Word opens the first document in the 'My Dcouments'

[rsheshappa]

Hello,

I am trying to help one of my friend with his Office XP (running XP PRO).

When he is in Word and clicks open document...

It opens a new window; on the left hand it list everything in the Mydocument and on the right hand it opens the first document in that list.

The problem with this is that if the first document is a Excel Spreadsheet it tries to open that and gives a message regarding 'text conversion'.

Now I can't figure out where the setting is for the above. In my computer (I have the same XP Pro and XP office) When I click on open I get a window where I can choose the document. So it makes me believe it has to do with the setting.

Thanks for the help.

 

[misscrf]

In the open dialog box, there are icons to the right of the "look in" drop down menu. The one that looks like a directory icon, has a drop down to it. That is the layout of the open dialog. Take it off of preview. I use list or details.
Hope that helps.

misscrf

Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things

 

[rsheshappa]

Thank you for the input.

I did the the reverse on my computer. It does show the list on the left and preview on the right but it does not open the first one in the list.

What makes the first document in the list to open automatically?

Thanks

 

[misscrf]

I found something interesting in the Microsoft Help. As a side note, I would check to see if there are any macros attached to the normal.dot template they might have on their computer. Try deleting the template, so that it will take any away.

Other than that, you might take a look at "startup switches" I don't know how this would have gotten onto the system, but it might be worth checking out...

Startup switches

/ttemplatename
Start Word with a new document based on a template other than the Normal template. Example: /tMyfax.dot
/a
Start Word and prevent add-ins and global templates (including the Normal template) from being loaded automatically. The /a switch also locks the setting files.
/laddinpath
Start Word and then load a specific Word add-in. Example:/lSales.dll
/m
Start Word without running any AutoExec macros.
/mmacroname
Start Word and then run a specific macro. The /m switch also prevents Word from running any AutoExec macros. Example:/mSalelead
/n
Start a new instance of Word with no document open. Documents opened in each instance of Word will not appear as choices in the Window menu of other instances.
/w
Start a new instance of Word with a blank document. Documents opened in each instance of Word will not appear as choices in the Window menu of the other instances.
Note To suppress automatic macros without using switches, hold down SHIFT while you start Word. If you start Word from the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar, click the button for the program on the Office Shortcut Bar first, and then immediately hold down SHIFT while Word starts.


Let me know about any further progress.

misscrf

Management is doing things right, leadership is doing the right things

 

[Dreamboat]

Either you've messed up Word's startup folder or you've messed up your normal.dot.

Which isn't to mean that YOU did it...

But run Word troubleshooting, particularly the part about startup folders and normal.dot:

http://www.theofficeexperts.com/word.htm

Anne Troy

http://www.vbaexpress.com/forum