How to make Word 2003 go straight to a blank document?

I want Word 2003 to launch straight into a blank Word document, rather than presenting me with a list of templates to choose from.

Any ideas?

TIA.

 

One idea is a desktop rightclick>new>ms word document.

 

Thank you. I suppose that would work, but I was hoping for just one left-click and having a blank document in front of my eyes. I would have thought Microsoft would have thought of making something available in the Options panel.

 

Hmmm, as Jim Varney used to say, "that might work "! However, I gather I have to keep deleting it each time I restart the PC, right?

 

Steve, no luck at all. I deleted the template and started up Word - here comes the dreaded template list, again. After that happened, I did a search on the C: drive for normal.dot. There was no sign of one.

 

Try this: Right click on the MS Word shortcut icon, click on Properties and in the target box type: /n after the path.

Should look like this: "C:\Program Files|Microsoft Office\Office\winword.exe" /n

Note the quotes " have to be there and a space between the last " and the /n

This is how I have my Word 2000 set up to open without a blank page.

Above assumes that you have MS word installed on C: under Program Files.

If you have any questions, post the path you have in the Target Line of your shortcut. You can also alter the Start Menu shortcut in the same way.

You can also set up MS Excel the same way, but use /s instead.

 

Hello John,

EUREKA!!!!! Thanks to you, I stumbled upon the solution!

When I checked the Target line, it was grayed out! So, I went into the Office10 folder and clicked on the Winword.exe executable, which opened up exactly the way I wanted! When I created a shortcut to this executable, it also behaved exactly the same way, plus, the Target line in this shortcut was editable, but I never did have to add the " /n" argument, after all. So, I went back and took a second look. Turns out that if I use the "New Office Document" that Microsoft provides (dah) it displays the list of templates. But, when I click on the executable or a shortcut to Word itself, it goes straight into the blank document! BTW, I did the same thing for Excel, and it also now goes straight to the blank worksheet. I am replacing the "New Office Document" shortcut with my own.

But, I'd never have stumbled upon this if you did not suggest this. My thanks to you, and all who responded. Case closed.

 

Glad you figured it out. Thanks for posting back.