Datasheet

Part I ✦ The Fundamentals

With Word 2003, you can quickly open any Word document by double-clicking the file name

in Windows Explorer, on the desktop, or in a My Computer folder. Word is automatically

launched, and the document is opened.

Opening documents automatically with Word

By creating a new shortcut, you can open a specified document at the same time you open

Word 2003 itself:

1. Right-click the Windows desktop and choose New➪ Shortcut.

2. In the Create Shortcut box, click the Browse button and use the Browse for Folder dia-

log box to find the winword.exe file (probably in the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office

2003\Office 2003\ folder).

3. Add a document path and file name—enclosed in quotation marks—after the text that

appears in the Type the Location of the Item text box in the Create Shortcut text box.

Adding a document file name after the program name in the text box causes that document to

load automatically whenever the shortcut is used. To start Word and open a document named

Letter.doc stored in a folder named Docs on the C: drive, for example, add "C:\Docs\Letter.doc"

in the Target text box.

You can also modify a shortcut to start Word and load multiple documents by separating the

path names with a space. To load two documents named Letter.doc and Resume.doc in the

Docs folder, for example, type "C:\Docs\Letter.doc" "C:\Docs\Resume.doc".

The shortcuts created during Word’s installation cannot be edited. However, after you create

a shortcut, as described in the preceding steps, you can edit it as described in the following

section.

Controlling Word using startup switches

Using a startup switch lets you control how Word starts. A switch is a command-line parameter

that is added after the Winword program. To add a switch, follow these steps:

1. Right-click a Word shortcut to display the pop-up menu and choose Properties. The

property sheet for the shortcut is displayed.

2. Add the switch to the end of the Target settings command line.

For example, you can modify the command line to include the /n switch by typing

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Winword" "/n". (The /n switch instructs Word to

start without a default document.) Typically, Word starts with a blank document named

Document1, but you can start Word without loading that default blank document. Using this

startup option displays Word faster than the startup option of loading it with a document.

Opening the last document

You can get Word to automatically open the last document you were working on by using the

/mfile1 switch.

You might create an icon that you use only when you want to open the last file. Note also that

you can open any of the last nine files in this manner. Typing /mfile3, for example, opens the

third from the last file you worked on.

Note

Tip

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