How To Change The Default File Opening and Saving Location For Microsoft Office

If you’re a big Word and Excel user, you may open and save several documents in a day.  Word and Excel are set by default to save in your My Documents folder on Windows XP or Documents library on Windows Vista/7.  This default location is OK if you’re a home user but may not be ideal if you’re in a work environment where mapped drives and other network shares are common.

In this guide I will show you how to change the default file opening and saving location for two common Microsoft Office programs, Word and Excel.

Microsoft Word

Step one: Open Word and navigate to the Microsoft Office Button (or simply the File menu if you’re using Office 2010) and click Word Options.

Step two: In the new window, click Save on the left side.

Step three: Click Browse next to the Default File Location box and select the folder that you wish to be the new default opening and saving location and click OK when finished.  You can also type the path to the directory if you wish.

Microsoft Excel

Step one: Open Excel and navigate to the Microsoft Office Button (or simply the File menu if you’re using Office 2010) and click Excel Options.

Step two: In the new window, click Save on the left side.

Step three: For reasons unknown, Excel does not have a Browse button next to the Default File Location box so you’ll have to type the path to the directory of your new default opening and saving location.  When finished, click OK.

That’s it!  If you have any questions, be sure to comment below.

Posted

in

by

Dustin Patterson

Tags:

, ,

Comments

37 responses to “How To Change The Default File Opening and Saving Location For Microsoft Office”

  1. Moshe Avatar
    Moshe

    I have changed these locations, but whenever I go to the files tab, the computer goes looking for Server1…..I am in another country, and my computer hangs there for quite a while.

    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Unless you actually have a Windows server and mapped shares, don’t change the default location. If your Windows computer is on a domain or in a workgroup with a fileserver, or has a NAS, or an attached (USB, eSata) drive that is always on, do not point to it as the default file location or move My Documents to that location.

  2. Dustin Patterson Avatar
    Dustin Patterson

    When you change the default Save location, you also change the default Open location to be the same thing.

    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Where do you change the Open location?

      1. kathleendunk Avatar
        kathleendunk

        let me know if you find this out as this is the problem i am also having…i cannot open email files of excel in excel and they try to open in word and it cannot be done..thanks

        1. Avatar
          Anonymous

          File Associations

    2. Johngrant Avatar
      Johngrant

      Dustin,
      The default open location does not change on my version of Office 2010.

      1. inachu Avatar
        inachu

        I am in the same boat as you and this does not work as you say. MS TECH CREW have abandonned any fixes for this tiny bug.

    3. Frustrated Avatar
      Frustrated

      Changing the default Save location does not change the default Open location.  Publisher 2010 does not seem to have options for either.

      1. inachu Avatar
        inachu

        YOU ARE 100% CORRECT!

    4. Tim Avatar
      Tim

      In Word 2010, the way to change the Open location is to go to File, then Options, then Advanced and scroll to the bottom and click on the File Locations button, highlight Documents and click on Modify, then find the location you want as your default opener and click on it, then hit OK and back your way out of the way you got there.

      1. Zulfikar Ali Avatar
        Zulfikar Ali

        Thanks it works charm..
        may i know how to do it in excel?

        1. Moggypop Avatar
          Moggypop

          e.g. EXCEL 2010
          Open EXCEL
          File
          Options
          Save
          Under “Save workbooks” and
          Default file location…
          Type in the path (folder) you want your program to open in.
          It might be necessary (or maybe only this might do the trick), to also:
          Open EXCEL
          File
          Options
          Advanced
          Scroll down to “General”
          “At startup, open all files in”:
          Type in the path (folder) you want your program to open in.

  3. Jeanne Speranza Avatar
    Jeanne Speranza

    Is there a way to modify this location for anyone who logs into the same workstation?  I am looking for a way to do this on a Citrix box.

  4. Silversue2x2 Avatar
    Silversue2x2

    I’m with you guys on this one…….and I’m usually pretty Word-literate……but have followed the same instructions that change the SAVE location and don’t see where I can change OPEN (because changing the one, does not change the other).    Or, lightbulb just came on, will this only show up after I restart the program???  I’ll find out in the morning when I turn my computer back on!!

  5. Jan Webb Avatar
    Jan Webb

    Why can’t I set my default open location to My Computer instead of My Documents

  6. Basil Avatar
    Basil

    You are correct, but I have a user with Windows XP and Office 2010.  In Excel when user change it the S:. The content of the S: drive is correct, but the description is My Document.  User tried a different network drive U:.  This shows the correct content and description for the U:.  Question how to one get the correct description for the S: drive?

  7. Kentlewan Avatar
    Kentlewan

    hey!  You guys rock!  how come MS$$$ doesn’t tell us this stuff?

    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      They do. Try using Help.

  8. kathleendunk Avatar
    kathleendunk

    i received an excel file and when my computer asked how i wanted to open it i clicked word and now when it o[pen s in word you cannot read it and nothing is there…so how do i go back and change my computer to open in excel. Excel was not listed as an option on my computer!! and i could not find it when i browsed so thought word was what i should choose…please help. I can save excel workbooks as your above note but when i receive an excel in email, i cannot open it in excel…

    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      Files open according to the file association (application associated with the file type) for its extension (the letters to the right of the period in the files name). When you install Office it sets these associations for files it can handle. You can use “Open with…” (right-click the file) to try another application. Be sure to leave the “always use…” box unchecked until you are positive you want to change it.

