Help with Word 2008 for Mac toolbox/formatting palette

[Bruce1956]

I accidently deleted a couple of buttons in the toolbox and cannot
figure out how to reset or add them back in. In the formatting palette
under "borders and shading" there is a button for border styles
("type"). When you click that button a small window pops open with the
various border types. I unintentionally deleted 2 of the buttons in
that window. I cannot find any way to reset the palette or to add
those buttons back in.

BTW: All of the border options are available in the table tool bar
just not the palette.

Thank you for the help.

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello,

I accidently deleted a couple of buttons in the toolbox and cannot
figure out how to reset or add them back in.

Hmm... I don't believe it's possible to delete buttons
per se from the Formatting Palette (Toolbox), as there
is no visible option for that.
What you may be noticing is that some buttons
or controls on the palette disappear and reappear,
depending on the task you are trying to achieve.
That's a built-in feature.

You can *hide* certain panels on the Formatting Palette
manually by clicking on the little curved arrow icon
(button) at the top right of the Formatting toolbox,
and selecting or deselecting the panel of your choice
in the "Show Panels" area.

However, if you're talking about the Standard
toolbar or any one of the floating toolbars besides
the Formatting Palette (Toolbox), you can reset all
of the buttons on that toolbar by right-clicking or
Control+clicking on the toolbar in question and
selecting "Reset Toolbar".

Hope this helps...

Jeff

 

[Bruce1956]

Hello,



Hmm... I don't believe it's possible to delete buttons
per se from the Formatting Palette (Toolbox), as there
is no visible option for that.
What you may be noticing is that some buttons
or controls on the palette disappear and reappear,
depending on the task you are trying to achieve.
That's a built-in feature.

You can *hide* certain panels on the Formatting Palette
manually by clicking on the little curved arrow icon
(button) at the top right of the Formatting toolbox,
and selecting or deselecting the panel of your choice
in the "Show Panels" area.

However, if you're talking about the Standard
toolbar or any one of the floating toolbars besides
the Formatting Palette (Toolbox), you can reset all
of the buttons on that toolbar by right-clicking or
Control+clicking on the toolbar in question and
selecting "Reset Toolbar".

Hope this helps...

Jeff

Hi Jeff.

I am talking about the toolbox. Unfortunately it is possible to
delete at least some of those buttons. If you click on the "type"
button under "borders" on the toolbox and then right click one of
those border formats, there is a popup with 4 options. One is marked
"delete command." I thought it meant to delete the formatting.
Instead, it means to delete that command button. None of the other
options restores that button nor does the "properties" choice offers
no help. I have tried every reset option I could find. I could not
find anything in the preferences that would fix this.

Do you have any other thoughts.

Thank you.

Bruce

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello again, Bruce,

I am talking about the toolbox. Unfortunately it is possible to
delete at least some of those buttons. If you click on the "type"
button under "borders" on the toolbox and then right click one of
those border formats, there is a popup with 4 options. One is marked
"delete command." I thought it meant to delete the formatting.
Instead, it means to delete that command button. None of the other
options restores that button nor does the "properties" choice offers
no help. I have tried every reset option I could find. I could not
find anything in the preferences that would fix this.

Do you have any other thoughts.

Okay, now I see what the problem is. I wasn't aware that
you were able to actually delete the Toolbox buttons on right-click,
but apparently like you mentioned, you can.

When you right-click on an empty space in the Toolbox
(Formatting Palette) itself, you're given the option to
Customize Toolbars and Menus.
The Toolbox itself doesn't show up in the list of toolbars
and menus - it seems to be a bird of its own feather,
as it were.
However, I wonder if there is some linkage between the
toolbars (the Tables and Borders toolbar, in this case)
and the Toolbox.
What happens when you try selecting the Tables and Borders
toolbar in the list in the Customize Toolbars and Menus
dialog, and click on the Reset button?
Does that also fix the Toolbox problem as well, or are
they unrelated?

