How to Minimize All Windows in Word 2003?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Clueless in Seattle
  • Start date Start date
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Clueless in Seattle

I have a number of documents open at the same time in Word 2003, each
document in its own window.

I'd like to be able to minimize them all at once.

Is there a command for this?
 
You could right-click the taskbar and choose the Show the desktop
command. Of course, that would minimize all open windows, not just your
Word documents.
 
The Show Desktop button is a Windows XP thing (though there's a sort of
equivalent in Windows 7). In Windows 7, the quick way to do this (which it's
disconcertingly easy to do inadvertently) is to "park" the mouse in the
bottom right corner. Useful if you're playing a game on company time and the
boss comes up behind you!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
I just tried it -- simply going there gives a popup "Show desktop."
You have to click the vertical rectangle at the end of the taskbar to
actually do it. (Never knew that.)
 
Thanks for the tip. However, using the context menu for the taskbar does
work in Windows 7 as well.
 
It depends on your settings. I don't have my Windows 7 laptop on right now,
but there is definitely an Options setting about whether or not this happens
automatically, and I can attest that I have more than once been startled by
having all my windows disappear without any action on my part other than
moving the mouse.

Well, okay, according to
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/help/better-stronger-faster-the-windows-7-taskbar,
mousing over the button apparently just makes the windows transparent, so
maybe I'm wrong.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

I just tried it -- simply going there gives a popup "Show desktop."
You have to click the vertical rectangle at the end of the taskbar to
actually do it. (Never knew that.)
 
What an annoyingly chattily written page!

But no, there's no fadeout at the Show desktop button. Windows+Space,
however, does do it.
 
You can "preview" the desktop by resting the mouse pointer in the bottom
right corner of the taskbar assuming that the "Use Aero Peek to preview
the desktop" option is selected in the Taskbar and Start Menu Properties
dialog box. No doubt this is equivalent to the keyboard shortcut you
mentioned.
 
I actually discovered it by mistake when I was trying to find an option
that controls the previews of applications when you rest the mouse on
their respective icons on the taskbar...
 
I wish there were a way to turn that off -- assuming that you mean,
whenever the cursor happens to get near one of the window boxes in the
taskbar, a mini-window pops up, obscuring the bottom of what you're
working on.

Which would seem to indicate that that control you're talking about
_is_ activated ...
 
My thought exactly. So far I haven't found a way to disable that
annoying preview, though. :-(
 
You could right-click the taskbar and choose the Show the desktop
command. Of course, that would minimize all open windows, not just your
Word documents.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, Stefan.

In my original query I'm afraid I wasn't very clear in explaining what
it is I would like to Word 2003 to do for me. So, let me try again:

First off, I don't want to minimize the Word 2003 program window. I
want to leave that open on my desktop.

Within that window I have a number of Word document files opened in
the "Restore" view." These files are members of a set of files that I
use every day. I keep the files in a single folder and open them all
at once by selecting them all in Windows Explorer, right clicking and
then clicking on "Open." I end up with all of the files opened in
"Restore" view in the Word 2003 program window.

I'd like to be able to minimize all of them at once so that they would
appear at the bottom of the Word window as a set of buttons, similar
to the program buttons that appear on my Windows XP taskbar. But
instead of appearing on the taskbar, these buttons appear *inside* and
at the bottom of the Word 2003 program window on my desktop. Then I
can select which document I want to work on and click on its button.

I have a "Save All" button on one of my Word taskbars, and I'm hoping
there's a way to install a "Minimize All" button too.

Any hope for that?

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
To keep all documents within a main Word window, you'd have to deselect
the "Windows in Taskbar" option in Tools | Options, View tab. Then you
should be able to minimize documents within the Word application window.
 
To keepalldocuments within a main Word window, you'd have to deselect
the "Windows in Taskbar" option in Tools | Options, View tab. Then you
should be able tominimizedocuments within the Word application window.
Click to expand...

Hi again, Stefan!

I do have my installation of Word 2003 set up so that I can keep all
my documents within a main window.

And when I click on the "Minimize" buttons of the individual
documents, they then appear as buttons at the bottom of the main Word
window.

What I'm after is a way to minimize them all at once, leaving the main
window empty, like a blank desktop, with the document buttons at the
bottom of the main window, instead of having to tediously go through
the documents one-by-one, clicking on the "Minimize" button of each
file.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
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