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About 50% of the time Word will open in the size that it was last closed in. About 25% of the time it will open a new word window in the size of the first word window that I opened since I booted the computer. And another 25% of the time it will open in the default half screen size wider than tall size. It is very frustrating.

How do I set a default size?

This is important because I routinely have five or six documents open at the same time, bouncing between them. Thus the snap docking to the left and right isn't going to help.

I want it Taller than wide, taking up about 40% of the screen width, with the top of the window almost touching the top of the screen and the bottom of the window almost touching the top of the task bar.

Is there a way to set a default window size? Or am I doomed to constantly be struggling against Word/Windows attempts to "guess" what will be best for me?

This is Word 365 running on Windows 10 with everything up to date.

codingCat
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  • This is not normal - new Word instances should all be opened with about the same size and slightly offset position. I suggest in Control Panel > Programs and Features to right-click "Microsoft 365" and select "Change", then Repair in one or both of the options. – harrymc Feb 13 '22 at 16:33
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    I disagree with Harry. Unfortunately it happens and repair won't fix it. MVP Jay Freedman has developed several free utilities to deal with this. http://jay-freedman.info/ Try SaveViewMultiLoc.zip Read the instructions at the bottom of the page. To set a default, open your Normal template for editing, type a single letter and backspace to remove that letter, save and close it. – Charles Kenyon Feb 13 '22 at 17:38
  • Does this answer your question? Windows 10 change default window launch size (opening the command prompt) – mashuptwice Feb 13 '22 at 20:46
  • No, harrymc there is nothing wrong with the installation. And no, mashuptwice the fix for the command prompt doesn't not apply to other window types (including word). And while the Jay Freedman utilities are getting close, I doubt that changing the template will have an effect as I am opening dozens of files at a time for of pool of hundreds. – codingCat Feb 14 '22 at 16:29
  • Unfortunately I don't have install access on the work computer. – codingCat Feb 14 '22 at 18:39

1 Answers1

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This has become less predictable as Word keeps "evolving."

The only remedy of which I am aware is a free utility offered by Word MVP Jay Freedman. Everyone that I've heard from has had success with it. This saves the location, zoom and other information as document variables which are invisible to the user.

Try SaveViewMultiLoc.zip Read the instructions at the bottom of the page.

To set a default for new documents, open your Normal.dotm template for editing. Place and size it as you want your default to be, type a single letter and then backspace to delete it and save it. (You should never save text in your normal template including headers or footers.)

If this does not meet your needs, you may want to post on the Microsoft Answers forum, to which he is a frequent contributor. He may modify it so that it does meet your needs. He has done so in the past as you can see by the earlier versions of the utility.

Charles Kenyon
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