Need a toolbar separate from the task bar

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Just upgraded from XP to 7. On my XP machine I could create a new toolbar, which would show up on my existing toolbar. But then, I could select it with the mouse and drag it to the top of the screen.
Thus I would have my standard tool bar and quicklaunch at the bottom of the screen, and a new toolbar with shortcuts to all my commonly used folders and documents on the toolbar at the top of the screen. This would allow me one click access to commonly used folders & docs.
In Windows 7 I can still create the new toolbar, but it shares real estate with the default windows toolbar, and when I populate it with all the shortcuts I use on a regular basis either I have to now make the toolbar double height or else click the little arrow that appears to access the hidden items.
This is a step backwards in usability for me.

Anyone know how to create an additional tool bar that can be docked seperately from the taskbar, just like XP allowed me to do?

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Anyone know how to create an additional tool bar that can be docked seperately from the taskbar, just like XP allowed me to do?

You cannot do this in Windows 7 without the use of some third party docking utility.

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In XP if you drag a folder to one of the edges (that does not contain the Taskbar) it also created the toolbar along that edge. I don’t know if it still works wti 7, but it’s worth a shot.

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Dragging a folder to edge of the desktop to create an independent toolbar does not work in Win 7.

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This function has been elliminated in Win 7. From what I read MS was concerned because so many people had problems doing this and caused so many calls to phone support that this was elliminated. You can still create additional toolbars. They will just be docked on the taskbar. It will look something like this:

Clicking on the >> near the toolbars (In my case Links and Shortcuts) opens a drop down (errr, drop up in this case) list which allows you to to choose one of the options. To add more links simply right click on the name and choose Open Folder, then drag a shortcut or URL or whatever into the window, then close. The shortcut or link will now appear when you click on >>.

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You can hide RocketDock under your existing taskbar. Mouse down to the taskbar and it will pop up. Populate it with whatever you wish.

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Another nice third party toolbar is StarDock’s Object Dock.

ObjectDock

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Anyone know how to create an additional tool bar that can be docked seperately from the taskbar, just like XP allowed me to do?

I do it as follows (same way I used to do it in XP):
1. make a new toolbar – in the bottom right of the screen (e.g. MyStuff, or whatever)
2. Create a data folder on your hard drive with the exact same name. In my case I created 3 sub folders for: Programs, Documents, and WebSites
3. In each subfolder create shortcut’s to whatever you might want to access frequently (data file, .exe file, web address, etc etc
Now if you click on the Toolbar name (bottom right of the screen) you will see (in my case) 3 names (of the 3 sub-folders you created), then click on any sub-folder name to see a vertical list of all the shortcuts in that sub-folder. When you are finished with the lists, just click on any unused area of the screen and the lists will dissappear, Just like in XP

Hope that works for you. Arthur

???

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I use Rocketdock and have found it to be a great solution. You can even adjust the size of the dock an dicons to take up less space. It docks to the top, bottom left or rights sides of the screen. I’ve even been able to use the MAC Leopard icons (my MAC using friend is very upset at me LOL). Very customizable with extra Docklets, like stacker!

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