I lost my Microsoft Office program files

[Guest]

Ok, I know that this is going to sound like the dummest thing you have ever
heard but I want your promise to keep those thoughts to yourself before you
decide to answer this post.

I was "rearranging" the items in Start-up because I had so many programs
that I couldn't see the newest ones that I'd installed. I created several
folders which I placed in the "Programs" folder (C > Documents and Settings

All Users > Start Menu > Programs. Inside of that folder, I created

several new folders, one I named Media Players and I put on the player
folders inside of it. I created another one for all of my picture programs,
another for Yahoo, etc, etc. I combined Microsoft software into the
Microsoft Office Tools folder. However, and this is THE big however, I
somehow lost Microsoft Word and Access. The "Microsoft Office Shortcut"
toolbar will come up and I can choose Word, Excel, Access, etc, but a Search
for these programs comes up empty. I've always had shortcuts of these
programs on my desktop for extremely easy access, but even though the
programs are in my pc, I can't "find" them except by opening the Microsoft
Office Tools folder, which is ok, but I want to find the programs and I can't
find them. I created a shortcut icon from each of the icons in the Office
Shortcut Bar and placed them on my desktop, which resolved half of my dilema.
But it's driving me crazy that I can't find them in a search.

Oh where, oh where can my programs be? Or where, or where can they be?
*sniffle*

Now, remember . . . you promised not a word about this teensy-weensy, uh,
blunder. Okay, it was a blunder, I'll admit it, but I'm going to hold you to
your word . . . unintentional pun, lol.

Denise

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Start | Run | Paste the following line and click OK...

%programfiles%\Microsoft Office

Look around.

MS Word is winword.exe.

excel.exe is the executable for Microsoft Excel.

msaccess.exe is the executable for Microsoft Access.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

Hi Wesley,

Thanks for responding. By your directions, it would help me to find Word,
Excel, etc in DOS but I want to find them in Windows. I never had to search
for these programs because the icons were always there but by placing these
programs into another folder caused their paths to be invalid. Is this
normal then? If I didn't do this, would I still not be able to get results
for a search of these programs?

Oh, and by the way, I can no longer find my Temporarry Internet Folder. I
didn't do anything to this folder, just to my media players and Microsoft
Office programs. Instead of going into Start > Control Panel > Internet
Options > Delete Files, I made a shortcut on my Start list and I'd open it
and delete all. That folder is no longer there. Could I have moved it by
moving the above mentioned folders? I wouldn't think so but it's a strange
coincidence.

Denise

 

[Admiral Q]

Hi Wesley,

Thanks for responding. By your directions, it would help me to find Word,
Excel, etc in DOS but I want to find them in Windows. I never had to
search
for these programs because the icons were always there but by placing
these
programs into another folder caused their paths to be invalid. Is this
normal then? If I didn't do this, would I still not be able to get
results
for a search of these programs?

Oh, and by the way, I can no longer find my Temporarry Internet Folder. I
didn't do anything to this folder, just to my media players and Microsoft
Office programs. Instead of going into Start > Control Panel > Internet
Options > Delete Files, I made a shortcut on my Start list and I'd open it
and delete all. That folder is no longer there. Could I have moved it by
moving the above mentioned folders? I wouldn't think so but it's a
strange
coincidence.

Denise

If you had followed Wesley's directions you would have realized you were not
in DOS, but in Explorer where you could have verified the executables for
Office were still there - if found, you could have created shortcuts for
them, if not, you would know you need to repair/reinstall Office.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Denise,

DOS? There is no DOS in Windows XP.

%programfiles%\Microsoft Office is the equivalent of C:\Program
Files\Microsoft Office if Program Files in on the C: drive.

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs is just a folder
full of shortcuts, it should not have the real files, winword.exe, for
example. The shortcuts point to the real files.

winword.exe, depending on the version, should be in:

Office 2000
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office9

Office XP
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10

Office 2003
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11

I have no idea about Office 97 or 95.

I have no idea about your Temporary Internet File folder shortcut.

Start | Run | Paste the following line and click OK...

%userprofile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

%userprofile% is the equivalent of C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here

C:\Documents and Settings\Your Name Here\Local Settings\Temporary Internet
Files

Local Settings and anything down stream are Hidden folders.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Guest]

If you had followed Wesley's directions you would have realized you were not
in DOS, but in Explorer where you could have verified the executables for
Office were still there - if found, you could have created shortcuts for
them, if not, you would know you need to repair/reinstall Office.

Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!
Google is your friend!
http://www.google.com

==================================

Hi, I know that the programs are there because I can open them using the
Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar. A search for the programs, including system
and hidden files comes up empty. Since my original post, I right clicked on
several of the icons and pinned to the Start Up menu, but a search for the
programs still turns up empty which, I think, is very strange. They're in my
pc, they are usable using the Shortcut Bar, but other than that, my pc
doesn't recognize their names.

Denise

 

[Guest]

Hi Wesley, All the files are there. Thanks for showing me a new/different
way to find files/folders/programs. Whenever I've used Run, I've always used
cmd first, which is the reason why I thought that you were giving me
directions to find the programs in DOS. Again, thanks for your help.

Denise

================

 

[Guest]

Hi Wesley and Admiral Q . . . All is found and all is right with the world
)

Thanks so much!

Denise

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Denise,

Here's a little info on the Run command.

To start a program by using the Run command
1. Click Start and then click Run.
2. In Open, type the path to the item you want to open, or click Browse to
locate it.

Notes
* The Open box lists items you have opened recently. Type or select an item
in the list, and then click OK to open it.
* You can open a file or folder or connect to a shared computer by typing
its path in the Open box. You can also connect to an Internet or intranet
site; for example, to reach the Microsoft Web site, type
www.microsoft.com in the Open box. ]]
From...
To start a program by using the Run command
Start | Run | Paste...
hh taskbar.chm::/win_tray_start_programs_runcommand.htm

What's This? sez...
[[The Open box provides a place for you to type the location and file name
of the program you want to run. If you are not sure of the program's
location or file name, click Browse. You can make a temporary network
connection by typing the path to a shared computer. You can also gain access
to the Internet by typing the address (URL) of the site you want to open. ]]

[[...the run command only allows for 255 characters for the path to the file
(entire directory structure to file) including the file name. The same issue
will occur for a shortcut; the entire path cannot exceed 255 characters. ]]
From...
Error Message When You Use Run Command to Start a Program with a Long File
Name
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;281675

Open box
[[Provides a place for you to type the location and file name of the program
you want to run. If you are not sure of the program's location or file name,
click Browse. You can make a temporary network connection by typing the path
to a shared computer. You can also gain access to the Internet by typing the
address (URL) of the site you want to open. ]]

OK button
[[Opens the file or path specified and closes the dialog box.]]
The Enter key does the same thing.

Cancel button
[[Closes the dialog box without opening the file or path specified.]]

Browse button
[[Click to browse through folders to find the file you want.]]

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In