Opening a Document

When you save a document, the information is saved in a file at the location (folder and drive) you selected. When you want to work on that file againto make changes, to print the file, and so onyou open the file.

tip

In addition to the File, Open command, look for shortcuts for opening files. You can click the Open button in the toolbar or use the keyboard shortcut (usually Ctrl+O). Some programs also list the last few files that were opened at the bottom of the File menu. You can click the filename to open that document.

Follow these steps to open a document:

1.	Start the program you used to create the file.
2.	Click File and the Open command. You'll see the Open dialog box (see Figure 2.7). If you see the file you want to open, skip to step 4. Figure 2.7. Use the Open dialog box to display and then open the document you want to work with.
3.	If necessary, change to the location where the file was stored by doing any of the following: Double-click the folder that contains the file. For instance, in Figure 2.7, double-click the Books folder icon to view files within that folder. If you don't see the folder listed, click the Up One Level button to move up through the folders and display other folders. To find another drive or folder, display the Look in drop-down list and select the drive or folder. tip See the section "Switching Folders" earlier in this chapter for more information about how to move among the folders and drives on your computer. To display one of the common folders, click its name in the Places Bar. For instance, to open the My Documents folder, click the My Documents button in the Places Bar.
4.	When you see the file you want to open, double-click its name to open the file. For example, in Figure 2.8, you can double-click the Outline file to open that document. The document is displayed onscreen. Figure 2.8. Navigate to the folder that contains the file and then double-click the file icon to open the document.