Managing Windows Server 2012 (part 11) - Optimizing toolbars

7. Optimizing toolbars

Several custom toolbars are available for the taskbar. You can create your own toolbars as well. For example, if your organization has custom applications or a preferred suite of applications, you can add buttons for these applications to the toolbar. If applications are no longer used, you can later remove the additional buttons.

Displaying custom toolbars

Toolbars available for the taskbar include the following:

• Address Provides an Address text box into which you can type Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) and other addresses that you want to access, either on the World Wide Web, on the local network, or on the local computer. When full file paths are specified, the default application for the file is launched automatically to display the specified file, such as Internet Explorer or Microsoft Office Word. One of the things you might not realize about the Address toolbar is that it retains the same URL history as the Address bar in Internet Explorer, meaning if you previously opened a document on a network share, you could quickly access it again through the history.

• Desktop Provides access to all the shortcuts on the local desktop so that you don’t have to minimize windows to access them.

• Links Provides access to the Links folder on the Favorites menu of Internet Explorer. To add links to files, webpages, or other resources, drag shortcuts onto the Links toolbar. To remove links, press and hold or right-click the link and select Delete. When prompted, confirm the action by tapping or clicking Yes.

• Touch Keyboard Provides quick access to the touch keyboard.

You can display or hide individual toolbars by pressing and holding or right-clicking the taskbar to display the shortcut menu, pointing to Toolbars, and then selecting the toolbar you want to use. This toggles the toolbar on and off.

Have toolbars use less space by turning off the title

By default, a name label is displayed for all toolbars except the touch keyboard. This label wastes taskbar space, and you can turn it off. Press and hold or right-click the toolbar and then choose Show Title to clear the option. The option is a toggle; if you want to see the title again, repeat this procedure.

Creating personal toolbars

In addition to using the custom toolbars that are available, you can create personal toolbars as well. Personal toolbars are based on existing folders, and their buttons are based on the folder contents. The most common toolbars you might create are ones that point to folders on the computer or shared folders on the network. For example, if you routinely access the C:\Windist, C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles, and C:\Windows\System32\Inetsvr folders, you could add a toolbar to the taskbar that provides quick access buttons to these resources. Then you could access one of the folders simply by tapping or clicking the corresponding toolbar button.

You can create personal toolbars by pressing and holding or right-clicking the taskbar to display the shortcut menu, pointing to Toolbars, and then choosing New Toolbar. This displays the New Toolbar – Choose A Folder dialog box.

Next use the Choose A Folder list box to choose the folder you want to make into a toolbar. When you tap or click OK, the folder is displayed as a new toolbar on the taskbar. If you add shortcuts to the folder, the shortcuts automatically appear on the toolbar as buttons that can be selected. Keep in mind that if you decide that you don’t want to use the toolbar anymore and close it, you must reselect the folder before it can be viewed on the taskbar again.