What is the difference between File > Close and X

[Guest]

Hi All,

I am wondering if there is a difference between using the File> Close
function in Word to close a document or the X in the upper right corner (not
for application but the document). Does Word do the same exact thing? Or
does it something different in the background.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

File - Close from the menu executes Word's FileClose command, while the X
you're talking about executes the DocClose command.

If you have multiple windows open for a given document (e.g., if you choose
Window - New Window so that you can work with different views of the same
file), then DocClose (the X) closes just the active window, leaving any
other windows containing that file alone. This is the same as pressing
Ctrl+F4.

FileClose (File - Close from the menu), on the other hand, closes all
windows containing that file. So, if you have 4 windows open all showing
LetterToJohn.Doc, then FileClose closes them all. But, if you have other
files open, FileClose leaves those other file windows open.

I hope this is clearer than mud. ;-)

 

[Helmut Weber]

Hi,

the X in the upper right corner (not for application but the document)

is the X for a window. Not for a document.
You may have more than one window with the same doc in it.
You get it by "window", "split".

Only if there is only one window for the doc,
close and X will do the same, IMHO.

--
Greetings from Bavaria, Germany

Helmut Weber, MVP WordVBA

Win XP, Office 2003
"red.sys" & Chr$(64) & "t-online.de"

 

[Guest]

Thanks you very much for this splendid explanation, Herb. This was very
helpful.

Now, if I may ask you another question relating to this. What would be the
"better" way to close a document assuming you have one document (or several
others not related) open? Is the FileClose preferred over the DocClose? Or
does it even matter?

Thanks again.

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

If you have only one window open for a given document, then FileClose and
DocClose both do the same thing. In my view, it doesn't matter which you
use. [Note: If a document contains an AutoClose macro, for example, closing
the last-open window of a given file either way will cause the AutoClose
macro to be executed. If multiple windows on a given document are open, then
DocClose won't fire the AutoClose macro, but FileClose will.]

But, the short answer to your question is "It doesn't matter." At some
fundamental level, however, it might matter if you ever start working with
multiple windows on a given document. If you really want to close the file,
then File - Close is much more efficient, and probably less frustrating. If
you really want to close just a window, then the X is the safer habit to
cultivate. Much depends on your style of working.

Cheers,

 

[Guest]

Great! Thank you so much again. You have answered all my questions and then
some.

Have a good night.

kikilein

If you have only one window open for a given document, then FileClose and
DocClose both do the same thing. In my view, it doesn't matter which you
use. [Note: If a document contains an AutoClose macro, for example, closing
the last-open window of a given file either way will cause the AutoClose
macro to be executed. If multiple windows on a given document are open, then
DocClose won't fire the AutoClose macro, but FileClose will.]

But, the short answer to your question is "It doesn't matter." At some
fundamental level, however, it might matter if you ever start working with
multiple windows on a given document. If you really want to close the file,
then File - Close is much more efficient, and probably less frustrating. If
you really want to close just a window, then the X is the safer habit to
cultivate. Much depends on your style of working.

Cheers,

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com

Thanks you very much for this splendid explanation, Herb. This was very
helpful.

Now, if I may ask you another question relating to this. What would be
the
"better" way to close a document assuming you have one document (or
several
others not related) open? Is the FileClose preferred over the DocClose?
Or
does it even matter?

Thanks again.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for you response, Helmut. Please see previous posts from Herb, who
nailed the issue.

Good night.

 

[Jay Freedman]

If you have several different documents open and you want to close
them all (but not exit from Word itself), you can hold the Shift key
while you click the File menu, and choose Close All.

As far as the documents are concerned (i.e., what gets saved), there's
no difference among any of these methods.

 

[Bob S]

In addition to the excellent responses from others:

Also note that there is a bug in Word 2002 and Word 2003 that can
cause you to lose changes to a document template. If you make changes
to a style in a document and use the "add to template" feature, and
you then use File | Close to close the document and when prompted you
say to not save changes to the document, the changes to the template
will not be saved either. On the other hand, if instead of using File
| Close you use the (X) in the upper right corner to close the window
containing the document you get prompted about whether to save
template changes.

Bob S