Word 2004 Notebook Tabs Don't Scroll Properly

[Guest]

I've got lots (about 15) of tabs in a notebook document, and scrolling
to the lower tabs is a huge pain. When I click the down arrow to see
the lower tabs, the entire bar of tabs jumps around after each click,
and I have to chase the down arrow to move on to the next tab. It's
such a pain!

I imagine part of the problem is that the tab titles are various sizes
(some are only 4 letters long, some are 3 words), but changing that
would make the tabs much less useful, as would switching them to the
numerical. Anyone have any ideas to fix this? Anyone else have the
same problem?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I created a quick document with about 20 section tabs, and I see what
you mean--the down arrow isn't always in the same place. And yes, I
think the irregular sizes of the tabs make it worse, but I had to chase
the down arrow around even just when the default Section # goes into two
digits.

I'm pretty sure you can't do anything to keep the down arrow in the same
place--that's just bad UI (user interface) design, and there's no easy
fix. I would use Help | Send Feedback (in Word) to file a complaint.
Be sure to explain it very clearly, as I didn't know what you were
talking about until I created a document to see for myself.

HOWEVER, you can avoid using the down arrow entirely, and you can
instead use the double arrows on the scrollbar to go to Next Section and
Previous Section. First you have to click on the little round button
between the double arrows to set it to Browse by Section. See here for
a better explanation, with a screenshot:
http://daiya.mvps.org/browseobject.htm

ANOTHER OPTION--Word already has predefined commands for Next Section
and Previous Section, and you can assign these commands a keyboard
shortcut. You'll need to be NOT in Notebook Layout to access Tools |
Customize | Customize Keyboard, but the keyboard shortcuts will work in
Notebook Layout (and in all other documents). The commands you are
looking for are named GoToNextSection and GoToPreviousSection, and they
are listed alphabetically under both the Edit category and under the All
Commands category. Help on "Customize shortcut key assignments" has
detailed steps, or ask if confusion occurs.

The Edit | Go To dialog (call via F5) might also be worth checking
out--that will allow you to jump over several sections at once.

Daiya

 

[Guest]

Great ideas! Thanks so much!

I created a quick document with about 20 sectiontabs, and I see what
you mean--the down arrow isn't always in the same place. And yes, I
think the irregular sizes of thetabsmake it worse, but I had to chase
the down arrow around even just when the default Section # goes into two
digits.

I'm pretty sure you can't do anything to keep the down arrow in the same
place--that's just bad UI (user interface) design, and there's no easy
fix. I would use Help | Send Feedback (in Word) to file a complaint.
Be sure to explain it very clearly, as I didn't know what you were
talking about until I created a document to see for myself.

HOWEVER, you can avoid using the down arrow entirely, and you can
instead use the double arrows on the scrollbar to go to Next Section and
Previous Section. First you have to click on the little round button
between the double arrows to set it to Browse by Section. See here for
a better explanation, with a screenshot:http://daiya.mvps.org/browseobject.htm

ANOTHER OPTION--Word already has predefined commands for Next Section
and Previous Section, and you can assign these commands a keyboard
shortcut. You'll need to be NOT inNotebookLayout to access Tools |
Customize | Customize Keyboard, but the keyboard shortcuts will work inNotebookLayout (and in all other documents). The commands you are
looking for are named GoToNextSection and GoToPreviousSection, and they
are listed alphabetically under both the Edit category and under the All
Commands category. Help on "Customize shortcut key assignments" has
detailed steps, or ask if confusion occurs.

The Edit | Go To dialog (call via F5) might also be worth checking
out--that will allow you to jump over several sections at once.

Daiya