Word 2008 Standard & Formatting Toolbars will not persist!

[2mc]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

No matter what I do, I cannot get the Standard and the Formatting toolbars to persist when opening a new document or when opening an existing document. Something is definitely wrong and I'm up to date on all updates - both with Leopard 10.5.4 and with Word.

Any ideas? And, please make it simple, if it's a programming or scripting solution.

Thanks in advance.

Matt

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Matt:

This is a bit of a pain, isn't it? Word 2008 has gone half-way to
implementing Office 2007's new user interface. Unfortunately, we didn't get
the good half

Word 2008 is designed to run with only one default toolbar: "Standard".
Formatting does not exist any longer.

What you need to do is customise your Standard toolbar to contain the
commands that you want. My suggestion is to first REMOVE all the stuff on
the Standard toolbar that you DON'T use. This will make room for the stuff
you do use.

And be aware that the Standard toolbar can extend to more than one line if
you wish: so you can achieve the same effect as having two toolbars, in a
more compact format.

Daiya explains how to customise toolbars here:
http://word.mvps.org/mac/customizetoolbars.html

Cheers

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

No matter what I do, I cannot get the Standard and the Formatting toolbars to
persist when opening a new document or when opening an existing document.
Something is definitely wrong and I'm up to date on all updates - both with
Leopard 10.5.4 and with Word.

Any ideas? And, please make it simple, if it's a programming or scripting
solution.

Thanks in advance.

Matt

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[2mc]

John,

I have some questions about your reply.

Word 2008 is designed to run with only one default toolbar: "Standard".
Formatting does not exist any longer.

I don't know about this. In my View:Toolbars dropdown, I see Standard and Formatting Toolbars checked. If I uncheck on of the boxes and then select View:Toolbars and check it again, then I see both toolbars truncated with ">>". If I double right-click (tap twice with two fingers on trackpad) the ">>", then the toolbars expand out to what I would normally see. However, when I close out Word and start again, they are not there.

So, I tried your suggestion. I customized the Standard and the Formatting toolbars by taking away and adding tool icons to each. When I quit Word, I saw a dialog box telling me that it was saving my Normal template file.

But, when I opened up Word again, the toolbars were gone.

So, I don't understand your statement that there isn't a Formatting toolbar, when I clearly can get one docked below the Standard toolbar.

And, I don't understand why customizing the toolbars as you suggested did not fix it.

I appreciate the help, but there must be something else going on.

I have Leopard 10.5.4 and Word 12.1.1 (080522)

Do you have any other ideas for me to try? I'll try anything to get this fixed.

Thanks again.

Matt

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Matt:

Right... I am very sorry. I got myself totally confused yesterday... I
somehow managed to disable the Formatting toolbar in Word 2008. I am not
sure HOW I managed that, because the only way I know to disable a toolbar is
in VBA, and Word 2008 doesn't have any...

So I assumed they had removed the Formatting toolbar. They haven't, and it
is back in my copy of Word today, and I cannot figure out how that happened


However: What I said about Word running by default with only one toolbar is
correct, and if you customise the Standard toolbar to contain only the stuff
you use, then you only need to see ONE toolbar.

Now: Toolbars are stored in templates. However, it doesn't HAVE to be
Normal.dotm that stores the toolbars, they can be stored in the Attached
Template, the Global Add-in, or the document
..

When you go to "Customise toolbars and menus" down the bottom of the dialog
box, you see "Save in" -- What appears there? That's the file you are
saving the changes to.

(basically, it should never be "the Document", but it could be one of the
other templates in use.)

If you have the same toolbar existing in each of the three templates that
can be in use for a document, then the "result" is an algebraic addition of
all the customisations. This can get VERY confusing, because the same
button may change function as documents are opened or closed. If you have a
button that does a colour Red in Normal template and the same button
produces colour Blue in the Attached template, whenever you open a document
with that particular template attached, you will get blue. Close that
document, or switch to a different open document that does not have that
template, and you will get Red.

Don't do this to yourself: medication is only partially successful in curing
this...

My first thought is that Word is not SAVING your customisations to the copy
of Normal.dotm that it is opening with.

Now: If the Save was failing, you would get an error message. Just to test
this, make a customisation and then use Save All to force a save of the
Normal.dotm. To get to Save All, hold down your Shift key and drop down the
File menu: Save changes to Save All when you hold down Shift.

Assuming the save completes, then we want to know where your Normal template
is. Go to Word>Preferences>File Locations and tell me where "User
Templates" is set to. That is where the Normal template that Word is USING
is.

Is that on a network? Are you on a network? If so, have some sharp words
to your System Administrator about whether they are "sharing" Normal.dotm
with anyone else, or whether they are "replacing" Normal.dotm whenever you
login.

Either will produce this problem. In which case, you need to move your
Normal Template location onto a local drive where YOU have write permission
and YOU are the only one who does.

Hope this helps

John,

I have some questions about your reply.


I don't know about this. In my View:Toolbars dropdown, I see Standard and
Formatting Toolbars checked. If I uncheck on of the boxes and then select
View:Toolbars and check it again, then I see both toolbars truncated with
">>". If I double right-click (tap twice with two fingers on trackpad) the
">>", then the toolbars expand out to what I would normally see. However, when
I close out Word and start again, they are not there.

So, I tried your suggestion. I customized the Standard and the Formatting
toolbars by taking away and adding tool icons to each. When I quit Word, I saw
a dialog box telling me that it was saving my Normal template file.

But, when I opened up Word again, the toolbars were gone.

So, I don't understand your statement that there isn't a Formatting toolbar,
when I clearly can get one docked below the Standard toolbar.

And, I don't understand why customizing the toolbars as you suggested did not
fix it.

