Description of task panes in Office programs

Summary

Task panes, a new feature in Microsoft Office XP, provide a common area for those commands that may require more information or options than a toolbar can provide. This article describes task panes and how to use them.

More information

Task panes appear as fixed dialog boxes on one side of the screen in the Office programs that are listed at the beginning of this article. The following task panes appear in one or more of these Office programs:

• The Startup task pane. In Access 2002, this task pane is called the New File task pane. In Excel 2002, this is the New Workbook task pane. In PowerPoint 2002, this is the New Presentation task pane. In Publisher 2002, this is the New Publication task pane. In Word 2002, this is the New Document task pane. In FrontPage 2002, this is the New Page or Web task pane.
• The Search task pane
• The Clipboard task pane
• The Insert Clip Art task pane

The Startup task pane is the default task pane for the Office programs listed at the beginning of this article. Be default, it appears to the right of the document window when you start your Office program. (In Publisher 2002, the New Publication task pane appears by default on the left.) You can change the startup location of this task pane, as well as stop it from appearing when you start an Office program.

To move the Startup task pane to a new location, follow these steps:

1. Start the Office program that you want.

   Notice that the Startup task pane appears to the right of the document window.

2. Click the title bar of the task pane, and then drag it to the location that you want. The task pane appears in the new location when you restart the Office program.

To stop the Startup task pane from appearing when you start an Office program, follow these steps:

1. Start the Office program that you want.
2. At the bottom of the task pane, click to clear the Show at startup check box. The Startup task pane does not appear when you restart the Office program.

To cause the Startup task pane to appear when you start an Office program, follow these steps:

1. Start the Office program that you want.

2. On the Tools menu, click Options.

   The Options dialog box appears.

3. On the View tab, under Show, click to select the Startup Task Pane check box, and then click OK. The Startup task pane appears when you restart the Office program.

   Note

   In Microsoft FrontPage 2002, the Startup Task Pane check box appears on the General tab of the Options dialog box.

In Microsoft Publisher 2002, click to select the Use New Publication task pane at startup check box on the General tab in the Options dialog box.