News flash: I have finally given up trying to use the open instance of Word. I have concluded that it is more trouble than it is worth!

By using CreateOjbect() you simply accept the fact that the editing process will open a second copy of Word. Of course this means that the document must first be saved and closed by the automation process, opened for editing by the second instance of Word, saved and closed by the editing process, reopened by the automation process, and then deleted from disk when the automation processing is finished. It seems like a lot of messing around but is a small price to pay considering the 60+ hours I've put into this already--not to mention your time and that of others here. Also, I suspect this isn't something the users will do more than once a day.

I am still working on getting Word to open on top of the VFP form and on disabling menu options in Word. Those tasks should be easy considering how difficult the rest of the process has been. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed that it still works when I test it against earlier versions of Word!

Thanks for all of your help and especially for your patience.

Lynda