Additional Resources

Microsoft Word Help: Save, Open, Delete Documents

What's on this page... Saving a document for the first time Saving your document under a new name Saving a document you've been working on Opening a saved document Opening a new document Renaming a document Closing a document Deleting a document

Saving a document for the first time

To save a document for the first time, follow these steps:

1.	Choose File from the menu bar.
2.	Select Save As, or press CTRL + S, or click the Save button from the Standard toolbar.
	Save button
3.	In the Save In dialog box that appears, find and select the folder that you want to save the file in.
4.	Microsoft Word help by suggesting a name in the File Name box (the name comes from the first line in the document). If that name isn’t suitable, delete it and enter another suitable name for your document. Be sure to enter one you will remember.
5.	Click the Save button.

TIP

Document names They can be up to 255 characters long and can include all characters and numbers except these: / ? : * “ < > |. They can even include spaces. This applies to all Microsoft Office applications, so getting into a consistent naming scheme for all your Microsoft Office creations is a good habit. For example, you no longer have to name your Sales Report as salesrpt (forget the old DOS restrictions!).  Heck, you can now rear back and name it Sales Report.

Saving your document under a new name

To save a document under a new name, follow these steps:

1.	Choose File from the menu bar.
2.	Select Save As, or press CTRL + S, or click the SAVE button from the Standard toolbar.
	Save button
3.	In the Save In dialog box that appears, find and select the folder that you want to save the file in.
4.	Give the document a new name in the File Name text box.
5.	If you’re also changing the type of file this is, click the Save As Type drop-down menu and choose the file type.
6.	Click the Save button.

Saving a document you've been working on

You can save a document using any of the following 3 different ways:

♦	Choose File ►Save
♦	Click the Save button on the Standard toolbar.
	Save button
♦	Press CTRL + S

Opening a saved document

To open a document you have saved, follow these steps:

1.	Choose File from the menu bar.
2.	Select Open, or press CTRL + O, or click the OPEN button on the Standard toolbar.
	Open button
3.	Find the folder that holds the file you want to open. To do that try using these nifty tools:
	♦ Look In drop-down menu — Click the down arrow to open the look in drop-down menu, and then click on a drive letter of folder to see its contents. ♦ Back button — If you stray too far in your search, click the Back button to return to the folder you looked at previously. ♦ Up One Level button — Click the Up One Level button to climb up the hierarchy of the folders on your computer system. ♦ View button and Menu — Click the Views down arrow and choose an option to examine the contents of a folder more closely.  The List option on the menu lists file names, the Details option tells you how large files are and when they were last modified, the Properties option provides details about the file selected in the dialog box, and the Preview option shows the file.  You can also click the Views button to cycle through the choices on the menu. ♦ Folders — Double-click a folder to place its name in the Look In box and see its contents.
4.	When you’ve found the folder and it is listed in the Look In box, click the name of the file you want to open.
5.	Either double-click on the file you selected, or click the OPEN button.

Opening a new document

To create a new document, follow any of the following 3 ways:

♦	Click the New button on the Standard toolbar.
	New button
♦	Press CTRL + N.
♦	Choose File ►New.

Renaming a document

To rename a document file, follow these steps:

1.	Choose File from the menu bar and click Open, or press CTRL + O, or click the Open button on the Standard toolbar.
	Open button
2.	In the Open dialog box, find the folder that contains the file you want to rename.
3.	Click the file you want to rename.
4.	Click the Tools button and choose Rename from the drop-down menu. Or press F2.
5.	The old name is highlighted.  Enter a new name in its place.
6.	Press the Enter key.

Closing a document

The Close dialog box let's you close carefully.

Deleting a document

To delete a document from the Microsoft Word application, follow these steps:

1.	Choose File from the menu bar.
2.	Click Open, or press CTRL + O, or click the Open button on the Standard toolbar.
	Open button
3.	In the Open dialog box, find the document that you want to delete.
4.	Either click the Delete button at the top of the dialog box or press the Delete key on the keyboard.  You can also right-click the file, and choose Delete from the shortcut menu.
5.	When Word asks if you really want to go through with it and send the file to the Recycle Bin, click Yes.
6.	Click Cancel or press Esc to remove the Open dialog box.

Microsoft Word XP