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Microsoft Word 2007 adds .docx type to the New menu, which creates an empty .docx file when clicked. There are times when you need to create a document in Word 97 – 2003 format. Let’s assume you need to create a Word document and send it to someone who doesn’t have Word 2007 installed. To add more convenience, the Word 97 – 2003 document entry can be added to the New menu in Windows.
Adding Word 97 – 2003 entry to the New menu
1. Start Regedit.exe
2. Navigate to the following location:
3. From the Edit menu, click New, String value.
4. Name the new String value as Nullfile
5. Exit the Registry Editor.
Registry fix
To automate the above setting, download the file word_shellnew.zip and save to Desktop. Extract the contents to a folder, and double-click the file doc-add-shellnew.reg to run it.
Microsoft Office Word 97 – 2003 Document entry should be added to the New menu. If the entry does not appear immediately, you need to access the New menu a couple of times for the list to refresh automatically.
Note: Regardless of this option, you can open Microsoft Word 2007 and choose Word 97-2003 type in the Save dialog box to save documents in older (.doc) format.
Reg Files
Inside the Zip file, there are three other .REG files. Here is a description of each file.
| Filename | Description |
| doc-add-shellnew.reg | Add Word 97 – 2003 entry to New menu |
| doc-remove-shellnew.reg | Remove Word 97 – 2003 entry from New menu |
| docx-add-shellnew.reg | Add Word 2007 (.docx) entry to New menu |
| docx-remove-shellnew.reg | Remove Word 2007 (.docx) entry from New menu |
Add Excel 97 – 2003 entries to the New menu
Download excel_shellnew.zip.
| Filename | Description |
| xls-add-shellnew.reg | Add Excel 97 – 2003 entry to New menu |
| xls-remove-shellnew.reg | Remove Excel 97 – 2003 entry from New menu |
| xlsx-add-shellnew.reg | Add Excel 2007 (.xlsx) entry to New menu |
| xlsx-remove-shellnew.reg | Remove Excel 2007 (.xlsx) entry from New menu |
See Also
Add items to the New menu manually
Add or remove entries in the New objects list
Adding and removing ShellNew entries in Windows Vista
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Ramesh,
Thank you for this article. It has been most helpful. I am still having a problem though. I have tried using the docx-add-shellnew.reg but still do not get any Word option in the New context menu. I am using Office 2007 … any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
Craig
Hi Ramesh,
Thanks for providing the awesome article.
Earlier I have to open the new word file, save the changes, save the file in 97-2003 word format, delete old file.
It was a very tedious and sometimes frustrating job when we are in hurry and on important task and I was searching for the easy option to choose.
The solution you have provided helped me a lot. Good work.
Thanks again.
- Jack