Missing Startup Task Pane not fixed in Office XP SP3????

[MikeyD]

I, too, experienced the loss of the Startup Task Pane in Word XP (2002). KBA
810162 claims this problem was corrected in Office XP SP3. SP3 is installed
on my machine, but the Task Pane still did not display in Word, though it did
in Excel. I finally installed the Task Pane Controller, as recommended by
numerous MVPs, which does solve the problem. But does anyone know what the
story is with the alleged fix in SP3? Is it supposed to correct the problem
or not?

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?TWlrZXlE?=,

I, too, experienced the loss of the Startup Task Pane in Word XP (2002). KBA
810162 claims this problem was corrected in Office XP SP3. SP3 is installed
on my machine, but the Task Pane still did not display in Word, though it did
in Excel. I finally installed the Task Pane Controller, as recommended by
numerous MVPs, which does solve the problem. But does anyone know what the
story is with the alleged fix in SP3? Is it supposed to correct the problem
or not?

I'm not certain what problem the fix in SP3 was supposed to address. But the
real problem is that there's a Registry key one can set to:
- turn it off
- turn it on
- use the default. And what the default does depends on the circumstances in
which Word is started. For example, if it's started by another program, the Task
Pane won't display. And that's why the Registry key exists. And the Registry key
is what the tool you downloaded manipulates.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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[MikeyD]

Hi Cindy:

The Task Pane would not display starting Word from its own stand alone
shortcut (from the Office Task Bar). It was working fine and then at some
point just stopped appearing, and there is no way I can figure out what might
have been installed at that point other than some hotfix or other MS update.
At first I did not pay any attention to it, but recently I added some
templates and wanted it back to speed the selection of them.

As I recall from the KBA, it is the presence of add-ins that prevents the
Task Pane from running, but the KBA does not go into any detail on why that
is or just what the fix in SP3 is supposed to do. In my case it has done
nothing.

It was my understanding that the Controller tool was just a script that
could be set to run or not run the Task Pane on opening Word. Is the
"Controller" script controlled by a registry entry? (It is also my
understanding that if the key is set to turn it on then it will display even
after opening a document unless it is manually closed, which is why the tool
is more flexible than the registry fix. Is that your understanding, too?)

"> I'm not certain what problem the fix in SP3 was supposed to address. But
the

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?TWlrZXlE?=,

It was my understanding that the Controller tool was just a script that
could be set to run or not run the Task Pane on opening Word. Is the
"Controller" script controlled by a registry entry? (It is also my
understanding that if the key is set to turn it on then it will display even
after opening a document unless it is manually closed, which is why the tool
is more flexible than the registry fix. Is that your understanding, too?)

The Controller tool sets the Registry entry; you wouldn't have to use the tool,
you could set the Registry entry manually. The tool just makes it faster and
easier. As I recall, the Registry entry can have three settings (as I described
before), two of which will override the default behavior and always show or
never show the task pane.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail