>>OK, we're almost there. It works if the file exists.
>>
>>1. In VFP 9, it seems that I could just use the _shellexecute foundation class.
>>2. I do I create an empty WORD (or Excel, or ....) if the file does not exist, since I get a error if I try to open it if it doesn't exist.
>>
>>i.e.
>>
>>

>>if !file(myFile)
>>    Run code that creates it, using the correct version of WORD (or Excel, or ....), 
>>    based on the provided extension (DOC or DOCX, XLSX etc)
>>endif
>>
>>Open myFile with shellexecute
>>

>
>So, what is your question now?

The user has a button on the cutomer maintenance screen that says 'Store info in a WORD file'. I then construct a file name based on the customer number and do your shell execute function. The first time the function will bomb, since the file does not exist. I want to create the file ahead of time if it does not exist. How do I do that?

There's gotta be a way to do that. It's like right clicking on the desktop, clicking 'new' and selecting a WORD file.