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How to change those default
"audiocassette" icons on toolbar buttons after assigning
macros to them
Note: To assign
macros to toolbar buttons, see here.
Note: The procedures described here do not directly work
in WordPerfect 10.0.0.663
(the version is shown in Help, About...),
also known as WP10/SP2. (See footnote below
about updating this version of WP10.) |
There are several methods you can use to
customize a toolbar button's image (i.e., the icon on the button).
The basic (simple) method
- Right-click on the toolbar with the button
you want to change;
- choose Edit from the context menu; this brings
up the Toolbar Editor dialog;
- while the Toolbar Editor is on screen,
- either right-click
the button you want to edit and choose Customize,
- or simply double-click
the button;
- the Customize Button dialog appears; click
Edit and the Image Editor appears.
- To use the Image Editor in its basic, default
way to edit button graphics -
- Click the Single pixel radio button (or the
brush icon in later versions of WordPerfect) in the Drawing mode
area of the Image Editor dialog to change the graphic image one
square (pixel) at a time, or click the Fill whole area button
(or paint bucket image) to change larger areas of one color to
another color.
- Click the color you want in the color palette,
then click on a square in the zoomed image area to change the
color to your chosen color.
- You can click Undo to reverse your last change
or Clear to erase the entire graphic.
- Click Copy if you want to copy the current
image to the Clipboard. Click Paste to insert the current Clipboard
contents into the Image Editor.
- Click OK until you get back to the main document
screen.
You can use these rudimentary tools to create
your own icon image from scratch or edit an existing icon to
add something (or some color) to make it different from other
button images.
Advanced methods
Method 1. "Borrow"
an existing icon image from another WordPerfect feature or from
another (existing) toolbar button, and then customize it for
your new button.
Since WordPerfect is full of features
that you can add to a toolbar with the Toolbar Editor's Features
tab ("Activate a Feature" button in WP6x), these
already have predrawn icons associated with them. You can copy
any of these images to your macro's toolbar button and modify
them if desired. This is done by temporarily adding one of these
WP features to the toolbar so that you can get at its icon. (You
can delete the temporary button/feature later.)
Or, if you already have a toolbar button that
will serve as a basis for a new icon, you can copy the image
to a new button. The toolbar button can even be on a different
version of WordPerfect installed on your computer.
- Step 1. Right click the toolbar or property
bar you want to edit, then select Edit from the list. This brings
up the Toolbar Editor. (The Editor will work only on the toolbar
or property bar that you choose by right-clicking it.)
- Step 2.
- Alternative 1: To copy an image from a WP
feature: Scroll through the Feature Categories in the
Toolbar Editor, and use your mouse to click on various features
in the drop down list below each category. You'll see the associated
icon displayed below the Features list. When you see one that
looks useful, click the Add Button to add that button/feature
to the toolbar. It should immediately appear at the end of the
last row of your toolbar's buttons.
- Alternative 2:.To copy an image from another
toolbar button, skip this step and go to Step 3.
- Step 3. With the Toolbar Editor still open,
right click the desired "source" button and select
Customize to bring up the Customize Button dialog box.
- Click Edit to bring up the Image Editor.
- Click Copy to copy the icon to the Windows
clipboard.
- Exit the Image Editor for that icon (click
Cancel twice until you get back to the Toolbar Editor).
- Step 4.
- If you have used Step 2/Alternative 1: Delete
the new, temporary button from the toolbar by right clicking
it and choosing Delete. (The icon image is still on the clipboard.)
- If you have used Step 2/Alternative 2: Skip
this step and go to Step 5. (The icon image is still on the clipboard.)
- Step 5. Now you can customize your new icon.
- Right click the "target" button,
select Customize, and click the Edit button. This brings up the
Image Editor dialog.
- Click the Clear button to delete the default
audiocassette image, and immediately click Paste to insert the
newly copied icon. You can then fill the image's sections with
different colors and/or add something to it to make it stand
out on your toolbar.
- When done, click OK twice to exit back to
the Toolbar Editor.
- While the Toolbar Editor is still on screen,
you can drag and drop the new button to another location on your
toolbar by left-clicking it and holding the left mouse button
down.
- Close the Toolbar Editor with the OK button
to save your work and return to the main document window.
Note: To
delete a toolbar icon from the main doucument window, you
can simply hold down the Alt key while you drag the icon from
the toolbar.
Method 2. Use
images that already exist as 16x16-pixel GIF images. GIF
images are very common, and many free ones are found on some
Internet sites. (See, for example, Method 5.)
Method 3a. Use
any 16x16-pixel bitmap icons (i.e., files that end in
.BMP).
- Step 1. Open Microsoft Paint (which comes
free with Windows), with Start>Programs>Accessories>Paint.
- Step 2. In MS Paint, click Image>Attributes.
Set the image width and height to 16 (set Units=pixels, Colors=Colors).
