>Gets the reference to a running version of Word, however using Word XP (all on Windows 2000 os) it opens a new instance of Word.
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>Is there a way around this?

It does not really open another instance, but it does open each document in a separate window. By default in Word 2002 (or XP), each document opens a separate taskbar item. There is a way to get the functionality of previous versions, where each document opens as a separate MDI document in a single window. In Word 2002, go to Tools/Options from the menu. In the Options dialog View tab, uncheck the "Windows in Taskbar" checkbox. This works for me.