Default Directory

[Guest]

Word 2003 - Even though I have chosen a particular path for the file
location under tools/options, when I open Word (for the first time) it
defaults to the last directory I was working in and not the directory I have
chosen as the file location. How can I default to the desired directory when
opening Word?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Are you opening Word using a shortcut on the desktop, Start menu, or Quick
Launch bar or are you double-clicking on a document? If the latter, I would
expect the Save folder to be the one where that document is located.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

I would be opening either from a shortcut on the desktop or the Quick Launch
bar.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In that case, I can't think of any reasonable explanation unless there's an
AutoExec macro changing the folder. I assume you've checked Tools | Options
| File Locations to make sure that your folder setting has been saved? There
are a number of problems that can cause Options settings not to be retained.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

Yes, I've check the file location setting and it is definitely where I want
it to be. I can't imagine that an autoexec macro would be the "culprit"
because, I would think, that would open a "specific" folder (other than the
one I want) rather than the last folder accessed. We just had 2003 installed
within the past few days and it has acted this way from the start.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Hmm, good point. The only situation where I've seen the folder change
unexpectedly is when I've been so foolish as to follow a hyperlink to a Web
page from within a document. This seems to reset File Open to my default
folder (or sometimes even My Documents).

Note, however, that the default Save As folder will always be the folder the
document is in. But I gather that it's the File | Open folder that you're
talking about here, and I just can't see how this could change. Even if
there were a FileOpen macro operating here, as you say, it would have to
open to some specific folder; if Word has been closed, it would require a
lot of fancy VBA footwork to make a macro that would remember the last-used
folder.

One other factor that might be relevant: Are you using Word as your Outlook
mail editor? If so, I believe there is always an instance of Word running in
the background while Outlook is open.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

"Are you using Word as your Outlook mail editor?" I'm not certain what you
mean by this question. When I compose a new email, or reply to an emailed
that has been received, I do the composing and replying in Outlook. Word may
or may not be open at the time. I don't see how that would affect the last
folder accessed.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If you are using Outlook as your email editor, there should be no problem,
but Outlook has an option to use Word as its mail editor (Tools | Options |
Mail Format in Outlook 2003).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Guest]

On the assumption that Outlook is the default email editor, I will assume
that is what I am using.....but just to be sure, I'll check it on Monday when
I go back to work. I take it, then, that you're saying that if Word is the
email editor, that could be why the Word is defaulting to the last used
folder?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't know for sure because I don't use Outlook for mail at all, but it
seemed like a long-shot possibility.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.