Default file view when closing a file

Hi Brad,

You are seeing normal focus behavior in Windows. When you close a Word window and there is another Word window already open, Windows usually activates that other Word window instead of switching back to File Explorer.

There is no setting to make Windows always return to the app that launched the file. The simplest way to get exactly what you want is to exit Word completely when you are done.

Open the document from File Explorer, then press Alt+F4 to close that document and press Alt+F4 again to close the Word app itself. When Word closes, focus returns to File Explorer.

To achieve the behavior where closing a Word document returns you to the last application you were using (like File Explorer), you may need to adjust your workflow, as Windows typically restores the last opened instance of the application (in this case, Word) when you close a document. Unfortunately, there isn't a built-in setting in Windows or Microsoft Office that allows you to change this behavior directly to always return to the last used application instead of the last opened document.

However, you can manually switch back to File Explorer after closing the document. Using keyboard shortcuts like Alt + Tab can help you quickly switch between applications.

If you frequently need to switch back to File Explorer after using Word, consider using the taskbar to pin File Explorer for easier access or using keyboard shortcuts to navigate between applications efficiently.