WORD 2002 File Open Command : Problem with the File Name Box

[Rachel]

Computer crashed, have new DELL with Word 2002. In old Word (2000) clicked
file, open and then typed in name to search in the directory listed, in this
particular case it is the FORMS directory. EXAMPLE: If the file name was
Miami 251 then I could type EITHER Miami OR 251 OR Miami 251 in the file name
box and any file with any of those listed words/numbers would pop up for me
to select. The newer Word will not pull up anything unless you start with the
first letter of the first word/number/etc. and it goes letter by letter or
number by number thereafter.

I have several multinamed groups say OREGON STATE, OREGON COUNTY, EASTERN
OREGON, etc. but I cannot just put in oregon as I did before. If I do I get
nothing in the display even though there are at least five with oregon
somewhere in the name. If I begin typing oregon, then the first oregon file
will appear, EXAMPLE: OREGON COUNTY - but, to get OREGON STATE I would have
to continue typing, O r e g o n s and then it would pull that one up, etc.

If seraching completed files, for example 04-28-06 Miami 251, I cannot put
in just Miami or just Miami 251. I HAVE to put in 04-28-06 M or nothing will
appear for me to chose which makes me believe there is no file of Miami in
there at all.

I can find all these files by using my arrow keys to scroll through the list
but this is very time consuming. I am a medical transcriptionist and am in
desparate need of this function.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give!
Rachel in Alabama

[Jay Freedman]

Word can still find files by using part of the file name, but if
you're using the middle or end of the name you have to start and end
with the asterisk wildcard character. For example, to find "04-28-06
Miami 251.doc" you can enter *miami* and press Enter.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

[Rachel]

Thanks for the suggestion but this does not work. Any other suggestions
would be greatly appreciated. (Remember, I am in word under the file open
command, not under a general search).
Rachel

[Jay Freedman]

There are no other suggestions, other than to use Windows Explorer instead.
This is the way the File > Open dialog is supposed to work. And I tried it
on my own system before I posted, so I know it does work.

If you open the dialog, navigate to the correct folder if necessary, enter a
portion of the file name surrounded by asterisks, and press Enter, the file
list will contain only the files that match your entry, plus all subfolders
within that folder. You may need to scroll the list to the bottom to get
past the subfolders.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

[Rachel]

I owe you an apology!! After your 2nd message, I went back and did it again
and it worked great (I have no clue what I used instead of the asterisks the
first time but obviously it was something else!) At any rate, thanks so
much...I feel my headache fading already....Any final thoughts as to why
Microsoft would change the format from previous versions. I really did not
see any instructions about this in the program help file either but was
probably searching under the wrong thing!?

Anywhat, thanks a million!
Rachel Rowell

[Jay Freedman]

Good, I'm glad it works for you.

I don't remember seeing any instructions or documentation about the
change. It's one of those things we found the hard way, by noticing
that the old way stopped working. The "new" behavior is actually the
oldest -- ancient -- DOS way of using wildcard matching. But I have no
idea what prompted the change.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP FAQ: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

[Rachel]

Amazing development!!

Guess what happened today???

I was using the wildcard to pull up the files and it was working just fine.
Of course I forgot to use it sometimes and nothing would be in the list.
HOWEVER, around lunchtime I was calling up files as usual and forgot to put
in the asterisk once again and guess what,the file pulled as it had been
doing in my previous versions. I now DO NOT have to put in the asterisks and
can pull using one word of a multiword file name, the number, etc and it will
pull just like it did in the previous versions. I guess this is some kind of
learing program?! Anyway, this is for your information in case you pass
along this subject to anyone else.

[Rachel]

SORRY, spoke too soon. Please disregard my most recent post. This is
pulling with name only but those are entries with that specific name. Still
have to asterisk multis. SORRY.