When I open word, it seems to be minimized (i.e. there is a button at the bottom of the screen). But when I click on the button to open the Word window, it seems to be shooting it off of my computer screen. When I click again it seems to be minimized again (i.e. the title bar travels down). However, Word doesn't open and I can't actually use the program, or open any other Word documents I have created. The program has been installed for a while. I tried rebooting and logging off etc. but it's not letting me open Word. I don't know what to try next.

Try Google - a search with "window 'off-screen'" gave plenty of hits. See the first two here.

Thank you, Rambler! The first suggestion did the trick!! I right-clicked on the button at the bottom, selected "move" from the menu and used my arrow keys and it did, indeed, "magically appear!" You saved my bacon, today! Thanks again.