# MS Word 2000 and spawning multiple windows **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842 "2002-10-04T15:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RavingMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RavingMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RavingMad)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/1 "2002-10-04T15:25:24Z")
I’m running MS Word 2000 at work (9.0.3821 SR-1, it if helps) and it has the most annoying feature:rolleyes: of spawning a new window for each document opened. I routinely have four or five documents open and really don’t care to have five Word icons in my taskbar as a result. Is there any way to make Word 2000 behave properly and open only one instance of the program (and have only one instance in the taskbar) regardless of how many documents are open? I’ve been unable to find the answer in Word’s Help section. Thanks, all. ---
**Author:** ![deborak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc348/32.png) [@deborak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deborak)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/2 "2002-10-04T15:39:42Z")
I don’t have the answer but I share your pain. Excel 2000 does it, as well. It’s really annoying. Hopefully someone here has the answer! ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/3 "2002-10-04T16:06:34Z")
It’s simple enough to fix in Excel: Click on Tools, then Options. If necessary, click on the View tab. Uncheck the Windows in Taskbar option, and that will take care of it. Unfortunately, I’ve not yet found a way to do this in Word. ---
**Author:** ![splatterpunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@splatterpunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/splatterpunk)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/4 "2002-10-04T16:31:45Z")
According to [this](http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article08-805) site, there is no way to turn this feature off in Word 2000. They have a macro you can download that will fix it, but I haven’t tried it. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/5 "2002-10-04T16:40:24Z")
The idiots here: [http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2002/articles/wdKeepTrackOfOpenDocs.aspx](http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2002/articles/wdKeepTrackOfOpenDocs.aspx) say that Word2000 has the same method of turning it off as Excel does. Well, my Word2000 doesn’t. I sent them a comment to that effect but of course, they don’t respond to individuals and there’s no other way to contact them. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/6 "2002-10-04T16:59:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by missbunny \* > **The idiots. . .say that Word2000 has the same method of turning it off as Excel does. Well, my Word2000 doesn’t.** I tried it and it didn’t work either, but then I noticed that it said this is not available in NT 4.0, which is what I’m using. What OS are you using? ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/7 "2002-10-04T17:03:48Z")
I saw that too, but I’m Win2K SP2. ---
**Author:** ![RavingMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RavingMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RavingMad)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/8 "2002-10-04T17:07:39Z")
Thanks for the MS Assistance link, missbunny. As they say on their site: > [@](#): > > you can clear the Windows in Taskbar check box on the View tab of the Options dialog box (on the Tools menu, click Options). Of course, they then qualify it with: > [@](#): > > Note This check box is not available if you use Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0. Just my luck. I’ll give you three guesses which operating system I’m using. And the first two guesses don’t count. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-word-2000-and-spawning-multiple-windows/130842/9 "2002-10-04T17:24:35Z")
STARK, it’s not available in Win2K either. The “solution” MS provides is just wrong. I wonder about XP - anyone have it? I do on my home computer but not here.