Flint:

I created a shortcut to a document. The shortcut is on a shared network drive. I could not put that shortcut onto the start menu. I confirmed your report.

Then I enabled Make Available Offline (or words to that effect). I followed the wizard and it made a "Shortcut to Offline Files" on my desktop. Inside this newly created folder was a shortcut (offline style, whatever that is) mirroring the shortcut on my shared network drive. NOW I was able to place the original shortcut on my shared network drive on the start menu using the regular procedures. This ability remained even after I deleted the intervening shortcut created in the Offline Files folder on my desktop.

You mean here? This is totally grayed-out for me...

p'raps. No, not really.

Find your shortcut that is ON THE NETWORK SHARE. Right click on it and look for the context menu choice "Make Available Offline". That will rouse the wizard.

The original file is on the shared drive (so it is accessible to others in my department). The shortcut is on my desktop. Right, I can make a shortcut in the reverse orientation and pin it to my start menu, but I can't seem to: create a shortcut, on my start menu, for a file that exists on the shared drive. I can drop it in "My Documents" etc. on the Start Menu, but otherwise I'm ghostbustered.

This is now easy.

Everybody has same access to same share and same access to same original file, right? Good. Here's the key:

Make a shortcut to the *original file on the network share* and place it in the same location as the original file.

Now you have a network located *shortcut* that can be manipulated as described above. Try it and let me know what happens.

That's one of the things I already tried. Files existing on my profile, or shortcuts to files existing on my profile, can be pinned/dropped to my start menu. Files existing on the shared drive, or shortcuts to files existing on the shared drive, cannot be pinned/dropped to my start menu.

It doesn't matter where the shortcut is, it matters where the file is.

The "make available offline" context menu choice has never been available to me, which makes sense (maybe?) considering that the entire Offline Files tab under Folder Options appears to be deliberately disabled, presumably some higher-up decision.

Well, I regret to say that I agree with you.

Naturally, a network file must have the network available to make sense, and XP "knows" this. The "glue" for a network file / shortcut / local is the offline files setup. Annnnnd.... you don't have it. That is regrettable. Sorry buddy.

Though...I don't see any reason why a shortcut placed on the "desktop" of my roaming profile (which I can do) should be any different than on the "start menu" of my roaming profile; so I navigated to C:\Documents and Settings and dropped them in my Start Menu folder, and...

...they show up in the upper pane of All Programs.