Topic: Files

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Tips, Tricks, and Answers

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A Real AutoSave When you enable AutoSave in Word, it doesn’t really save your document; it just saves a temporary file that allows your document to be recovered if the program should end unexpectedly. If you want to really save your document periodically, you need to develop your own macro-based system, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

A Real AutoSave in WordBasic Creating macros that will AutoSave your document to its root location. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95

An Automatic File Name Do you have a set “standard” for how you name new documents? If so, you may be interested in implementing the technique in this tip for automatically naming your new documents according to the standard you follow. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Appending to a Non-Document Text File Your macros can easily add information to the end of an existing text file. This is done by opening the target file in Append mode, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Automatically Saving Document Copies on Floppy WordPerfect included a command that allowed users to save a copy of their current document to the A: drive. Word has no similar command, but you can create your own that allows you to save document copies to any drive you want. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Avoiding the Update Links Message Word allows you to establish links from one document to another. When you open a document containing these links, you may be asked if you want to update those links. If this message bothers you, this tip explains what you can do about it. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Backing Up Your Custom Dictionaries Have you, over time, created an extensive custom dictionary? If so, you’ll want to periodically back it up as protection against it getting damaged in some way. This tip explains how to back up your custom dictionaries. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Can't Open a Word Document in Windows Double-click on a Word document while using Windows Explorer, and the Word program should start with the document displayed. If it doesn’t, then something in either Word or, more likely, Windows is out of kilter. This tip leads you through the different configuration areas you can check in order to track down and fix the problem. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Cannot Convert a Document File to a Readable Document Open a Word document file, and you can start to make edits and changes to your heart’s content. But what happens if the file opens with gibberish at the start? This tip examines a possible cause or two for such a scenario. Microsoft Word versions: 2002

Cannot Open Word 2007 Documents Even When Saved in Earlier Version Some people report that even if they save a Word 2007 document in a format suitable for earlier versions of Word, the document file contains XML instead of information that can be used by the earlier versions. This tip discusses this problem and suggests a possible workaround if you encounter the issue. Microsoft Word versions: 2007

Changing Information in Multiple Documents If you need to change text in many documents at the same time, Word isn’t the best tool to use. Here’s some ideas on ways you can increase your ability to make global changes. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Changing the Default File Name When you first save a new file, Word bases the name of that file on the contents of the start of the first paragraph in your document. If you’d like a different default name for a file, you just need to make a simple change in the template on which the file is based. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing the Startup Directory When you first start Word, it normally looks in the My Documents folder for files. Here’s how you can configure the program to start in a different folder of your choosing. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Changing the View in File New Using a Word macro to change the view when selecting New from the File menu. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Closing All Documents With some subtle interface changes introduced in Word 2000, you may not know how to close all documents with one command. This tip discusses the changes and what you can do. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Combining Documents If you have a quite a few text documents you need to combine into a single Word document, using the menus to do the concatenation can be tedious. This tip explains a couple of ways how you can put the text files together into a larger, single file. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Combining Word Documents At some point you may want to insert one Word document inside another Word document. An easy way to do this is to use the INCLUDETEXT field, described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Confirming File Conversions Open a file that isn’t a Word document and Word will still try to convert it to a Word document. If you want Word to let you know when it is going to do these conversions, here’s how to specify that. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Controlling Document Properties Word saves quite a bit of information with a document, besides the document itself. This tip provides a general overview of document properties, including how to change them and make sure you are prompted for them. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Converting From Older Works Format How to use various methods to convert files from the Works format to Word format. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Converting from Works to Word Got some files in an older version of Works? Here's how to get them into Word. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97

