Getting Rid of the Task Pane on Startup

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 6, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2002 and 2003


2

When Joy starts Word, the Word Help task pane appears at the right side of the program window. (Sometimes it is the Getting Started task pane, but usually it is the Word Help task pane.) Joy doesn't want a task pane to appear when she first starts Word and she's tried of closing it every time. She wonders how she can get rid of the task pane so that it doesn't appear when she first starts the program.

Don't like the task pane? You can get rid of it by following these steps:

  1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
  2. Make sure the View tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The View tab of the Options dialog box.

  4. Clear the Startup Task Pane checkbox.
  5. Click OK.

If this doesn't fix the problem, it may be due to a setting in the Registry.

  1. Exit Word.
  2. Start your favorite Registry editor.
  3. Locate the following data key. (This data key, as shown below, is for Word 2003. If you are using a different version of Word, the 11 portion of the key will be different.)
  4.      HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\General
    
  5. Look for a value named DoNotDismissFileNewTaskPane. If you find it, delete it. (Just right-click on it and choose Delete.)
  6. Close the Registry editor.
  7. Restart Word.

If you continue to have problems with the task pane (or you don't like to manually edit the Registry), you'll find additional help in this page on the MVP site:

http://wordmvp.com/faqs/customization/ShowTaskPane.htm

The page discusses the Task Pane Controller add-in, which makes it easy to change the Registry entry that controls whether the task pane is displayed at startup. The macro used by the add-in need be run only once, and you should uninstall the add-in after using it.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8833) applies to Microsoft Word 2002 and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Disappearing Macro Menus

Word is quite versatile in how you can customize it. You can add all sorts of macros to menus, but doing so may cause ...

Discover More

Displaying Negative Times

Excel allows you to perform math using times as operands. If you subtract a later time from an earlier time, you should ...

Discover More

Formatting Footnote Reference Marks

The reference marks that appear for footnotes in a document are normally just superscripted digits. If you want to change ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Displaying a Single Page

When displaying the information in your document, Word is rather flexible. It can, if you so choose, display multiple ...

Discover More

Reveal Codes in Word

While there are no true Reveal Codes in Word, as in WordPerfect, as they are vastly different word processors, there is a ...

Discover More

Default Units that Change

Word allows you to specify the unit of measurement you would like used in dialog boxes throughout the program. It can get ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is two less than 6?

2018-12-13 19:43:47

01101001b

Thanks so much! I was having this problem in Word 2003 (I reinstalled it recently. I find newer versions simply awful) and I couldn't remember how I used to get rid of it. Thx again!


2016-12-20 22:13:37

computer user

I think it is a benevolent public service for publishing this online article.
I could not disable the get started pane as I use Word 2010 and the information was not applicable to help me. I would suggest if there were instructions to navigate the disabling of the get started pane in Word 2010, the information would be more current. That is to say without entering the registry, as not everyone is comfortable venturing there.


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.