What you are describing has been the behavior of several versions now. The
view is restored, within a Word session, if you change from Outline to
another view and then back, but it is never retained after closing a
document. You could try a macro such as the following:

Sub SetDisplayLevel()
  ActiveWindow.View.Type = 2
  ActiveWindow.View.ShowHeading 1
End Sub

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Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP