Created March 17, 2003 © Copyright SuzShook
Property of SuzShook
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This tutorial is my own creation;
however, most of the techniques used in this tutorial, I have learned from others.
Therefore, if you recognize any contribution you have made, I thank you.
And I thank you as well for respecting this as my work by not posting it,
in whole or in part,
in any other location without written permission from me.
Individuals and PSP graphics groups are invited to share my tutorials with others with TEXT LINKS ONLY.
You can e-mail me to let me know you are adding one or more of my tutorials to your list if you like -
it's always fun to know who is doing them.
This tutorial will teach you how to use some of the basic customization available in Paint Shop Pro 8 to change PSP's menus - how to add or remove commands, how to move items from one menu to another, how to create keyboard shortcuts for menu items, and how to create your own menus and submenus. Hope this tutorial helps you make your workspace work for you.
This tutorial assumes you are a relatively new user to Paint Shop Pro, Version 8, and is written in and for that version. Many screen shots in this tutorial are resized - your work will be larger than this.
Supplies - For this tutorial, you will need the following:
- Jasc's Paint Shop Pro 8 - you can get the 30-day trial version HERE.
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OK, now we're ready to begin. Grab your mouse and let's get started.
Remember to save often.
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STEP 1
Paint Shop Pro 8 gives the user almost total control over the program's toolbars and menus. You can move commands from menu to menu, add almost any command to a menu, add commands to toolbars and palettes, and even create your own custom menus and submenus. When you open the Customize dialog from the View menu, the entire Paint Shop Pro workspace transforms into customize mode. Your controls for customizing menus are the Commands, Menus, and Keyboard tabs of the Customize dialog.
To activate the Customize dialog:
- Choose View...Customize; or
- Right click on any toolbar and select Customize from the context menu.
To select which menu is displayed during this session, click the Menu tab. In the Application Frame Menus box, select an option from the Show Menus for drop-down list:
- Default - this set of commands displays when no images are open.
- Image - this set of commands displays when images are open.
- Browser - this set of commands displays when the Browser is the active window.
During this session, you will be able to either add commands to or remove commands from all visible menus. You can only activate one set of menus at a time.
For demonstration purposes in this tutorial, select the Default menu.
STEP 2
To remove an item from a menu
- Activate the Customize dialog.
- Activate the Menu from which you want to remove a command.
- Click the Command or item you want to remove.
- Drag the item to an area without any toolbars or menus - like into the workspace - and drop it.
- When you are done, click the CLOSE button.
Just for practice, let's remove the Recent Files item (a submenu) from the File menu. Don't worry, we'll put it back in the next step. Activate the File menu (red arrow), click the Recent Files submenu command (blue arrow), and drag into a free area (green arrow). The cursor will change to the ICON icon with an "x" -
. Release the mouse button anywhere while the icon has the "x", and the item is gone.
Click on File, then click
on the Recent Files submenuDrag it to an open
area on the workspaceDrop it by releasing
the mouse button.
Presto, that item has been removed from the File menu!
Note: An alternate method of removing a command from a menu is to right-click on the object you want to remove and choose Delete from the context menu.
STEP 3
To add a command to a menu:
- Activate the Customize dialog.
- Activate the Menu to which you want to add a command.
- Click the Commands tab of the Customize dialog.
- From the Categories list, select a category - PSP groups related commands into categories.
- From the Commands list, click and drag a command or icon to a menu, and drop it.
- When you are done, click the CLOSE button.
Note: The categories are listed according to the way the menus appear across the Menu Bar when you have an open image. Therefore, the File category is first, followed by Edit, then View, etc., followed by the remaining categories, tools, and context menus. The same logic is used in the Commands window - the commands are listed in the order in which they occur on the menus.Let's put that Recent Files submenu back on the File Menu. First of all, activate the File Menu. In the Categories list (red arrow), the File category is first. In the Commands list (blue arrow), scroll down until you find the Recent Files submenu command, and click on it:
When you press the mouse button, the cursor changes to the ICON icon
. Drag the Recent Files submenu command to the File Menu - move it around until the heavy I-bar is where you want it located - and drop it by releasing the mouse button.
Drag the Recent Files
command to the toolbarDrop it by releasing
the mouse button.
And there it is, right where it was before we removed it.
But there were separators before and after it before we deleted it, weren't there? Yes! So let's put them back in. To add separators between elements in a menu, right-click on any command and choose Start from the context menu. The separator will be inserted before (above) the command you selected (remove separators the same way - this is a toggle command). Since we need the separator below the Recent Files command, click on the Exit command to add the separator.
