With the release of MS Project 2003, Microsoft thought they were doing us a favor by introducing a new option to the tool. This option by default is set to "only show the full menus after a short delay". This may have sounded like a good idea, but in reality, it limits our learning of all the other features the tool can do. Here is an example; say when I am working with the tool, I frequently need to change the working time on my projects. Using the default options, when I click on Tools, here is what I see:
Only a few options! To see all the options under the Tools menu, I either need to wait a few seconds for them to be displayed, or I must click on the double down arrows. In my opinion, not showing the full menu immediately, limits our ability to learn other things that the tool can do.
With the option turned on to "Always show full menus", this is what we would see:
Notice how many more options are now displayed. I may have only clicked on the Tools menu to change working time, but now I get to see that there is also an option to Import Outlook Tasks. I may not need to do that today, tomorrow, or any time soon, but if the need arises in the future, I will know that is possible using the product.
How to "Always show full menus"To turn on the option to "Always show full menus", click on >View, >Toolbars, >Customize
A dialogue box will be displayed. Now click on the >Options tab and enable "Always show full menus"
