McDst Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-272(c) Supporting Users and Troubleshooting Desktop Applications on a[... ]ystem)

After you install a program, it needs to be personalized to suit the user who will be working with the program. Personalization comes in many forms, but for the most part, users will want you to help them customize toolbars and menus, change formatting and printing options, and change the default location of saved files.

After this lesson, you will be able to

• Add, remove, and customize toolbars.

• Customize commands on toolbars and menus.

• Locate and configure important program options.

Estimated lesson time: 30 minutes

Adding, Removing, and Customizing Toolbars

Every application has at least one toolbar, and some applications offer many. Both Microsoft Office Excel Professional Edition 2003 and Microsoft Office Word Professional Edition 2003 offer 20 toolbars. Users will not want all of the available toolbars on their screen at the same time, but they might want to add the ones they use often or remove the ones they do not use. In addition, users might want to customize their toolbars by using the available toolbar options (such as showing items on a single row or on two rows, or using large icons).

Common Toolbars

Some toolbars are fairly common and appear in multiple Office applications. To customize an application for a specific user in a specific department, you will need to be aware of the most common options:

• Standard This toolbar contains standard features, including options for opening a new or existing document, saving and printing, and using features such as spell check and cut, copy, and paste. This toolbar should be made available to most users.

• Formatting This toolbar contains features that include font selection and size; formatting options such as bold, italic, and underline; and justification and numbering options. This toolbar should be made available to most users, especially those who create presentations, graphics, or publications.

• Web This toolbar contains options for accessing Favorites, a home page, and previously viewed network documents and websites. This toolbar should be made available to those whose work requires them to access the Internet or network places frequently.

• Task pane This toolbar offers a fast and easy way to obtain information about the Office program or component. This toolbar should be made available to new users and those who need to locate information from the Knowledge Base, newsgroups, or other technical help sites quickly.

• Drawing This toolbar offers options to quickly draw shapes and to insert WordArt, clip art, pictures, diagrams, or charts. This toolbar should be made available to users who create publications, company memos, or other documents with images or who otherwise need access to the drawing tools.

Figure 6-9 shows these toolbars (and the Menu bar) in Word 2003.

Figure 6-9: Common toolbars are shown here.

Toolbar Customizations

Toolbars can be added, removed, and customized. To add or remove toolbars in any Microsoft Office application, click View, point to Toolbars, and select or clear any toolbar to show or hide it. Figure 6-10 shows an example. (You can also add or delete toolbars by right-clicking on the Menu bar.)

Figure 6-10: Adding toolbars from the View menu by selecting them.

You can also customize what is shown on toolbars, and there are several ways to access the customization options:

• Right-click the Menu bar, click Customize, and select the Options tab.

• From the View menu, point to Toolbars, and select Customize, and select the Options tab.

• From the Tools menu, select Customize, and select the Options tab.

Each of these methods opens the Customize dialog box shown in Figure 6-11. Several options are available:

• Show Standard And Formatting Toolbars On Two Rows Selecting this option places both toolbars on the same row to save space on the user’s screen.

• Always Show Full Menus Selecting this option causes menus to always show all of their options and does not show personalized menus.

  Figure 6-11: The Customize dialog box allows a user to personalize an Office application.

• Show Full Menus After A Short Delay Selecting this option causes menus to show personalized menus and then shows the full menu after a short delay.

• Reset Menu And Toolbar Usage Data Selecting this button restores the default set of commands on the menus and toolbars and undoes any explicit customization.

• Large Icons Selecting this option causes the icons on the toolbars to become larger.

• List Font Names In Their Font Selecting this option causes lists of fonts to be displayed in their font names. This makes selecting a font easier; the font list contains a preview of each font available.

• Show ScreenTips On Toolbars Selecting this option shows ScreenTips on toolbars.

• Show Shortcut Keys In ScreenTips Selecting this option shows shortcut keys in ScreenTips.

• Menu Animations Selecting an option from the drop-down list enables menus to be shown using a specified animation: System Default, Random, Unfold, Slide, or Fade.

