What I had to do was store the Word doc in a memo(binary) field. Then, to edit, use shellExecute to launch word (then a getObject(...) if necessary).

After this, I used Cetin Basoz's method of polling the file until Word released it (using fopen() ). I had to do this checking *twice* as occasionally, Word releases the file for a fraction of a second and my app then grabbed the file from disk in error (Word was not happy).

If you are going to open multiple files you'll need to modify the polling routine to cope with more than one file (timer perhaps).

The OLE bound control in VFP 5 has a bug (MS call it a perceived problem, ho, ho - it doesn't happen in any other package) where if a Word document is embedded, the page size will be reset to 'Custom' the same size as the displayed OLE Bound control (e.g. about 4 inches!) which is not too helpful. Hence my storage in memo(binary) - it's handier anyway, as you can save the file to disc without having to launch any other apps.

I don't know if this 'perceived problem' has been fixed in VFP 6 - perhaps someone else can enlighten us.

I can let you have copies of routines etc., if you wish