Word 2000 suddenly saving documents as PDF

Given that Word 2000 has no ability to save as PDF, your assertion seems somewhat improbable.

If you are saving them as Word files, that's what they remain and it would help if you configured Windows Explorer to display file name extensions of known file types.

The most likely explanation is that the file association with Word 2000 has become broken, perhaps because you also have a trial version of Office 2013 present and during a recent update this has taken control of the Word related parts of the registry.

You can repair Word 2000 to restore the file association, or associate the files manually from Windows Explorer (Right click > Open with ... and select Word 2000. Always open with this application.)

If you have such a trial and you are not using it, then uninstall it as the problem is likely to recur.

Regarding my assertion, yes, I know, it seems crazy. I assure you I am opening Microsoft Word, creating a document, saving to my desktop as a Word document, then bam!, it appears on desktop as a PDF. It's like voodoo & I thought I was going to lose my mind.

The only trial I downloaded was Photoshop & Illustrator. Could these be the culprits?

Your solution through Windows Explorer did work. Whew! Thank you so much for that. Hoping I don't have to do this every time in the future.

Thanks,

Trish

Windows indicates what the file is by reference to the file association in the registry, so while Windows reports it as PDF, it remains a document, which is why the re-association will correct the problem.

As for the trial, you report that you are running Windows 8.1, which suggests a new PC. Most new PCs come with trials for Office 2013 - and it would be that trial that is responsible for the changes following an Office update. Major updates are issued monthly, and tend to assume that the most recent Word version should be the default, so while that trial remains in place the problem is likely to recur.

If there isn't such a trial then it is possible that the required registry setting has been lost or corrupted. It can happen, and can certainly happen if you use Registry 'cleaning' utilities.