controlling which panes open in Formattng Palette

[Zack]

Hello all -

Is there any way in Word 2004 (with the most recent patch applied) to
control which panes are open by default when you open the formatting
palette? I generally want the 'document' pane when I open the
formatting palette, but no matter what I do it always opens with the
'font' pane open, and all the other panes closed.

Thanks!

Zack

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Zack -

Unfortunately, no, there is no way to customize the behavior of the
Formatting Palette other than the options in its customize dialog. However
it is set when you close it is how it will reappear when you display it
again during that session, but it will revert to its old self again when you
re-launch Word. I've even tried changing the config in Normal, but that
makes no difference either.

Even a macro will not change it to display differently, although someone
else may have some special VBA magic that will do the trick.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Zack,

Granted that the Formatting Palette is all that most people want, if you
prefer to have some buttons permanently accessible you should think of
putting the ones you want on a toolbar (they would still be accessible from
the Formatting Palette). You could at the same time make decisions about
which toolbar buttons you won¹t need (which you may want to remove to save
space).

For more information, take a look at pages 42-49 of some notes on the way I
use Word for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available
as a free download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[Zack]

Granted that the Formatting Palette is all that most people want, if you
prefer to have some buttons permanently accessible you should think of
putting the ones you want on a toolbar (they would still be accessible from
the Formatting Palette).

I'd like to do this, but the feature I'm trying to access is the
'margins' setting under the 'documents' pane. As far as I can
determine there is no way to put the controls for side and top/bottom
margins into a toolbar. I've created my own custom toolbar with the
other controls that I use frequently, but the 'customize toolbars'
command simply does not seem to offer an option to include the margin
controls. I'd be thrilled if someone would tell me I'm wrong about
this, and show me how to do it.

Zack

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Zack -

Two things that may help -

1) In the Customize dialog, Format Category, the last command is Document
(or you can get it from the All Commands list as FileDocumentLayout). Added
as a toolbar button it takes you directly into Margins dialog when clicked,
and

2) The margins can be adjusted in the doc window by dragging at the spot on
the rulers where the 'dark' meets the 'light' coloring - your pointer turns
into a bracketing set of arrows when you're in the right place. You can also
get a more accurate numerical indicator if you hold the Option key while
doing so.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Zack]

1) In the Customize dialog, Format Category, the last command is Document
(or you can get it from the All Commands list as FileDocumentLayout). Added
as a toolbar button it takes you directly into Margins dialog when clicked,

Great! This is very close to what I wanted. Now just one other
question - is there anyway to open up the Margins dialog box with a
keyboard command?! (I can't find any such option in the
Customize>Keyboard dialog).

Thanks,
Zack

(Finally able to play with Word now that he's reinstalled his system -
see later post...)

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

Great! This is very close to what I wanted. Now just one other
question - is there anyway to open up the Margins dialog box with a
keyboard command?! (I can't find any such option in the
Customize>Keyboard dialog).

But Bob (CyberTaz) just told you which dialog that is: FileDocumentLayout .
(Not where you'd expect it, but the dialog names often reflect the menu
location in Word Windows, not Mac.)

So in Tools/Customize/Keyboard, you'll find it in the File sector (as well
as in All Commands). 5th from the top, very easy to find. Set the Keyboard
shortcut to any unassigned keys you like. (Command+Control+M works just
fine.)

It opens directly to the Margins dialog.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

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