  9. Avatar
    Anonymous

    File, Options, Save, Default File Location… You have to change this for each Office Application. There is no global setting for Office. However, you can change the location of My Documents in its Properties (Right-click My Documents) with the Move button.

  10. Avatar
    Anonymous

    My Documents is part of the Documents library by default. If you don’t believe me, right-click Documents and look at the Properties. Is everyone here an ex- or current Apple user? Start right-clicking people! You modify the Documents library in the Properties. BTW, Apple users can enable right-clicking in the mouse properties in OSX. Then you don’t have to Ctrl-Click. Right-click everything. Your friend will think you are a genius.

  11. Wendy Avatar
    Wendy

    The issue I am having is when I open a workbook and then go to open another one, the open location goes right back to my docs…in the old version of Excel, it returned to the last place that I opened a file.

    1. Audrey Troyka Avatar
      Audrey Troyka

      I agree with you completely. Same problem in Word 2016. I want to go to the last place I opened a file, NOT to the beginning of a long path! I wonder if this is a bug, oversight, or if they think this is some kind of improvement. It’s very annoying.

  12. sally Avatar
    sally

    Thanks for the help, but I have changed the default location in Options, but when I click the open icon, excel goes to Desktop/Libraries/Documents – what do I have to do to get stupid excel to go where I want it to go?

  13. Annie Suzie Avatar
    Annie Suzie

    Flippin nuisance Excel doesn’t have a browse button!

  14. inachu Avatar
    inachu

    This is a bug in Microsoft office suite as you can fix it in word but it never gets properly applied to EXCEL and it points to some location that windows uses as a cache space for open files and after applying the changed location then sometimes randomly it can move back to the strange area without user interaction. So even though this sounds like the fix and SHOULD be a fix for all users of the Office suite the sad fact is that it DOES NOT ALWAYS WORK and MICROSOFT EMPLOYEE PROGRAMMERS need to make sure EXCEL knows how to read the defaults of MS WORD and copy the same settings but no… They make EXCEL like a separate beast that saves files in CACHE LAND and sometimes the fix works for a short while then problem pops back up. SO IN REALITY THIS FIX IS A NON FIX.

  15. inachu Avatar
    inachu

    Another way to force to break the default location is to have someone email the excel file to you and now open the excel file directly from inside the email and it will give some weird cache location when you want to save it.

  16. Tonya Avatar
    Tonya

    I once changed my default Word 2007 save location to a different folder than My Documents. I have since changed it back to My Documents with no problems until recently. However, since I updated to Windows 10 (should have no effect on my Word 2007) Word’s save function keeps trying to default to the previous folder location. I looked and it indicates the default is My Documents. It shows correctly under Options / Advanced / File Locations and Options / Save. I re-browsed and re-selected My Documents in both those areas, applied it and rebooted, but despite everything somewhere it is still directing it to the other folder!

    1. Juris Avatar
      Juris

      Tonya, same problem here. Have you found a solution?

  17. Stuart Avatar
    Stuart

    Is there a patch that will force excel to open where and sized the way I saved it? 2003 always did this. 2016 is driving me crazy because it opens in a random place and in a random size.

  18. dan Avatar
    dan

    My Excel files are not in one folder but are spread out over different projects. Excel 2010 used to (immediately) open up to the RECENT tab where my recently saved Excel files were saved (to these various folders). Now Excel presents me with a blank workbook which I delete and manually go to the RECENT tab from which I choose my spreadsheet of interest. Not sure how I lost this way to open Excel directly to all the spreadsheets that I can pick and choose from, but I would like to get it back again.

  19. Angela Avatar
    Angela

    My company uses multiple networks and servers that everyone can attach to. What I would like to know is if i have changed the default file location for both Word and Excel; my efforts seem to only be effective on new documents. If there is a file saved on my desktop, drive/folder or exported from a report system, the default save location is still either the location at which the file is already found or the Documents default. Is it possible to change the existing and exported files to save in the changed default file location or will only the new files (Excel or Word) be saved in the updated default file location.
    thanks.

  20. deepkoamaru03 Avatar
    deepkoamaru03

    Since more than Russian Escorts Girls in USA three decades, AOL customer care is one of the most Russian Escorts Girls in USA renowned online brand in America. Russian Escorts Girls in USA AOL is widely AOL customer care used for email service and Russian Escorts Girls in USA experienced AOL Email users can describe Russian Escorts Girls in USA the uniqueness of AOL customer care AOL mail. Undoubtedly, AOL customer care AOL is one of the tops AOL customer care ranked email service provider and services Russian Escorts Girls in USA offered by it are superb; AOL customer care however, you may still face AOL customer care some technical issues with your AOL mail as it’s still not that simple to use. Russian Escorts Girls in USA If you get any difficulty AOL customer care with your AOL account

    read more;- http://customer-technical-support.com/aol-customer-support/

  21. Jackettale Frisk Dremmurr :3 Avatar
    Jackettale Frisk Dremmurr :3

    Is it possible to have two default file location in ms word?

  22. Frank Mitchel Avatar
    Frank Mitchel

    AOL Customer Support team will assist or help them to reach the attainable self-governing third-party AOL retriever password support.
    https://issuu.com/aoltechnicalsupports/docs/aol_email_is_not_currently_availabl
    https://www.4shared.com/office/2aGmkr8dfi/AOL_Email_Is_Not_Currently_Ava.html
    https://docs.zoho.com/file/8eny9b23494715dab4d78a50309763261c23d
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXHe2Vqm80M

Leave a Reply