Shortcuts not working (2003 SP1)

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When I click on a shortcut to a Word document, Word opens and then I get the message “The system cannot find the file specified”. With Word open, I can click on the shortcut again and the document loads. This happens from any shortcut or Outlook attachment. If I click on a file in a Windows Explorer window, Word opens but no document is loaded and I don’t get any message.

The latest issue of PC Mag had an article about similar behavior in Excel (July 2005, page 87) and offered a solution: go to Tools | Options, click on the ‘General’ tab and uncheck the ‘Ignore other applications’ box. I can’t find any similar option in Word, and Help doesn’t bring up anything. Any ideas?

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This may be related to some code that runs at startup, either in a regular template (e.g., an AutoExec macro) or in a COM Add-in (onload/startup procedure). Because such code only runs when Word is fired up from a cold start, once Word is open the problem goes away. Finding the problem code, if that’s what it is, usually is done with an elimination diet. You eliminate all autoloading templates and add-ins and then add them back one-by-one until the symptoms recur.

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OK, after almost a year I’m coming back to this problem. I was temporarily able to get round it by keeping a copy of Word open all the time, but I’d like to nail it down. I looked at my macros and there is indeed an autoexec, but I have no idea what it is or how it got there. When I go to macros, the edit button is greyed out. When I click on run, nothing visible happens and when I click on ‘step into’ I get this ‘Project locked’ dialog box. If I go into the VB editor and click on ‘View code’, the code window is empty. I’m guessing that an unfriendly install program for a piece of software did this. Is there any way I can frind out what it is? I don’t really want to delete it until I know what it is.

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Have you tried Phil’s post?

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Oops! Forgot about that. I removed two .dot files from the startup folders, and now I can click on shortcuts and the documents open. However, now I don’t have the function that these startup templates loaded (Winfax and the hidden file detector add-in). How do I get those back (especially Winfax)?

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Try putting back the WinFax template but not the other one, and see if Word works correctly. If it does, fine, otherwise, you’ll have to choose…

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Word doesn’t have am “Ignore other applications” option – it is in Excel.

See Phil Rabichow’s Systematic Approach to Behavioral Problems in Word (97/2000).

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