Hi talbert

Assuming you have Word 2002 or Word 2003, then the trick is to use an * as a
wildcard.

*409* will find all files whose names contain 409 in the name.
409* will find all files whose names begin with 409.
*409.doc will find all .doc files whose name ends with 409.
*409.* will find all files of any kind whose name ends with 409.

At File Open, you can type your search in the File name box, and then
press Tab to show the appropriate list of files.

Hope this helps.

Shauna Kelly. Microsoft MVP.
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word


"talbert" wrote in message
...
when I choose open file, in the open window in some situations I can type
in
the window certain characters and it automatically finds the file I'm
looking
for by highlighting the file name (a name with any of the characters I
type).
However, this does not work in all cases. Trying to determine if there
are
settings to change so this functionality works regardless of the folder,
server share, etc that I'm looking for a specific file name. An example
is
I'm looking in a specific folder for a file (where there are many files)
that
has "409" in the file name. when I type "409" it locates the file with
these
characters in the name and highlights the file in the list so all I have
to
do is press enter or double click on the highlighted file name and the
file
opens. This reduces the time spent in locating the file.