Keeping the Styles Pane Open by Default

Anthony regularly works with client's Word files that contain many styles, and each set of styles is different from client to client. It would be great if he could set the Styles pane to remain open and docked by default. Currently, the Navigation pane automatically opens and docks at the left side of the screen by default, which is great. He's had no luck, though, figuring out a way to make sure the Styles pane remains open. Whenever he starts Word or opens a document, the Navigation pane remains where he wants it, but the Styles pane needs to be manually displayed. Anthony wonders if there is any way to have both of these panes open, docked, and available by default each time a document is opened.

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. This macro will do the trick:

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

The .TaskPanes(wdTaskPaneFormatting) property is the one that controls whether the Styles task pane is visible or not. Turning it on, however, is only half of the task—Anthony also wanted it docked at the right side of the document. This is where the .CommandBars("Styles") object comes into play. Setting the position of the object to msoBarRight places it exactly where it should be docked.

Note that this macro (DispSetup) must be executed every time you want to display and position the two panes. You could, if desired, change the macro to have the name AutoOpen, and then it would be run every time you start Word. You could also add more commands to the macro to have it adjust other display features, such as what zoom factor you commonly use. (I have a high-resolution monitor, so I normally set my zoom to somewhere between 150% and 200%.)

If you cannot get this macro to work for some reason, there are two things to check. First, if you are running Word on a Mac, it won't work—VBA on the Mac doesn't support displaying the Styles task pane. (Try recording a macro to display the Styles task pane—Word on the Mac won't record anything!)

The other potential reason that it may not run is if you don't have the Microsoft Office Object Library enabled in your system. You can do this in the VBA Editor, clicking the Tools option on the menu bar and then choosing References. You can then choose through the using the options on the References menu option. Look through the available references until you find the Microsoft Office 16 Object Library. Select it, close the dialog box, and you should be good to go.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5944) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024, and Word in Microsoft 365.