The task pane is automatically displayed when you open a document that has an attached smart document in Word 2003

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.

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:
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:

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:

1. Quit Word 2003.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click to select the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options
4. After you select the key that is specified in step 3, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
5. Type DontShowDocActionsPaneAtOpen, and then press ENTER.
6. Right-click DontShowDocActionsPaneAtOpen, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
8. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.

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.