Word 2002: New document Task Pane - startup problem

[Ajakibs]

Hi there,

When I start Microsoft Word 2002, the new document Task Pane does not appear
or the area where the Task Pane should be located appears briefly and
disapprears. The Task Pane should usually be located at the MS Word startup
on the right side of the screen.
The Problem occurs even if the "Show Task Pane at the startup" check box is
selected in the path: Tools => Options => View tab.

The above problem is described in Microsoft Knowkedge Base KB - Article ID
295341;
see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295341/en-us .

Well, Microsoft advices to delete any files that are located in the MS Word
Startup folders. I identified such two folders in the paths:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Offioce 10\Startup; and
C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Applications
Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP.

And the folders were already empty. Thus - this is not a reason of my Task
Pane startup problem, as it was suggested by the Microsoft team (see KB
Article cited above).

The question is: what to do?
My hypothesis is that something is broken in my Windows Registry key entries
related to MS Word or to MS Office. O.K. - but where is it?

Do you have any suggestions? I would be grateful for some help.

Greetings,

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Add-ins can cause the "Show Task Pane at startup" option to be ignored. See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/ShowTaskPane.htm

 

[Ajakibs]

Hi Suzanne, and may thanks for your prompt advice.

I have just downloaded the Add-in: Task Pane Controller for Word; using the
link you kindly given in your message.
The add-in has been installed in my PC in the form of 2 files (".dot" and
".doc"):

C:\Program Files\Task Pane Controller Files\TaskPaneController.dot - and -
Setup.doc.

Moreover, to make the Task Pane Controller add-in available each time Word
starts, the template "TaskPaneController.doc" has been placed (as a global
template - as I suppose) into my MS Word Startup folder; i.e. in:

C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Applications
Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP.

The add-in name "Task Pane Controller" is now seen in the MS Word menu:
Tools => Task Pane Controller; and - when clicking on it the add-in dialog
window appears.

So, all seems to be O.K. besides one a very annoying matter: after the
start-up of my MS Word I am getting every time - at be beginning - the
ghostly announcement (I am translating it from the Polish language):

"Microsoft Word: Opening of this document will cause the starup of the
following SQL command: (!).
Data from data base will be located into this document. Do you want to
continue? Yes/No".

After setting "Yes" or "No" - the desired window of the New Document with
the Task Pane attached (to the right side) - appears.

Well, could you please explaining me what is going on and how to remove the
mentioned above annoying announcement.
--
Ajakibs
Warsaw, Poland

Add-ins can cause the "Show Task Pane at startup" option to be ignored.
See http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/ShowTaskPane.htm

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Yep, the TaskPaneController add-in causes that SQL message in installations
that have been patched with the latest update. Once the add-in has done its
thing (changed a Registry setting, I gather), you can remove it from the
Startup folder, and the message will no longer appear.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Hi Suzanne, and may thanks for your prompt advice.

I have just downloaded the Add-in: Task Pane Controller for Word; using
the link you kindly given in your message.
The add-in has been installed in my PC in the form of 2 files (".dot" and
".doc"):

C:\Program Files\Task Pane Controller Files\TaskPaneController.dot - and -
Setup.doc.

Moreover, to make the Task Pane Controller add-in available each time Word
starts, the template "TaskPaneController.doc" has been placed (as a global
template - as I suppose) into my MS Word Startup folder; i.e. in:

C:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Applications
Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP.

The add-in name "Task Pane Controller" is now seen in the MS Word menu:
Tools => Task Pane Controller; and - when clicking on it the add-in dialog
window appears.

So, all seems to be O.K. besides one a very annoying matter: after the
start-up of my MS Word I am getting every time - at be beginning - the
ghostly announcement (I am translating it from the Polish language):

"Microsoft Word: Opening of this document will cause the starup of the
following SQL command: (!).
Data from data base will be located into this document. Do you want to
continue? Yes/No".

After setting "Yes" or "No" - the desired window of the New Document with
the Task Pane attached (to the right side) - appears.

Well, could you please explaining me what is going on and how to remove
the mentioned above annoying announcement.

 

[Ajakibs]

Hi Suzanne,

I would like to summarize this thread considering that many
misunderstandings have arisen in the case under consideration. Moreover,
this theme is also widely discussed in the thread initiated by
(e-mail address removed) on May 28, 2008 (I haven't noticed it before).
Well, the situation is as follows:

The last Microsoft Office update (or updates) has made some mass related to
the use of the Task Pane Controller add-in - that was worked out some five
years ago and was successfully applied by many users. I would like to
stress:
In my opinion - the Add-in is very well done but unfortunately - after last
Microsoft updates mentioned - people have problems with it. Of course, the
fault belongs to Microsoft and not to the authors of the add-in as it was
worked a few years ago.

It seems that Microsoft "does not always like its own products". I mean -
they produced the bug related to their MS Word Task Pane; they have not
repaired the bug effectively; and presently - they are disturbing the
"unhappy" users that have installed the Task Pane Controller add-in - and
now - are having problems (see the link attached). Sorry, if some of you are
employees of Microsoft and I am saying so ugly words about this firm J.

In present situation I can propose the simplest way of the problem fixing:

1. Using Windows Regedit utility find the Registry subkey:

HKEY\CURRENT-USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Common\General

2. Go to the value named: "DoNotDismissFileNewTaskPane" and choose the value
"1" (i.e do not dismiss) or "0" (i.e. do dismiss).

Remark: Of course, the subkey "10" is for Word 2002/XP users and the subkey
"11" should be considered (in place of "10") by the users of Word 2003.

So, all is simple and clear "like the Sun is". I got the above information
from the Task Pane Controller co-author - thank you very much Bill !!

 

[Andrzej Jakubowski]

Hi Suzanne,
[...]
In present situation I can propose the simplest way of the problem fixing:

1. Using Windows Regedit utility find the Registry subkey:

HKEY\CURRENT-USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Common\General

2. Go to the value named: "DoNotDismissFileNewTaskPane" and choose the
value "1" (i.e do not dismiss) or "0" (i.e. do dismiss).

Remark: Of course, the subkey "10" is for Word 2002/XP users and the
subkey "11" should be considered (in place of "10") by the users of Word
2003. [...]

Sorry, but some misprint has occured in my cited above message. Namely, the
the registry subkey name should be written as follows:

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Common\General"

Moreover, one has to check additionally the following Windows Registry
entry:

"HKEY_USERS\S-<heksadecimal user
ID>\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Common\General";

and - once again - the subkey value "DoNotDismissFileNewTaskPane" should be
set to "1".

In the given above Registry path the <heksadecimal user ID> is a specific
user ID determined as a heksadecimal number. Thus, the above means that -
for any particular user - the given above subkey should be find using the
standard "Registry Editor > Edition > Find" function (applied for the Hive:
HKEY_USERS).

Regards, Ajakibs