Lecter
06-30-2004, 02:30 PM
When you open a Open or Save As dialog box in Windows XP, you get a list of shortcuts to help you quickly pick a file location. By default, your options include Desktop, My Documents, My Computer, and My Network. If you happen to save the bulk of your data in a personal folder called something like Sarah's Extras, these shortcuts won't help you much. So, on tonight's 'Savers I'll show you how to customize these shortcuts to the paths of your choice.
Making changes in the Registry can really mess up your system if you do something wrong. Back it up before you even attempt to follow my instructions.
1. Click Start, Run, and type "regedit" (without quotation marks).
2. Navigate to the following string:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
3. Right-click on the Policies key folder and create a new key called Comdlg32.
4. Right-click on the Comdlg32 folder and create a new key called PlacesBar. If you minimize RegEdit at this point and open a Save As or Open dialog box, you'll see an empty left column. You can now add the shortcuts you want.
5. In your PlacesBar key folder, create new values with the names Place1, Place2, Place3, etc. for each of the paths you'd now like to point to. By default you have five placeholders, but you can use as many or as few shortcuts as you want.
Specify your paths
To specify your paths, you can either use built-in shortcuts or enter custom paths.
* Built-in shorctus
Choose a DWORD value (REG_DWORD) and use built-in shortcuts to the Value Data box. For example, right-click Value, choose Modify, and enter "00" for a Desktop shortcut. Or enter "27" for My Pictures. JSI FAQ has a full list of shortcut numbers to help you out.
* Custom paths
Right-click PlacesBar and choose String Value to enter custom paths in the value data section. For example, right-click Value, choose Modify, and enter your path into Value Data.
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Sarah's Extras
The order of your customized shortcuts is determined by Place1, Place2, etc with Place1 being the top spot in the column.
One more thing: In my experience, these steps apply to Windows 2000 as well.
Making changes in the Registry can really mess up your system if you do something wrong. Back it up before you even attempt to follow my instructions.
1. Click Start, Run, and type "regedit" (without quotation marks).
2. Navigate to the following string:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
3. Right-click on the Policies key folder and create a new key called Comdlg32.
4. Right-click on the Comdlg32 folder and create a new key called PlacesBar. If you minimize RegEdit at this point and open a Save As or Open dialog box, you'll see an empty left column. You can now add the shortcuts you want.
5. In your PlacesBar key folder, create new values with the names Place1, Place2, Place3, etc. for each of the paths you'd now like to point to. By default you have five placeholders, but you can use as many or as few shortcuts as you want.
Specify your paths
To specify your paths, you can either use built-in shortcuts or enter custom paths.
* Built-in shorctus
Choose a DWORD value (REG_DWORD) and use built-in shortcuts to the Value Data box. For example, right-click Value, choose Modify, and enter "00" for a Desktop shortcut. Or enter "27" for My Pictures. JSI FAQ has a full list of shortcut numbers to help you out.
* Custom paths
Right-click PlacesBar and choose String Value to enter custom paths in the value data section. For example, right-click Value, choose Modify, and enter your path into Value Data.
C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Sarah's Extras
The order of your customized shortcuts is determined by Place1, Place2, etc with Place1 being the top spot in the column.
One more thing: In my experience, these steps apply to Windows 2000 as well.