  Note

  You can move toolbars by dragging them from their leftmost ends. The mouse pointer becomes a four-headed arrow when placed over the correct area for moving the toolbar.

Further Customizing Menus, Toolbars, and Their Commands

Some end users will have specific requests concerning the customization of their toolbars; they might ask you to make several adjustments, including these:

• Adding commands to the Menu bar

• Adding commands to menu lists

• Rearranging the categories on the Menu bar

• Rearranging the commands in the menu lists

• Resetting the menus and toolbars to their defaults

You can make all of these adjustments by using the Customize dialog box.

Sample Service Call

A user in the graphics department of your company uses Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 to create company documentation and slides for presentations. He needs to have as much workspace as possible and wants you to make several changes:

• Remove all of the toolbars and the Task pane.

• Add the commands Insert Table and Publish As Web Page to the Menu bar.

• Add the Draw Table command to the Tools menu list.

• Move the Can’t Repeat or Repeat command to the top of the Edit menu.

• Move the Slide Show category on the Menu bar to the end of the Menu bar.

Here is how you would make these changes:

1. From the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, and select Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003.

2. To remove the toolbars and the task pane, right-click the Menu bar and clear every item’s check box.

3. Right-click the Menu bar, and select Customize.

4. On the Commands tab, in the Categories pane, select Table.

5. In the Commands pane, select Table, and drag it to the Menu bar.

6. In the Categories pane, select Web.

7. In the Commands pane, select Publish As Web Page, and drag it to the Menu bar. The Menu bar now has the available commands added.

8. In the Categories pane, select Table.

9. In the Commands pane, drag the Draw Table command to the Tools menu list. Figure 6-12 shows how this will look. Drop the Draw Table command underneath the Spelling command.

   Figure 6-12: Adding a command to a menu list by dragging it.

You can rearrange commands on the Menu bar and in the menu lists by using the Rearrange Commands dialog box. To make these changes, follow these steps:

1. In the Customize dialog box, select Rearrange Commands.

2. In the Rearrange Commands dialog box, under Choose A Menu Or Toolbar To Rearrange, verify that Menu Bar is selected, and from the Menu Bar drop-down list, select Edit.

3. In the Controls area, select Can’t Repeat. Click Move Up to move this item to the top of the list.

4. Under Choose A Menu Or Toolbar To Rearrange, click Toolbar. Menu Bar will be selected.

5. In the Controls area, select Slide Show. Click Move Down four times to move this to the end of the Menu Bar list.

6. Note that Reset is available in the Rearrange Commands dialog box. Click Close. Click Close again to exit the Customize dialog box. Figure 6-13 shows the result.

   Figure 6-13: A customized Menu bar.

Resetting Toolbars to Their Default State

If users complain that buttons are missing from toolbars (or commands from menus), or that items are rearranged, an easy way to fix the problem is to return toolbars to their default settings.

To reset a toolbar to its default state, use the following steps:

1. On the Tools menu, select Customize.

2. In the Customize dialog box, switch to the Toolbars tab.

3. Select the toolbar you want to reset, and click Reset.

4. If you are using Microsoft Word, a Reset Toolbar dialog box opens. Select the template or document in which you want to reset the toolbar (select Normal.dot to make the changes global), and click OK. Click Close to close the Customize dialog box.

5. If you are using any other Office application, a dialog box opens that asks you to confirm the reset, but you do not choose a document or template. Click OK to confirm, and then click Close to close the Customize dialog box.

Customizing Using the Options Dialog Box

There are literally thousands of ways to customize the various applications in Microsoft Office 2003. Many of these options are available through the Tools menu and the Options choice. The Options dialog box configuration choices and tabs differ depending on the program selected. You should familiarize yourself with the available options in all of the Office applications as well as any third-party applications you see regularly.

Figures 6-14, 6-15, and 6-16 show various Options dialog boxes. Although there is not enough room to cover all of the options for each Office application in this chapter, we cover some of the more common options that are available through the Word 2003 Options dialog box.

Figure 6-14: The Excel Options dialog box.

Figure 6-15: The PowerPoint Options dialog box.

