Strange case of the disappearing menus

[Oz Springs]

Hello

In the customize Toolbars/Menus dialog box there is a toolbar called
³Shortcut Menus². I switch this on by clicking on the little blue button at
the left, and a little toolbar with ³Text² Table² and ³Draw² displays until
I click ³OK² to close the dialog box. The toolbar vanishes too.

I notice that under the ³Draw² menu there is a command for activeX control,
so am I seeing a toolbar which is really meant for PCs? [or are Macs now
using ActiveX in some circumstances. If so, where?]

I¹ve also tried to put items from the toolbar into other menus, but this
does not work either.

If nothing works from this toolbar, and it isn¹t in Word 2004 by mistake,
what is the purpose of it? Or is there another bug peculiar to my Mac
affecting Word again?

Thanks for any help




Oz

 

[JE McGimpsey]

In the customize Toolbars/Menus dialog box there is a toolbar called
³Shortcut Menus². I switch this on by clicking on the little blue button at
the left, and a little toolbar with ³Text² Table² and ³Draw² displays until
I click ³OK² to close the dialog box. The toolbar vanishes too.

You're seeing the contextual menus, that you get when you ctrl-click
(right-click if you have a two-button mouse). They don't show up out of
context, so the parent toolbar disappears.

You *can* modify the contextual menus. For instance, I just dragged the
Autotext control to the Text/Fields menu. After going back to Word, I
inserted a field, then right-clicked on the field. There was Autotext,
right at the top of the menu.

Note: because they're contextual, some shortcut menus have placeholders
instead of controls, and are modified during run-time to fit the context.

I notice that under the ³Draw² menu there is a command for activeX control,
so am I seeing a toolbar which is really meant for PCs? [or are Macs now
using ActiveX in some circumstances. If so, where?]

Macs aren't running ActiveX. However, to be compatible with WinWord and
WinWord macros, the contextual menu is included. It'll never show up
because you won't find an ActiveX control to right-click.

I¹ve also tried to put items from the toolbar into other menus, but this
does not work either.

Drag commands from the Commands pane to the menus - AFAIK, there's
nothing on the Shortcut menus that isn't also in the Commands list.

However, you can drag controls (not menus) from the contextual menus to
other toolbars, and, if they're in context, they'll work just fine.

If nothing works from this toolbar, and it isn¹t in Word 2004 by mistake,
what is the purpose of it? Or is there another bug peculiar to my Mac
affecting Word again?

One probably shouldn't assume that, just because one doesn't understand
it, it's a bug. You could have found the information about the Shortcut
menu toolbar if you'd looked up "shortcut menu" in Word Help. The first
6 or 7 entries deal with keyboard shortcuts, but after that there's the
"Customize contextual menu" entry that would told you what that toolbar
is for.

Admittedly the terms "contextual menu" and "shortcut menu" don't match
exactly, but with a bit of persistence, Word's Help is comprehensive
enough to answer most of your questions.

 

[Oz Springs]

Thank you very much for your help.

Oz

In the customize Toolbars/Menus dialog box there is a toolbar called
³Shortcut Menus². I switch this on by clicking on the little blue button at
the left, and a little toolbar with ³Text² Table² and ³Draw² displays until
I click ³OK² to close the dialog box. The toolbar vanishes too.

You're seeing the contextual menus, that you get when you ctrl-click
(right-click if you have a two-button mouse). They don't show up out of
context, so the parent toolbar disappears.

You *can* modify the contextual menus. For instance, I just dragged the
Autotext control to the Text/Fields menu. After going back to Word, I
inserted a field, then right-clicked on the field. There was Autotext,
right at the top of the menu.

Note: because they're contextual, some shortcut menus have placeholders
instead of controls, and are modified during run-time to fit the context.

I notice that under the ³Draw² menu there is a command for activeX control,
so am I seeing a toolbar which is really meant for PCs? [or are Macs now
using ActiveX in some circumstances. If so, where?]

Macs aren't running ActiveX. However, to be compatible with WinWord and
WinWord macros, the contextual menu is included. It'll never show up
because you won't find an ActiveX control to right-click.

I¹ve also tried to put items from the toolbar into other menus, but this
does not work either.

Drag commands from the Commands pane to the menus - AFAIK, there's
nothing on the Shortcut menus that isn't also in the Commands list.

However, you can drag controls (not menus) from the contextual menus to
other toolbars, and, if they're in context, they'll work just fine.

If nothing works from this toolbar, and it isn¹t in Word 2004 by mistake,
what is the purpose of it? Or is there another bug peculiar to my Mac
affecting Word again?

One probably shouldn't assume that, just because one doesn't understand
it, it's a bug. You could have found the information about the Shortcut
menu toolbar if you'd looked up "shortcut menu" in Word Help. The first
6 or 7 entries deal with keyboard shortcuts, but after that there's the
"Customize contextual menu" entry that would told you what that toolbar
is for.

Admittedly the terms "contextual menu" and "shortcut menu" don't match
exactly, but with a bit of persistence, Word's Help is comprehensive
enough to answer most of your questions.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Thank you very much for your help.

Glad to help. Stick around and pass it on...!