Microsoft Word Question (Opening old document closes new empty document)

[Mayuukosan]

This is just one of those odd quirks I have run into. When I open a new document in Word, then open an older file, the new document closes and only the old one is displayed.

Using Microsoft Office 2010, specifically Word.
Windows 7 64-bit

A bit of explanation, I often do research/writing for school or for fun. This issue has always happened, just one of those small annoyances.

Here is the exact thing that is happening:

1. I open a new (blank) word document, by clicking on the Word icon or by selecting "Open New Document" in the Word program.
2. I open an older (saved) Word document, by clicking on the saved file, not by using the "Open" function in Word.
3. The New (empty) document disappears, only the older document is open. I must now open a new empty document to write in.

What I want to happen:

1. Open new document
2. Open old document
3. Both new and old document are open (2 windows).

Other notes in no particular order:

- Word has always operated like this. Just wondering if there is a way to stop it.

- I am not using the "Open" function in Word to open the older file, I am opening the older file by double-clicking it in the File explorer. When I use the "Open" function in Word, it does the same (basically "closing" the new file in order to open the old one).

- I tried searching through Word's settings but couldn't find anything that seemed to relate to this behavior.

- As per regular Word behavior, the new document is auto-named "Document1". After the new file is closed (from opening the old one), and I must re-open a new document, it is called "Document2".

- Basically, as far as I can figure, opening an older word file while a blank document is open closes the blank document. I don't know why this is the case. I often do this, as I open a blank document to type then open reference documents to review or research before I get started. A simple, 2 second delay, but confusing nonetheless.

Apologies for any confusion, and thank you for any assistance!

[Geek-9pm]

Yes, you are right. That is normal for MS Word.
Do this:
Open a new document. Type something. Even a single space. Save it with a name you want.

Now open an older document.
Both documents can be on the screen or cascaded.

If memory is not an issue, you can haven two instances of Word.

[Mayuukosan]

Okay, thanks for the quick reply! ^w^

I will certainly try to remember to save the new document before opening any others.

[Keith Harmsworth]

That reply does make sense. As the new document has no information in it, Word probably assumes it was opened in error and then closes it automatically to save resources as no data is lost. Or something like that

[Geek-9pm]

The new document has to have some information.
A single char will do. Like the dot at the end of this sentence.