Office: Find File Command Hangs Application

• Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.2, 4.2b, 4.2c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0a
• Microsoft Project for Windows, version 4.0
• Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0c

SYMPTOMS

If you are using one of the Office applications listed at the beginning of this article, and you choose the Find File command from the File menu, your computer may hang (stop responding).

Note that Find File WILL work properly in some Office applications.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because some entries in the MSFFILE.INI file are incorrect.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, do either of the following:

• Rename or delete the MSFFILE.INI file. (Note that renaming or deleting this file will remove all previously saved searches.)

  -or-

• If the Find File is hanging on a specific search, you can use the [QuickList] section to locate the section heading for the corresponding saved search, and comment out that particular section of the file. For example, if Find File hangs on the search for .INI files in MOM, you would comment out the QL21 section in the following section of the MSFILE.INI file:

        [QuickList]
        QL02=Budget Sheets
        QL01=My XL Sheets
        QL21=INI Files
        QL31=PPT Slides
  

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Office Manager(MOM), write to the MSFFILE.INI file. There should be an entry in the MSFFILE.INI file for each of the applications from which you have accessed Find File. The sample section below from the MSFFILE.INI indicates what number has been given to each application:

   [Applications]
   Number=3
   Microsoft Excel=0
   Microsoft Project=1
   Microsoft Office=2
   Microsoft PowerPoint=3

Re-installing the application that is causing the problem does not correct the problem with the Find File command. The MSFFILE.INI is created by Find File the first time it is run. Microsoft Setup will not remove the MSFFILE.INI because it does not have information about this file.

Note that Microsoft Word writes to the FILEMAN.INI file, located in your Microsoft Windows directory. If Microsoft Word is the only application in which you are having trouble using the Find File command, you can use either of the workarounds listed above with the FILEMAN.INI file, instead of the MSFILE.INI file.