; if you didn't rename it while using the wizard, you can do so now. What the wizard does is create a shortcut file in the C:\Windows\Desktop folder.
Before you do anything else, select this shortcut file's properties and change its icon if you'd like. Almost there. "Frog went Walking" is sitting on your desktop in all its green glory. The only thing now is to get it on the toolbar. Can you use Explorer to copy it to the folder which the toolbar represents? That would work. Or maybe going to that folder first and creating the shortcut there? That works also. But do it the easy way: select the shortcut on your desktop and drag it to the toolbar. That's all it takes. This copies the shortcut to the appropriate folder, the one associated with this particular toolbar.
And what about the Kermit shortcut sitting on the desktop? Drag him to the Recycle Bin. This clears the desktop and deletes the now duplicate shortcut file in C:\Windows\Desktop. What could be easier?
(What is the real, true default name of the "Windows 95" directory? Is it C:\Windows or is it C:\Win95 or maybe C:\Windows 95? Clean, no-changes-by-the-user installs on a PC never having been visited by any prior operating system will use C:\Windows, for sure. But if a PC ran Windows 3.x or Warp or whatever previously, user intervention to rename this key default folder could yield anything. For consistency, we use the C:\Windows factory default name. - Ed.)
Michael is Professor of History at Denison University. So, his angle on Office 95 and Windows 95 is that of an experienced power user, rather than a computer consultant. This fresh, pristine outlook from "outside the PC biz" is precisely why the editors chose him as a Contributing Editor. Michael’s also a Microsoft MVP for Desktop Applications. You can reach Michael at 71053.471@compuserve.com or at gordonm@cc.denison.edu.
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