I appreciate the help, but there must be something else going on.

I have Leopard 10.5.4 and Word 12.1.1 (080522)

Do you have any other ideas for me to try? I'll try anything to get this
fixed.

Thanks again.

Matt

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[2mc]

Hi John,

I will give all of your ideas a test tomorrow. But, I want to address one thing you said: "However: What I said about Word running by default with only one toolbar is correct, and if you customise the Standard toolbar to contain only the stuff you use, then you only need to see ONE toolbar."

When I open Word now, I have NO toolbars (though they show selected in the View:Toolbars dropdown). So, my "default" is not one, but rather, no toolbars.

And, I can get two toolbars docked by going through the steps I mentioned earlier, so I'm not following you on why I have to have just one toolbar.

Thanks for your help. Tomorrow I will report on your other suggestions.

Thanks.

Matt

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Matt:

Sorry. You do not HAVE to have only one. You CAN have only one, or you can
have as many as you choose. My bad...

If you have NO toolbars visible when you start Word, then we have a
different problem... I thought you did have "one". I'm not reading very
carefully today, am I?

You see the little "Jellybean" shape at the top right hand corner of the
Word Window? You couldn't have clicked that by mistake, could you? That
collapses the user interface, and you will indeed get "NO" toolbars...

Cheers

Hi John,

I will give all of your ideas a test tomorrow. But, I want to address one
thing you said: "However: What I said about Word running by default with only
one toolbar is correct, and if you customise the Standard toolbar to contain
only the stuff you use, then you only need to see ONE toolbar."

When I open Word now, I have NO toolbars (though they show selected in the
View:Toolbars dropdown). So, my "default" is not one, but rather, no toolbars.

And, I can get two toolbars docked by going through the steps I mentioned
earlier, so I'm not following you on why I have to have just one toolbar.

Thanks for your help. Tomorrow I will report on your other suggestions.

Thanks.

Matt

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[2mc]

John,

That did it!!! I don't remember EVER hitting that button. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Matt

 

[Dan Hampton]

John,

Thanks from me to for the Jellybean advice. I had no idea what that little
button was for. I've just returned to Mac, so there is much to learn. I had
this little ritual I'd go through each time I opened Word... Add a tool bar,
remove the toolbar, minimize the window, expand the window and voila!
toolbars. That little Jellybean is MUCH better.

I appreciate your help.

Dan Hampton

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Dan:

Yeah, I have no idea why that has suddenly appeared, but it has.

Totally useless, as far as I can see. On Windows, they open a little
floating toolbar that gives you a positive indication as to how to undo the
operation.

On the Mac, that button just sits there trapping the unwary. I have never
heard of anyone "using" it

Cheers


On 27/08/08 1:21 AM, in article
(e-mail address removed), "Dan Hampton" <Dan

John,

Thanks from me to for the Jellybean advice. I had no idea what that little
button was for. I've just returned to Mac, so there is much to learn. I had
this little ritual I'd go through each time I opened Word... Add a tool bar,
remove the toolbar, minimize the window, expand the window and voila!
toolbars. That little Jellybean is MUCH better.

I appreciate your help.

Dan Hampton

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi John -

Did Elliott ship you some of his special brew?

The jellybean is quite useful for many who want to gain as much vertical
screen real estate as they possibly can - especially on laptops. I think Dan
made that point quite well by way of his exuberance. I use it all the time -
since I found out what it was for. That's the problem - it got snuck in
without so much as a howdy-do... And without so much as a screen tip to
identify it. The only reason I figured it out is that I'm a born poker at
heart & I am intrepid enough to do things others might not consider.

What "floating toolbar" are you referring to on Windows? Office 2007 doesn't
have any floaters at all and I can't recall any such thing in prior versions
- toolbars were either docked or floating with no facility to collapse the
docked ones. In 2007 you can collapse your beloved Ribbon, but no floating
toolbar appears when you do... At least not in any installation I've seen.
The only item I can envision is the QAT which houses a menu command to turn
Minimize Ribbon On/Off, but the QAT doesn't float - above or below the
Ribbon, but docked in either case. Surely you don't mean that ludicrous Mini
Toolbar which always seems to obstruct your view when you don't want it and
can't be found when you do.

Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

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

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Bob:

If you go into Full Screen Preview in Word 2003 on Windows XP, everything
disappears -- task bar, menus, the lot -- except for a little square toolbar
that floats in the bottom right corner of the screen. It has only one
button on it -- "Exit full screen".

That's the only time you will ever see it. I don't think it even appears in
the Toolbar menu.

But at least there is something to remind you how you got into this
condition and how to get out of it

Cheers

Hi John -

Did Elliott ship you some of his special brew?

The jellybean is quite useful for many who want to gain as much vertical
screen real estate as they possibly can - especially on laptops. I think Dan
made that point quite well by way of his exuberance. I use it all the time -
since I found out what it was for. That's the problem - it got snuck in
without so much as a howdy-do... And without so much as a screen tip to
identify it. The only reason I figured it out is that I'm a born poker at
heart & I am intrepid enough to do things others might not consider.

What "floating toolbar" are you referring to on Windows? Office 2007 doesn't
have any floaters at all and I can't recall any such thing in prior versions
- toolbars were either docked or floating with no facility to collapse the
docked ones. In 2007 you can collapse your beloved Ribbon, but no floating
toolbar appears when you do... At least not in any installation I've seen.
The only item I can envision is the QAT which houses a menu command to turn
Minimize Ribbon On/Off, but the QAT doesn't float - above or below the
Ribbon, but docked in either case. Surely you don't mean that ludicrous Mini
Toolbar which always seems to obstruct your view when you don't want it and
can't be found when you do.

Any enlightenment would be appreciated.

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

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]