Description of the Getting Started task pane in Office 2003 (816949)

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By default, the Getting Started task pane is available when you start a Microsoft Office 2003 program that is listed in the "Applies To" section. Task panes can be turned off at startup so that no task pane is visible when you start the program. This setting is program-specific and does not affect the task pane startup in the other Office programs.

To turn off the task panes in a program, follow these steps:

1. Start the program.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
3. On the View tab, click to clear the Startup Task Pane check box, and then click OK.
   
   Note: In FrontPage, the Startup Task Pane check box is on the General tab.

After you turn off the task panes in an Office program, the task panes are still easily available. For example, the task panes are available when you do either of the following:

• When you perform certain tasks in the Office program, the appropriate task pane will appear.
  
  -or-
• When you click Task Pane on the View menu, or you press CTRL+F1.

To Create a New File

To create a new file in an Office program using the Getting Started task pane, do one of the following:

• In Excel, click Create a new workbook.
• In FrontPage, click Create a new page or site.
• In PowerPoint, click Create a new presentation.
• In Word, click Create a new document.

To Add a New File or Template to the Getting Started Task Pane

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Partners, see the following Microsoft Web site: For additional information about the support options available from Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site: You can modify the Getting Started task pane to include a link to the documents or files that you use most frequently. To do this, you must use a Visual Basic for Applications macro.

   Sub AddNewDocToTaskPane()

      'Replace the FileName:= "C:\NewDocument.doc" with the path of the
      'file you want to appear on the Getting Started task pane.

      'Replace the DisplayName:="Look! My New Document option" with the
      'text you want to show on the Getting Started task pane.

      Application.NewDocument.Add FileName:="C:\NewDocument.doc", _
         Section:=msoStart, DisplayName:="Look! My New Document option"

         With Application.CommandBars("Task Pane")
            .Visible = False
            .Visible = True
         End With

   End Sub