Word Research pane shut off

Anonymous
2010-02-16T15:38:50+00:00

How do I turn off the Research paine when I open Word?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2010-02-21T03:20:20+00:00

You will get a close symbol on the top right corner of the Research Pane, you can click on the close symbol and turn it off.

 Or you can click on the icon for Research Pane on the Toolbar at the top.

 If this does not resolve the issue, follow the basic Troubleshooting steps provided in the article given below:

Important: This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921541.

Ruchi Bisht, Microsoft Answers Support Engineer.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-03-04T22:39:22+00:00

    I have this problem BOTH in Excel AND in Word. 

    It happens when I am in the midst of editing a document (never when I initially open the document).  Have a feeling it could absolutely have to do with keystrokes or setting, but I can't seem to figure out what I'm doing to "trigger" the Research Pane.  I'm using a Surface Pro 2, Office 2013, MSFT Type Cover 2. 

    The workaround I have is that I simply turn off my tablet, then turn it right back on again (just with the "on/off" button, not a real shutdown or restart...I believe it's just going to sleep for a moment).  Once it comes on again, I usually have a few more minutes of editing before I somehow trigger the Research Pane again.

    The "x" in the corner of the pane makes it go away...until I type or mouse (which means, until I use the program again) and then it pops right up again! Pretty darn irritating. 

    Suzanne, I'd sure appreciate it if you could forward this info to the Word (and perhaps to the Office team, since I'm experiencing this in Excel, as well).  Would be happy to work with a contact there to provide additional screen shots, or specific steps taken prior to the issue occurring.

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  2. Anonymous
    2014-02-18T23:54:14+00:00

    Scott

    Does the line of code work to stop it ever appearing in the first place? Or does this setting get forgotten when Word is restarted?

    Application.CommandBars("Research").Enabled = False

    Yes, I agree the Research Pane is an abomination and there should be a way to kill it off for good WITHOUT resorting to VBA but until that method is available, VBA is the best solution we have.

    I haven't seen the issue of the close button not working but then again if the pane is spontaneously appearing on your machine perhaps the close button IS working but the spontaneous trigger reopens it immediately.

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-18T20:47:15+00:00

    When the pane opens, there is an X to close it.

    Thank you Captain Obvious!

    Now try reading the posts. Seriously? We've had to repeat ad nauseum that clicking your little X does NOT help. As soon as we try to do anything in the document it opens itself and blocks any attempt at editing. Do you really think we didn't try closing it FIRST? We're not idiots so quit being so patronizing. If your suggestion worked, this thread wouldn't exist. What we need is a way to close the pain (much more accurate term for this particular pane) that actually shuts it down rather than temporarily removing it from our screens. I'm also nearly 100% positive that this isn't a alt-click error. I've had it happen when my fingers weren't on the keys (e.g., selecting text with the mouse).

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  4. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2014-02-18T17:28:57+00:00

    When the pane opens, there is an X to close it.

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