If they aren't linked and nothing is working, you could
simply try quitting Word, trashing your Word preferences
as per the following web page. Let us know how it goes.

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/damagedPrefs.html

Jeff

 

[Bruce1956]

Hello again, Bruce,




Okay, now I see what the problem is. I wasn't aware that
you were able to actually delete the Toolbox buttons on right-click,
but apparently like you mentioned, you can.

When you right-click on an empty space in the Toolbox
(FormattingPalette) itself, you're given the option to
Customize Toolbars and Menus.
The Toolbox itself doesn't show up in the list of toolbars
and menus - it seems to be a bird of its own feather,
as it were.
However, I wonder if there is some linkage between the
toolbars (the Tables and Borders toolbar, in this case)
and the Toolbox.
What happens when you try selecting the Tables and Borders
toolbar in the list in the Customize Toolbars and Menus
dialog, and click on the Reset button?
Does that also fix the Toolbox problem as well, or are
they unrelated?

If they aren't linked and nothing is working, you could
simply try quitting Word, trashing your Word preferences
as per the following web page. Let us know how it goes.

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/damagedPrefs.html

Jeff

Hey Jeff.

Neither worked. The buttons are missing only in the toolbox. They
are in the "types" button on the Tables toolbar. Resetting the
toolbar did nothing for the toolbox. Trashing the preferences did not
do anything either. I could delete and reinstall MSOffice, but I
think that's is overkill for such a small thing. At this point, it is
getting to be more work than it is worth. I will just use the toolbar
for this feature. I do appreciate your help.

Bruce

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello again, Bruce,

Trashing the preferences did not
do anything either.

I think I've found an answer to your problem.
I was able to duplicate the situation here
by deleting a button on the toolbox via right-click and
Delete Command. When I quit Word, deleted the user template
(Normal.dotm) and then restarted Word, the button was
restored.

In order to do this, quit Word, open a new window in Finder,
and in the Spotlight window search for "Normal.dotm".
If it doesn't come up, add a search filter (using the
plus sign below the Spotlight box), and in the dropdown
menus, select "System files" and "Include".
You should then see the Normal.dotm file.
Rename the file, restart Word, and see if your problem is
corrected.

Jeff

 

[Bruce1956]

Hello again, Bruce,


I think I've found an answer to your problem.
I was able to duplicate the situation here
by deleting a button on the toolbox via right-click and
Delete Command. When I quit Word, deleted the user template
(Normal.dotm) and then restarted Word, the button was
restored.

In order to do this, quit Word, open a new window in Finder,
and in the Spotlight window search for "Normal.dotm".
If it doesn't come up, add a search filter (using the
plus sign below the Spotlight box), and in the dropdown
menus, select "System files" and "Include".
You should then see the Normal.dotm file.
Rename the file, restart Word, and see if your problem is
corrected.

Jeff

Hi Jeff.

You are, as they say, a scholar and a gentleman. This worked. I
assume that locating the "guilty" file was simply a matter of locating
newly modified files. Do you have any idea why that button deletion
would register as part of that file?

Again, I really appreciate your help.

Bruce

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Dear Bruce,

This worked. I
assume that locating the "guilty" file was simply a matter of locating
newly modified files. Do you have any idea why that button deletion
would register as part of that file?

Excellent - great to hear this worked. Apparently the button settings
and customizations for the Toolbox are stored in the Normal.dotm
template file. This is the place where your customized styles that
are global for each new document that you create are
also contained. Since buttons, toolbars and so on are global for
all documents opened within Word, that would be the logical place.
(Took a little while to remember that this was the place, though...)

Anyway, I think that there should be an option to reset just the
Toolbox preferences as well - would be good to post a product request
to Microsoft on this. I'll do the same.

Best regards,

Jeff

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bruce:

The Toolbox is just a funny-looking Toolbar.

Any changes to toolbars are stored in Word's current "Customisation
Context". Unless you change it, that's the Normal Template.

That's why

Cheers

Hi Jeff.

