One of the new features of Pocket PC 2002 is that it can now access Microsoft Windows network shares. You can use this feature to browse shared files and folders on Windows desktop PCs and servers. However, you may have tried to open a file by tapping it in the file list and found that you cannot open the file. You cannot directly open a file across a network from a Pocket PC 2002 device.
However, there is a work around. Start File Explorer on the Pocket PC and open the network share. Tap and hold the file you want to open and tap Copy on the pop-up menu. Then switch to the back to the Pocket PC by tapping the Pocket PC icon on the command of File Explorer. Tap Edit | Paste Shortcut.
What this does is paste the shortcut to the file on your Pocket PC, which only takes up 46 bytes. It does not copy the entire file to your Pocket PC. To open the file simply tap the shortcut in File Explorer. It will take a little longer to load the file since it is coming across the network. I have tested this with Word & Excel files as well as MP3 files.
And here is something else that I discovered. If you load a Pocket Word or Pocket Excel file by tapping it in File Explorer, and then tap OK to close the file, you return to File Explorer, and Pocket Word and Pocket Excel completely shuts down.
If you start up Pocket Word or Pocket Excel you will notice that these shortcuts do not appear in the file list. This is because they are shortcuts and not Pocket Word or Pocket Excel file types.
Kudos to Tim Warner of PDALife.com for discovering this work around.