Converting PDF to Word Documents Do you have information in a PDF file, and you need to get it into a Word document? There are several ways you can convert PDF to Word, including some new converters on the market. Here's a discussion of the best ways to convert PDF files. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Converting Word for DOS Documents Some tips on updating older Word 5 documents. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Copying a File in VBA If your VBA macro needs to make a copy of a file, here's how to do it. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Copying Custom Properties You can add custom properties to a document to help with all sorts of file management tasks. If you want to copy these custom properties from one document to another, you’ll need to rely on a macro like the one presented in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Creating a Document Clone Do you need to base a new document on an existing document? One easy way to do that is to open not the original document, but a copy of that document. Word makes it easy; here’s how. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating a Document Shortcut Word allows you to create a shortcut on your desktop that jumps right to a specific place in a document. Microsoft Word versions: 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Creating an XML File from a Word Document XML (extensible markup language) is a standard used by many problems to exchange information. Word 2007 uses its own variant of XML to save documents, and documents in Word 2003 could be saved in an XML format. If you want to save document information in a cleaner, plainer, more universal form of XML than what is provided by Microsoft, here’s some guidance on what you can do. Microsoft Word versions: 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Dates Updating when Converting Word allows you to convert documents from WordPerfect format to Word. In doing so, you may notice that some dates in the original documents are updated. This tip discusses some possible causes and what you can do about it. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Decreasing File Sizes of Documents with Graphics One challenge faced by anybody adding graphics to a document is to manage the resulting file size of the document. Adding graphics can make a file huge, as this tip points out. Also covers different ways you can reduce the file size while still working with your graphics. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Defective Opening Document If Word is opening two files instead of one each time you double-click on a document file, use this tip to help diagnose and fix the issue. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Delays when Double-Clicking a Document Icon Do you notice delays when you double-click a document icon, perhaps on your desktop? If you are confused by such delays because you don’t see the same delay when you open the document from within Word, then the explanations in this tip will be helpful. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Deleting the Open Document File Want to delete the document you are currently viewing? Word doesn’t provide a way to do it, but you can use the macro in this tip to make the task easy as pie. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Determining if a File Exists Your macro may need to know if a particular file exists. This is easy to figure out using the Dir command, and even easier if you use it in the function provided in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Determining if a File Exists with WordBasic Macros can easily work with files. Here's WordBasic code that lets you check to see if a file exists at all. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95

Determining If the End of a Text File Has Been Reached When writing a macro that processes a text file, you may need to know when the end of the file has been reached. This is easy to do with the EOF function, described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Determining the Length of a Non-Document Text File If you use a macro to create and work with text files, you can find out the length of those files using a simple command. This tip explains how ot use the LOF command to get the info you need. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Determining the Size of a File Need to know how many bytes are used by a file? This VBA code will figure it out for you. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Determining Word Versions of Documents If you know where to look, you can figure out which version of Word was last used to work on a document. It takes some detective work, however, as this tip explains. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000

Displaying Path Names in the Menu Bar Want the full path name for a document? Easily add it to a menu bar. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Document Shows as 'In Use' by Another User Word tries to constantly track who is using various documents, in order to prevent two users from clashing in their edits to a single document. What if Word reports that a document is being used by someone else when you know that it isn’t? Here’s how to get back control of the document with a minimum of fuss. Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Document Size Changes When you last upgraded Word, did you notice a change in the size of your document files? Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Don't Work Off Floppies Still saving your documents to floppy disk? Here's why this isn't such a good idea. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Embedding Fonts In a Document Not sure if the person receiving your document has the same fonts on their system as you do on yours? One way to make sure is to embed fonts in the document itself. That raises all sorts of issues that you need to be familiar with, however. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Embedding TrueType Fonts If you need to make sure that the fonts in your document can be used by another person or on a different system, you’ll need to embed those fonts. Here’s how to make the necessary configuration change. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Embedding TrueType Fonts by Default TrueType fonts can be embedded in a Word document so that it can be properly viewed on systems that don’t have the font installed. If you embed fonts often, you may want a way to do so by default, without the necessity of explicitly going through the proper steps for each document. This tip explores ways you can accomplish this desire. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Error Generated if Files Opened in Word Session Greg has a problem with Word 2002 crashing, depending on how he opens files. This seems to be a problem that Microsoft knows about, and there is a fix. If the problem is not caused by what Microsoft thinks it is, then guidance is provided on how to start tracking down the problem. Microsoft Word versions: 2000

