A New Document task pane appears instead of the New dialog box when you click New on the File menu in Word 2002 and Word 2003

When you click New on the File menu, the New dialog box does not appear. Instead, a New Document task pane appears.

This functionality is different from earlier versions of Microsoft Word. The New Document task pane appears by default in Microsoft Word 2002 and later. To turn off the task pane, click Task Pane on the View menu. The next time that you click New on the File menu, the New Document task pane appears again.

To prevent the New Document task pane from opening when you start Word, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. On the View tab, click to clear the Startup Task Pane check box.
3. Click OK to close the Options dialog box.

To change Word to display the New dialog box, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Create a FileNew Macro

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.
2. Change the Macros in box to Word commands.
3. In the Macro name list, click to select FileNew.
4. Change the Macros in box to Normal.dot (global template).
5. Click Create.
   
   Note If you already have a FileNew macro, this procedure will overwrite your existing FileNew macro if you click Yes when the following message appears:
   Do you want to replace the existing macro?
6. In the Visual Basic Editor, click Close and Return to Microsoft Word on the File menu.

When you click New on the File menu, the New dialog box appears.

To return to the new functionality in Microsoft Word 2002 and later versions of Word, follow these steps:

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.
2. Change the Macros in box to Normal.dot (global template).
3. In the Macro name list, click to select FileNew.
4. Click Delete.
5. Click Yes when the following message appears:
   Do you want to delete the macro FileNew?

Method 2: Add the New Button to a Toolbar

1. On the Tools menu, click Customize.
2. On the Commands tab, click to select File under Categories.
3. In the Commands list, click to select New (with the right-pointing arrow).
4. Drag the New command to the toolbar that you want.
   
   Note If you do not want the New Blank Document icon to appear on your Standard toolbar, drag the New Blank Document button into your Word document while the Customize dialog box is open.
5. Click Close to close the Customize dialog box.

A task pane is a window within Microsoft Word that provides frequently used commands. Its location and small size allow you to use these commands while still working on your document.