Microsoft KB Archive/210565

= How to use startup command line switches to start Word 2003, Word 2002, and Word 2000 =

Article ID: 210565

Article Last Modified on 8/6/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office Word 2003
 * Microsoft Word 2002 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q210565



SUMMARY
This article describes the command-line switches that can be used to start Word and their purpose. Some of these switches are also described in Word Help.

For more information about startup switches, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type control what happens when you start word in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.



MORE INFORMATION
To use a command-line switch to start Word, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Use the Run command
 Click Start, and then click Run. Click Browse. Locate the Office folder, click the Winword.exe file, and then click Open. The Winword.exe file is located in the following folder by default:  Microsoft Office Word 2003

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office11

 Microsoft Word 2002

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10

 Microsoft Word 2000

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office

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Note The path to Winword.exe is enclosed in quotation marks.</li> Click in the Open box, and then reposition the insertion point outside of (to the right of) the closing quotation mark at the end of the path statement.</li> Type a space, followed by the switch that you want to use.

For example, if you want to start Word and prevent the loading of add-ins and global templates, type the following in the Open box, including the quotation marks:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe" /a

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Method 2: Use a shortcut
Follow these steps to create a shortcut to start Word from the Windows desktop: <ol> Right-click the Windows desktop, point to New on the shortcut menu that appears, and then click Shortcut.</li> In the Create Shortcut dialog box, click Browse.</li> In the Browse dialog box, change the Look in box to the following folder:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office

Note This location of this folder may be different on your system.</li> Click the Winword.exe file, and then click Open.</li> Click in the Command line box, and then position the insertion point at the end of the path that is listed. The path that is listed in the Command line box should look similar to the following:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe"

</li> After the closing quotation mark, type a space and then type the switch that you want. The path that is listed in the Command line box should now look similar to the following:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe" /a

</li> In the Create Shortcut dialog box, click Next.</li> In the Select a name for the shortcut box, type the name of your new shortcut, and then click Finish.</li></ol>

Method notes
If you put the switch inside the closing quotation mark and then click OK, you receive one of the following error messages:

Cannot find the file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe /a' (or one of its components). Make sure the path and filename are correct and that all required libraries are available.

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Windows cannot find 'D:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\WINWORD.EXE /a'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again. To search for a file, click the Start button, and then click Search.

If you specify a path or file name that contains spaces after a switch, enclose the path in quotation marks. For example, if you want to start Word and automatically create a document based on the Contemporary Fax template, the switch should look similar to the following:

/t"c:\program files\microsoft office\templates\1033\contemporary fax.dot"

Therefore, the complete startup command would be similar to the following:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword.exe" /t"c:\program files\microsoft office\templates\1033\contemporary fax.dot"

This is also true for the /l switch.

List of Word startup switches
The following Word startup (command-line) switches are listed in Word Help.

The following Word startup (command-line) switches are not listed in Word Help.

The following Word startup (command-line) switch is listed in Word 2000 Help but not listed in Word 2002 or Word 2003 Help.

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