Should be:
oleapp.Documents.Open(docname)


>Sergey, here's what my code looks like...
>
>store "C:\mydir\myfile.txt" to docname
>oleapp.Documents.Open=(docname)
>
>and I get the following error
>
>OLE IDispatch exception code 0 from Microsoft Word: Open is not a 'by reference' property.
>
>So I believe I'm doing it as you suggest.
>
>I'll keep trying, thanks for the help!
>
>Dick