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Article ID: 831024 - Last Review: January 30, 2007 - Revision: 2.6

File Open dialog box in Office appears slowly on a VAX drive

View products that this article applies to.
Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/256986/ ) Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

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SYMPTOMS

When you try to view the contents of a mapped VAX drive or a UNC reference in the Open dialog box from any Microsoft Office 2003 or 2007 Microsoft Office product, you may experience a 1 to 5 minute delay before the contents of the share appears.
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CAUSE

This problem occurs if the share contains shortcuts (shell links) to files that are stored elsewhere. The Open dialog box tries to resolve the links in each shortcut to see if it matches the filtered view. This can take longer than you expect on a mapped VAX drive, or if you are accessing a share through UNC reference.
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WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, create the DisableAutoselect registry key. The DisableAutoselect registry key turns off the Open dialog box behavior. When the DisableAutoselect registry key is turned on, the Open dialog box does not filter the files before they appear.

To create this registry key, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of Office that you are running.

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
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Office 2003

Follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:
  1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
  2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\Open Find
  3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
  4. Type DisableAutoselect, and then press ENTER.
  5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
  6. Type 1, and then click OK.
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The 2007 Office suites

Follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor:
  1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
  2. Locate and then click the following key in the registry:
    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Open Find
  3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value.
  4. Type DisableAutoselect, and then press ENTER.
  5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
  6. Type 1, and then click OK.

If you set the value of DisableAutoselect to 1, the Open dialog box will not filter shortcuts. If you set the value of the DisableAutoselect to zero (0), the Open dialog box will filter shortcuts.
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STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
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APPLIES TO
  • Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
  • Microsoft Office Small Business Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Basic Edition 2003
  • Microsoft Office Access 2003
  • Microsoft Office Basic 2007
  • Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007
  • Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
  • Microsoft Office Professional 2007
  • Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
  • Microsoft Office Standard 2007
  • Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007
  • Microsoft Office Access 2007
  • Microsoft Office Excel 2007
  • Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007
  • Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
  • Microsoft Office Outlook 2007
  • Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007
  • Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007
  • Microsoft Office Project Standard 2007
  • Microsoft Office Publisher 2007
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
  • Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007
  • Microsoft Office Visio Standard 2007
  • Microsoft Office Word 2007
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Keywords: 
kbopenfile kbfileio kbdlg kbcmndlgfileo kbfix kbbug KB831024
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