Extra Document File Being Saved You may be surprised sometime to save a document and find out that Word actually saves what appear to be two copies of the document on your disk. This isn’t necessarily a problem, but a way for Word to track what is going on with the document on which you are working. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

File Sizes for Documents with Graphics When you add graphics to documents, the resulting file sizes can be very large. This tip contrasts different file sizes for documents containing graphics in different versions of Word. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000

File Sizes in Word Word documents consist of more than just the text that is stored in them. When you store text in a Word document, the file structure used by the program can add quite a bit of overhead. This tip compares file sizes in different versions of Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Files Open in Word 2003, but not Word 2000 If you have some documents that open in Word 2003, but not in Word 2000, it may mean that you are running into some strange type of incompatibility that is present in Word 2003 documents. This doesn’t happen with all files, but when it does happen you will need the techniques described in this tip in order to actually work with the documents in Word 2000. Microsoft Word versions: 2000 | 2003

Formatting Text Files with VBA Got a bunch of text that you’ve imported from a text file? Need to make it look better? You can take a stab at it with this macro. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Formatting Text Files with WordBasic A handy WordBasic macro that helps you format e-mail messages and other text files. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95

Full Path Names in Word An easy way to display the document's full path name in the title bar. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Getting Input from a Text File VBA includes some commands that you can use to read information from text files (non-Word documents). These commands can come in handy when you need to access a wide variety of information. This tip presents a very simple technique to use these commands and read information from a text file. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Getting Rid of the Startup Document When you start Word, it opens a blank document, ready for you to start typing within. If you don't want this blank document to appear, you can use the /n switch with the command line used to start Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Importing to QuarkXPress Guidance on how to transfer files from Word to QuarkXPress. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Inserting a File Need to combine several files into a single document? You can do it by inserting one file into another, as outlined in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Inserting a File Name without an Extension The FILENAME field can be used to insert the file name of the current document into your text. Exactly what FILENAME returns depends on a setting in Windows, however. If you want to always return the file name without an extension, then your options are a bit more limited. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Inserting Only Part of a File You can easily insert one document within another document. What you may not know is that you can limit which part of a document you actually insert. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Inserting the Date Your Document Was Last Saved Word maintains a lot of information about each document you create. One tidbit that Word tracks is the date that the document was last saved. Using the special SaveDate field, you can insert this date into the body of your document. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Jumping Around Folders How to move from one directory to another in the Open dialog box. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Keeping the Flash Drive Occupied If you need to take a Word document from one place to another, a flash drive is a convenient way to accomplish the task. When saving a document to the drive, however, you may run into problems in getting Windows to “let go” of the drive so it can be safely removed. This tip describes not only the reason for the problem, but different ways you can achieve a solution. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Leading Spaces in Document File Names If you try to add spaces to the beginning of a document’s file name, Word normally strips them away. This tip examines two ways you can add those spaces back to the beginning of your file names. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Linking Word Documents Want to add one document to another document? You can do it by adding links, described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Listing Documents with Passwords Do you need a list of documents that require a password or that require a particular password to open? Word doesn’t provide a way to retrieve such information, but you could do it with a macro. This tip describes the approach that should be used if you decide to develop such a macro. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Long Save Times in Word 97 Are you growing old waiting for documents to save in Word 97? Here's why. Microsoft Word versions: 97

