Make Word toolbars visible in smaller display region

[Alok Bhargava]

Hello,

I have a MacBook Pro that I use at home and work. At home I use the
laptop as a laptop but at work I have an additional LCD monitor that I
connect to the DVI-out of the MacBook Pro. I like using the 20" LCD
monitor at work to edit my Word docs and so I shifted some of the
toolbars that I use - especially Reviewing - to the large LCD. The LCD
is not the main display. When I come back home and use my laptop with
its native display only, I cannot see the Reviewing toolbar (even though
I confirmed that it is checked under the View>Toolbars list.

I would greatly appreciate it if somebody could help me bring back that
toolbar to the visible area of my laptop display.

Thanks very much,
Alok

 

[Russ]

Alok,
Unless you write some VBA code that a main toolbar button can run. I afraid
that you'll have to remember to put the reviewing toolbar back closer to the
middle of the screen before unhooking from the larger screen or run at a
higher resolution with your laptop screen from now on. Which is what you
need to do now. Open up menu Apple/System Preferences. Use the Display
Preferences and temporarily try the highest resolution, if a higher one is
available. Write down or remember what your current settings are, in case
you don't like this higher resolution. Hopefully that will make your toolbar
visible enough that you can move back closer to the center of the screen.

 

[Russ]

Alok,
Another way to handle this is to create your own toolbar for laptop use and
hide it when using the original toolbar on the larger display.
To start you off on this:
Use menu View/Toolbars/Customize...
Use Toolbar Tab
Use New button
Type in name like Review on Laptop
Enter key
a empty toolbar will appear.
Use Commands Tab
Click on View in left panel
Scroll down halfway in the panel on the right and you will start to see the
same things that were in the original toolbar. When you find those you want,
just click and drag and place in your new toolbar. You'll see a heavy
vertical line as a guide for placement order in the new toolbar. When your
done grabbing commands, close down the customizing dialog.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Alok,

I have an LCD screen next to my PowerBook when I¹m in my offices. One
disadvantage of a second screen is that you have to make a lot of mouse
movements to reach the toolbars on the PowerBook screen. To overcome that, I
created a second set of toolbars identical to those on the PowerBook.

Word always positions the second set correctly -- for example, the LCD
display I hook up next to my PowerBook in one office is a 17-inch, and at
the other office (connected to the same PowerBook, which I carry between
offices) is a 20-inch screen. The toolbars open up correctly at the top and
bottom of the screen every time!

For details, have a look at 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) -- specifically page
191, then page 46 and the subsequent pages.

[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 North America and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hello,

I have a MacBook Pro that I use at home and work. At home I use the
laptop as a laptop but at work I have an additional LCD monitor that I
connect to the DVI-out of the MacBook Pro. I like using the 20" LCD
monitor at work to edit my Word docs and so I shifted some of the
toolbars that I use - especially Reviewing - to the large LCD. The LCD
is not the main display. When I come back home and use my laptop with
its native display only, I cannot see the Reviewing toolbar (even though
I confirmed that it is checked under the View>Toolbars list.

I would greatly appreciate it if somebody could help me bring back that
toolbar to the visible area of my laptop display.

Before you dive into the VBA try this simple trick.
Do try this at home (i.e it will work without the big LCD connected)
System prefs » Displays
Change the screen resolution to something pathetic, like 800*600.
It will look all blocky, but your toolbars will swim into view.
Move each one a tiny bit to make Word remember where they are.
Put your screen resolution back to what it should be.

This used to work for me, but these days, I hardly ever use toolbars.
;-)

 

[Alok Bhargava]

Russ, Clive, Elliott,

Thanks very much for your responses. You have been extremely helpful. I
had tried the display resolution - but my laptop is at the highest
resolution already and trying the lower resolutions never showed the
off-the-screen toolbars.

BUT - I made my own toolbar and voila! Problems solved and a trip to the
office saved. Thank you all for your responses and I really appreciate it.

Best,
Alok