Click OK.
- Step 3. On the Paint menu, click Edit>Paste
From. Select the image file, and click Open. The image should
appear in Paint as a tiny image in the work area. You can use
View>Zoom>Custom>800 to enlarge it.
- Step 4. Click Edit>Select All to select
the entire icon image. Then click Edit>Copy (or use Ctrl+C)
to copy the icon image to the Windows clipboard. If you are going
to use more than one image in WP, click Edit>Clear Selection
to clear the current image from MS Paint.
- Step 5. Minimize the MS Paint program, and
go into WordPerfect.
- Step 6. Right click the appropriate WordPerfect
toolbar, then choose Edit from the context menu that appears.
Next, right click on the icon you want to change, then choose
Customize, then click the Edit button. The Image Editor should
now be on screen.
- Step 7. Click the Clear button in the Image
Editor to remove the exusting icon image, then click Paste to
insert the new image. (Some images at this point will be very
blurry and "pixelated"; the Image Editor shows a Preview
of what the icon will look like on the toolbar button.) Make
any changes to any pixels, the click OK until you are back to
the main WordPerfect screen.
- Repeat steps #3 through #7 for other icon
images you want to use.
Method 3b. Use
larger images of various types that are first reduced
to 16x16-pixels.
With a free, online conversion tool (on an
unrelated web site here)
you can use almost any existing image on your computer -- a bitmap
(BMP), a GIF image, and even a JPEG image (e.g., a digital picture
or photo) if its file size on disk is not too large -- to create
a 16x16-pixel icon image.
Be aware that not all such large, original
images will be suitable to turn into a toolbar icon. For example,
complex landscape images probably will not be particularly useful
because they have too many details, but you can use such things
as a close-up photo of your face or a simple high-contrast picture.
32x32-pixel BMP and GIF icon images are often very useful since
you already have an idea what they will look like when reduced
in size. Many corporate logos will work well if they are relatively
simple and square-shaped. Experimentation is the key here.
If you want to use .JPG (JPEG) files -- a
photo or other JPEG image -- you might want to crop a copy of
the image into a roughly square shape first, since toolbar icons
are square. There is no need to resize them at this point, since
this can be done easily and automatically on the Internet with
the following tool. Almost every image editing program has a
cropping tool.
As noted, a free interactive tool is
available on the Internet to reduce the image to toolbar-icon
size, maintaining a rough semblance of the original. It was originally
created to convert such images into "favicons" -- those
small icons you sometimes see next to some web site addresses
(i.e., URLs) in your browser's address field -- but it can also
be used to create toolbar-size GIF images, which, in turn, can
be quickly turned into a toolbar icon.
Here's how:
- Go to "FavIcon from Pics" - http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/.
- Next to the "Source Image" field,
use the Browse button to locate the folder on your computer that
contains the image to use, and choose it. Its name should appear
in that field. (Only a copy is made; no changes are made to the
original image on your computer.)
- Be sure to click the box, "Animate Favicon." In addition to a couple
of favicon.ico images, this will create an animated GIF image.
For our purposes we need just the first "frame" of
the animated image, which is very easy to retrieve using the
next steps.
- Click "Generate FavIcon.ico." After
the Preview area shows the new favicon -- which might take several
seconds, depending on the size of the image -- click "Download
FavIcon." A ZIP file will appear on your system in the location
you specify.
- Extract the files from the downloaded ZIP
file to a convenient folder. Tip: Download to a subfolder
such as one under the My Documents folder. Reason: The extracted
ZIP will create another subfolder ("\extra") under
the first folder; this is where the animated GIF file is located.
This file, "animated_favicon1.gif" is the only file
you need in the next steps (below). As an animated GIF it is
comprised of several GIF images layered together. The procedure
below will automatically select only the top layer, which is
the original image and the one you want for your toolbar icon.
- Open this "animated_favicon1.gif"
file with Microsoft Paint (which comes free with Windows) and
simply follow Steps 1 - 7 in Method 3a above. (Tip: You can simply
right-click the GIF file and choose Open With>Paint. Then
start with Step 4 in Method 3a above.)
Method 4. You
can use an image editing program such as Paint Shop Pro
or Corel Presentations to convert an image in another format
(e.g., BMP) to a 16x16 GIF image.
Tips:
From Roy Lewis, Corel C_Tech (11/23/04):
"The basic idea is to create toolbar
icons from program (and other large) icons, which are 32x32 pixels.
Presentations can resize them by a roundabout route, and when
it then Resamples the now smaller icon it seems to do some anti-aliasing
as well. I found the results attractive. Tested in 9 and 12."
Download
a small ZIP file (IconNew.zip) with
instructions and an example graphic (.WPG) image.