Adding Separator "Fixed" File Menu 
STEP 4
You can also move commands (or submenus) from one location to another, or from one menu to another. To do this:
- Activate the Customize dialog.
- Activate the Menu from which you want to move the command/submenu (source menu).
- Activate the Menu to which you want to move the command/submenu (target menu).
- If you are moving a command to a Menu, use the Menus tab to activate the correct Menu bar.
- Drag the command/icon from the source menu to the target menu or Menu Bar, and drop it
- When you are done, click the CLOSE button.
For example, just say you use the JPEG Optimizer ALL the time, and you hate going through 2 layers of menus to get to it. You could move it to the File menu so it's more readily accessible. This command shows up on the Image File menu, not the Default File menu. Use the Menus tab to activate the correct Menu Bar (see Step 1 above). Then activate the File menu, and then the Export submenu. Now drag JPEG Optimizer from the Export submenu (green arrow) to the File menu (red arrow) and drop it there:
If you want to leave the JPEG Optimizer on the Export submenu and include it on the File menu as well, then just find it in the commands list on the Command tab of the Customize dialog, and drag it from there, rather than from the submenu. I tend to use this latter method more frequently, so I still have things the way Jasc set them up, with my own "additions".
For now, let's move that command back to its submenu. Just grab it with your mouse and drag it back to the Export submenu, dropping it where it was, just above the GIF Optimizer. Good practice, huh.
Note: To COPY a command or submenu from one location to another, click on the item, and while pressing the CTRL key, drag the item to the new location.
STEP 5
If you run into trouble customizing your Menus, you can always reset them to the factory default settings. To reset your menus:
- Click the Menus tab.
- In the Application Frame Menus list, select the menu you want to reset from the Show Menus for drop-down list.
- Click the RESET button.
Remember, if you do this, you lose any customization you've done to ANY of the menus and submenus of that Menu Bar, so consider the implications of this action carefully before deciding to do it.
STEP 6
Here's the fun part - using the Customization dialog, you can easily create your own custom menus. To do this, on the Commands tab (red arrow), scroll down in the Categories window (blue arrow) until you find New Menu (green arrow), and click on it:
From the Commands window (yellow arrow), drag the New Menu command to the Menu Bar - you can put it anywhere you want. I left mine on the end.
To name your new menu (unless, of course, you want to call it "New Menu"!), right-click on the New Menu, and select Menu Text from the context menu:
This will open the Rename Menu Item dialog. Type a name for the new menu and click OK. If you want to assign a shortcut to your menu, so you can access it using ALT + letter, use the ampersand (&) before a letter of your text. I called my new menu SuzMenu, and I typed it in this way: S&uzMenu. I chose the "u" because the S is already used on the Menu Bar for Selections. Here's my new menu, right up there on the Menu Bar with the big boys, with a shortcut of ALT + U.
Now you can add the commands you want to your menu, setting it up just the way you want it. You can even add submenus. Just drag another New Menu to your menu, rename as above, and then add commands to it. Here's the SuzMenu, with a few of my favorite commands added, as well as a submenu:
You can add shortcut keys to menu items, including submenus. Select the menu item you want to assign a shortcut to and rename as above, inserting the ampersand before the letter you want to use as the shortcut. To get to the SuzSubMenu on my system, all I need to type is ALT + U and then S - that's it, I'm there.
If you want to add separators between the commands on your menu, do it the same way as in Step 3 above. When you are done building your toolbar, click CLOSE on the Customize dialog. Your customized menu is now part of the Menu Bar, and can be accessed just like any other menu.
Customization Note: I not only created my own SuzMenu, but I also added a few important submenus to both my Default and Image Menu Bars. For instance, I wanted the Recent Files submenu to be more accessible, so I dragged it to the Menu Bar. Same with the Modify submenu from the Selections Menu, the Enhance Photo submenu from the Photo Toolbar, and the Script submenu from the File menu. After I added all these to the Menu Bar, I used the Rename Menu Item dialog to rename them, shortening the names of a few, and using the ampersand to create keyboard shortcuts so I could use the ALT key to activate them quickly. Here's what the right end of the Menu Bar looks like on my system - I can access the Recent Files submenu (renamed to Recent) using ALT + R, the Modify submenu using ALT + M, the Enhance Photo submenu (renamed to Photo) using ALT + P, and the Script submenu using ALT + C. My system rocks (for me)!
STEP 7
Another thing you might want to do is to add keyboard shortcuts to menu commands. Several of the menu items already have keyboard shortcuts, but you might have a command you use all the time that you'd like to be able to access rapidly and easily. No problem - we can do that.
