>But if that's not possible, I should do something like
>
>

>IF VARTYPE(oWord) = "U" .OR. VARTYPE(oWord) = "X"
>   oWord = CREATEOBJECT("Word.Application")
>ENDIF
>oDoc = GetObject(lcDocument)
>oWord.Visible = .T.
>

>That looks like it would work, but it appears to still create two instances of WINWORD and the second one doesn't open my second document.
>

Is there a reason you can't just store your reference to Word somewhere and check it when you need a reference. I usually use a property of the form or object I'm working with and store my Word reference there. Create it the first time I need and, typically, close it on the way out.

Tamar