Maintaining Formatting When Inserting Documents Word allows you to easily insert the contents of one document into another. Doing so, however, may result in unintended results as the formatting of what you insert may look nothing like the original document. Here’s why that happens and what you can do about it. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Making Backup Copies Word can create automatic backups of your documents, each time you save. If you would like to take advantage of this “insurance,” you can make one quick configuration change to the program to put the backups in place. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Marking Multiple Documents After using Word for a while, it is easy to accumulate quite a few documents. At some point you may want to make a change to each of the documents in a folder. This tip explains the basics of how to easily make such a change, without the need to manually open and edit each document. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Mass Search and Replace Word does not provide a way to do a find and replace through a group of documents. The macro and third-party solutions presented in this tip will help you find a way to find and replace exactly what you need. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Merging to Individual Files Mail Merge is great for creating standardized letters that need to go out to a group of people. Each letter ends up as a new section within a much larger document. This tip discusses a way you can store each of those customized letters in their own document, rather than as part of the huge merged document. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Modifying the Backup Copy File Name Backup files, created automatically by Word, have the filename extension WBK and start with the words “Backup of.” If you want to change this naming convention, you may be out of luck, but you can always rename the files outside of Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Moving Quickly Between Directories Want an easy way to move between directories using the Open dialog box? With just a little bit of up-front typing, you can easily move between several of your most commonly used folders. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

MS-DOS with Line Breaks Format in Word 2002 and Word 2003 Finding the built in functionality in Word 2002 & 2003 for saving your document as a MS-DOS format. Microsoft Word versions: 2002 | 2003

Open Documents Suddenly Become Read-Only If a Word document is marked as “read only,” that means that you cannot save updates to the document; they must be saved to a new document file. Once a file is open, Word isn’t supposed to change whether a file is read-only or not—but what if it does? This tip discusses one possible explanation. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Opening a Backup File If you have Word configured to save backup copies of your document, you may want to actually load one of those copies at some point. Here’s the easy way to load the file. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Opening a Document as Read-Only One way to protect an original document is to open it in “read-only mode.” You can do this easily, thereby making sure that the changes you make to the document are not saved back into the original. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Opening a Document as Read-Only in Windows Explorer Here's a little trick to help you open a Word document as read-only from within Explorer. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Opening a Text File and Template from the Command Line Word includes a command-line syntax that you can use to open files and do other operations. If you want to load a text file from the command line and have Word use a specific template with that file, you might have a hard time getting it done. If you apply the techniques in this tip, you can get just what you want. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Opening a Word Document when Starting the Computer Some people use their computers for little else, other than to work on Word documents. If that is the case with you, then you might want to have Word start up, with a particular document open, whenever you start your computer. This tip can help you make opening Word in this way a simple task. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Opening Documents in Print Layout View If you have a Word 2003 document that always seems to open in reading layout mode, you may want to turn that “feature” off. You can do so by following the steps outlined in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 2003

Opening Multiple Documents at Once You can use the Open dialog box to open multiple documents at the same time in Word. All you need to do is create a selection set of documents (as described in this tip) and then click the Open button. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Opening Only a Merge Document When you use the mail-merge feature of Word, the merge document and the data source work in tandem. When you open a merge document, Word normally also opens the data source, by default. This tip explains how to open only the merge document without the data source. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Opening Only a Merge Document, Take Two Another try at opening a merge document without the data file. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Opening the Document Map by Default The Document Map can be a handy tool to use when navigating and working with a large document. If you want the Document Map to always be visible with certain documents, the only way you can ensure this is by using a macro, as detailed in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Opening Word 2007 Files in Older Versions Word 2007 uses a different file format than was used in previous versions of Word. This can cause some problems in opening Word 2007 documents in those earlier versions. Here’s what you can do to get around this problem. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Password Protection Loophole Make sure your current and backup files are protected. Follow these steps to ensure the protection. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002

Periodically Delete TMP Files After using Word for a while, you may notice some “litter” of unused files on your hard drive. This tip explains how those files came to be there and when it is safe to delete them. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Picking Up in the Last Document Edited If you work on the same document over and over again, you’ll like the very quick macro in this tip. It loads the last used file and jumps to the location in the document where you last made an edit. Also includes a version of the macro that jumps to the end of the last-used document. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Positioning the Cursor in a New Document Creating special templates is a great way to establish “standards” for your documents. With a little ingenuity you can even force the insertion point to a set location in a new document created from your templates. This tip shows how easy this is to accomplish. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Printing a File List Do you need a quick list of all the files in a particular folder? Here’s a couple of different ways you can get the information you need. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Printing Documents in a Folder If you want to print a group of documents at the same time there are a couple of ways you can accomplish the task. Here’s two easy ones you can use. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Printing to a File Word allows you to send your output to a file instead of to a printer. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Problems Opening Documents after Installing Word 2003 SP3 If you install Word 2003 service pack 3, you may find that you can no longer open some of your older documents. This tip explains how to fix this particular problem. Microsoft Word versions: 2003