Note: Keyboard shortcuts are just a bit different from the shortcuts described in the last step. Those were navigational shortcuts, which allow you to rapidly access menus and submenus or commands within them. Keyboard shortcuts are even faster - they bypass the menus entirely. For example, let's take a look at the COPY command. You can activate that command in any of the following ways:
- Click on the Edit menu on the Menu Bar, and then click on the COPY command on that menu to copy the image to the clipboard; or
- Use the provided navigational shortcuts: ALT + E (the Edit menu appears), and then C to copy the image to the clipboard; or
- Use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + C - no menus appear at all, but the image is copied to the clipboard.
Method 1 is the longest and most cumbersome way to use this command - you have to move your mouse pointer to the Edit menu, then click, then move the mouse pointer to the COPY command, and click again. Method 2 is quicker - no mouse needed, just three quick keystrokes and you've copied the image, though the Edit menu does appear. This is exactly what we described in Step 6 above. Method 3 is clearly the quickest - no mouse movement, no menus, no nonsense. This is the method we're talking about in this step.
To add shortcut keys to menu items, or to change the shortcut keys already assigned, open the Customize dialog, and click on the Keyboard tab.
In the Set Accelerator for drop-down list (red arrow), select which application's shortcuts you want to assign - choose Browser for the Browser window, or Default for PSP's main workspace. We'll work with the Default application.
In the Category drop-down list (green arrow), select a category to find all commands within that category.
Note: Though the categories on this tab are in the same order as on the Commands tab, the commands listed in the Commands window on this tab are in alphabetical order within each category.Let's select the Adjust category, so we can add a keyboard shortcut to Add Noise on the customized SuzMenu I created. I use Noise all the time (I'm a regular noisemaker!), so I want a quick way to get to this dialog. Notice that as you scroll down through the tools, the currently assigned shortcut key appears in the Current Keys window. In this image, you can see that the Brightness/Contrst command has been assigned the keyboard shortcut Shift + B:
If there is no assigned key, that window is blank. Scroll back up to the top and the Add Noise command - note that the Current Keys window is blank. Move your cursor to the Press New Shortcut Key window, and type A. If the key you select is currently assigned, the current assignment will be listed below the window. As you can see, A is assigned to the Pan tool (red arrow).
If you want to reassign A to the Add Noise command, click on the ASSIGN button (blue arrow). If you want to leave the A as assigned, choose another letter and type in the box - don't try to erase the A with the DELETE key or the BACKSPACE key - this dialog will think you want to assign that key to the Add Noise command. Just type the new letter and it will replace the A - I finally chose N for the Noise command - that one's free. Click the ASSIGN button, and your new shortcut is ready for use. Continue in this way, assigning keyboard shortcuts to any of the commands on your customized menu, or on any of the menus.
When you are done building your toolbar, click CLOSE on the Customize dialog. Check out my new menu with the N key assigned to the Add Noise command:
To view all shortcut keys that have been assigned, including the ones you have assigned, choose Help...Keyboard Map to open the Help Keyboard dialog. In the Show Accelerator for drop-down list, pick which application's shortcuts you want to view - the choices are Browser or Default (PSP's main workspace). In the Category drop-down list, select a category, or select All Commands to list all commands at once. Click any column heading to sort alphabetically by that column. Finally, use the Print ICON to print the current category of shortcut keys.
STEP 8
You can also customize the Context menus using the Customize dialog - these are the menus that open when you right-click with a certain tool, or right-click over a certain area of the workspace. To activate a context menu for customization, open the Customize dialog, and then click the Menu tab (red arrow). From the Select context menu drop-down list (green arrow), choose a context menu. The context menu will display in the workspace. In this screenshot, I've activated the Toolbar Context Menu - the one you use to get into the Customize dialog (I've moved the context menu over onto the Customize dialog box to save space - yours will activate in the workspace):
Edit the context menus just like any other menu. Notice, too, that you can reset any of these context menus. So, if you decide you want to remove all your customization, just choose the Context Menu you want to reset from the Select context menu drop-down list, and click the RESET button.
That's about it. You have the tools now to build your own customized menus, or tailor the PSP menus to your personal specifications. Have fun, and use your new skills to make your workspace work for you. When you've finished setting up all your menus the way you want them, save your workspace (File...Workspace...Save). Then, if you ever need to reinstall or repair PSP, you can reload your customized workspace with all your settings intact, because the saved workspace "remembers" your menu, palette, and toolbar settings, location, and docking status.
If you'd like to learn how to create your own toolbars, or make changes to the PSP toolbars, try my Customizing Toolbars in PSP8 tutorial.
If you have any problems, comments, or questions, please do not hesitate to Email me.
Thank you, Camp Ratty, for this great honor!
