Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Changing the Startup Directory.

Changing the Startup Directory

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 20, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

When you first install Word, the working directory is set to a default directory, which is normally "My Documents." You may want to change the default location to match your working habits. You can quickly change the default startup directory by following these steps:

Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 and Word 2013 display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
At the left side of the dialog box click Save. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Save options of the Word Options dialog box.

To the right of the Default File Location field (Word 2007) or the Default Local File Location field (later versions of Word), click the Browse button. Word displays a dialog box in which you can browse and select directories.
Select the directory you want used as the startup directory for your documents.
Click on the OK button to select the directory.
Click on the OK button to close the Word Options dialog box.
Exit and restart Word.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (7721) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Changing the Startup Directory.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Errors when Copying References to External Cells

If you copy a cell that contains a reference to external data, do you get an error? It could be due to the complexity of ...

Discover More

Finding Cells that Use Conditional Formatting

Conditional Formatting is a great boon to effectively displaying the information in your worksheets. If you want to ...

Discover More

Turning Track Changes Off for Selected Areas

Track Changes is a great tool to use so that you can, well, "track" what changes are made during the development of a ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Making Save As Display the Save As Dialog Box

Sometimes you just want to get to the Save As dialog box as quickly as possible. Word seems to make this increasingly ...

Discover More

Changing the Style Area Font

The style area, displayed at the left side of your document, can be helpful in understanding how styles are used in your ...

Discover More

Showing Text Boundaries for Pages, not for Paragraphs

Word allows you to configure how your document is displayed rather extensively. One configuration that has been around ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 7 - 4?

2020-05-08 16:03:31

Jim McCartney

Is there a way to make Quick Access the default location?

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.