You already have a Word document that you need to edit, print or send by e-mail. There are several ways to open a document created in Word 2010, earlier versions of Word, or any Word processing application. For example, if you have recently opened a document in Word, it may be on the Recent items list on the Windows 7 Start menu. I point toward 2010, and this shows me a list of the documents that I have opened in Word 2010. In other versions of Word, this might be a consolidated recent list that would show you documents created in Excel or Word or any other application.

And so my Two Trees handbook that I'd like to open is available here, and I can click to open it. Now if it hadn't been on the Window's list, which is a relatively short list, it might still be on the list of Recent documents that Microsoft Word keeps track of. So I could go in, open Word, and see is it on my Recent document's list here in Word. Here is one of my favorite Office features, which is Pinning. I can ensure that this document stays on this list by pinning it here.

Then when I open Word, it will always be here. But if you have Window 7, you also have Pins available to you out here on this list. So I can pin items to my Windows System List for every application in Microsoft Office 2010. What if I haven't opened a document recently, and it's not on my Window's list, and it's not on my Word list, and I still need to open it? Well, then I'll need to go find it. I can click Open to display the Open dialog box, and then I can browse to find my document, or I could actually Search to find my document.

These are all of the libraries that are available. This consolidates all the document libraries on your own computer. You may be looking, some place more specific, but as soon as you get to the folder that you believe this document is in, you can begin typing text, and you'll notice that you'll find lots of information that will allow you to locate the particular document you are looking for, and then click Open. When you open a Word 2010 document, it just opens. Documents from Word 2003 and Word 2007 also open directly, although the title bar will show that Word 2003 and 97 documents are opened in Compatibility mode.

This document is not in Compatibility mode, but if we open, for example, this document, a Word 97 to 2003, we can't know which version document, but we can still edit that here in Microsoft Word 2010. We just won't access to all of the Word 2010 tools while we work on this document in Compatibility mode. Documents saved in other formats, like Open document, or Works, or WordPerfect, or older versions of Word are also converted as you open them.

For example, we have a document that was created in an Open document format, so I'll switch to All Files here in the Open dialog box to see this Report Enhanced.wps. Again, a wps file, not a doc or a docx file, and if I open this document, you'll notice that it opens in Compatibility mode, but it displays very well. And if I go backstage, I can convert this document to become a Word 2010 document.

So when you need to open a document, don't immediately choose File and then choose Open. If you have opened the document recently, use the Recent list, here in Word or in Window 7, or in Windows Vista, or to really speed up your access to Word documents, pin the documents you are working on on a regular basis on your Recent documents list, here in Word or in Windows.