I am using Office 2010 and Windows 8.1. My default file location in Word and Excel and Powerpoint is E:\Todd\Documents.  But when I go to open a file (File, Open), it opens up the OneDrive\Documents location.  Same if I do File, Save As.  I have 2 hard drives, 256 GB SSD as my C: drive and a 1 TB drive as my E: drive where I store my documents.  How can I get E:\Todd\Documents to be the location that comes up when I open or save files? 

Hi TRB,

Based on your description, you wonder to change the default location to store files. Please follow these steps:

1. Open any one of the office programs and click on the File menu item.
2. Then click on Options.
3. Now head into the Save settings.
4. On the right hand side you can change the "Default file location" by simply typing the exact path, check it and then click OK.

  5.Thats all there it to it, now when you go to save a document it will default to your location.

Or you could use group policy to specify the location to store office file.

1. Open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). Click Start, click Control Panel, click Administrative Tools, and then click Group Policy Management.
2. In the console tree, double-click Group Policy Objects in the forest and domain that contain the Group Policy object (GPO) that you want to edit. This is located in Forest name, Domains, Domain name, Group Policy Objects.
3. Right-click the GPO that you want to change and then click Edit.
4. In the tree view, expand User Configuration, expand Administrative Templates, expand Microsoft Office 2010, expand File Open/Save dialog box, and in the reading pane click Restricted Browsing.
5. In the details pane, double-click Activate Restricted Browsing.
6. On the Setting tab, select Enabled, and then click OK.
7. Double-click Approve Locations.
8. On the Setting tab, select Enabled, and then click Show.
9. In the Show Contents dialog box, in the Value name column, type the name of the location that you want to add to the Save As dialog box.
10. Repeat the previous step to add more locations, as needed.
11. After you add all the approved locations, click OK to exit the Show Contents dialog box.

To get more information please refer to this article:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee308297(v=office.14).aspx

If this is not work for you please let me know, Im glad to help and follow up your reply.

Regards,

George Zhao
TechNet Community Support

Hi George,

Thanks for the reply.  Unfortunately, I already have the location I want already set in the "Default File Location" in MS Word, Excel, and Powerpoint.  It's just that this location is not what comes up when I go to open or save a file.

Also, I can't seem to open the group policy management console.  When I go to run a program and type gpmc.msc it cannot find it.  Is there more help you can offer?

-Todd

Hi Todd,

Try to use Registry settings to help you.

1. Open Registry Editor, and then locate the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Common\Open Find\RestrictedBrowse

Note You must create the "Open Find" and "RestrictedBrowse" registry keys if they don't already exist.

2. Right-click RestrictedBrowse, select New, click String,and then enter the following information:

Name = name of the location

Value = path of the approved location (subfolders are included)

3. Locate the following registry subkey:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Open Find\RestrictedBrowse\OptIn

4. Right-click OptIn, select New, click DWORD(32-bit),and enter the following information:

Name = [Office 2010 application]. This is a DWORD (32-bit) value key that is enabled when set to 1.

Valid entries are as follows:

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft SharePoint Designer

Microsoft InfoPath

Microsoft OneNote

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Project

Microsoft Publisher

Microsoft Visio

Microsoft Word

Please refer to this screenshot.

Hope it's helpful.

Regards,

Emi Zhang
TechNet Community Su

Hi Emi,

Thanks for the reply, and sorry to take so long to get back to you - have been traveling and have just returned.  I tried setting the registry settings as you suggested, although there was no "Office" key in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\ 

so I created one and all of the directories below it as in your example.  Then I added the D-Word keys in the OptIn directory as you suggested, with a "1" value for Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.  Then I rebooted and opened Microsoft Word, typed a few words and did a File Save As.  There was no change in the behavior -- it still pointed to the OneDrive\Documents directory.  I also did a File Open and it pointed to the OneDrive\Documents directory.

-Todd