Hi George,

How do I handle this? I'm using your function, which works great. If Word is not running, it creates the object. However, if it IS running BEFORE the user runs my Application, the OBJECT doesn't get created so it sees "With OWORD" and comes up with an error. Follow me? Not sure how to handle it properly. Thanks for your help.

pctitle='Microsoft Word'
runCheck=is_run32(pctitle)
*if runCheck=0, Microsoft Word is not running so run it
If runCheck=0
oword=createobject("word.application")
Endif
With OWord
.documents.open(example.doc)
endwith

----ALSO, FYI Previous Problem----------
Regarding my 'phantom' "Winword" showing up in the Task list after closing Word...I believe the problem was complicated due to issuing Visible=.f. to Word. It looks closed, but actually is not and lists the 'Winword' in the list, not "Microsoft Word". Anyway, at least for now I think I'm all set.