Problems Opening Documents from Explorer You can open a Word document by double-clicking the document’s icon in Windows Explorer. If double-clicking doesn’t open the document (or opens the document with a different program), then your file associations are probably messed up. This tip provides a quick way to reestablish your file associations so you can again open documents by double-clicking. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Read-Only Documents Using both Word and Windows, there are a variety of ways you can mark a file as read-only so that it cannot be changed. This tip discusses the different techniques you can use. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Read-Only Documents Without a Password Want to protect your document so it cannot be changed? There are a couple of ways you can do it, and not all of them involve the use of Word. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Read-Only Files Read-only documents (those that cannot be updated) are part and parcel of working with Word. There are many ways that a document file can be made “read only,” and not all of them are expected. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Recovered Document becomes Default Word tries to help you recover unsaved files when the program runs into a problem. Sometimes recovering the files can mess up your document template, however, so that your recovered text is shown in the place of what should be new, blank documents. This tip explains why this can happen and provides a couple of ways you can correct the problem. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Removing All File Properties Want to get rid of any properties you’ve created for a document? You can do so by using the short macro described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Removing Hidden Personal Information From a Document Word maintains a few pieces of personal information with each document file you save. Getting rid of this information can be a pain, unless you use the configuration setting that helps remove the information for you. Microsoft Word versions: 2002 | 2003

Removing Pictures from Multiple Files Got a bunch of files you need to remove a graphic from? What if that graphic is in the header of each of those files? With the macro introduced in this tip, you can load thousands of documents and remove any graphics from each one’s headers. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Renaming a Document Want to rename a document that is already on your hard drive? You can, of course, do it in Windows, but you can also do it in Word itself by using the Open dialog box. This tip explains the process you can use. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Reviewing Document Versions If you save different versions of your document using the versioning feature of Word, you’ll want to know how you can go back and review the different versions you’ve saved. This tip illustrates how easy it is to open up a previous version of a document. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Rubbish In Your File Do your files look garbled when you open them? Here's one possible reason. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving All Open Documents Got a lot of open documents you are working with? You can save them all at one time by just holding down the Shift key while displaying the File menu. A couple of the menu options change to allow you to perform functions on all the open documents. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving and Closing Multiple Files Want to close or save all your documents at once? This trick does it for you. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving Document Versions Documents often go through several versions during development. For this reason, Word provides a feature that allows you to save each version of a document so you can track that development. This tip explains how to use this feature. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving Documents as Read-Only by Default When you save your documents, you can specify that they be saved in a “read-only” format so that they cannot be changed as easily. This tip explains how you can modify the Save As command so that documents are saved as read-only by default. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Saving Documents Faster If you are using Word versions 97 through 2003, there’s a setting you can make that will allow you to save your documents quickly. This can cause some problems, however, of which you should be aware. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving Documents in an Older Format by Default In older versions of Word you have the option to save the files in an older format. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving Everything Do you want Word to save all documents that users create, regardless of whether they choose to save them or not? This configuration involves the use of a couple of macros and an intrinsic change to the way that Word does its work. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving Form Data for a Database When creating forms, you can save the data users enter into its own file. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving in MS-DOS Text Mode Over the years Microsoft has made changes in Word. One change is to the import and export filters provided with the various versions of Word. This tip discusses one apparent change in export filters between Word 97 and Word 2002 and what can be done about getting more filters. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving in PostScript Format Word can save your document in PostScript format so that it can be easily processed by other programs that work with PostScript. To get the PostScript file, you simply print using a PostScript printer driver. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Saving Information in a Non-Document Text File When using macros, you aren’t limited to storing information in a document. A full set of commands are available that allow you to open text files and store information in them, as well. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving Personalized Copies of a Document Do you need to save individualized copies of documents for a series of individuals? This tip describes how to do just that, without using mail merge. Individual names are pulled from a text file and placed in the header of each document just before the document is saved. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving Portions of Files Want to save snippets from a document into individual files? There are a couple of easy ways to achieve this goal, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Saving Your Work Automatically Word can be configured to save your work periodically, on any time schedule you desire. This tip explains this feature and shows you how to do the necessary configuration. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Setting a Default Document Format Word allows you to save your documents in a variety of different formats. You can specify the format when you actually save, or you can change the default format, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Setting the AutoRecover Directory When you are using Word, it normally saves temporary AutoRecover files that reflect the latest state of your document. If you want these AutoRecover files to be stored in a certain place, you can configure Word to make that specification. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Sizing the Preview Pane Some versions of Word allow you to resize your Preview Pane, others do not. Here is how to make your view larger. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Sorting Files When using the Open dialog box, you can determine the order in which files are displayed. Microsoft Word versions: 95 | 97

