Fast way to open a recently used Word document
I have been using Microsoft Word in one version or the other since Word 95. However, Word is a far more powerful program than I need and I probably am unaware of 95% of its features. For that reason, I don’t give many Word tips but now and then I come across one that I think is worth passing on.
Did you know that the executable file that opens Word can have switches? There is a Microsoft Knowledge Base article, How to use startup command line switches to start Word 2007, Word 2003, Word 2002, and Word 2000. Most of the switches for the file winword.exe are of little use to the average Word user but there is one that allows a handy shortcut. I’ll discuss the details below but if your eyes start to glaze over and you want to skip the discussion, I have prepared a little file for you that implements the shortcut. The download link is at the end, following the discussion.
As you know, Word keeps a list of the most recently used files (MRU). They can be seen by opening the File menu or in Word 2007 by clicking the orb in the upper left corner. You can then access a previously opened document by clicking its name in the list. However, there is a way to access a previously used document before Word is even open. It makes use of a switch that has the form /mfilen where n is the place of the file in the most recently used list. Thus to open the file that you last used (it is first in the list), the command would be: winword.exe /mfile1To reopen the next-to-last file that you used the command is:winword.exe /mfile2 and so on until you exhaust the MRU list. You could enter the command into the Run box or use the command line. The command line would actually use “start winword.exe /mfile1″. However, creating a shortcut is more convenient.
It’s easy to create a shortcut that will open Word and the last document that you worked on. You will need to know the path for the executable file winword.exe. Normally, it is in a folder of the form C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeX where X is a number that depends on your version. For example, Office 2003 is Office11 and Office 2007 is Office12. I give general procedures for creating a shortcut at Computer Education. The command to be used in the shortcut for Word 2003 is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11\winword.exe" /mfile1 and for Word 2007 is "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\winword.exe" /mfile1 Note that the quotation marks are needed because the path has spaces in it.
If you prefer a ready-made shortcut, I have written a little batch file that should do the job on most systems. Download it here, unzip, and place anywhere convenient. Double-clicking this file should open your copy of Word with the last document that you used.
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