Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Leading Spaces in Document File Names.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 18, 2026)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365
Jo Ann would like to save Word documents using a space at the beginning of the file name. The leading space causes the file to be listed at the beginning of the Open dialog box, which Jo Ann finds helpful. However, she can't figure out how to get Word to pay attention to the desired space, as it is always automatically removed when she saves the file.
There are a couple of ways you can add the desired space. One is to rename the files using the command line in Windows. After you get out of Word, open a command line window, navigate to the folder where the file is saved, and then use a command such as the following:
ren MyFile.docx " MyFile.docx"
Note the use of the quote marks and the space after the first quote mark. The result is a leading space in your renamed file. The space appears in front of the file name even when you next start Word. It is the quote marks that make the operating system pay attention to the space.
If you don't want to resort to doing your renaming on the command line, then you might consider using a leading character different than a space. Good candidates are underscores, tildes, and plus signs. You can use these types of characters at the beginning of your file names right within Word, which makes them very convenient. Plus, they will sort just as Jo Ann wants within the Open dialog box.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11742) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Leading Spaces in Document File Names.
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2018-05-19 23:53:14
Wayne Jordan
Re: Beginning file names with exclamation points. I've used this for many years to sort files to the top, but recently I found that files named this way are overlooked by many search "engines" including windows search. I'm still in process of replacing hundreds of exclamation points with plus signs.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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:
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