In addition to being able to reference the currently active map document file in ArcMap, you can also access map document files that are stored on a local or remote drive by using the MapDocument() constructor. In this recipe, you'll learn how to access these map documents.
As I mentioned earlier, you can also reference a map document file that resides somewhere on your computer or a shared server. This is done simply by providing a path to the file. This is a more versatile way of obtaining a reference to a map document because it can be run outside the ArcGIS Python window. Later, when we will discuss parameters in a script, you'll understand that you can make this path a parameter so that the script is even more versatile, with the ability to input a new path each time it is needed.