Tip: Launch Word with Your Recent Project

If you have a big Microsoft Word document that you chip away on every day, then you can save time by opening up Word directly to your project. By doing this, you can get more out of your workday. Here’s how you do it.

This may seem obvious to those of you that have a link to your project saved on your Desktop, but for those of you that take the long route when opening Word by searching for your project; using a shortcut to your doc from your desktop will make a big difference.

Desktop shortcuts are handy, but let’s face it; none of us will make a shortcut for every major project that we work on. If we did this, then our desktops would be littered with document icons, and searching through all the different icons would actually waste your time.

Another shortcut that you can use to access your most recent documents is to go to the Start Menu and then hover your mouse over the Word icon, or click on >. A drop down menu will open showing you what the most recent documents are in chronological order.

The recent documents drop down menu will save you some time, but there is even a better way to do this. The most efficient way is to have Word automatically launch by opening up to the most recent document.

Setting up Word to open to your most recent document is as easy as copying and pasting. For the Microsoft operating systems that include the Start button, go to Start > Run. In the text box, simply enter the following command: winword.exe /mFile1 and then finish by clicking OK.

Now Word will automatically open to your most recent document regardless of the file’s name. Running this command will save you a few steps every time you open up Word; and as any productivity expert will tell you, saving many small steps will lead to big savings the more you use it!