You are, as they say, a scholar and a gentleman. This worked. I
assume that locating the "guilty" file was simply a matter of locating
newly modified files. Do you have any idea why that button deletion
would register as part of that file?

Again, I really appreciate your help.

Bruce

--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Jeff Chapman]

Hello John,

The Toolbox is just a funny-looking Toolbar.

Yes, that is true... but the problem that we found this time is
that it cannot be _reset_ to its normal condition by right-clicking
on the Formatting Palette, as with the other toolbars.
The only apparent way to reset the Formatting Palette is to
trash Normal.dotm, which will as you know reset ALL of the
toolbar preferences and styles to the default.
Not so nice...

Jeff

 

[Bruce1956]

Hello John,


Yes, that is true... but the problem that we found this time is
that it cannot be _reset_ to its normal condition by right-clicking
on the Formatting Palette, as with the other toolbars.
The only apparent way to reset the Formatting Palette is to
trash Normal.dotm, which will as you know reset ALL of the
toolbar preferences and styles to the default.
Not so nice...

Jeff

Hi Jeff and John.

I agree there should be some way to reset the toolbox, especially if
it is "just a funny looking tool bar." Fortunately, the only thing I
intentionally had in normal.dotm is a default page layout. It took
all of 2 minutes to redo.

I've decided to look at this as a learning experience rather than a
pain in the neck. It's all about the attitude..............

Bruce

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Jeff & Bruce;

As for the "Not so nice..." You're absolutely right! But Normal.dotm
takes a lot of hits day in & day out so it stands to reason that it is quite
subject to damage & corruption. That's why it's highly recommended that
anyone who relies on customization of Word keep a current back-up of it.

When some thing like this occurs -- as it inevitably will -- the damaged
copy can be replaced with a fresh copy from the backup. It's also important
to replace the backup after updates as well as after any changes.

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

 

[Bruce1956]

Hi Jeff & Bruce;

As for the "Not so nice..." You're absolutely right! But Normal.dotm
takes a lot of hits day in & day out so it stands to reason that it is quite
subject to damage & corruption. That's why it's highly recommended that
anyone who relies on customization of Word keep a current back-up of it.

When some thing like this occurs -- as it inevitably will -- the damaged
copy can be replaced with a fresh copy from the backup. It's also important
to replace the backup after updates as well as after any changes.

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

John & Jeff - I also sent this directly to Bob's e-mail. Bruce


Hi Bob.

Thank you for your response. The toolbox essentially serves the same
purpose as the toolbars but in a single "package." There are already
reset options for all of the toolbars. I imagine it would be easy to
add rests to the toolbox or to make the toolbar rests also reset the
toolbox. I know, from this experience, that such a thing is
desirable.

Thank you.
Bruce

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bruce:

Yeah

There's a few issues apparent here...

The Toolbox is a work-alike for the Task Pane that appears in the Windows
flavour. The Task Pane was intentionally not customisable in any meaningful
way as a design decision.

Some of these arrogant "we know what's best for you silly little things"
decisions look a bit naked twisting in the relentless glare of the
post-Vista public spotlight. The newly-humble Microsoft would probably not
make such decisions these days...

The toolbox is not actually a single "thing". It's a collection of multiple
windows all coded to appear close together. If you allow users to add or
delete things to one of the parts, it would change size and the whole thing
would start to look very odd.

But in Word 2008, there are many, many things they would have done if they
hadn't run out of time and people. I would like to think that toolbox
customisability would have been one of them.

In the Word 2010 Beta, the once-sacred Ribbon can now be customised, pretty
much to our heart's content. I suspect Vista has been a great learning
experience

Cheers

John & Jeff - I also sent this directly to Bob's e-mail. Bruce


Hi Bob.

Thank you for your response. The toolbox essentially serves the same
purpose as the toolbars but in a single "package." There are already
reset options for all of the toolbars. I imagine it would be easy to
add rests to the toolbox or to make the toolbar rests also reset the
toolbox. I know, from this experience, that such a thing is
desirable.

Thank you.
Bruce

--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]