Taskbar – create custom button (Excel 97)

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How can I create a button on the task bar that will give me a list of all differnt “forms” I can start. The button must start up each time I start excel.

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Daniel, what do you mean by “forms”? I see from prior posts you know how to add a custom button. Once you create the button it will stick to your toolbar as it will be saved in your user.xlb file.

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If you mean listing all the Templates in your User Templates and Workgroup Templates directories, try a button that runs this macro:

Sub ShowMyTemplates()
Dialogs(wdDialogFileNew).Show
End Sub

If you mean something else, then you’ll probably need to create VBA form with a Listbox that can hold a list of “form” names to choose from. You’ll write a macro that adds the names of the available “forms” to this listbox, displays the form, gets your selected row from the Listbox and opens that form.

RE: Automatic startup. Bad experiences in the 1990s with Word Macro Viruses gave me an irrational aversion to automatic startup macros. Tell us more about the forms you have, how you use them, who is going to use them (just you or a workgroup of others, too), etc. and maybe someone will have a great suggestion.

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Of course you meant to write:

Application.Dialogs(xlDialogNew).Show

Yours is for Word.

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When we start Excel in the morning or whenever, we would like to see a button somewhere at the Taskbar. When we press the button it will display a short (I hope) list of all the different spreadsheets that we need to work on. This list should not change as they are part of our daily routine.

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Hi Daniel,

May I suggest that you need a Work Menu for Excel, which contains up to 10 files and can be readily updated as times change. I found this on the PC Plus website in the UK (unfortunately not there now!), but I am at home now, and it is on my PC at work. I will forward it to you tomorrow if you wish.

Good Luck!

Peter Moran

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Please forward. Mean while i will look around and see if I can find it.

Thank you

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Going with Legare’s suggestion:
1. Make a folder on your computer, and call it — say — Daily Forms.
2. Put a shortcut to each of your daily spreadsheets into Daily Forms.
3. Right-click on the Quick Launch Toolbar, and click Toolbars | New Toolbar…
4. Find the Daily Forms folder you just created, click on it, and click OK.
5. Slide the toolbar to the right until just the toolbar name and >> are visible. (see picture)

Now, you have 2-click access to the documents you use most often!

HTH

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Hi Daniel,

I have forwarded the Excel Work Menu Add-in to you directly. For anyone else who might like to check it out here it is.

Good Luck!

Peter Moran

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Are you talking about the Windows Taskbar? If so, then just create a document containing the list of files using your favorite application (Word, Excel, etc.). If you want the button in the Quickstart menu on the Taskbar, then create a shortcut to the document and drag it to the Quickstart menu and drop it. If you want the button in the Taskbar itself, then again create a shortcut to the document, and add it to your Startup directory. How you do this is somewhat dependant on what version of Windows you have. If you make the list of files in the document hyperlinks, then the user will be able to click on them to open the file.

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Wow, I really wandered off the compound there! Thought I was in Wordland.

Back on topic, I like Legare’s suggestion of using buttons on the Quick Launch toolbar. Keeps it simple. A lot of my users are happy using buttons on the Microsoft Office Start Toolbar that resides along the right side of their Windows screen. These are usually templates, but could point to any spreadsheet.

The tricky bit is keeping all these updated centrally if you have a lot of users and the filenames change or new buttons are needed periodically.

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