I just wrote up this little Frequently Asked Question at work:

Assumptions:

• You have Microsoft Office 2003 installed.
• You are working with Windows XP Professional as your Operating System.

This is a setting that needs to be made/verified in your Windows settings.

To set the documents to open in their appropriate application:

1. Open My Computer on your Desktop.
2. Choose the Tools menu item, then choose Folder Options….
3. In the Folder Options popup window, choose the File Types tab.
4. In the Registered File Types list box, choose the file extensions for the application file types you’re interested in verifying/changing (i.e. DOC for Word, XLS for Excel, PPT for PowerPoint, etc.). Once the proper file type is selected, click the Advanced button.
5. In the Edit File Type pop-up window, uncheck the Browse in same window checkbox.
6. Click the OK button in the Edit file Type pop-up window.
7. Click the Close button in the Folder Options pop-up window.

You’re done!

So the flip side is that if you want the document to open up in IE, you check the Browse in same window checkbox.

Sometimes this setting does/does not work. I’m still working on that bit, but also waiting to hear from the users a bit more about the versions of Office/OS they’re working with.