So I just realized that after I updated my rom, I no longer have Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. I had it before when I first got my phone... What is the deal?

The stock 2.17 ROM has them in Start>Programs>OfficeMobile. Did you load a custom ROM or the stock ROM?

hmmm not sure... I just downloaded it from HTC and loaded it... sorry newbie response. Was there an option when flashing?

If you downloaded from HTC, it is the stock ROM. Click on Start, then Programs, then click on the Office Mobile icon near the top of the screen and you should see icons for the three applications. If you do not see them, something may have gone wrong in your ROM update. Back up all of your data (contacts, calendar, files, etc.), and try a hard reset; if that does not give you the icons, try re-downloading and reinstalling the 2.17 update.

So I looked a little more, and it seems that they are installed somehow because I was able to launch a word and excel document from it. So it seems like the links our gone from the start menu. Wonder where the files are stored and if I can make my own links in the start menu?

If you go to Start>Settings>Menus, do you have a listing for Office Mobile with Excel, Powerpoint, and Word under it? If so, make sure all four boxes are unchecked, and it should appear in your Start>Programs menu. If not, copy pword.lnk, ppt.lnk, and pxl.lnk from \windows to \windows\start menu\programs and see if that does it.

That seemed to do it... thanks!