I need the drawing tool - bar help!

Dr. Logic

Board Regular
Joined
Jul 13, 2005
Messages
218
I have been using 2007 for about a year now and I'm not really sure it's an improvement (yet). Some stuff is nice, but:

I really really really miss the drawing toolbar.

Now i'm in the middle of a project and I want to start doing some cool shadow boxes and lines and other stuff.

I'M STARTING WITH A BLANK SPREAD SHEET so PLEASE don't tell me to start by clicking on some drawing image to get to the tool bar! I got no images to click on! (Also, I find it really annoying that I must click on a drawing image to make the drawing image tools appear! How do you START making a drawing image!!?? HOW LAME!).

I really wish Bill Gates would have talked to me before he pulled the trigger on this one.

Is there any way to get the drawing tools to show on the ribbon?

Or is there a shortcut to it I can create??

HELP!
 
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Excel Facts

Select all contiguous cells
Pressing Ctrl+* (asterisk) will select the "current region" - all contiguous cells in all directions.
I have been using 2007 for about a year now and I'm not really sure it's an improvement (yet). Some stuff is nice, but:

I really really really miss the drawing toolbar.

Now i'm in the middle of a project and I want to start doing some cool shadow boxes and lines and other stuff.

I'M STARTING WITH A BLANK SPREAD SHEET so PLEASE don't tell me to start by clicking on some drawing image to get to the tool bar! I got no images to click on! (Also, I find it really annoying that I must click on a drawing image to make the drawing image tools appear! How do you START making a drawing image!!?? HOW LAME!).

I really wish Bill Gates would have talked to me before he pulled the trigger on this one.

Is there any way to get the drawing tools to show on the ribbon?

Or is there a shortcut to it I can create??

HELP!
Not exactly sure what you are asking but see if any of these help.

1. You can access the drawing shapes by clicking on the 'Insert' tab then on the drop-down under 'Shapes'

2. You can save one click by adding the drawing shapes to the Quick Access Toolbar as follows..
Click on the Insert tab now right click on the large 'Shapes' icon and choose 'Add to Quick Access Toolbar'

You should now have an extra icon on your Quick Access Toolbar from which you can choose a shape.

You asked about getting the drawing tools to show on the ribbon. I don't believe you can, and in any case I couldn't imagine that adding about 180 drawing shapes to the ribbon would really be very good?
 
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Thanks for the suggestion - I still can not find the shadow boxes -

I do wish I could get to all the drawing options in one spot - but it just does not seem to be there.
 
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I can't get the shadows to work - I add the add shadow to the option tool bar (the custome one) but it does nothing to the cells I select.

This part of excel is really a poor design. The old version was a lot better for making nice graphics in your spreadsheets.

Microsoft seems to be forcing thier own "canned" styles and I guess they don't like the creativity of invividual users to make thier own graphics style.

Too bad.

There are a LOT of drawing options not available in the ribbion.
 
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I can't get the shadows to work - I add the add shadow to the option tool bar (the custome one) but it does nothing to the cells I select.
Aren't you trying to add a shadow to a shape rather than a cell? In earlier versions you would...
1. Add a shape to your sheet, then
2. Use the 'Shadow Style' option on the drawing toolbar, then
3. Click the 'Shadow Style' icon again and choose 'Shadow settings' to fine-tune the position, size etc of the shadow.

In Excel 2007...
1. Add the shape (eg rectangle) as I think you have now done. Your shape should still be selected and a new 'Format' Ribbon should have appeared
2. You should find a 'Shape effects' drop-down from which you can choose your shadow.
3. Clicking the 'Shape effects' drop-down again and hovering over 'Shadow' lets you choose 'Shadow options..' where there are many more options to deal with the shadow than you had before.

So its actually a fairly similar process to previous versions.


There are a LOT of drawing options not available in the ribbion.
I'm not trying to defend Excel 2007 (or Bill Gates) as I don't much like it either. However, I think you are wrong in that I believe there are many more drawing options in Excel 2007, they can just be hard to find until you get used to them.
 
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No, you have that wrong - in earlier versions you would add the shadow to the CELL.

That made things a lot eisier because it was a one click deal

Click on the cell and hit the shadow command - POW, the cell now has a shadow.

AND you can SEE the CONTENTS of the cell!

If you create an object FIRST it's going to cover up the contents of the cell.

Then you need to go into the properties and screw around with trancparencies and all kinds of junk AND it does not change size with you cell so when your data gets longer you need to redo EVERYTHING (Really dumb).

Bill Gates really screwed up this one.
 
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No, you have that wrong - in earlier versions you would add the shadow to the CELL.
Yes, I mis-interpreted your question. And yes, shadows directly on cells has been removed in Excel 2007 - not sure why. :cry:

If you create an object FIRST it's going to cover up the contents of the cell.

Then you need to go into the properties and screw around with trancparencies and all kinds of junk...
Yep, you would certainly have to fiddle, but not with transparencies as such, just set 'No Fill'


... AND it does not change size with you cell so when your data gets longer you need to redo EVERYTHING
Shouldn't need to do that bit. Right click the shape|Size and properties|Properties tab|Move and size with cells.
 
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The only solution I could find was to download an add in that some guy had written a little VB code for.

If you go into Google and ask:

How do I add shadows to a cell in excel 2007?

You will get this persons blog post and he was particularly trying to use the shadows on chart features - but also wanted to convert the 2003 shadows to appear in 2007.

(That's another really STUPID drawback to 2007 - it can't even interpret the shadows created in 2003!)

Microsoft has a long history of taking away popular features for no reason.

It's obvious the Ribbon Concept is a redesign to make excel eisier for beginners and less complicated with large cartoony like buttons and icons forcing the use of only selective options and making the program much harder for advanced users.

I really likes to creat my own graphics. My spreadsheets are popular due to my unique creative way I present the data with special shadows and colors and borders - but now Microsoft wants everyone to look the same by using only thier "canned styles" or themes. I think that part of the new program is the biggest dissapoinment. Obviously, they want to push some degree of uniformity in the look of thier product.

Why don't we just go back to Lotus?
 
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