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Microsoft's original Office Shortcut Bar used to be very popular with users of Office but the bar will not work with Office 2003
nor 2007 on either Windows XP, Vista or 7. If you would like something that does, you will find an
effective solution on this page. This alternative has all the Office shortcuts arranged on a one-click pull-up
desktop menu, as opposed to the original way of being on a permanently docked desktop sidebar. Our office menu will work with every version of Office from Office 97 through to 2007 on any version of Windows from 98
through XP, Vista and Windows 7.
The original Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar (OSB for short) was a customisable toolbar which could be
fixed to any side of the desktop screen. The OSB contained an array of single-click always-visible shortcuts to all the Office applications and some Accessories applets.
It was very popular with Office users until it was arbitrarily killed off by Microsoft with the issue of Office 2003. Inevitably, a lot of people missed the OSB, including ourselves, so we kept it going by
utilising the capability of a little-known 'New Toolbar...' feature which has been common to all versions of Windows since 98 through Vista.
In fact, we offer our version of an office shortcuts solution in two styles. One is as a discrete button on
the taskbar which pulls up a menu (this is the style featured on this page, like in Figs 1 & 2). The other style is as an actual sidebar, which is more in keeping with the original OSB - but with an updated
appearance (see example). If you
are more interested in a sidebar than a menu, there is a link to the relevant page at the very
bottom of this column. If you are keener on the pull-up menu option, then continue reading here. |
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| To get the menu version, all you have to do is click on one of the two blue links
further down this column. That will download a tiny zip file containing the menu which is
pre-loaded with all the relevant Office shortcuts. The menu is not a program or anything which
needs to be installed, so there is no risk to your system. The zip file merely contains an ordinary yellow
folder which, once extracted, will be magically transformed entirely by Windows into a live button on the taskbar. |
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| When the new button is in situ on the taskbar, it will initially be labelled pm (short for
'personal menu' or 'pull-up menu'), as seen in Fig 1. However, that label can be changed
to any short name you like. For instance, you could call it "om" for office
menu. Or you could personalise it with two of your own initials. |
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| Whenever the double chevron on the button is clicked, the menu will immediately pop up. After clicking any shortcut on the menu, it will contract back to a small button again. |
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| You will probably have noticed, from Fig 2, that the various shortcuts are separated
into groups. The groups correspond with the groupings which were employed on the original Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar. Windows, unfortunately, does not provide separators for
this particular style of menu, so the divider lines you can see are something we had to specially
devise. The lines are included in the zip file but whether or not to show them is entirely optional. |
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| At the bottom of the menu, there is an 'Accessories' group. No prefix numbers are used in that group. That allows Windows to automatically keep them at the bottom of the list and in alphabetical order as a sub-group. This is also where any new shortcuts you add will go, unless you decided to start a new numbered group, beginning from a new shortcut number 17, then 18 and so on. To add new shortcuts, there is an item, at the beginning of the
bottom miscellaneous group, called "Add New Shortcuts". This is another feature we had to specially invent. For some strange reason, Windows does
not allow shortcuts to be dragged directly onto this particular type of menu unlike, say, the
Start menu. But the Add New Shortcuts button solves the problem beautifully. |
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| There are two zip files to choose from. The menu in the zip file on the right is
specifically for users of Office 2007 on Windows XP, Vista or 7. The menu is ready to roll
immediately you apply it. The zip file on the left is for earlier setups. This one will work with all
versions of Office from Office 97 to Office 2003 on all versions of Windows from Windows 98 to XP,
and Office 2003 on Windows Vista. That is nearly twenty possible combinations and, in order
to cover all those possibilities in a single download file, the menu initially launches with up to
four versions of each shortcut to each Office app. This ensures there will be at least one of
each shortcut which will be functional with your particular combination of Windows and Office
versions. It is then a very simple matter to delete the shortcuts which are not relevant to your
particular setup. They will be the shortcuts not showing a proper program's icon. It will only
take a minute or so to zap the superfluous ones, and it only has to be done the once. After which you
will be left looking at something as splendid as what you can see in Fig 2 or 3. |
| When you have downloaded the appropriate zip file, right-click on it and look for an option on the
menu like "Extract All..." or "Extract Here" to put the contents directly on your desktop.
Open the included text file for the simple instructions. After a few minutes of enjoyable interaction
on your part, your new button and menu will be in place, enhancing your desktop, and, no
doubt, aiding your everyday efficiency. |
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| * Office 2003 was the last 'old' version of Office said to run largely trouble free on Vista. However, if you have Vista with Office 2007,
or Windows 7, you need the link on the right. |
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Fig 1 (below) The screen clip below
shows how the button for our office pull-up menu is both small and unobtrusive in normal use.
Clicking the double chevron on the button causes the button to expand into an attractive pull-up
menu, as you will see in Fig 2.
Click the double chevron above to bring Fig 2 to the top of your screen, to see what the pull-up menu looks
like.
Fig 2 (above) You've got to admit, it looks pretty smart. And it's free. And there's
no program to install or run. It's just a zip file to download. All the shortcuts, and three group separator lines, are preloaded in
the zip file. As soon as any chosen shortcut is clicked the target file will open and the
menu will contract back to a small button on the taskbar (as in Fig 1). And you are not limited to
just Office shortcuts. You can add shortcuts to anything you like, files, folders or other
programs (see the 'Add New Shortcuts' button provided for this purpose), and the new shortcuts will
automatically go in the bottom group in alphabetical order. It's all been well thought through.
Fig 3 (below) The screenshot below is basically the same Office menu as in Fig 2,
but as it would look on an older Windows 98 m/c with Office 97. The user
concerned could, of course, have used the official Microsoft
Office Shortcut Bar instead, with that old version of Windows, or our sidebar alternative, but preferred the
attractive look of our pull-up menu. |
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