2.5 Quickly Change Your File Open Path Instead of always using My Documents, this hack shows you how to make Word open to the folder where your documents really are.Few Word workers keep all their files in the My Documents folder. Much of the time they're on your desktop or in a different project folder deep on your hard drive. Sometimes they're not even "your" documents; they may live on a server across the office, or across the country. But when you want to get to one of those files, choosing File Open always sends you to the same place: the My Documents folder.Though you can change this default settingWord will open to the folder of your choosingit involves a long trip through Tools Options File Locations Modify. You must then do some more mouse work as you browse for the folder you want to use. Many users give up and resign themselves to starting each workday with a trip through My Documents, but a short macro provides an easier way.
2.5.1 The Code This macro provides an interactive way to change the File Open folder to the folder in which the current document resides. Create the following macro, named ReAssignFileOpen, in the template of your choice [Hack #50] :Sub ReAssignFileOpen( ) Dim sNewPath As String Dim sCurrentPath As String Dim sDefaultPath As String Dim lResponse As Long sNewPath = ActiveDocument.Path ' Current document must have been saved ' at least once to be in a folder If Len(sNewPath) = 0 Then MsgBox "Please save this document first.", vbExclamation Exit Sub End If ' Capture the default path by temporarily resetting the current one sCurrentPath = Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) = " sDefaultPath = Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) ' Restore to the current path Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) = sCurrentPath ' Prompt user to confirm change to current document's folder lResponse = MsgBox("Really Change File...Open path to:" & _ vbCr & vbCr & _ sNewPath & "?" & _ vbCr & vbCr & _ "Press Cancel to reset to Default (" & sDefaultPath & ").", _ vbYesNoCancel) ' Process response Select Case lResponse Case Is = vbYes Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) = sNewPath Case Is = vbNo Exit Sub Case Is = vbCancel Options.DefaultFilePath(wdDocumentsPath) = sDefaultPath End Select End Sub
2.5.2 Running the Hack When you run this macro, you'll be prompted with the dialog shown in Figure 2-13, asking you to confirm the change. If you select Yes, the next time you choose File Open, Word will place you in the chosen folder. | If you point this setting to a folder on a network drive and select File Open while no longer connected to the network, Word will return to its default File Open folder (usually My Documents). |
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For quick access to this timesaver, put a button for it on the Standard toolbar [Hack #1] or add it to the File menu [Hack #3].
2.5.3 See Also [Hack #57]
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