Article ID: 899909
Article Last Modified on 9/25/2007
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Office Word 2003
Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry
SYMPTOMS
When you open a document that has an attached smart document, the task pane is automatically displayed in Microsoft Office Word 2003. Additionally, if you set the value of the Application.TaskPanes(wdTaskPaneDocumentActions).Visible property or the ActiveDocument.CommandBars("Task Pane").Visible property to False, the task pane is still displayed when you open the Word document.
RESOLUTION
This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest Office 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.
Service pack information
This problem is corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 3. To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Office 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
870924 How to obtain the latest service pack for Office 2003
After you install the service pack, follow the steps that are listed in the "How to enable this hotfix" section of the article to set the DontShowDocActionsPaneAtOpen registry key and to activate the hotfix.
Hotfix information
How to obtain the hotfix
This issue is fixed in the Word 2003 post-Service Pack 2 Hotfix Package that is dated November 10, 2005. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
898777 Description of the Word 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: November 10, 2005
How to enable this hotfix
Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
To implement this hotfix, follow these steps:
- Quit Word 2003.
- Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
- Locate and then click to select the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options
- After you select the key that is specified in step 3, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
- Type DontShowDocActionsPaneAtOpen, and then press ENTER.
- Right-click DontShowDocActionsPaneAtOpen, and then click Modify.
- In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
- On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
This problem was first corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 3.
Additional query words: WD2003 default
Keywords: kbbug kbfix kbregistry kbqfe kbpubtypekc kboffice2003presp3fix kboffice2003sp3fix KB899909
