Change Default Settings ?

[Bill Lane]

Hi All:

Is there any way to set the Default settings to have it open where you want it to?

For example, when I want to save a doc or a Notepad text, it goes to My Documents.

If I want to save a BMP, GIF or JPG, it goes to My Documents.

I would like to be able to have it open where I want, not where Microsoft wants to put it.

In fact, I would like it to go to the last place I saved something, like most of my other programs do.

If the default can be changed, I sure would appreciate someone giving me the instructions on howto do it.

And thanks ahead of time,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

Hi Bill

Most programs will save things wherever you want them to, the Microsoft programs are all flexible in this way, too. You need to look in the menus for "Preferences", or "Options", or "Setup" - there's usually a screen that allows you to specify the default location for saving files. If you need more information, post the name of the program from within which you wish to save the files.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[p.s. . . . any relation to the Bill Lane who taught Literature at Cal State Northridge?]

[Bill Lane]

Thanks GaryRouth:

No relation to that Bill Lane.

I'll check for "Preferences", or "Options", or "Setup", and let you know,

Bill Lane

[Bill Lane]

Hi GaryRouth:

I didn't find any menus for "Preferences", or "Options", or "Setup"

For any of the programs, Write, Notepad, Paintbrush, if you can direct me, I'll look again.

Thanks,

Bill Lane

[GaryRouth]

By golly Bill - you've found the three programs that don't have such a setting. They are probably most often used as "accessories", which is their folder home in Win95/98/ME. Any full-strength word processor or paint program will let you set the default folder. You can still save a file anywhere you want with the Save option with those three accessories, but you have to manually do the extra step of pointing to the folder you want in the "Save In" box.

Now, there *might* be a way of switching that default "My Documents" folder to another folder, but I haven't heard of it. Programs that let you alter the default path for saving files usually enter such information into the Registry. If you search in the Registry for "My Documents", for example, you'll find keys such as SourcePath or DefaultDirectory that point to the My Documents folder: this is true for Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Kodak Imaging, WinZip, etc.... I couldn't find any entries for Paint, NotePad, or WordPad (which replaced Write in Win98).

It's not a great inconvenience to browse to a folder when saving. The Accessories work pretty well, considering Paint is about 336kb and WordPad is about 200kb. Lots of functionality for less than half a megabyte.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[Bill Lane]

Hi GaryRouth:

Thats what I was afraid of :-(, but thanks for your input, I really appreciate it,

Bill Lane