AND NOW FOR TODAY'S TIP... Customizing the Places Bar

Q. I use Microsoft Word 2002. When I click Save As, I get the dialog
box. I have to navigate to the correct folder, one of four that I use.
All are nested within other folders, so the navigation takes several
steps. Is there a way to shorten this process?

A. The Places Bar was tailor-made for this situation. That is the
vertical bar on the left side of the Save As window in Word. It
includes five folders. Click on one of the folders, and it appears
in the Save In box. Problem is, most of the default folders are not
ones you would use.

So, you want to put the folders you use in the Places Bar. Once they
are there, you need only click on the one you want. It will immediately
appear in the Save In box.

To start, click File>>Save As, which opens the Save As window. By
default, My Documents is in the Save In box.

Navigate to the folder you want to use, just as you always do. It
doesn't matter how deeply nested it is. When you get to it, click it
once to highlight it. Then click Tools>>Add to My Places. Do that
to each folder that you use.

If you added four folders, you will now have nine total in the Places
Bar. The four you added will be out of sight. To see them, use the
scroll arrow.

You'll probably want to make your folders visible. Right-click the
Desktop folder near the top. Select Small Icons. That will make all
nine folders visible.

If you want to use large icons, you can move your folders up. Do that
by right-clicking them and selecting Move Up. Because they move just
one step at a time, this is a slow process. When you finish, right-
click one of the icons and select Large Icons.

Making these changes in Word switches the Save As box in other Office
programs, too. So, if you use, say, Excel, remember that you'll want
access to its folders, too.

Hope this helps. I'll see you tomorrow with another great tip!
Kim :)