How To Create New Documents with Office Mobile on the Smartphone

[Mike Temporale]

For some reason Microsoft has decided that Windows Mobile Standard users (previously known as Smartphones users) will not need to create new documents on their mobile devices using the long overdue Office Mobile suite (more discussion on that can be found over <a href="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=84796">here</a>) For the record, Pocket PC users (now called Professional users) have had this functionality since day 1, but something happened when porting Office to the Smartphone platform and the ability to create documents was cut out. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20070216-OfficeMobileCreate3.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />However, all is not lost. There is a solution. A rather simple solution that takes up just under 42KB of space on your device. <!> You can create blank Word and Excel documents on your desktop, mark them as Read Only and transfer those files to your phone. Then when you open Word or Excel you can simply select the blank documents and off you go to create your thesis or memoirs. I wish I knew why Microsoft decided not to allow creation, or why they didn't just ship Office Mobile with a couple blank documents. :? <br /><br />These steps are done with Office 2003 because Office Mobile for Windows Mobile Standard devices does not support Office 2007 at this time. <br /><br />1. Open Microsoft Word<br />2. Click File / Save As <br />3. Change the File Name to New Word Doc.dot<br />4. Click Save<br />5. Close Word<br />6. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the location where you save the file. <br />7. Right click on the file and select Properties<br />8. When the properties menu appears, click on Read-Only at the bottom of the window and then click OK <br />9. Copy the file<br />10. Connect your Windows Mobile device to your computer<br />11. Browse to the \My Documents folder and paste the document into this folder<br />12. On your Windows Mobile device, Launch Word from the Start Menu<br />13. Select "New Word Doc" from the open menu<br />14. Presto! You've got a new blank word document. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20070216-OfficeMobileCreate1.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />When you open the document on Windows Mobile, it opens in "View Mode". So you'll need to press Menu / Edit Mode before you can start to type in the document. To me, that's a small trade off for the ability to create documents on my device. Since the original file is marked as Read-Only you won't be allowed to save over it, and therefore it will prompt you to save the document before closing the application.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20070216-OfficeMobileCreate2.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Temporale-20070216-OfficeMobileCreate4.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />You can repeat the steps above to create a blank Excel document as well. Or just download them from this link - <a href="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/BlankMobileOfficeDocuments.zip">Zip Archive with both Word and Excel files</a> Just unzip and copy to your device. 8)

[Jerry Raia]

Excellent Mike. Too bad this kind of thing is even necessary.

[dstrauss]

You have got to be kidding? 8O

A work-around is needed in order to create a new Word or Excel document? This has got to be a major programming gaffe for the new millennium. I wonder what stupid mistakes MS thought they were saving us from with that one.

[Jerry Raia]

Give MS a break, they have been busy getting ActiveSync to work perfectly! :lol:

[stevew]

Pocket PC users of Mobile 6 are considered professional and have a full working mobile office.

Smartphone users of Mobile 6 are considered standard and don't rate for a full working mobile office.

I feel discriminated. 8O

[palmsolo]

Honestly, how many people on a WM Smartphone with a standard keypad are going to create documents on them? The thing is there are so many QWERTY devices out there and a Bluetooth keyboard option that I think Microsoft should have allowed the new document creation option for end users.

Awesome discovery, posting up on Geek.com soon too.

[Pete Paxton]

The more I read this, the more I'm glad I bought Docs To Go. But for those who don't want to buy it, at least there is a workaround.

[Tim Williamson]

WOW, WTF was Microsoft thinking???!! Jeez...this is fricken ridiculous. Also, I can not believe they didn't add file sync...how do they expect us to get documents on our phones and backup the files created on the phone. Sometimes MS is so retarded. :evil: :?

[Mike Temporale]

Honestly, how many people on a WM Smartphone with a standard keypad are going to create documents on them? The thing is there are so many QWERTY devices out there and a Bluetooth keyboard option that I think Microsoft should have allowed the new document creation option for end users.

Awesome discovery, posting up on Geek.com soon too.

I agree - with a standard keypad device, there's not many that would want to create documents - but still some that would. However, QWERTY is all the rage right now, and to prevent those users from creating docs is just silly.

[scottb]

Mike, thanks for posting this. While I agree us poor ole Standard users should be able to create documents without a work-around, I don't see the work-around you've outlined as being that big a deal. As long as I can do it relatively easily, I'm ok with that.

Assuming the Moto Q will get an upgrade (if I can't have hope, what can I have?) it would save me the cost of Docs To Go.

[PJCT_Manager]

This thread was VERY helpful and I now am able to create new word docs on my smartphone...MOTO Q 9h Global. I don't know why people are so perplexed by the fact that smartphone users may want to create new docs, I do it all the time.

I do have an additional question though it is not related to creating new docs it does concern MS Mobile Word. I hope this is appropriate.

I purchased MS Office Mobile because the description on the Handango site made sound like it was a step above the Documents To Go software I already had on my smartphone. When I started to use Mobile Word I discoverd it doesn't have ANY :confused: of the features they said it had i.e. cut/paste, spellcheck, insert, etc...from the looks of it MS Mobile Word stinks unless I installed it incorrectly or I am missing something. I sent an email to Handango's customer care in hopes of resoving the issue but I'm thinking I just want my money back and I'll just use Docs To Go.

I welcome and appreciate any thoughts on this. Glad I found this forum! Best to All!