how do I stop mail merge task pane from opening in a document

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I was sent a document through email and every time I open it the mail merge
task pane opens also. How do I stop that from happening.
 
Hi =?Utf-8?B?Q2Fzcw==?=,
I was sent a document through email and every time I open it the mail merge
task pane opens also. How do I stop that from happening.
Click to expand...
Which version of Word do you have? And in which version of Word was the
document created?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)
 
Sorry, I forgot to put that in. I have Word 2002 SP2 and Document was created
in same.
 
Are you sure it's the Mail Merge task pane and not the Reviewing pane?
That's the on people usually complain about.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.
 
G'day "Cass" <[email protected]>,

I have a big fat article on controlling Task Panes available on
http://word.mvps.org. There are several solutions to your problem in
it.

Steve Hudson - Word Heretic

steve from wordheretic.com (Email replies require payment)
Without prejudice


Cass reckoned:
 
Yes, it is definately the mail merg task pane. That is the title at the top.
The funny part is when I open the document the first time I just get the
document alone. Any time after the first time I also get the mail merge task
pane when I open it. This is a daily report I receive through email and it
happens with every one of them if I open it more than the first time.
 
Interesting, since it's difficult to get Word to display the MM task bar
automatically even for Mail Merge main documents. I'm afraid I don't have
any suggestions.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.
 
Hi =?Utf-8?B?Q2Fzcw==?=,
Yes, it is definately the mail merg task pane. That is the title at the top.
The funny part is when I open the document the first time I just get the
document alone. Any time after the first time I also get the mail merge task
pane when I open it. This is a daily report I receive through email and it
happens with every one of them if I open it more than the first time.
Click to expand...
My guess is that you have a macro addin, somewhere, that's recognizing this is a
mail merge document and displaying the taskpane for you.

As a test:
- Make sure Outlook is not running
- Hold down CTRl and start Word (= Safe mode)
- Locate such a document, hold SHIFT (so no macros in the document can rung)
and open it

Do you still see the task pane opening?

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)
 
Thanks anyway, I guess I will have to plow my way through Steve Hudsons
article and see if I can find a solution there.

It sure would be nice if Microsoft would put in an easy way to turn off all
this automatic stuff for those of us who have no need for it.
 
I tried your suggestion and the Task pane still opens. Could it be something
that the sender is doing to cause this? I just spoke to a co-worker and he
says he also has the same task pane opening on some documents he receives.
 
Hi =?Utf-8?B?Q2Fzcw==?=,
I tried your suggestion and the Task pane still opens. Could it be something
that the sender is doing to cause this? I just spoke to a co-worker and he
says he also has the same task pane opening on some documents he receives.
Click to expand...
I can't imagine what would cause this. I've never seen it (unless using a
macro), nor seen report of it. Word 2000 and earlier would automatically
display the mail merge toolbar for mail merge documents, which I always found
convenient.

In which version of Word were these documents created, since they're not from
your system?

If you Ctrl+A, Shift+LeftArrow, Copy, open a new document, paste, save, close
and re-open: does this new document demonstrate the same behavior? (I would not
expect it to, but good to know).

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)
 
The report was created with Office XP on Windows XP system, the same programs
I am using to open and read it. It is an old template that has been used for
years here to submit this report and was originally created in Office 97.

I tried the copy and paste as you suggested and I did not get the mail merge
task pane in the new document.
 
Hi =?Utf-8?B?Q2Fzcw==?=,
The report was created with Office XP on Windows XP system, the same programs
I am using to open and read it. It is an old template that has been used for
years here to submit this report and was originally created in Office 97.

I tried the copy and paste as you suggested and I did not get the mail merge
task pane in the new document.
Click to expand...
OK, then it's pretty clear that the behavior is probably a structural problem in
the old Word97 document. If the copy/paste routine hasn't solved your problem
(because you need the old file and can't make a new one) you can try saving as a
webpage, closing, opening the web page, then saving again as a Word document.
That might shake out the dross, but no guarantees.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail :-)
 
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