Years ago when I first started using MS Word, I think it was with Windows 3.1, I came across a great feature, the full screen button. I still use it today. Most of my writing is done in MS Word, though now I use Office 2003. I don’t think I will ever use the 2007 version since I have yet to find a single feature that I need which is not in v.2003. I use the blue background feature with a full screen. Till Office 97 the full screen button worked perfectly, I got a borderless full screen with white text and absolutely no distracting toolbars or scrollbars. I have some obsessive compulsive disorder in me and that is the only way I seem to be able to work in Word. I can’t write on a white background with black text with the toolbars all around the screen.
But with Office 2002 onwards, Microsoft chose not to give the full screen feature. I have never understood why. There is a full-screen button but it is not true full screen. An icon or a taskbar always remains even in the full screen mode. For those who work with full screen, like me, it can drive us mad. If I wanted buttons and toolbars, why would I choose the full screen mode? But try as I might, I was not able to get rid of them. So in the end I kept both Office 97 and Office 2002 on my computer. I worked in Office 97 and hunted around the net for a possible solution to this problem. It was a small thing but for me it was a big deal. Whenever I tried to work with the new full screen mode, all my attention would forever be focused on that obnoxious ‘exit’ icon.
One day while surfing I came across this site – The Office Experts. They help, free of cost, with all kinds of problems with MS Office. They also have a forum for all kinds of tips and tricks with all versions of MS Office. So I registered for posting and logged in my question. The next day when I checked to see if anyone had answered my query, I had my answer. One of the people who help out at this site is a nick called Dreamboat and she had responded to my problem. Her real name is Anne Troy and I later came to know that she is a MS certified MVP, a globally recognized expert on MS Office and has several books to her credit on Office Suites. She explained that the problem was with the way the new Office was configured and the event which caused the new icons was the same event which caused the program to go in full-screen mode. So there was no way around it. But she promised to check with one of her programmer friends, nick – byundt, and that she would let me know by tomorrow. Sure enough when I logged in the next day, she had a macro already prepared for me which redefined the full screen event without the annoying icons.
That was almost four years ago. I still use that macro, I’m using it now. It’s a great tool and I don’t think I would have ever moved out of Office 97 if Dreamboat hadn’t helped me. So if you use MS Office, try their site, they have great tips for all versions of it.
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