Sizing the Preview Pane

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 7, 2019)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

When you use the Open dialog box in Word, you can configure what you see in the dialog box. One of the settings you can make is for Word to display a preview of whatever document you select in the left side of the dialog box. (Click on the drop-down arrow next to the Views tool, then choose Preview.)

If you are using Word 97 or Word 2000, you may have noticed that the preview shown by Word appears rather small, even though it occupies half of the dialog box. Unfortunately, neither version of Word allows you to adjust the size of the preview pane, or of the Open dialog box itself.

If you are using Word 2002 or Word 2003, however, you can resize the Open dialog box. As you do, the preview pane continues to occupy half of the dialog box. The upshot, then, is that you can make the preview larger (and more readable) by simply enlarging the Open dialog box. You can even make the dialog box occupy the whole screen by double-clicking on its title bar.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (764) 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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Using Call to Run VBA Macros

An elegant way to run macros from within macros is to use the Call statement. In order to use it, you need to provide a ...

Discover More

Converting Forms to Regular Documents

Word allows you to protect documents that are intended to be used as forms. If you want to convert the form responses ...

Discover More

Opening a Workbook as Read-Only

When you need to work on a workbook, you may want to do so without modifying the original contents of the workbook. This ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Saving Your Work Automatically

Word can be configured to save your work periodically, on any time schedule you desire. This tip explains this feature ...

Discover More

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 ...

Discover More

Opening a Document as Read-Only in Windows Explorer

Want to open your Word document as read-only? Here's a little trick to help you accomplish the task from within Explorer.

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is six more than 3?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.