OFF97: Office Shortcut Bar Does Not Always Remain on Top

The Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar (OSB) may not always remain visible in the foreground, even though the Always on Top check box is selected on the View tab of the Customize dialog box.

The Always on Top feature of the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar may be affected by either of the following:

• One or more third-party programs are running in the background. The following programs have been reported to cause this behavior:
  
  
  • MacAfee V-Shield
  • JASC Media Center
  • Visioneer Paper port software for Microsoft Windows 95
  
  NOTE: There may be other products not listed that cause this behavior. -or-
  
  
• The Active Desktop feature of Microsoft Windows is turned on (enabled).

To resolve this behavior, use the appropriate method for your situation.

Turn Off the Third-Party Product

Identify the third-party product that may be causing the problem, and then turn it off or remove it. To do this, you must perform "clean-boot troubleshooting." For additional information about clean-boot troubleshooting, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Turn Off the Active Desktop

To turn off the Active Desktop, right-click an empty area on the desktop, point to Active Desktop on the shortcut menu, and then click to clear the check mark from View As Web Page.

Create a Shortcut to the OSB on the Quick Launch Toolbar

You can create a shortcut to the OSB on the Quick Launch Toolbar and reset the focus on the OSB by clicking the button on the Quick Launch Toolbar.

The Quick Launch Toolbar is only available if your computer has Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or later, and you chose to install the Windows Desktop Update when you installed Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0. Also, the Windows Desktop Update is included with Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition.

Follow these steps to add a shortcut to the OSB on the Quick Launch Toolbar.

NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.

1. Click Start, point to Find and then click Files and Folders.
2. Type Msoffice.exe in the Named box, and then click Find Now.
3. Right-click Msoffice.exe in the Name column of the search results, and drag it to the Quick Launch Toolbar.
4. When you see an I-beam, release the right mouse button. A shortcut menu appears.
5. Click Create Shortcut(s) here.

Now, whenever the OSB loses focus, just click the new button on the Quick Launch Toolbar, and the OSB will regain focus.

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

For more information about customizing the Microsoft Office 97 Shortcut Bar, press ALT+SPACEBAR in the Office Shortcut Bar, and then click Contents and Index on the control menu. Click the Index tab in Office Shortcut Bar Help, type customizing and then double-click the selected text to go to the "customizing Shortcut Bar" topic.