Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Creating a Document Clone.

Creating a Document Clone

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 2, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

There may be times when you want to make a copy of a Word document, without affecting the original document at all. Word 2000 through Word 2003 provide an easy way to do this. Simply follow these steps:

Click on the Open tool, or choose Open from the File menu. Word displays the standard Open dialog box.
Select the document file you want to make a copy of.
Click on the down-arrow at the right side of the Open button. Word displays a menu of choices.
Choose the Open As Copy option. Word opens a copy of the document.

If you are using Word 97 then you need to follow these steps, instead:

Click on the Open tool, or choose Open from the File menu. Word displays the standard Open dialog box.
Select the document file you want to make a copy of.
Click on the Commands and Settings button, at the right side of the toolbar in the Open dialog box. Word displays a menu of choices.
Choose the Open As Copy option. Word opens a copy of the document.

The document that is opened use the same file name, but Word attaches the phrase "Copy of" to it as a prefix. Thus, if the original document you selected in step 2 is named "My Document.doc," what Word creates is a document named "Copy of My Document.doc." If you want to rename the file, you will need to either use the Save As command, or rename the document after closing it.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1086) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Creating a Document Clone.

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 3 + 4?

2024-03-04 06:27:30

Paul Hanson

Lots of ways to do it so yes, you could use Save as. I tend to have Windows Explorer open to the directory I am wanting to create the copy in so, in WE, I select the file, right-click, select copy, right-click, select paste.

2024-03-03 10:43:17

Joel Hornstein

Instead of open a copy, couldn't you also use save as?

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