Customise Word 97's toolbars


Q Is it possible to have Word 97's font toolbox on the toolbar display the same way as it does in MS Works 4.0 for Windows 95?

û Leigh Connolly

A Visually, the toolbars in Microsoft Works 4 and Microsoft Word 97 are quite different. In Works, all of the buttons on the toolbar, as well as the font formatting boxes, have black lines along some of their edges. This creates a 3D appearance. Word 97Æs buttons and font boxes, on the other hand, are more subtle, with white rather than black lines around their edges. Since you can customise so many aspects of Word, it seems reasonable to want to change the appearance of the toolbars if you donÆt like them. However, as far as I know, itÆs not possible to have 3D buttons and boxes on the toolbars in Word 97.

 

Caption: Buttons on Word 97 toolbars (top) can be customised, but if you want the chiselled appearance of Works toolbar (bottom) you're out of luck

 

You can customise the appearance of Word's buttons quite easily, so you could attempt to make your own 3D buttons if you wanted to. For each button you can either edit the existing picture (ToolsûCustomize, right click the button on the toolbar, and click Edit Button Image) or paste in your own (copy your image to the clipboard, open Word, choose ToolsûCustomize, right-click the button on the toolbar, and click Paste Button Image). I tried both methods, but the results were quite crude even when I pasted in an image of one of the 3D buttons from Works. The font name and point size drop-down list boxes are more stubborn than buttons; you canÆt change their appearance at all.

û Belinda Taylor


Category:Word processing
Issue: July 1998

These Web pages are produced by Australian PC World © 1998 IDG Communications