Your second suggestion doesn't work. I'm using Word 2000. Is it supposed
to?

Bob
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
As you have seen, the column width is determined by the longest filename.
In
my copy of Word 2003, Word does default to showing all the folders (that
is,
the "top" of the list). There are two things you can do that will help:

1. Create subfolders. Whenever a folder gets so full that you can't see
the
entire contents in the Open or Save dialog, divide it into subfolders,
just
the same as you would do with paper folders in a filing cabinet.

2. Increase the size of the Open and Save dialogs. You can drag them
bigger
by pulling on the ridged handle on the lower right corner, or you can
maximize them by double-clicking on the title bar (restore by repeating
that
action).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"Bob Griendling" wrote in message
...
When I choose any way to open a document, the open dialogue box opens,
but
then the contents shift to the right. For example, I have five columns
when
I open My documents, the first approximately three columns are files and
the
last two docs. When I open the box the columns shift to the right,
showing
the second, third and fourth columns and part of the fifth.

In the past when this happened, I traced the problem to a particularly
long
file or doc name, which I then shortened to correct the problem. But
this
doesn't seem to be the case now.

Because my first move is to open one of the folders, I'd like all them to
show.

Any suggestions of why this happens?

Bob