Displaying the Document Title Right Away

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated July 3, 2019)

Warren is using Word 2003 and needs a way to show the document title (from the document properties) in the title bar of the document window when he first opens the document. Currently, only the filename shows when he first opens the document. The document title shows only after the first time he saves the document.

Actually there is a way to do this, and it will work in Word 97 through Word 2003. All you need to do is add a macro that runs automatically when the document opens. You do this by opening the Visual Basic Editor (Alt+F11) and using the Project Explorer (top-left portion of the Visual Basic Editor) to open the code window for the ThisDocument object for your document. Then, put this macro in the code window:

Private Sub Document_Open()
    Application.Caption = _
      ActiveDocument.BuiltInDocumentProperties(wdPropertyTitle)
End Sub

The macro executes when the document is opened. It grabs the document title (from the properties for the document) and stuffs it into the caption for the program (the title bar).

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 (3422) 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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