Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 3, 2018)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Subscriber John Jordan asked how it was possible to open a Word document from the Windows Explorer in a manner similar to the Open Read-Only option that appears in Word's Open dialog box. Such an option is not available when right-clicking on a document in Windows Explorer.
Actually, there is a very similar feature that you can use. When you are using Windows Explorer, if you right click on a document you should see a shortcut menu. If the menu has a New option, choose it. (If you don't see a New option, try holding down the SHIFT key as you right-click on the document.) When you select New, Word is started and the document is loaded. However, what is loaded is a new document based on the one on which you right-clicked. The document is named Document1, Document2, Document3, etc. The original is undisturbed, and you can save the new document under any name you wish.
If this doesn't do it for you, you can always add a new Open Read-Only option to the shortcut menu that displays when you right-click on a Word document. This is all done within Windows, not within Word. Follow these steps:
Figure 1. The File Types tab of the Options dialog box
Figure 2. The Edit File Type dialog box
Figure 3. The Editing Action dialog box
[FileOpen ("""%1"""),.ReadOnly]
Now you can right-click on Word documents in Explorer and open them as read-only.
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2019-05-23 15:09:44
Dirk Westra
Now that was a really useful tip--much quicker & smoother than having to invoke the Open dialog box in Word, browse for the file, then select Open Read-Only. Thanks for posting this!
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