[JLMJR]

I'm using MS Office 2007 and I can't figure out how to change things so that
I can have multiple documents opened in just one window. IEvery time I make a
new doc it insists on opening a new Word instance. If I have 2 or 3 word
windows open then I can switch between them using the View/Switch Windows
option but I would just prefer to not open multiple instances of word when
I'm working with 2 or 3 documents. What do I need to change or can I even do
this with the newer office app?

[Gordon Bentley-Mix at news.microsoft.com]

See the Wikipedia article on 'Single Document Interface':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_document_interface. It will probably
explain things better than I can. However, the short answer is that Word 2007
(and almost every version of Word going back to 2002 at least) works this
way, and there is no setting that you can change to make it work differently.
--
Cheers!

Gordon Bentley-Mix
Word MVP

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"JLMJR" wrote:

I'm using MS Office 2007 and I can't figure out how to change things so that
I can have multiple documents opened in just one window. IEvery time I make a
new doc it insists on opening a new Word instance. If I have 2 or 3 word
windows open then I can switch between them using the View/Switch Windows
option but I would just prefer to not open multiple instances of word when
I'm working with 2 or 3 documents. What do I need to change or can I even do
this with the newer office app?

[Jay Freedman]

On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:53:02 -0800, JLMJR
wrote:

I'm using MS Office 2007 and I can't figure out how to change things so that
I can have multiple documents opened in just one window. IEvery time I make a
new doc it insists on opening a new Word instance. If I have 2 or 3 word
windows open then I can switch between them using the View/Switch Windows
option but I would just prefer to not open multiple instances of word when
I'm working with 2 or 3 documents. What do I need to change or can I even do
this with the newer office app?

This is controlled by the setting in Office button Word Options Advanced
Display Show all windows in the Taskbar. When that is checked, each document
gets its own window, complete with ribbon and other controls (which is
technically not a separate instance of the program -- there's still only one
copy of winword.exe running). When it's unchecked, there is only one main
window, with a child window for each document.

Personally, I think the separate windows are easier to deal with unless you're
trying to view them all at the same time in limited screen space (and because I
have dual monitors, even that isn't a problem). You can switch among the
separate windows with the Alt+Tab shortcut. When the documents share a single
window, you need the Ctrl+F6 shortcut, which I find awkward. And in either case
using three mouse clicks to go through the Switch Windows button is the most
awkward of all.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
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