The Getting Started task pane appears every time when you start Word 2003 (838676)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Word 2003
Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

Every time that you start Microsoft Office Word 2003, the Getting Started task pane appears.

RESOLUTION

There are two solutions to this problem.

Solution 1

  1. Quit all Microsoft Word programs that are running including WordMail.
  2. Start Word 2003.
  3. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  4. On the View tab, click to clear the Startup Task Pane check box.
  5. Quit Word 2003.
When you start Word 2003 the next time, the task pane should not appear. If it does, go to Solution 2.

Solution 2

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
  1. Quit Word 2003. If you use Word as your e-mail editor, also quit Microsoft Outlook.
  2. Click Start, and then click Run.
  3. In the Run box, type REGEDIT, and then click OK.
  4. Locate the following registry key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\General

  5. Right-click the DoNotDismissFileNewTaskPane key, and then click Delete.
  6. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the DoNotDismissFileNewTaskPane key.
When you start Word the next time, Word will respect the task pane setting. If the task pane is still appearing, follow the steps in Solution 1 to make sure that the setting is turned off in the user interface.

The following registry value corresponds to this setting:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options

Value Name: StartupDialog
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0x00000000 (0)

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:7/27/2006
Keywords:kbfunctions kbprb KB838676 kbAudEndUser
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