This is the first message in which you indicate which version of Office
you're using. In the absence of indicators to the contrary, I currently
assume Office 2007 running in Vista (gradually shifting the latter to
Windows 7, but it will be a while).
I don't have Office 2003 available to test anymore, however, I don't recall
having a problem getting Word 2003 to display and remember my preferred
sorting method (reverse sorted by date). If you've tried resetting the view
to alphabetical, and it's not being retained, however, my next guess would
be that you have a corrupted Data key in the registry--a failure for Word to
retain remembered defaults usually indicates registry corruption. This would
cover Word, but I don't know if Excel has a corresponding registry key or
what it might be called. The fact that both Word and Excel are failing to
remember the sort order, however, makes me think that it's a broader issue
than Word's Data key. This presumes that you've tried Steve's steps, but the
sort order isn't being retained.
--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog:
http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web:
http://www.herbtyson.com
"Mark L" <MarkL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news
6CE59EC-2567-4CEA-A632-254C8E8B8897@microsoft.com...
> I'm still using Office 2003; pls don't encourage me to 2007 ... I'm
> financially strapped and trying to maintain what I have.
>
> If I press Ctrl+O in Word (or equivalent in EXCEL), or if I envoke the
> file
> attachment option in Outlook, the resulting window does not offer the
> convenient headers available in Explorer for selecting the desired method
> of
> organizing files (by name, date, type, etc.) The window simply lists the
> files in the selected folder. For the past 7 years, this presentation has
> always been alphabetical. Now, for some reason the files are listed by
> date
> and I don't know how to change it back. As I mentioned earlier, this
> isn't a
> problem in Explorer, which is working fine.
>
> "Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> What version of Office and Windows are you using?
>>
>> In Windows Vista or 7, using Office 2007, applications remember how
>> things
>> were arranged the last time you used a file dialog box. For example, if I
>> press Ctrl+O in Word 2007 (Open), set the view to Details, and click the
>> Name header, Word will now use that order next time by default. If I open
>> Excel and set the order to Data modified, Excel will now use that order
>> by
>> default--and Word and Excel each remember their own separate defaults.
>>
>> Herb Tyson MS MVP
>> Author of the Word 2007 Bible
>> Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
>> Web: http://www.herbtyson.com
>>
>>
>> "Mark L" <MarkL@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:4F55BCD4-79AE-4903-A1E7-44B6F2FB3949@microsoft.com...
>> > Many thanks Daz.
>> >
>> > I understand what you're suggesting, but this doesn't seem to solve my
>> > problem. If, for example, I try to insert (attach) a file to an email
>> > message in Outlook, the "Insert File" menu comes up with all files
>> > within
>> > a
>> > folder ordered by the last date they were touched. However, if I open
>> > the
>> > same folder with Explorer, they are arranged alphabetically. The
>> > Explorer
>> > setting for file arrangements appears to be completely ignored. The
>> > same
>> > problem appears in all Office applications when I envoke a command that
>> > opens
>> > a menu to select files -- for example, if the window that appears to
>> > Open
>> > File in Word or EXCEL organizes the files in the menu by date, even
>> > though
>> > the same folder is arranged alphabetically when I open Explorer.
>> >
>> > Very weird and extremely irritating.
>> >
>> > Mark
>> >
>> > "Daz UK" wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hi Mark,
>> >>
>> >> If you mean the File Open and Save As type dialog windows, then these
>> >> take
>> >> the order from the last time you sorted the folder from within Windows
>> >> Explorer or My Computer.
>> >>
>> >> For example, if the folder is CDocs and you opened that folder from
>> >> My
>> >> Computer and clicked on the Modified Date header of the window to sort
>> >> by
>> >> most recently modified, then all future views on that folder by the
>> >> logged on
>> >> user will show the same order, including Open and Save As dialogs.
>> >>
>> >> The fix is to manually open the documents folder in Windows Explorer /
>> >> My
>> >> Computer and click on the heading above the filenames to sort
>> >> alphabetically,
>> >> then close the window. Now when you open that folder from a File Open
>> >> or
>> >> Save As dialog it should be sorted alphabetically too.
>> >>
>> >> Hope this helps,
>> >> Daz.
>> >>
>> >> "Mark L" wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > I don't know if something changed in a recent auto-update, but all
>> >> > my
>> >> > office
>> >> > products now organize files and folders in the pop-ups windows in
>> >> > order
>> >> > of
>> >> > 'last modified' rather than alphabetical. This is incredibly
>> >> > irritating.
>> >> > Anyone know how to change it back?
>>
>> .
>>