I have MS Win XP Prof. Recently, I upgraded to MS Office 2003 Prof
(Enterprise Edition), and alas found out the OFFICE SHORTCUT TOOLBAR
is not included in this software.
Question: Is there a workaround to get that useful TOOLBAR to appear
in the MS Office 2003 environment?

Hi plt!!


Question: Is there a workaround to get that useful TOOLBAR to appear
in the MS Office 2003 environment?

I have some good news for you, there are several solutions proposed to
this "improvement" of the Office 2003 pack and two of them are the
most recommended (and I agree with the Office 2003 community criterion
about this).
Both solutions are quit simply and there are well documented on the net.

I guess that the OSB was removed from the Office 2003 pack due
security (compatibility troubles with certain antivirus) and
efficiency in the use of the system resources, the OSB normally launch
itself at the start up and uses much more system resources than the
solution proposed by Microsoft and the Office community. You can
easily do the same thing with the Quick Launch toolbar or a new
desktop toolbar. This feature is already in XP and doesn't take up
nearly as many resources as the one that came with Office.

So here is the best solution, without known troubles and fully customizable:
Use the QuickLaunch toolbar or make your own Office toolbar by
creating a desktop toolbar.
The first option simply involves the copy of Office shortcuts in the
QuickLaunch toolbar:
"Replacement of the Office Toolbar":
http://clientsupport.cc.stonybrook.edu/documents/QuickLaunchGuide.pdf


The second (for me the best one) involves the creation of a new Office toolbar:
"How To Set Up an Office 2003 Toolbar":(easier - normal toolbar)
http://sharepoint.agriculture.purdue.edu/agit/op_policy_procedures/FAQ/1.1.08%20How%20to%20Set%20Up%20an%20Office%202003%20Toolbar.pdf
or
"What?? No Office Shortcut Bar for Office 2003??":(harder - more featured toolbar)
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/Pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=327


The next option is great two, but implies the assuming of some risks
of minor compatibility troubles, but something is telling me that this
solution will be liked by you:
You just need to install a previous version of the OSB, it will work
fine, but you will possible experience some minor troubles and will
use system resources that not are used in the others solutions. to do
that do the following:
Run setup for the older version of Office and choose a custom install
and only install the toolbar.

Some documentation from microsoft about this topic (I strongly suggest
you to read them):
"Office Shortcut Bar is not included in Office 2003":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822573/en-us

"Frequently asked questions about the Office Shortcut bar and Office 2003":
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;830180

"The Office 2003 high color shortcut buttons do not appear correctly
on the Office XP Shortcut Bar":
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827719/en-us


Third party solutions are simply launchers that add a toolbar to your
desktop and/or modify the existing ones:
"Jet-Toolbar 3.0"
http://www.5star-shareware.com/Windows/Utilities/Launchers/jet-toolbar.html

"True Launch Bar - Superior replacement for standard Quick Launch":
http://www.truelaunchbar.com/


As a bonus I give you two short reviews that will help you with some
"upgrading to Office 2003" issues and to know which are the actual
improvements applied:
"Office 2003":
http://www.washington.edu/nebula/office03.html

"Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Edition - Review":
http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2410/2410article11.htm


Search strategy:
"OFFICE TOOLBAR" 2003 
"OFFICE TOOLBAR" 2003 replace
"OFFICE TOOLBAR" 2003 solution


I hope that this helps you. Feel free to request for a clarification
if you need it before rate this answer.

Best regards and good luck with your new (or old) Office toolbar!!
livioflores-ga

Excellent answer. Thoroughly satisfied. I will go with the recommended
New desktop toolbar, instead of the old OSB.
Thanks.