Follow these steps to prevent the task pane from opening automatically when you start Word 2003. The startup pane is the pane that’s displayed in the right-hand side of the screen when you start Word. To turn off the Startup Task Pane, follow these steps: On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click View. Clear [...] Related posts:Turn off Automatic Spelling & Grammar Check How to Turn off ScreenTips in MS Word How do I turn off Automatic Hyperlinks in Microsoft Word? - Ivan Walsh