Force Word to open in foreground
Updated Jan 4th, 2023
Who is this guide for?
IT Professionals
Registry Edit
This solution is valid for Windows 10 machines, however the below we are aware some Windows 11 users may experience no change, as well as some system configurations such as remote terminal sessions and roaming profiles.
Osprey now has a PowerShell script available to use to configure Microsoft Word.
Please contact the support team for more information.
In order to force Word and its various pop-up’s to open in the foreground, you will need to change a registry key.
Please only make these changes if you know what you are doing. If not, please consult an IT professional.
Hold the Windows key on your keyboard and press the R at the same time.

Hold and press the R key
The Run box should appear. Type regedit into the Open box and click OK.

We would firstly recommend you backup the Registry before you make any changes.

Click the File Menu and then Export

Choose a suitable location, enter a File name and click Save

You may now, click the expand arrow next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, followed by the expand arrow next to Control Panel and finally click Desktop.

Locate ForegroundLockTimeout, right click it and select modify

From here, click Decimal and change the Value data to 0, then click OK.

Once this has been done, your PC will need restarting. After this, any ASK statements, Security Warnings and the Word program itself, should open in the foreground.