Is there a way to save a Microsoft Word document so that it automatically opens in outline view?

Question

I have a Word document (it's a task list) that I always read and edit in outline view. Is there a way to tell Word that so that the document always defaults to outline view when it is opened?

Answer 1

Now with 2013 you have to write macros and re-save all your outline documents as macro-enabled:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2013_release-word/make-default-view-outline-in-word-document/29a178c3-673a-4e06-939a-cca132b69636

Superusers can do this, it just will be a real pain and take a lot of time. Probably most users of Word will find this too complicated and manually switch to outline view every time they open a document.

Answer 2

It's a setting: In Word Options, under the heading 'General', you must choose 'Alloiw opening a document in 'Draft View' (it works for Outline view too).

I ONLY work in Draft view and Outline view, so it was really important for me.

The other annoyance is that images no longer display in Draft view (only in 'Print Layout' view. This can be fixed.

You must save the document as an earlier version (Word 97-2003), then save again as DOCX.

Mark L-S