Saturday, October 12, 2002
Get more out of your NEW menu
Posted by Ed Hansberry in "ARTICLE" @ 10:59 PM
Many Pocket PC applications have a "New" menu in the lower left corner to create a new item, such as a document or record. The New menu is more powerful than that though, but it requires you to make a small change to the default settings. If you are a new user that would like to see how that works or even an experienced user that may not have tripped up on this setting, read on.
In Figure 1, you can see the default look and functionality of the New button. This example is in Pocket Word. Pressing it will simply create a new blank document.
Figure 1
To enhance the way the New button works, go to Start|Settings|Menus and select the New Menu tab as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
Simply check the "Turn on New button menu" box. While you are there, you can see all of the new types of documents and items you can create. Some come with the Pocket PC, like Task, E-mail and Excel Workbook. Others like Pocket Mindmap or Alarm Note come from third party applications. You can check those items you frequently use to create new items and uncheck those that you rarely use to keep the menu size manageable. Once you are done, press the "OK" button.
Now go back to Pocket Word. Notice how the New menu in Figure 3 has changed?
Figure 3
There is now an up arrow next to the New button. Pressing the New button will perform as it always has - add a new document or item in the app that you are in. However, pressing the up arrow will give you a menu. From here you can either add a new application specific template or a new item from another app.
The items in the red square show the templates loaded on my Pocket PC. Pocket Word comes with a few defaults. You can add your own by simply creating a document and then saving it in the Templates folder as a normal document.
The items in the green square are the items in other applications. Tapping those will bring up a blank item. So, from within Word, you can quickly add an appointment without having to launch Calendar. When you are done with the appointment and press OK, you will be back in Word. From within Calendar, you can quickly fire off an email to remind someone about a meeting and after pressing Send, you'll be back in Calendar reviewing your schedule.
This tip works in all Pocket PC and Pocket PC 2002 devices.
In Figure 1, you can see the default look and functionality of the New button. This example is in Pocket Word. Pressing it will simply create a new blank document.
Figure 1
To enhance the way the New button works, go to Start|Settings|Menus and select the New Menu tab as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2
Simply check the "Turn on New button menu" box. While you are there, you can see all of the new types of documents and items you can create. Some come with the Pocket PC, like Task, E-mail and Excel Workbook. Others like Pocket Mindmap or Alarm Note come from third party applications. You can check those items you frequently use to create new items and uncheck those that you rarely use to keep the menu size manageable. Once you are done, press the "OK" button.
Now go back to Pocket Word. Notice how the New menu in Figure 3 has changed?
Figure 3
There is now an up arrow next to the New button. Pressing the New button will perform as it always has - add a new document or item in the app that you are in. However, pressing the up arrow will give you a menu. From here you can either add a new application specific template or a new item from another app.
The items in the red square show the templates loaded on my Pocket PC. Pocket Word comes with a few defaults. You can add your own by simply creating a document and then saving it in the Templates folder as a normal document.
The items in the green square are the items in other applications. Tapping those will bring up a blank item. So, from within Word, you can quickly add an appointment without having to launch Calendar. When you are done with the appointment and press OK, you will be back in Word. From within Calendar, you can quickly fire off an email to remind someone about a meeting and after pressing Send, you'll be back in Calendar reviewing your schedule.
This tip works in all Pocket PC and Pocket PC 2002 devices.