Specifying a Backup Location Backup files created by Word are stored in the same folder in which the document is located. If you want them stored in a different area, there is no way to do through some Word setting. You can, however, develop some workarounds, as described in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Specifying a Location To Save Automatic Backup Files You can configure Word so that it automatically saves a backup copy of your document whenever you save. It does not, however, allow you to specify where those backup copies are stored. This tip explains why this is so. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Starting with a Different Template Don't want Word to start by using the Normal.dot template? This tip explains how to start using a different template. Microsoft Word versions: 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Startup Template Changes How to start Word with different templates for different purposes. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

The Case of the Disappearing MRU File List If the MRU list has disappeared, follow this tip to reactivate the list in Word. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

The User Options Path Did you ever wonder what the User Options Path setting was for in Word? Here's the best information available. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Too Many Temporary Files Tips for removing the plethora of Temporary Files that Word puts in your folders. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Understanding Background Saving Word can save your documents in the background, while you are doing other things. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Use Filenames That Sort Properly If you take some care when you name your document files, you’ll find it much easier to manage those files at a later time. This tip provides some guidance that you may find helpful as you consider how you should name your files. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Using a Standard Format in a Suggested File Name Many companies (and some individuals) use specific formats for naming their documents. If you want Word to recognize your particular format, here’s some ideas you can use. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Using Earlier Versions of Word in a Word 97 World Helpful information if you are using Word 97 and earlier versions of the program. Microsoft Word versions: 6 | 95 | 97

Using Seek In a Macro When processing non-document text files in a macro, you have a wide range of commands available for your use. One of those is the Seek command, which allows you to position the internal file pointer within the text file. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Using Your Own File Extensions Word uses the DOC file extension for regular documents. If you want to use a different file extension, you can easily do so if you follow the guidance in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Viewing Document Statistics Word keeps track of different statistics about any given document. If you want to view those statistics, you can do so using the Properties dialog box, as discussed in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Viewing Files of a Certain Type When you choose to open a file, Word normally displays only those files that end with the .DOC extension. If you want to display files that use a different extension, you can use the information in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Weird Characters in File Names If you ever end up with file names that contain percent signs followed by numbers, it could be due to some sort of file name encoding happening on your system. This tip explains the symptoms and some possible solutions. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Word Slow to Open Documents If you’ve noticed a slowdown in Word when it is opening a document, you probably would like to speed up the operation. Here’s some things you can check. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 | 2007

Working with E-mailed Documents Ding! You’ve got mail. That mail has a Word document attached to it. Before you rush off and open that document, take a moment to reflect on the information presented in this tip. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

Working with Other People's Files If you get lots of files from other people in your office, you may be looking for a quick way to “reformat” what they’ve done into a format that you prefer. This tip provides one technique you can try, provided you and your coworkers use styles for formatting your documents. Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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