OFF2000: Slow Performance in the "Open" and "Save As" Dialog Boxes (326364)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office 2000 Premium, when used with:
    • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition
This article was previously published under Q326364
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

If you use an Office 2000 program on a Windows 98-based client computer, files may take longer than expected to appear in the Open dialog box and the Save As dialog box when you try to go up a level in the Look in box or the Save in box.

You may notice the slowdown only when you go up a level in the directory structure, not when you go down a level (that is, not when you open a folder).

For example, if you click Open on the File menu, locate and then double-click Test3 in the following directory structure, and then click Up one level next to the Look in box, the files that are in the Test2 folder take a longer time to appear than the files in Test4 do when you open Test4:

\\Servername\Sharename\Test\Test2\Test3\Test4

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if the My Documents folder is redirected to a network resource.

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, remove the default My Documents folder from the My Places bar, and then add a user-defined place for use in the Open and Save As dialog boxes. To do this, follow these steps.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
  1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit in the Open box, and then click OK.
  2. Locate the following key, and then double-click it:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Places\StandardPlaces

  3. Click the MyDocuments key.
  4. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, type Show, and then press ENTER.
  5. Right-click Show, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 0 (zero), and then click OK.

    If Show is set to 1, the icon is displayed, and if Show is set to 0, the icon is hidden.
  6. Locate and then click the following key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Open Find\Places\UserDefinedPlaces

  7. On the Edit menu, point to New, click Key, type PlaceX, where X is a number between 1 and 10.
  8. On the Edit menu, point to New, click String Value, type Name, and then press ENTER.
  9. Right-click Name, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type ShortcutName, where ShortcutName is the text that you want to appear in the Places Bar for the shortcut that you are adding (for example, type My Work). Click OK.
  10. On the Edit menu, point to New, click String Value, type Path, and then press ENTER.
  11. Right-click Path, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type PathName, where PathName is the path to any drive or UNC path combination (for example, type \\servername\sharename\test\). Click OK.
  12. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, type SortAscending, and then press ENTER.
  13. Right-click SortAscending, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

    If SortAscending is set to 1 and Index is set to 0, the user-defined item is placed in ascending order in the list of user-defined items.
  14. On the Edit menu, point to New, click DWORD Value, type Index, and then press ENTER.
  15. Right-click Index, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

    If Index is set to 1 through 10, the PlaceX Name entry will appear in that position in the user-defined list and will ignore the sort order.
  16. Quit Registry Editor.
  17. On the desktop, right-click the My Documents icon, and then click Properties.
  18. In the Target box, enter the path to your local My Documents folder.

    NOTE: This path will vary depending on whether User Profiles is turned on. If User Profiles is turned off, the path will be similar to the following:

    C:\My Documents

    If User Profiles is turned on, the path will be similar to the following:

    C:\Windows\Profiles\Username\My Documents

STATUS

This problem was corrected in Microsoft Office XP.

MORE INFORMATION

After you replace the default My Documents folder with the user-defined place on the My Places bar, you can then modify the default file locations in each of the Office programs to point to the network resource that you have specified in the user-defined place. This way, when you use the Open command or the Save command or the Save As command, the location will default to the appropriate resource.

REFERENCES

For additional information about how to change the Places Bar in Office 2000, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

205041 OFF2000: How to Customize the Places Bar

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/6/2006
Keywords:kbbug kbfix ocsso KB326364
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