Here's another tip from Roy Lewis, posted
on the Corel WP9 newsgroup, about using Corel Presentations to
edit the icon's bitmap image. In reply to the question, "Is
there any way of accessing more colors from a color pallet than
the ones supplied?" Roy answered:
- Right-click the WP Tool-/Property Bar. Choose
Edit. Then -
- Right-click an icon: Customize|Edit|Copy
to copy the icon's image to the clipboard. Cancel out of all
dialogs
- Open Presentations (you can get there from
within WP, but this is the way I go):
- Load Presentations. Click File|New from Project|Presentations
Drawing|Create
- Click on Edit|Paste. Right-click the icon
and choose Edit, then View|Zoom
- Now you have a bitmap of the correct size
which you can edit as you wish
- Format|Object Properties|Fill sets the default
colour
- (Try experimenting with the Fill Pattern
button on the left of the screen, and "paint" the "background"
of the icon with it.)
- When happy, File|Close bitmap editor
- Select the icon|Copy [and then exit from
Presentations]
- Back in WP, repeat the first two steps above,
but, instead of Copy, choose Paste. [OK] out from the dialogs.
- To get a good start for a new icon, click
your way into Edit as above, then fuddle through the various
predrawn button icons (by clicking on the various items under
File, Edit, and so on) until you find one that a) has a suitable
icon and b) is not one you are about to use. Click Add Button.
Right-click the new Button. Click Image-Edit. Click Copy. Now
Paste it either in Presentations for modification, or directly
to a button, as above.
- For your starting icon, you can collect an
icon from any application with similar size icons [16x16 pixels],
Corel or not.
- If you find that what should be transparent
is not, then do the usual Edit Toolbar|Customize [button]|Edit
and use the grey colour just above the word color - not the green
which is on the same text line as the word color:
Method 5. You
can use some of the author's custom (GIF)
icons by simply copying and pasting them into WordPerfect
according to the instructions given on the WPicons
page.
Method 6. WORDPERFECT 10/SP2 USERS (but it works
for earlier versions, too): Corel introduced
a problem in Service Pack 2 (i.e., WP version 10.0.0.663) that
caused an inability to edit the default icon on toolbar buttons.
Here's a tip for a workaround from a user ("Re Silient")
on the Corel WP10 newsgroup:
Note that you can drag-and-drop a shortcut
from your Windows desktop to the toolbar or a property bar. (To
remove it later, just hold down the <Alt> key and drag
the icon from the toolbar or property bar.) You can use this
little-known fact to create a custom icon for a shortcut
that plays a macro, then drag it to your WP toolbar or property
bar.
- Create a new custom icon (or modify an old
one to customize it) in MS Paint, IconEdit, or similar program,
or use an icon image library to obtain one;
- create a new shortcut on your desktop to
the WP macro on your disk that you want to add to your WP toolbar
or property bar;
- use the Change Icon button in the shortcut's
Properties (right-click the shortcut and select Properties) to
change the icon to the new custom icon;
- drag-and-drop the modified shortcut to your
toolbar or property bar. You can reposition it by holding down
the <Alt> key and drag it with your mouse to a new location
(or, as mentioned, you can drag if from the toolbar to delete
it).
- Note: The problem with editing
icons has been fixed in WP10/SP3 (version 10.0.0.719), released
on 09/18/02.
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Footnote
The procedures described above
do not directly work in WordPerfect 10.0.0.663 (the version is shown in Help,
About...), also known as WP10/SP2.
As one C_Tech on the Corel WP10 newsgroup
said: "This is a known problem with the WP10/SP2 version.
You can copy the toolbars back to a WPWin9 template file, then
edit them in WPWin9. Finally copy back to WPWin10. Only known
solution at present."
From Charles Rossiter, a Corel C_Tech:
"Copy your WPWin10 template file to the
same location as the WPWin9 template file. Launch WPWin9. Do
Tools, Settings, Customize. With the Toolbar tab showing, click
Copy. In the top little window, select your WPWin10 template.
In the bottom little window, select the WPWin9 template. In the
middle window, select the toolbar to be edited. Click Copy. Now
activate the toolbar, edit the buttons. Then reverse the copy
procedure."
For an alternative method involving the use
of desktop shortcuts, see Method 6 above.
To update WP10.0.0.663 to
the latest version (WP10/sp4):
Download and install Service
Pack 3 and Service
Pack 4 in the listed
order. You will have a much improved program in several areas.
These are very large files
and it would be better if you have a broadband connection. If
you prefer, you may call Corel in North America at 1-800-77COREL
and they will send you replacement disks that include SP3 for
a small shipping charge. The disks are worth having even if you
download the patches.
Corel has stated that SP4
is not available on disk. It must be downloaded.
After installing SP3 you will
have build 10.0.0.719. After installing SP4 you will have build
10.0.0.990.
(Thanks to "Chris D"
on the Corel WP10 newsgroup for this tip.) |
Barry MacDonnell's