Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar

[Larry]

Sorry for asking this. I don't have Word 2007 in front of me at the moment.
Maybe the question wiill be useful for others.

With that Quick Access Toolbar, is it possible to put drop down menus on it
and populate those menus with our own commands and macros?

If yes, then what happens with the accelleroate keys. Let's say I want to
create a menu called Window, to make up for the Window menu that Word 2007
has eliminated, and put in that menu certain macros and command, just as I
have in my current Word 97. And let's say I make "W" the accelerator key
for that menu. Will the Alt+W for that menu be blocked by the Alt+W that is
used to open the View tab in the ribbon?

What if the ribbon is minimized? In that case would Alt+W work to open my
customized menu?

If menus and macros cannot be added to the QAT, is it still possible in Word
2007 to create your own customized toolbars with your own menus?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Macros can be added to the QAT, but not a drop down menu of the type you
would be thinking about. Any toolbars that you had created will end up in
the Add-Ins tab of the ribbon.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP

 

[Larry]

So you can't have your own customized toolbars displayed by default, you'd
first have to open the Add-ins tab of the ribbon to get to those toolbars???

This is unbelievable. MS has simply turned Word into a different
application.

People have a way of working, including customizations that they may have
taken years developing and are very accustomed to, and now all that must be
junked and we must start over at a kindergarten level.

This is truly horrific. This is the fruit of the Gates cult of innovation
for the sake of innovation. Innovation is the god, and they don't care
about the actual impact of these innovations on actual users.

 

[Aalaan]

Totally agree. The same thing happened with a fantastic development system
known as vb6 (to my mind Microsft's finest creation ever), which grew
gradually out of earlier versions and retained backward compatability. Now
M$ have brought out what they still call 'Visual Basic' and it doesn't bear
the slightest similarity to what went before. They will no longer sell the
old one. Millions of developers Worldwide have thrown away years of effort.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Not that this excuses it, but according to MS data, only a fraction of
users customized Office. They think the changes will be better for the
majority of users, and for new users in the future. I hate it too, but
that was the thought process.

Patrick Schmid (a OneNote MVP) has a Ribbon Customizer utility for trial
and purchase, with a free Starter edition.
http://pschmid.net/office2007/ribboncustomizer/index.php

 

[Larry]

Now

M$ have brought out what they still call 'Visual Basic' and it doesn't bear
the slightest similarity to what went before. They will no longer sell the
old one. Millions of developers Worldwide have thrown away years of

effort.

That is just horrendous. But you're not saying that all the macros from
previous version don't work any more, are you? It's just that the user
interface has changed and so people have to learn to use the new one and
their skills at using the old one are all worthless now, is that what you're
saying?

 

[Larry]

I think people just have to start demanding that MS bring back the basic
Word interface. If enough people demand it and make a fuss, that will be
heard and will have an effect.

I remember when they came out with Word 2000 that threw out the
multidocument interface, and people complained and so with Word 2002 they
gave users the option between multidocument and single document interface.

Another thing that really bothers me is that they have eliminated the blue
background, which I regularly use.

 

[Larry]

I seems to me that this is what is unacceptable. Adding new features:
fine. But ELIMINATING features that have been there forever and are a basic
and familiar part of the way an application works, and not giving users the
option to get these features, that is totally unacceptable. Eliminating
toolbars (both the standard toolbars and customizable toolbars, eliminating
the menus, that is just unacceptable.

It's as though someone came along and said, I don't think people need to
have hands and arms and legs, I'm going to give them something new instead.
I'll call it ... The MICROSOFT OFFICE BUTTON! And you can't have your arms
and legs back any more. You're got to use the MICROSOFT OFFICE BUTTON. You
don't like it? Shut up and get used to it!

 

[Aalaan]

Not sure about this Larry. It is a full-blown language and not just about
macros, so I imagine that *all* apps written with it are incomprehensible to
the new language. The applications developed with it may work with eg Vista
(with some exceptions I think) but future o/s will probably not. The thing
is that the millions of developers who have built a knowledge in it and a
way of working with it must jettison it all to take up the successor. Some
of them have -- but M$oft will doubtless do it all over again.

 

[Aalaan]

If what I hear about millions of disgruntled visual basic developers is
anything to go by, I don't think they'll take the slightest notice.

 

[Terry Farrell]

So as most drivers can't be bothered to use their rear view mirror or signal
lights, let's remove them. Then we won't expect the idiot in front either to
signal or know that you are behind. And it would make more profit for the
vehicle manufacturers.

Terry Farrell

 

[Graham Mayor]

And why not hide the pedals behind the carpet, and change the steering wheel
for a joystick so that all that driving experience is wasted and you have to
learn to drive all over again

The only thing that would shift this leviathan would be if the take up of
2007 was minuscule. Let's see what the corporates make of it, when faced
with the retraining bill.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Chuck Davis]

I agree that there was a lot of effort on the part of the programming folks
to make it look different. But, I ask how does this create a better letter
in Word? I understand that there are a few added functions in Excel, but for
how many users? The improvements in Outlook have escaped me. Plenty of
keyboard shortcuts removed. I was given my copy of Office 2007 at the Launch
event in January. I'm so glad that I didn't spend good money on it.