Standard XP Dialog Boxes: The easiest way to manage this is with Tweak UI, part of Microsoft's free collection. Once you have Tweak UI installed and launched, expand the Common Dialogs section in the left pane, then select Places Bar below that. Select Custom places bar. You can then select something from each of the five pull-down menus, or type or paste a path if the folder you want isn't listed.

Microsoft Office 2003: These dialog boxes look almost exactly like the standard XP ones, but you have to customize them separately. Luckily, they're easier to customize than XP's. Open a File Open or Save As dialog box in any Office application, and navigate to the folder containing the folder you want on the Places bar. For instance, go to My Documents if you want easy access to My Documents\Time Wasters. Then select (but don't enter) the desired folder, and click Tools, then select Add to "My Places". Your folder will appear at the bottom of the Places Bar. If it's not visible, right-click the bar and select Small Icons.

Microsoft Office 2007: If you're running Vista or Windows 7, Office 2007 offers no challenges; it uses the standard dialog boxes. But if you're running it in XP, you have to configure the Places bar separately. It's pretty easy, though. Open a dialog box and navigate to the desired folder. Right-click the Places bar and select Add. Once again, you can use the Small Icons option to see more.

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