Figure 6-16: The Word Options dialog box.

View Options

The options on the View tab of the Word 2003 Options dialog box are shown in Figure 6-16. You can make many customizations with the options on this tab. Common options that users might want you to modify include these:

• Startup Task Pane The Startup Task Pane is the pane on the right side that offers links to Microsoft Office Online, search options, and a list of recently viewed documents.

• Tab Characters, Spaces, Paragraph Marks, Hidden Text, and Optional Hyphens Formatting marks can be shown for tab characters, spaces, paragraph marks, and more.

• Drawings Clearing the Drawings check box hides objects created with the Word drawing tools to speed up the display of documents that contain drawings.

• Wrap To WindowsChoosing this option wraps text to the document window, making it easier to read on the screen.

  Note

  As with the remaining sections, familiarize yourself with all of the available options. To see what each option does, click the question mark in the upper right corner of the Options dialog box, and then click any option with the mouse.

General Options

You can make many customizations with the options on the General tab. Common options that users might want you to modify include these:

• Provide Feedback With Animation and Provide Feedback With Sound Users might want to use sound (by selecting the Provide Feedback With Sound check box) or not view animations (by clearing the Provide Feedback With Animation check box) when using Word 2003.

• Help For WordPerfect Users Selecting this box allows WordPerfect users to view help files.

• Allow Background Open Of Web Pages Users might want to open Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) files and still use Word to complete other tasks.

• Allow Starting In Reading Layout Users might not want documents to automatically open in Reading layout.

Edit Options

You can also make many customizations with the options on the Edit tab. Common options that users might want you to modify include these:

• Typing Replaces Selection When this check box is selected, the selected text is deleted as the user types. When the check box is cleared, Word inserts the text in front of the selected text.

• Picture Editor Microsoft Office Word is the default picture editor, but you can change this option if you have another picture editor installed.

• Enable Click And Type Click And Type allows a user to insert text, graphics, tables, and other items in a blank area of a document by double-clicking. This might not be desirable.

Print Options

You can make many customizations with the options on the Print tab. Common options that users might want you to modify include the following:

• Draft Output This setting prints the document with minimal formatting, which speeds up the print process. Not all printers support this function.

• Reverse Print Order This setting prints pages in reverse order.

• Include With Document This options in this section control the printing of field codes, Extensible Markup Language (XML) tags, and so on.

• Default TrayConfigure a default print tray for printers that support this feature.

Save Options

You can make many customizations with the options on the Save tab. Common options that users might want you to modify include these:

• Always Create Backup Copy Select this check box to create a backup copy of each document.

• Allow Background Saves Documents are automatically saved in the background every 10 minutes. A user might want to disable this to avoid saving changes to a file before he or she is ready.

• Save Word Files As You can save Word files as Word documents, XML documents, single-file Web pages, Web pages, or document templates.

File Locations

You can make many customizations with the options on the File Locations tab. Common options that users might want you to modify include these:

• Changing the location where documents are stored

• Changing the location where clip art is stored

• Changing the location of AutoRecover files

Making changes on the File Locations tab requires more than selecting or clearing a check box or making a selection from a drop-down list. To modify the location of saved files, click Modify. In the Modify Location dialog box, browse to the new location and click OK. Note that you can create a new folder in the desired location by selecting the Create New Folder icon in the Modify Location dialog box. A user might want to change the default location of saved files to make backing up documents easier or to make locating AutoRecover files more intuitive.

Security Options

You can make many customizations with the options on the Security tab. Common options that users might want you to modify include these:

• Creating a password to open a file and setting advanced encryption options

• Creating a password to modify the file

• Configuring the file for read-only

• Removing personal information from the file’s properties when the file is saved

These options and others can be used to keep a user’s files and information safe, even when others have access to the files.

Practice: Personalize Office Features

In this practice, you will add a toolbar to the Word 2003 interface, create a custom toolbar, and add items to a menu list. This practice requires you to have successfully completed the installation of Office 2003, as detailed in the practice at the end of Lesson 2.

