Hack 8 Force Internet Explorer to Hand Off Word DocumentsTrying to edit a Word document from a browser window is like typing with mittens on. This hack shows you how to stop Word documents from opening in Internet Explorer. When you follow a hyperlink in Internet Explorer that leads to a Word document, the file opens right within the browser window. The resulting combination of toolbars and menus, as shown in Figure 2-15, can make editing a challenge. Some of the Word menus are there, but where are the toolbars? A better way is to leave Internet Explorer out of the equation and force Word documents to open in...well, Word. Figure 2-15. Editing a Word document from Internet Explorer is no easy featSelect Start Scroll down the list of "Registered file types" and select "DOC Microsoft Word Document," as shown in Figure 2-16. Figure 2-16. Find the DOC file extension in your list of known file typesNow click the Advanced button at the bottom of the dialog and uncheck the "Browse in same window" box in the resulting Edit File Type dialog, as shown in Figure 2-17. Figure 2-17. With this setting turned off, Word files opened from Internet Explorer will open in WordClick the OK button to accept the new setting and close the Folder Options dialog. Now whenever you click on a link that leads to a Word document, the document will open in Worda simple solution obfuscated by a hard-to-find setting.
2.7.1 Hacking the Hack
If you need to apply this fix to multiple computers, you can set up a .reg file to automate the change. A .reg file is a text file executed by Windows to modify the registry; you can use it to make multiple changes to the Windows registry without going into the registry itself. The following example code also makes the change for Excel and PowerPoint files, but you can leave out those files if you prefer.
Enter the following code into a text editor (such as Notepad): Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Word.Document.8] @="Microsoft Word Document" "EditFlags"=dword:00010000 "BrowserFlags"=dword:00000008 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Excel.Sheet.8] @="Microsoft Excel Worksheet" "EditFlags"=dword:00010000 "BrowserFlags"=dword:00000008 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\PowerPoint.Show.8] @="Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation" "EditFlags"=dword:00010000 "BrowserFlags"=dword:00000008 Save the file with a descriptive name, like OpenOfficeDocsInOffice.reg, and close the text editor. To run the .reg file, just double-click it. Gus Perez and Omar Shahine |