Shortcuts

Creating Shortcuts

Windows 98 enables you to create shortcuts. A shortcut is a link to an object that enables you to access that object more quickly. Shortcuts are similar to program icons in Windows 3.x, but shortcuts differ in that you can create them for any object on your system, including programs, files, documents, networked objects, and even hardware devices. You might provide a shortcut to your spreadsheet application, such as Excel for Windows, that you can double-click to start the application, for example. You also might create a shortcut to a specific document, such as a Word 97 document. If Word is not open when you double-click the document shortcut, the shortcut opens Word and loads your linked spreadsheet.

You can distinguish shortcuts from other items on the desktop, such as folders, by the small, arcing arrow on the icon. This denotes that the icon is linked to an object that you can start or open by double-clicking the icon.

Tip
Another place where you can embed shortcuts is inside a document or email message. When the recipient opens the document or message, he or she can double-click the shortcut to open the associated object.

You can add shortcuts to your desktop, on the Quick Launch toolbar, or in a folder so that you can quickly access them as you work. The next two sections show you how to add and delete shortcuts to and from your desktop.

Adding Shortcuts to Your Desktop

Windows 98 provides a few ways to add shortcuts to your desktop. You can stay on the desktop to create a shortcut, or you can use Explorer or My Computer to drag and drop objects to the desktop.

To create a shortcut using the desktop context-sensitive menu, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click anywhere on your desktop. The context-sensitive menu appears.
  2. Choose New, Shortcut. The Create Shortcut Wizard appears.
  3. In the Command Line field, type the path and filename of the object for which you want to create a shortcut.

    4. Tip
    Click Browse to navigate your system for a specific object name and location. By default, Windows 98 displays only programs. You can locate any file or object by selecting All Files from the Files of Type drop-down listbox. Select the object you want, and click Open.

  4. Click Next. The Select a Title for the Program dialog box appears.
  5. In the Select a Name for the Shortcut field, enter a name for the new shortcut. Windows 98 provides a default name that is the same as the filename of the object. You can use this name or type over it to create your own. Changing the shortcut name does not alter the original filename.

    6. Note
    When you create a shortcut name, you can use up to 256 characters.

  6. Click Finish.

Windows places your new shortcut on the desktop. You can move the icon on the desktop, rename it, or delete it.

Another way to create a shortcut is to use Explorer or My Computer to drag objects onto the desktop. This is the quickest way to create several shortcuts at once. Use the following steps to create a shortcut using Explorer:

  1. Open Explorer to the folder that contains the file or object you want to set up as a shortcut.
  2. Right-click the item you want as a shortcut and drag the item to the desktop. Press Shift while clicking items to select multiple items; press Ctrl while clicking items to select multiple, noncontiguous items. Release the mouse button and choose Create Shortcut Here from the context-sensitive menu.

Windows creates a shortcut to the object you selected.

Note
To create a shortcut to a printer, choose Start, Settings, Printers. In the Printers folder, right-click the printer to which you want to create a shortcut and drag the printer icon onto the desktop. Then choose Create Shortcut(s) Here. Now you can drag files from Explorer or the desktop on top of the printer shortcut to print your documents.

Changing Shortcut Properties

You can view or change the properties of a shortcut by right-clicking the shortcut and choosing Properties. In the Shortcut Properties dialog box that appears, select the Shortcut page. Here, you can change the icon, what kind of window it appears in, or the key combinations used to start it.

The icon that appears when you create a shortcut might not suit your needs. Or, you might have a difficult time seeing it against the desktop wallpaper. You can change the icon by clicking Change Icon in the Shortcut Properties dialog box and scrolling through the Current Icon list in the Change Icon dialog box until you find an icon you like. Click the icon and click OK. In the Shortcut Properties dialog box, click Apply. The shortcut's icon changes to the one you selected.

Tip
Click the Browse button to find other icons on your computer. One file that contains additional icons is the MORICONS.DLL file in the \Windows folder.

Another setting you can change for your shortcuts is the keyboard combination that activates or switches to the shortcut. In the Shortcut Key box in the Shortcut Properties dialog box, enter the keyboard shortcut you want to use. You can use this key combination in any Windows application to start or switch to the shortcut's application. You might want to assign Ctrl+Shift+W to start Word for Windows, for example.

Caution
You cannot use the key combination you set up with the preceding instructions in any other application or feature in Windows 98. The Windows 98 shortcut key combination overrules all other settings you already have set.

Note
The Shortcut Properties settings also include an option to set the way in which the shortcut item opens. In the Run drop-down listbox, you can select Normal, Minimized, or Maximized. Normal displays the window sized as you last used it, Minimized opens the object and places it on the taskbar in a minimized state, and Maximized displays the object in a maximized window.

Deleting Shortcuts

Shortcuts placed on the desktop are a handy way to start items you use frequently. Through the course of a week, if you add a shortcut for each file, application, or device you use, your desktop might start getting cluttered. Even though the resource requirements of shortcuts are minimal, they can add up after a while. If you find yourself being hampered by the number of shortcuts you have set up, delete a few. You can delete shortcuts in several ways. The quickest way is to click the shortcut and press Delete. Answer Yes to the confirmation box that appears. Another way to delete a shortcut is to right-click a shortcut and choose Delete. Again, answer Yes to confirm the operation.

Folders

Adding Folders to Your Desktop

Although you can add a shortcut to a folder on the desktop, you also can create a folder that exists on the desktop. You might want to place a folder on the desktop that contains all your business-related documents — memos, faxes, spreadsheets, and databases — so that you can open one folder to access all of them.

To add a folder to the desktop, follow these steps:

  1. Right-click anywhere on the desktop.
  2. From the context-sensitive menu, choose New, Folder. A new folder appears on the desktop.
  3. Name the folder and double-click it to add items to it.
  4. In the new folder, choose File, New, Shortcut to add shortcuts to the folder. Or, choose File, New, Folder to add a folder within the folder.