Exercise 1: Add and Use a Toolbar

1. Log on to Windows XP.

2. On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, and select Microsoft Office Word 2003.

   Note

   If this is the first time you have run Word, you will be prompted to activate Office 2003. You must be connected to the Internet for this to work. Make sure the I Want To Activate The Software Over The Internet option is selected, and click Next. After activation is complete, click Close.

3. On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then select Web Tools.

Exercise 2: Create a Custom Toolbar

1. Log on to Windows XP.

2. On the Start menu, select All Programs, select Microsoft Office, and then select Microsoft Office Word 2003.

3. In Microsoft Office Word 2003, right-click any toolbar and select Customize.

4. In the Customize dialog box, on the Toolbars tab, click New.

5. In the New Toolbar dialog box, in the Toolbar Name text box, type Date and Time. Click OK.

6. In the Customize dialog box, on the Commands tab, in the Categories list, select Insert. In the Commands list, drag the Date and Time commands to the newly created Date And Time toolbar.

7. In the Customize dialog box, click Close.

8. Drag the Date And Time toolbar to the toolbar area at the top of the Microsoft Word window, and dock it there.

Exercise 3: Add Items to a Menu List

1. Log on to Windows XP.

2. On the Start menu, select All Programs, select Microsoft Office, and then select Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003.

3. Right-click the Menu bar, and select Customize.

4. In the Customize dialog box, on the Commands tab, in the Categories list, select New Menu.

5. In the Commands list, drag New Menu to the end of the Menu bar, just after Help.

6. In the Categories list, select Tools.

7. In the Commands list, drag Macros, Record New Macro, and Visual Basic Editor to the New menu.

8. On the Menu bar, right-click New Menu and select Name: New Menu. Type Macro and press Enter.

9. Click Close to close the Customize dialog box.

10. Close PowerPoint.

Lesson Review

The following questions are intended to reinforce key information presented in this lesson. If you are unable to answer a question, review the lesson materials and try the question again. You can find answers to the questions in the “Questions and Answers” section at the end of this chapter.

1. An employee in the marketing department of your company works in Excel most of the day, but she spends an equal amount of time on the Internet. There she obtains product information and competitor prices from websites to create quotes. She is also new to Excel and often has to access the Help and Support files. You want to help her work faster and smarter. What can you suggest? (Choose all that apply.)

   1. Add the Web toolbar to Excel.

   2. Customize the toolbars, and reset the menu and toolbar usage data.

   3. Add the Task pane to the Excel interface.

   4. Add the Formula Auditing toolbar to Excel.

2. An employee in the graphics department of your company uses Microsoft Office PowerPoint Professional Edition 2003 to create documentation for company meetings with prospective clients. He reports that when he accesses a font from the font drop-down list on the Formatting toolbar, all of the fonts are listed, but he cannot tell what the font looks like by looking at it in the list. He would like the list of fonts to appear using the font that each item in the list represents. For instance, Arial uses Arial font, Century uses Century font, Lucida Sans uses Lucida Sans font, and so on. Is this possible, and if so, what needs to be done?

   1. It is not possible.

   2. It is possible only if the Microsoft Advanced Font Add-In is downloaded and installed.

   3. It is an option in the Customize dialog box on the Options tab.

   4. It is an option on the Fonts toolbar.

3. A user reports that each time she opens Word 2003, the Startup Pane appears, and each time she clicks the X in the upper right corner of the pane to close it. She wants to avoid this extra step each time she opens Word and wants to configure the pane so that it does not open every time she opens the program. What do you tell her to do? (Select all correct procedures.)

   1. With Word open, click View, and clear the Task Pane command.

   2. With Word open, click View, point to Toolbars, and clear the Task Pane command.

   3. In the Task pane, click the X in the upper right corner. Click View, point to Toolbars, and verify that Task Pane is cleared.

   4. Click Tools, click Options, and on the View tab, clear the Startup Task Pane check box.

Lesson Summary

• To personalize Office applications, add, remove, or customize toolbars, the Menu bar, and the menu lists.

• To further personalize Office applications, configure options in the Options dialog box, including print, view, save, edit, and security options.