What Is the Drawing Toolbar?
The drawing toolbar was a feature in Microsoft Word that allowed users to draw and color shapes, add text effects and create text boxes within a Word document. Users could choose from pre-drawn shapes, add clip art or draw their own shapes. As of MS Word 2007 and in subsequent versions, most of the features of the drawing toolbar were integrated into the main header menu for ease of use.
The drawing toolbar offered users plenty of options to help make their Word documents colorful. Some of the options included:
- Draw
- Auto Shape
- Clip Art
- Text Box
- Arrow
- Shadow
- Oval
- Rectangle
- 3-D
To add a pre-drawn shape to a Word document using the drawing toolbar, simply click on the corresponding button of the shape to be used. Once the shape appears on the screen, its size can be easily manipulated to perfectly fit within a document. There are also buttons which provide the option of filling an object with color, or add text to a shape. It can also be used to to manipulate text to create interesting headers.
The entire toolbar can become a floating window simply by double-clicking on the control bar on the left side of the drawing toolbar. Then, users can move the toolbar where they need it. To place the toolbar back in its original position, simply click the grey bar at the top and drag it back into position.
