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| About the original Office Shortcut Bar |
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History
The OSB had its roots in an ancient, forgotten application called the Microsoft Office Manager.
But it was later, with Microsoft Office 97, running on Windows 95, that the genuine article
really came into being. It was the first-ever computer toolbar to which users could add
shortcuts of their own choosing, and dock it wherever they wanted on the desktop. It was
a terrific innovation which has never lost its appeal and value to those who were/are used to
relying on it.
Back in those pre-internet days of 1997, the only thing computers were used for, basically,
was word processing. So the OSB became a firm favourite with the main power
users of the time who were usually secretaries, typists and PAs. And it probably still would
be popular had it not been pushed to one side in Office XP (2002) (i.e. no longer installed from
the Office CD by default), and subsequently ditched altogether from Office 2003 and Office 2007.
msoffice.exe and osa.exe
When running the Office setup file, it would install a couple of dozen executable files to an
Office folder in the Programs' directory. Files like winword.exe (for Word) and exel.exe
(for Excel), msoffice.exe (for the Office Shortcut Bar) and osa.exe (for the Office Startup Assistant
(not to be confused with 'Office Assistant' - the accursed paper clip popup in older versions
of Office!)). The Office install also placed shortcuts pointing to those last two
files in a folder called StartUp buried in the Windows' directory.
The shortcut to msoffice.exe ensured the Office Shortcut Bar appeared on the desktop automatically
each time the computer was switched on though, sometimes, in the case of Office 2000 and Office XP
(2002), with assistance from the shortcut to osa.exe (osa9.exe in Office 2K), depending on what
switches were appended to the shortcut's path. If, for any reason, the start-up shortcut
to msoffice.exe was not present, double-clicking that file invoked a popup message which
allowed you to put matters right.
The location of the file msoffice.exe could vary, depending on the version of Office.
In Office 97, it was in a folder called Office. In Office 2000, it was in a folder called
Office9. In Office XP (2002), it was in a folder called Office10. In Office 2003,
the equivalent folder was called Office11 but, unfortunately, there was no msoffice.exe.
Nor, incidentally, could the file msoffice.exe be successfully copied from a computer with the
earlier Office XP (2002) to a computer
with Office 2003. That would result in the OSB appearing in Office 2003, and it could be docked
down the side of the screen. But the toolbar would be devoid of any shortcuts and there
was no way to populate it with any. It is the same sad story with Office 2007, where the
equivalent folder where msoffice.exe would have gone in is called Office12.
There is at least one exception. We have heard of some people who have installed Office 2003 or
2007 on a Windows XP machine and yet somehow still have the old Office Shortcut Bar. The main
possibility for this is that they did not uninstall their previous version of Office.
Because Office versions are installed to differently numbered folders, that permits different
versions of Office to coexist on the same XP machine. So the OSB they are actually seeing
could be their old one which is still starting up from the original link in the Windows' StartUp
folder to the msoffice.exe file in their earlier version of Office. By right-clicking
on that OSB, it would be possible to configure the buttons to point to the Office apps in their
later version of Office. For more information see...
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=822573.
msconfig.exe
If you wanted to stop the old OSB process from running, you could stop it temporarily (i.e.
current session only) via Windows' Task Manager. If you wanted to stop it more permanently,
the simplest way was to run 'msconfig' (do Start > Run > type: msconfig > OK).
That would open Windows' System Configuration Utility from where, under its Startup tab, it
was possible to untick a box against 'Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar'. That would cause
Windows to move the start-up shortcut for msoffice.exe from the Windows' folder called StartUp to a
Windows' folder specially generated and called Disabled Startup Items. Shortcuts to one or both of those folders would be visible in
the Start > (All) Programs' menu.
To return the OSB, later, to automatic starting was simply a case of reticking msconfig's checkbox.
No msoffice.exe?
The best solution for anybody without the requisite msoffice.exe file on
their system is to use our replacement sidebar. Like the original OSB, it comes preloaded with all the relevant
Office shortcuts for an easy life. So, download our great-looking sidebar now and,
if you actually work in an office, you can bet everybody else at work will soon be admiring it and wanting
to pinch it off you!
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| Duplicate set of links to the various zip files... |
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Tips |
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1. Power-users of Microsoft Office
You can have shortcuts on the sidebar for anything you like. Not just to the Office applications.
You can add shortcuts to folders you open frequently or files you edit or refer to frequently,
to your DUN connection (if you are on dial-up), to Hotmail or Gmail, to your FTP address (if
you upload web pages) and so on. Particularly useful additions for most people would be
shortcuts to their scanner and OCR programs. To add new shortcuts right-drag any existing
shortcut from the Start menu onto the sidebar.
2. Running old versions of MS Office on Windows XP or Vista
Not everybody who changed to a Windows XP machine realised that, if they still had the disks
for an old Microsoft Office suite i.e. Office 97, Office 98, or Office 2000, that old version
of Office would still run happily on Windows XP (except for Outlook 97). It was never
compulsory to change to a later, more bloated version of Office. And, if they
did not change, they would still have their old friend, the original OSB. We are not suggesting,
however, that anybody with a newer, more glamorous version of Office already installed should
revert to an older version. Their solution is to download the appropriate zip file from
this page.
If you are using Windows Vista, the only old version of Office that will run largely trouble-free
on Vista is Office 2003. As that did not include an OSB, our sidebar is the solution for
Vista users.
3. Microsoft's alternatives to the Office Shortcut Bar
On the Microsoft website, two workarounds were offered for Office 2003 users who were unhappy
at the removal of the official Office Shortcut Bar. One suggestion was to put shortcuts
to all the Office programs on the Start menu. The other was to put shortcuts to all the
Office programs on the Quick Launch toolbar. Neither of those proposals would satisfy
anybody who had previously been used to the convenience and visual comfort of the classic Office
Shortcut Bar, to name but two good reasons. Which makes our effort to provide a downloadable
alternative sidebar seem all the more worthwhile.
4. Auto-Hide
If you right-click on our sidebar you can choose Auto-Hide. In this mode, the sidebar
will normally be hidden and will briefly appear only when you want to use it. When on
Auto-Hide, it is probably best docked on the LHS - as that will stop it from appearing accidentally when you
are trying to use other programs' vertical scroll bars. However, a sidebar is at its most
efficient when on permanent display on the RHS as depicted in Fig 1.
5. If a window's Close button (X) is obscured behind our sidebar
If, when you open Internet Explorer or some other program, you find the Close (X) button
is hidden behind the sidebar, that will mean the program's window is floating, not maximised.
To fix it, drag the window slightly to the left, till the Close button is visible, and resize
the window to fit the available space. Alternatively, fix the problem by maximising the
window. To do that, right-click on the offending program's button on the taskbar and,
from the context menu, choose Maximize. If a window is already maximised (i.e. the Maximize
option is greyed-out), but the right-hand edge of the maximised window is , nevertheless, tucked
behind the sidebar, that would mean your computer has experienced a Windows Explorer kernel
fault during the current session that you were not aware of. Fix that simply by closing everything
and doing a normal Restart of the computer. |
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