Multiple Document Interface (Word 2000)

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Dear all,

Earlier versions of Word opened all documents within the same “instance” of Word. In Word 2000, however, each document opens in its own “instance.” If I am using the terminology correctly, I believe that this is known as “multiple document interface.”

I typically do not run Word maximized; instead I run it the full width of the screen but not the full height (so that the Task Bar is always visible — I don’t like either Always on top or Auto hide). I wouldn’t care about the multiple instances if the second instance were automatically placed exactly over the first instance. But that’s not what happens — the second instance has the same height and width dimensions of the first instance but is displaced toward the top of the screen (note that I have the Task bar at the top of my screen).

So, my question is — Is there any way to (1) cause Word 2000 to behave like earlier versions (i.e., open all documents in the same instance) or (2) force the second instance of Word to open exactly on top of the first instance?

Thanks for your help.

Regards,

David

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Actually the MDI capability of Word has been around for a long time. With Office 2000, MS decided that they needed to change the way it worked so there were no longer “client” windows, but separate windows that each had a task bar icon. Many people railed against it, but they were firm in that usability testing somehow convinced them that users got confused with client windows. In fact all Office 2k apps now give the option of having separate task bar icons, but the rest still use a client window (for most cases at least). I can’t test Word 2002 as I am not in my office at the moment, but I believe it works the same way. And unfortunately you can’t turn off the task bar behavior in Word, although you can in other apps. I guess the rest of us have worked with it to the point where we quit complaining. But if you want to search back through the WOW archives at about the time Office 2k was released, I’m sure you’ll find some sympathetic words.

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Hi David:
See this post

Cheers,

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