View When Opening Email Attachments

In earlier versions of Word, when you open a document attached to an email, the document opened in a view that allowed you to start editing immediately. However, starting in Word 2007, attached Word documents automatically open in a Full Screen Reading view. You have to click the Close button in the upper right of the document to enable editing. You can change this default view to Page Layout view, which allows you to start editing  immediately.

Changing View Default

1. Display Word Options.
   --Word 2007: Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.
   --Word 2010: Click File, and then Options.
   The Word Options dialog appears.
2. On the General tab, locate the Start up options, and remove the check mark from the following field: Open e-mail attachments in Full Screen Reading view.
3. Click OK. The next time you open a Word document that is attached to an email, it will open in Page Layout view and you can immediately edit the document.