How can I make Office 2003 Desktop & Toolbar icons brighter & sharper?

In Office 97 the Desktop and Toolbar icons for WORD and EXCEL are brightly
colored and sharp.

In Office 2003 the Desktop and Toolbar icons' colors are soft and pastel and
the icon images have a matte finish (having little or no contrast).

Since there are now 37 of us that use Office 2003 that are over 55 and our
vision is not what it was when we were 18, it would be nice to have icons and
other visual artifacts in Office that are easy to discern. (Or did I miss
the point that this is really an eye test?)

So, are there options and/or settings that I can use to get Office 2003, and
ONLY Office 2003, Desktop and Toolbar icons more brightly colored and sharper?

I agree with your assessment (and I'm pushing 60 myself, so I guess it
is an age thing) -- the icons in Office have been getting
progressively difficult to distinguish with each version. That trend
continues in Word 2007. Unfortunately, the answer is no, there isn't
any "sharpen" setting in any version.

When you display the Tools > Customize dialog, you can right-click any
button and replace its icon with another. Go to
http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Custom...ttonImages.htm and
download FaceID.zip, which contains a template containing all the
icons from Office 2000. You can use them to replace their fuzzy
cousins in 2003. Be warned that there are a lot of them. :-)

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

On Thu, 2 Nov 2006 14:54:01 -0800, unhappycamper
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>How can I make Office 2003 Desktop & Toolbar icons brighter & sharper?
>
>In Office 97 the Desktop and Toolbar icons for WORD and EXCEL are brightly
>colored and sharp.
>
>In Office 2003 the Desktop and Toolbar icons' colors are soft and pastel and
>the icon images have a matte finish (having little or no contrast).
>
>Since there are now 37 of us that use Office 2003 that are over 55 and our
>vision is not what it was when we were 18, it would be nice to have icons and
>other visual artifacts in Office that are easy to discern. (Or did I miss
>the point that this is really an eye test?)
>
>So, are there options and/or settings that I can use to get Office 2003, and
>ONLY Office 2003, Desktop and Toolbar icons more brightly colored and sharper?

Jay: You expressed the problem much better than I did: "the icons in Office
have been getting progressively difficult to distinguish with each version.".
I find the same issue with Windows XP. And I am only running my Sony
Trinitron at 800 x 600 resolution. Thank you for pointing out where I can
get the Office 2000 icons.

an unhappycamper

"Jay Freedman" wrote:

> I agree with your assessment (and I'm pushing 60 myself, so I guess it
> is an age thing) -- the icons in Office have been getting
> progressively difficult to distinguish with each version. That trend
> continues in Word 2007. Unfortunately, the answer is no, there isn't
> any "sharpen" setting in any version.
>
> When you display the Tools > Customize dialog, you can right-click any
> button and replace its icon with another. Go to
> http://www.word.mvps.org/FAQs/Custom...ttonImages.htm and
> download FaceID.zip, which contains a template containing all the
> icons from Office 2000. You can use them to replace their fuzzy
> cousins in 2003. Be warned that there are a lot of them. :-)
>
> --
> Regards,
> Jay Freedman
> Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
> Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
> newsgroup so all may benefit.
>
> On Thu, 2 Nov 2006 14:54:01 -0800, unhappycamper
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >How can I make Office 2003 Desktop & Toolbar icons brighter & sharper?
> >
> >In Office 97 the Desktop and Toolbar icons for WORD and EXCEL are brightly
> >colored and sharp.
> >
> >In Office 2003 the Desktop and Toolbar icons' colors are soft and pastel and
> >the icon images have a matte finish (having little or no contrast).
> >
> >Since there are now 37 of us that use Office 2003 that are over 55 and our
> >vision is not what it was when we were 18, it would be nice to have icons and
> >other visual artifacts in Office that are easy to discern. (Or did I miss
> >the point that this is really an eye test?)
> >
> >So, are there options and/or settings that I can use to get Office 2003, and
> >ONLY Office 2003, Desktop and Toolbar icons more brightly colored and sharper?
>