Picking Up in the Last Document Edited

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 16, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

As covered in other issues of WordTips, you can jump to the last place that you edited in a document by pressing the Shift+F5 key. In other words, open the document, press the shortcut, and the insertion point jumps directly to the last edit point in the document.

If you work on the same document quite often, you may like a little macro that opens that last file you worked on, and then automatically jumps to the last edit location in that document.

Sub OpenLastDoc1()
    RecentFiles(1).Open
    Application.GoBack
End Sub

Assign the macro to a shortcut or a toolbar button, and you've got a fast way to continue working wherever you were in your last session with Word. If you prefer, you can make one change to the macro that jumps to the end of the document, rather than to the last place you edited:

Sub OpenLastDoc2()
    RecentFiles(1).Open
    Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdStory
End Sub

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (106) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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What is one more than 2?

2016-10-27 18:16:01

Stephen Norman Chase

Allen how can I make my IMac's 2008 MSWord app open with the last edited/used document instead of a blank document each time?

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