Every time you want to open or save a document in Microsoft Office, the default file location is (My) Documents.
If you regularly need to save or open documents in another location e.g. an external drive or custom folder, it is a good idea to change the Office default save location.
In future, opening/saving documents will default to the folder of your choice – this can save a lot of time instead of having to navigate to it from (My) Documents every time. The method to change the Office default save and open location is different depending on your version – follow the relevant guide for Office 2003 and earlier or Office 2007 and later below.
Tip: you can’t set the default open/save location to (My) Computer – it must be a specific drive or folder e.g. C:\ or D:\docs etc.
Microsoft Office 2003 (and Office XP / Office 2000)
1. Open an Office application e.g. Microsoft Word
2. Click on ‘Tools’ in the menu bar, then ‘Options’
3. Select the ‘File Locations’ tab and click on the ‘Documents’ file type as shown below:
4. Click the ‘Modify’ button to open a ‘Modify Location’ browsing window
5. Browse to the drive or folder you want to set as the new default save location and press OK – you should now see your new entry in the ‘Documents’ Location field
6. Click the OK button to finish
The change is applied immediately – try opening/saving a document and the file browser should default to your new location.
Note – this change is for the current application (e.g. Word) only – you must repeat the same process for each of the other Office applications separately if you wish to change the default save location there too.
Microsoft Office 2007 and 2010
1. Open an Office application e.g. Microsoft Word
2. Office 2007 – click the Microsoft Office ‘orb’ button (top left corner) OR Office 2010 – click on ‘File’ from the menu bar
3. Click the ‘Options’ button to open the (Word) Options window then select the ‘Save’ tab as shown below:
4. In the right hand panel, click the ‘Browse’ button next to the ‘Default File Location’ text box to open a ‘Modify Location’ browsing window
Tip: Excel does not have a ‘Browse’ button. Instead you must manually type the full path to your chosen drive/folder into the ‘Default File Location’ text box then press OK and skip to step 6.
5. Browse to the drive or folder you want to set as the new default save location and press OK – you should now see your new entry in the ‘Default file location’ text box
6. Click the OK button to finish
The change is applied immediately – try opening/saving a document and the file browser should default to your new location.
Note – this change is for the current application (e.g. Word) only – you must repeat the same process for each of the other Office applications separately if you wish to change the default save location there too.
