Provide option to hide Mail Merge Task Pane

I used Word 97 for several years, and recently upgraded to Word 2003. I find
the Mail Merge Task Pane to be a major irritant. I'm sure it's good for new
users, but for those of us who use Mail Merge weekly, having the Task Pane
appear for every saved merge document rather than the Toolbar is just plain
frustrating.

It *doesn't* appear for me. It's appearing when you just open a mail merge
main document? I have a hard enough time getting the Mail Merge toolbar to
appear. Perhaps that's because I've got the task pane turned off using the
Task Pane Controller (see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customizat...owTaskPane.htm). You might also
find some useful information in
http://home.earthlink.net/~wordfaqs/...MailMerges.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"ironwood" wrote in message
...
I used Word 97 for several years, and recently upgraded to Word 2003. I
find
the Mail Merge Task Pane to be a major irritant. I'm sure it's good for
new
users, but for those of us who use Mail Merge weekly, having the Task Pane
appear for every saved merge document rather than the Toolbar is just
plain
frustrating.