MS Word - "Open File" dialogue box

I just upgraded a user from Windows XP to Windows 7. Office 2007 is the constant. She has hundreds of Word Docs in her My Documents folder. With XP, she would open Word, then choose File>Open and in the "File Name" field, she would enter a claim number, which is also a PART of the filename, not the entire filename. EX. John Doe Capital LLC - Claim 1234567.docx

In XP, she could open the "Open File" dialogue box in Word, and just type 1234567 with no wildcard characters, and all files would disappear except the files with 1234567 in the filename. In Windows 7, using the same version of Office, when she types 1234567, an error pops up saying "Filename not found. Check the filename and try again". Of course, if you sandwich the claim number between asterisk, it will do the same thing, but I am wondering if there is a setting in Windows 7 or in Office 2007 that allows you to bypass typing the asterisk.

I know, I know... make them type the asterisk. This is probably what she will eventually just have to deal with, but if I could find the setting that allows her to continue to work the way she did in XP, that would be grand.

Many thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.

Hi, Moses007! Welcome to the Seven Forums! :)

I just tried it in my Word 2010. Of course, Moses007, you are exactly correct.

I believe it has something to do with the new Windows 7 search engine.

I know my post is of little help and only confirms your initial conclusion. The pragmatic solution you presented and the realization of the necessity to alter the entering of a file opening query in the Word "Open" dialog is an indication your friend is in good hands with you, Moses007.