Keeping the Styles Pane Open by Default

I love this so much - I've found no other way to show nav and styles panes at the same time in 365.

One change I had to make was to move the active window into the with block:

Sub autoexec()
With Application
.TaskPanes(wdTaskPaneFormatting).Visible = True
.CommandBars("Styles").Position = msoBarRight
ActiveWindow.DocumentMap = True
End With
End Sub

Hi Allen! Hope you are all healthy!

This tip re the Styles pane requires a reference to the Microsoft Office 16.0 Object Library, which Word 2021 (I think that's what it is. Office 16, anyway) offers to add.

App.TaskPanes(wdTaskPaneFormatting).Visible = True

is not recognised on Mac running Word365 so none of these work.

I copied your Anthony's macro
Sub DispSetup()
With Application
.TaskPanes(wdTaskPaneFormatting).Visible = True
.CommandBars("Styles").Position = msoBarRight
End With
ActiveWindow.DocumentMap = True
End Sub

and saved it and when I tried to invoke it or run it it just stared at me and did nothing

Jennifer, in that case the "AutoNew" macro is automatically called.

Andy.

AutoOpen is not working when using File/New/Template and choosing the template. It does work when you just double-click on the template from it's location. How can I get it to display as soon as they open the template?

I can't get this macro to work on my Mac, I get a runtime error. Does it only work with Windows?

What you want is to display the Styles pane when Word is initially loaded, when an existing document is loaded or when the user creates a new document. To cover all three you will need to program in VBA as follows.

These instructions are for placing the code in the Normal Template. They could be placed in an add-in template instead if you don’t want to change the Normal template.

1. From a blank document ALT + F11 to display the VBA Project window.
2. In the Project pane select Normal and expand it
3. Click Insert > Class Module. Rename the module to clsAppEvent in the Properties window. If the properties window is not visible then click View > Properties Window.
4. Copy the following into the Class module window:

Public WithEvents App As Word.Application
Private Sub App_DocumentOpen(ByVal Doc As Document)
App.TaskPanes(wdTaskPaneFormatting).Visible = True
End Sub
Private Sub App_NewDocument(ByVal Doc As Document)
App.TaskPanes(wdTaskPaneFormatting).Visible = True
End Sub
Private Sub App_WindowActivate(ByVal Doc As Document, ByVal Wn As Window)
App.TaskPanes(wdTaskPaneFormatting).Visible = True
End Sub

5. Click Insert > Module. This will create a module with a default name typically Module 1
6. Copy the following into the module:

Dim X As New clsAppEvent
Public Sub autoexec()
Set X.App = Word.Application
End Sub

7. CTRL + S to save the Normal template
8. Close Word. When you restart word then the styles pane will be displayed..

"As Anthony has figured out, there is no way to display the Styles task pane, by default. Instead, you'll need to use a macro to display and position it."

There is no need for a macro at all. To get the Styles pane to dock simply drag it to the edge of the window and it will dock.