10 Minute Guide to Word for Windows 95

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Retrieving Documents

In this lesson, you'll learn how to retrieve a document from a disk into Word for Windows, how to search for a specific file, and how to import documents you created with other programs.

Retrieving a Word for Windows Document

You can retrieve any document created with Word for Windows for further editing, printing, and other functions. To do so, select File Open or click the Open button on the Standard Toolbar. The Open dialog box will be displayed, as shown in Figure 7.1.


Plain English: Retrieving a Document This means to reopen a document from your disk into Word for Windows so you can work on it.


Timesaver Tip: Opening a Document Use File Open to work on a document that you saved earlier.

The file list shows all of the Word documents and folders in the current folder. The Look in box shows the name of the current folder. Here are the actions you can take:

Figure 7.1
The Open dialog box.


Plain English: Folder A folder is a method of organizing files on a disk. Before Windows 95, folders used to be called subdirectories.

To quickly open a file you worked on recently, you can use Word's Recently Used File List. To view this list, select File to display the File menu--the list is displayed at the bottom of the menu just above the Exit command. To open a file on the list, press the number corresponding to the file or click the file name with the mouse. This list displays the document files that you have saved most recently. If you have just installed Word, there will be no files displayed here, of course. If you have saved files and the list still doesn't display, see the next paragraph. You can control how many files are displayed on the Recently Used File List, and whether or not the list is displayed at all. Select Tools Options to display the Options dialog box, and click the General tab if necessary. Turn the Recently Used File List option on or off to control display of the list. To change the number of files displayed in the list, enter a number in the Entries box, or click the up and down arrows to change the existing entry.

Finding a File

If you cannot remember the full name or location of the file that you want to retrieve, use the Find command in the Open dialog box to find it by name, contents, and/or summary information. When you select the Find Now button, Word for Windows searches for files that meet the criteria you specify in the boxes at the bottom of the Open dialog box:

1. Enter a partial file name in the File name box if you remember part of the file's name. For example, to find all Word documents whose names start with the word SALES, enter the template SALES*. To search, regardless of file name, leave this box blank.

2. To search for files of a particular type, such as WordPerfect documents, pull down the Files of type list and select the desired file type. Select All Files from this list to search regardless of file type.

3. To find files that contain specified text in the document or summary information, enter the text in the Text or property box. For example, Figure 7.2 shows that the Open dialog box is set up to find files containing the text, ruler, before the search began.

Figure 7.2
Using the Open dialog box to find files.

4. To find files based on when they were last modified, pull down the Last modified list and select the desired criterion.

5. Click the Find Now button to start the search. The names of matching files, if any, will be displayed in the file list. Figure 7.3 shows the Open dialog box after performing the search for files containing the text "ruler." You can see that only five documents in the current folder were found.

Figure 7.3
The Open dialog box displaying the results of a search.


Panic Button: Memory Helper Use the Find Now command to locate a file whose name you've forgotten.

Opening a Document From Windows

Most people open documents using the techniques described above: start Word, then use the File Open command to open the document. You can also do things the other way around. If you select the document, Windows knows that it was created with Word and will automatically start Word and load the document. Here's how to do it:

1. Start the Windows Explorer by clicking the Start button on the Windows Taskbar, selecting Programs, then selecting Windows Explorer from the menu that is displayed. If your Desktop includes a shortcut to the Explorer, you can double-click it.

2. In the Explorer window, use the Folders pane to select the desired folder, the one that contains the file you want to open.

3. In the Contents pane, double-click the name of the document file you want to open.

4. Windows will start Word and load the selected document file. If Word is already running, the file will be loaded.

Importing Documents

It is possible to import documents that were created with other applications, converting them to Word for Windows format. For example, you can import a document that was created with WordPerfect, therefore, retaining all of its special formatting and fonts. Word for Windows imports from a wide variety of programs. To import a file, follow these steps:

1. Select File Open or click the Open button on the Standard Toolbar. The Open dialog box will be displayed.

2. Pull down the Files of type list and select the type of file you want to import.

3. The File List shows all files of the type shown in the Files of Type box that are located in the current folder. Select the file to import, or type its name directly into the File name box.

4. Select Open.

In this lesson, you learned how to retrieve a document from a disk into Word for Windows, how to search for a specific file, and how to import documents that were created with other programs. In the next lesson, you'll learn how to print your document.


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