Word 2016 and Excel 2016 - Customize the File > Open menu

Anonymous
2015-09-28T09:13:42+00:00

Hello,

How can I customize the File > Open menu in Word 2016 and Excel 2016, please?

Add a Place works only for the cloud.

As for This PC, it shows me a list of folders I am not interested in, and that apparently I cannot remove.

On the contrary, I'd like to add different folders, which are not even in the C drive but on a D drive.

The only customization I found is in Options > Advanced > File Locations, in there I changed the location for Documents to my D drive, but it does not affect the File > Open menu at all.

And in Excel 2016, this command is not even there under Options.

Thanks and regards,

Marco

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2015-09-28T13:49:12+00:00

You can bypass this entirely by checking the box for "Don't show the Backstage when opening or saving files" at File | Options | Save. You can then use Ctrl+O or an Open button on the Quick Access Toolbar to go directly to the classic Open dialog, which is an Explorer window in which you can add Favorites to the Navigation pane. When you start Word, the Open dialog will default to the folder you have specified as the default location for your documents; if you open a file from a subfolder, it will become the default for the next open operation.

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Jay Freedman 208.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2017-06-13T19:32:24+00:00

When you "add Favorites to the Navigation pane" (renamed as Quick Access in Windows 10) and pin them there, they show up in the Open and Save dialogs of Office programs. That is equivalent to pinning them on the File > Open page of the Backstage, the thing that has been (unfortunately) removed. That's one of the reasons to avoid the Backstage as Suzanne suggested.

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-01-08T10:00:48+00:00

    Not sure how an answer from 2015 got put in a place that is supposed to answer questions for Word 2016. Word 2016 obviously doesn't work like the answer indicates--there is NO access, Quick or otherwise, to the "Classic" OPEN menu, no matter what you do. There's another half hour of my life I'll never get back :(

    These other answers just get more and more complex--what if a Word user doesn't know how to create a macro? What if one doesn't know how to access the so-called "Quick Access" toolbar? I know, you can look up almost anything on Google, but the question really is: why did MS change a perfectly good Open feature that could open a file in 3 clicks to this convoluted system that needs macros, adding of Favorites, etc. And the 80% of the Open screen is now taken up with templates. I haven't used a template for roughly ten years--I know, there are people who DO use templates more often, but don't the majority of us just want to open the @#$% program, find our file or a new page, and get on with writing our letter, creating our table, or editing a previous file?--and if we actually need a Template, it could be a simple click away under the "Open" button. MS improves the speed and capacity of its software every year, but it moves it farther and farther from the ken of the masses.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-12-14T00:18:39+00:00

    In excel you can use the macro recorder to record you using file open to open the file.  After you have the macro you can add it to the QAT, Quick Access Toolbar. This gives you 1 click access to the file inside Excel.

    **@ Automate tasks with the Macro Recorder- record macro https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Automate-tasks-with-the-Macro-Recorder-974ef220-f716-4e01-b015-3ea70e64937b**To automate a repetitive task, you can record a macro with the Macro Recorder in Microsoft Excel. Imagine you have dates in random formats and you want to apply a single format to all of them. A macro can do that for you. You can record a macro applying the format you want, and then replay the macro whenever needed.

    Customize the QAT (Quick Access Toolbar)   http://www.myonlinetraininghub.com/customize-the-qat-in-excel

    June 17, 2014 by Philip Treacy

    You can customize the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) in Excel so that you add icons to run your macros, or commonly used tasks and tools. Just follow the 8 steps below, it shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes, if that. You can also modify the Ribbon to show custom tabs, groups and icons for […]

    Or you can pin the file to the windows taskbar for 1 click access to it any time

    https://www.lifewire.com/pin-documents-to-the-taskbar-3506905

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-12-13T22:15:03+00:00

    Create a macro that opens the workbook and the add that macro, either to the ribbon or to the Quick Access Toolbar.

    Thank you for the quick reply, however can I trouble you for the "dummies" version?

    Thanks, Althea

    I forgot - this is 2016 Excel and I'm trying to avoid having to use a drop-down menu each time.

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