Using the Publisher Workspace

After you've begun a publication using either a specific template, the design sets, or by starting your new publication from scratch, you work with the various commands and features that enable you to edit and enhance the publication. Publisher provides you with several ways to access the commands and features you use as you work on your publications . You can access these commands using the menus on the menu bar and the buttons on the toolbars that Publisher supplies .

You can also access a number of Publisher commands using shortcut menus. These menus are accessed by right-clicking a particular document element. The shortcut menu appears with a list of commands related to the item you are currently working on, such as a word or paragraph.

The Publisher Menu Bar

The Publisher menu bar gives you access to all the commands and features that Publisher provides. As in all Windows applications, Publisher's menus are found below the title bar and are activated by clicking a particular menu choice. The menu then opens, providing you with a set of command choices.

To access a particular menu, follow these steps:

1. Select the menu by clicking its title (such as Insert ). The most recently used commands appear; wait just a moment for all the commands on a particular menu to appear.

2. Select the command on the menu that invokes a particular feature (such as Object ).

Full Menus at Once If you want to view all the commands available for the menu system, click the Tools menu, click Customize , and then click the Options tab on the Customize dialog box. To show all the commands on the menus, click the Always Show Full Menus check box. The figures in this book show the menus in Publisher with this option selected.

You will find that a number of the commands found on the menu are followed by an ellipsis (). When one of these commands is selected, either a dialog box or a task pane will open . In both cases, you have to provide Publisher with additional information to create a particular command or task.

Activating Menus with the Keyboard You can also activate a particular menu by holding down the Alt key and then pressing the keyboard key that matches the underscored letter in the menu's name . This underscored letter is called the hotkey. For instance, to activate the File menu in Publisher, you would press Alt + F .

Shortcut Menus

A fast way to access commands that are related to a particular document element is to hover the mouse pointer over a particular publication object, and then right-click. This opens a shortcut menu that contains commands related to the particular object you are working with.

Publisher Object Any element found in a publication, such as text, a graphic, a hyperlink, or other inserted item.

If you select an object such as clip art, for instance, or a drawn object such as a circle, right-clicking the selected object opens a shortcut menu with commands such as Cut, Copy, Paste, and other commands related to that particular object.

Publisher Toolbars

The Publisher toolbars provide you with a very quick and straightforward way of accessing commands and features. When you start a new publication, Publisher displays the Standard, Formatting, and Publisher toolbars (most of the buttons on the toolbars will not become active until you start a new publication). The Standard and Formatting toolbars reside under the Publisher menu bar. These toolbars provide you with easy access to commands such as Save and Open, or to formatting features such as bold, underline, and centering.

To access a particular command using a Standard or Formatting toolbar button, click the button. Depending on the command, you see an immediate result in your publication (such as the bolding or centering of a selected text object) or a dialog box appears, requesting additional information from you.

Finding a Toolbar Button's Purpose You can place the mouse pointer on any toolbar button to view a description of that tool's function.

The Objects toolbar is a special toolbar that allows you to add objects to a publication, such as text boxes and tables, and design elements, such as ovals and lines (see Figure 1.4). The Objects toolbar resides as a vertical toolbar on the left side of the Publication workspace.

Figure 1.4. The Objects toolbar allows you to quickly insert objects such as tables into a publication.