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Macros, tips, and templates for Corel® WordPerfect® for Windows®
© Copyright 1996-2008 by Barry MacDonnell. All Rights Reserved.

Custom Property Bars

Adding buttons to the context-sensitive Property Bars (the "button bars" that appear just below toolbars when you are performing certain tasks such as typing, selecting text, creating or editing a header or footer, etc.)

Note:

To add buttons to a standard or other Toolbar (see next column for definitions), see:

How to create a toolbar button to play a macro, load a program, or use a built-in WordPerfect feature

How to create a new, custom toolbar

First, let's agree on some definitions.

A toolbar is the area just under the top (main) menu. It contains buttons (i.e., clickable icons) that perform various tasks when you click on them. There is a standard (or default) toolbar, which is the one you see when you first installed WordPerfect (it can be customized), and there are several other toolbars that ship with WordPerfect, each of which you can access (i.e., toggle on or off) with Tools, Settings, Customize, Toolbars tab (or just right-click the toolbar area and choose Setttings). These toolbars can be customized easily: see the link in the left column.

A property bar is similar in appearance to a toolbar, but it is located under the toolbar area, just above the ruler (if the ruler is displayed); that is, it is just above the main document screen area. It is also dynamic: it appears only when needed, depending on what you are doing at the time. Property bars are often called "context-sensitive" bars because they change with the task (context) at hand.

Note that to see these bars on screen you must have the appropriate checkboxes enabled in View, Toolbars: enable the Property Bar box to see all property bars, and enable other appropriate boxes for the standard toolbars you want to have visible. (The standard, default toolbar begins with the word "WordPerfect.")

The property bar you see on screen when you first open a new document (or load an old one) is the Text property bar, usually containing drop lists for fonts and font sizes, some basic formatting buttons (Bold, Italics, etc.) and a Styles drop list. As soon as you select some text, or create a header, or edit a footnote, or use a variety of other WordPerfect features, the property bar changes to new property bar to give you access to new buttons, pick lists, etc., appropriate to your new task. (You'll notice that some property bar buttons are common to several property bars, so parts of the property bar will appear not to change.)

Here's a common "problem" when trying to customize a property bar:

Many users have figured out how to modify their toolbars (see here for how to do it), and have then decided to modify one or more property bars. Or perhaps they have dragged useful buttons from a property bar to delete them (see the Tips below) and they now want those buttons back.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, property bars are dynamic -- they only visible during the performance of certain tasks, and they are replaced by other property bars once the task changes. This is normally considered to be a very nice feature -- unless you are trying to add a button to a property bar so that it is always present in the same area (i.e., just above the ruler). It is easy to assume that modifying one property bar modifies all of them.

For example, a user once asked: "I have attempted to customize both my toolbar and property bars; however, each time I select text, the buttons I added [to the property bar] simply disappear. How do I get them to stay?"

My answer:  "It sounds like you added buttons to a property bar such as the ubiquitous Text property bar. Then, when you select some text, the Selected Text property bar appears. This is 'working as designed.' Property bars display only when needed."

This user wanted to get the new button onto the Selected Text property bar so that it appears when some text is selected. Here are a couple of methods you can use to add (or even restore deleted) buttons to a specific property bar.

• Method 1: An old solution is to first add the button to a standard toolbar first (see here for how to do that), then (in this example) select some text, which brings up the Selected Text bar.
  • Right-click on the standard toolbar (not the Selected Text property bar), and choose Edit.
  • The Toolbar Editor appears; however, you won't need the Toolbar Editor at this time. For now, just left-click on the new button and drag in from the standard toolbar to the Selected Text property bar.
  • Click OK to dismiss the Toolbar Editor.
  • The same process can be used to add a button to any property bar: Do whatever is needed to display the property bar, then drag the new button onto it.
• Method 2: A simpler solution: Assume you want to add a button to the Selected Text property bar, such as a button to set paragraph formatting for selected paragraphs:
  • Select some text to make the Selected Text property bar visible.
  • Right-click on the Selected Text property bar (not the standard toolbar), and choose Edit from the context menu that appears.
  • The Property Bar Editor appears. Under the Features tab, there's a "Feature Categories" drop list. Scroll down in it to select the Format item. In the "Features" list, choose Paragraph Format.
  • Click on Add Button, then OK.
  • When you select text, the new button will be available.

Tips

• To customize the Property bars's appearance, location, font size, presence of a scroll bar, and/or the maximum number of rows/columns to show:
  • Right-click on the Property bar and choose Settings. Select the bar in the list if it isn't already selected. Click Options.
• To delete a button from the property bar (or a toolbar) when you are back in the document window, simply hold down the <Alt> key and drag the button off the bar.
• You can move or copy an existing button from one toolbar to another (assuming both are visible). To move it, hold down the <Alt> key while you drag the button to the other toolbar. To copy it, hold down the <Ctrl> and <Alt> keys while you drag it. [Most people probably will want to copy the button, not move it, so that the source toolbar remains the same.]
• From Roy ("lemoto") Lewis, a Corel C_Tech: "Another [idea] is to put your custom buttons on another Toolbar, which does not change with context. What I do is copy the WP Toolbar to a new one, and in the copy throw out the buttons I do not need and add buttons, built-in or custom, that I do want to use. ... Another reason to work this way is that Toolbars can be copied from one WP version to another and [property bars] cannot ([at least not] simply)."