How to Open a Document in Word

How to Open a Document in Word: Video Lesson

            This video lesson, titled “Word for Microsoft 365 Tutorial: How to Open Documents in Word,” shows how to open a document in Word. This video lesson is from our complete Word tutorial, titled Mastering Word Made Easy™.

Overview:

How to Open a Document in Word at Startup:

            After initially opening Word for Microsoft 365, lists of recently opened, pinned, and documents others shared with you appear in the startup screen. To open a recent, pinned, or document shared with you in Word, click the desired tab, and then click the file’s name.

How to Pin and Unpin Documents in Word:

            A “pinned” file is one you added to the “Pinned” list for easy access, regardless of how long it has been since it was opened. To pin a recently opened file, hover over its name in the “Recent” list and then click the “pin” icon that appears to the right. Alternatively, right-click the file and then select the “Pin to list” command from the pop-up menu that appears.

            To unpin a pinned file, hover over its name in the “Pinned” list and then click the “pin” icon at its right end again. Alternatively, right-click the pinned file and then select the “Unpin from list” command from the pop-up menu that appears.

How to Open a Document Using the Open Category in the Backstage View:

            If the document to open doesn’t appear in any list, then you must know where it is saved. You can click the “More documents” command in the panel to show the “Open” category in the backstage view. Alternatively, to open another document if you are already working in Word, click the “File” tab in the Ribbon and then click the “Open” command at the left side of the backstage view to show the same “Open” category in the backstage view.

How to Choose Where to Look for the Document to Open:

            At that point, the locations within which to look for the file appear to the right of the command panel in the backstage view. It shows the “Recent” documents, by default. In the “Recent” category, you can click either the “Documents” or “Folders” link in the right panel to change whether it shows recent documents or recent folders. You can also pin or unpin either, using the same instructions we just covered. Clicking any document in the rightmost pane opens it. Clicking a folder in the rightmost pane shows the folder’s location or launches the “Open” dialog box, instead.

            Below the “Recent” category, you can instead click the “Shared with Me” location to show documents people have shared with you to the right. You can then click one of these shared documents to open it. Otherwise, click one of the OneDrive, SharePoint, or “This PC” save locations in this list to show its folders and documents in the list to the right. Note that if you select a “SharePoint” location, you may need to select a site from the list to the right to see its folders, first.

            If you need to add a new cloud save folder location, also note that you can click the “Add a Place” link in this list. Then click the button for the desired cloud save service to the right. Then enter your login credentials to add the selected cloud save locations for the associated login credentials to your list of saved online locations.

How to Navigate the Selected Location and Open a File:

            You can click the folders in the list of files and folders at the far-right side of the screen to then show their contents in the same area, if needed. To move up one level from within a folder, click the “Select to navigate up one level” button, which looks like an upward-pointing arrow, to the left of the current folder’s name at the top of the rightmost panel. You can click any Word file in the list of files and folders to open it.

How to Use the “Open” Dialog Box to Open a File:

            To instead use an “Open” dialog box to find the file to open in Word, either click the “Browse” button in the list of locations or click the “currently selected” folder at the top of the rightmost list of files and folders to launch an “Open” dialog box. In the “Open” dialog box that appears, navigate to the folder location to view, if needed, using the folder navigation tools at the top or left sides of the dialog box. You should see an icon for the file and the file’s name appear in the files and folders in the “Open” dialog box.

            To open a file in the selected folder, click the file’s icon and then click the “Open” button in the lower-right corner of the “Open” dialog box. Alternatively, double-click the file’s icon in the “Open” dialog box.

How to Open Multiple Word Documents at Once Using the “Open” Dialog Box in Word:

            You can also use this dialog box to simultaneously open multiple documents in the same folder. To do this if the files are non-adjacent, or not next to each other in the folder, hold down the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard. Then click each file to select it.

            Alternatively, if the files are adjacent, or next to each other, instead click the first file, hold down “Shift” key, and then click the last file to select. Everything including and between the two files is then selected.

            After selecting the files, release any keyboard keys, and then click the “Open” button in the lower-right corner of the “Open” dialog box. Word opens all the highlighted, or selected, files.