Yeah, sometimes you just have to file stuff away in the Weird Folder and
move on...

Lang

"jimmuh" <jimmuh@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9A11FE85-E551-4EBD-873D-B3C88598AA4E@microsoft.com...
> Aw, heck. I got tired of fiddling around with this. Life is too danged
> short
> to worry about something like this. Pretty much everything else I'm using
> in
> Office and Vista is working fine. Life is good.
>
> So I blew away the stupid "Microsoft Office blah blah" shortcuts and just
> created my own shortcuts to the executables. All of those work just
> fine --
> with pin/unpin to start menu and with the start menu search function. I'll
> just have to do without the Open and New shortcuts.
>
> And, by the way, I did have to blow away the Microsoft shortcuts because
> their presence in the Start Menu folders prevented the search function
> from
> finding the working versions. Yes, that's right. Say, for instance, I
> typed
> "exc.." in the start menu search. The Microsoft Office Excel shortcut
> would
> get selected (despite the Excel one I created being pinned to the start
> menu
> AND ahead of it in the Microsoft Office folder, and hitting Enter would
> still
> get me nada.
>
> Weird. Weird. Weird.
>
> "jimmuh" wrote:
>
>> Hmmm. I guess I should have been more explicit about what I'm trying to
>> accomplish.
>>
>> Yes, I can create new shortcuts directly to the actual executables in
>> "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\". I've created those
>> shortcuts
>> directly on the Desktop and dragged them into
>> "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\", and those
>> shortcuts,
>> in turn, do behave "properly" when pinned to the start menu.
>>
>> But what I'm wondering about is why the special type of link that
>> Microsoft
>> creates for the Office apps with the installation procedure won't work
>> this
>> way? Could this be by design, as a result of some specific setting? It
>> wouldn't seem to make any sense. I'm pursuing this because I want to be
>> sure
>> that there's not some issue with the way I'm preparing these systems. I
>> don't
>> want to be breaking stuff. Particularly since I would really prefer using
>> the
>> "Open Microsoft Office Document" and "New Microsoft Office Document"
>> shortcuts, and I don't think there's a direct executable I can link to
>> create
>> regular shortcuts for those functions. At least I haven't found any way
>> to do
>> it.
>>
>> A few additional observations about my system.
>>
>> 1. You'll notice I said that I create shortcuts to the Microsoft apps on
>> the
>> Desktop and then place them under the Programs folder. The reason I do it
>> that way is that Explorer doesn't seem to want me to create shortcuts
>> directly within the start menu location. The option to create a new
>> folder is
>> there, but no option to create a new shortcut. This goes for both the
>> Organize menu and the right-click context menu. Design, or symptom of a
>> problem on these systems I'm preparing? All Vista systems I've seen have
>> been
>> this way. (Of course I'm the one who prepared them, so who knows...)
>>
>> 2. When I look at the "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu" I see
>> "Open Microsoft Office Document" and "New Microsoft Office Document"
>> shortcuts already there that are NOT being displayed on the top level of
>> the
>> start menu. When I look in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start
>> Menu\Programs\" I do NOT see those two shortcuts, but both of those
>> shortcuts
>> are displayed AT THAT LEVEL of the Start Menu! Again, I'm asking myself
>> if
>> this is by design or if it is a symptom of an issue with the way these
>> systems were prepared. If it is by design -- putting the shortcuts in one
>> physical location in the file structure but showing them in a
>> non-corresponding organizational location in the Start Menu -- then I
>> think
>> that's kind of a wacky thing for Microsoft to do. And way out of keeping
>> with
>> the rather decent organizational approach I think they have taken toward
>> the
>> UI in this operating system.
>>
>> I'd appreciate further communication from anyone who's in the least bit
>> interested because my foray into solving this little conundrum hasn't
>> been
>> getting anywhere.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> "Lang Murphy" wrote:
>>
>> > Have you tried deleting the shortcuts and recreating your own? I'm
>> > running
>> > O2007 Beta on Vista RTM and not having those types of problems, but I
>> > don't
>> > have Visio or OneNote installed. Have you tried installing O2007,
>> > checking
>> > to see if the problem exists, install Visio, check the problem, install
>> > OneNote, check the problem?
>> >
>> > Lang
>> >
>> > "jimmuh" <jimmuh@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> > news:ED24F098-EEE5-43F3-AD04-30B3F6C664A7@microsoft.com...
>> > > I've posted about this issue under Office General Questions, but we
>> > > haven't
>> > > got very far with it. Location of that discussion --
>> > >
>> > > http://www.microsoft.com/communities...xp=&sloc=en-us
>> > >
>> > > I'll restate as briefly as possible:
>> > >
>> > > Systems are running Vista Business, Office Professional 2007, Office
>> > > Visio
>> > > Professional 2007, Office OneNote 2007 -- all RTM. Complete install
>> > > was
>> > > used
>> > > for each of the Office applications.
>> > >
>> > > The Office shortcuts produced by the installation process in the
>> > > Start
>> > > Menu
>> > > work fine when selected by mouse or by arrow keys. The do NOT work
>> > > when
>> > > selected with the Start Menu search function. It gets weirder. If I
>> > > pin
>> > > any
>> > > of these shortcuts to the Start Menu's top level, they don't function
>> > > at
>> > > all,
>> > > regardless of how they are selected. Same for placing them in the
>> > > Quick
>> > > Launch toolbar. Drag them from their non-functioning position on the
>> > > Start
>> > > Menu or in Quick Launch to the Desktop, and they work. All user
>> > > accounts
>> > > behave the same. I have seen this now on five systems. I have not
>> > > seen the
>> > > shortcuts behave properly (or in a manner that I would deem to be
>> > > proper,
>> > > anyway) on a single machine with this combination of software.
>> > >
>> > > Systems are configured very much alike -- using renamed primary
>> > > accounts,
>> > > Ctrl-Alt-Del required to log in, not showing last logged user.
>> > > Nothing
>> > > fancy.
>> > >
>> > > Am I doing something wrong / dumb? Is there a fix for this? A hidden
>> > > setting? An obvious setting? Folks in the Office discussion area
>> > > don't
>> > > seem
>> > > to be coming up with anything. I'm most CERTAINLY not coming up with
>> > > anything. Have tried Office diagnostics / repair - nothing. Have
>> > > tried a
>> > > removal then reinstallation of the applications on one system - same
>> > > result.
>> > > If I'm doing something dumb, at least I'm being consistent about it.
>> > >
>> > > :\
>> >