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How do I keep Word's Sidebar open?

Anonymous
2012-06-29T11:48:15+00:00

Hi

I've problem keeping Word's sidebar open.

I'm working mainly on a large documents.  So for navigation, I like to keep Word's document map permanently open on the sidebar.  Trouble is, some days I am always having to re-open the sidebar.  Every time I open a document I have to open the sidebar.  Then when create or read an endnote I lose the side bar and have to re-open it and then re-set the size how I like it.  I must have done this 30 times today.

Then other days there's no problem, the same document opens how I like it, and stays like that almost all day.  So assuming this isn't a bug or glitch, my questions are: what am I doing wrong?  Where's the control that freezes the sidebar in place?  How can I get saved documents to re-open how I like?

Thanks in advance.

Mark

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.6K Reputation points
2012-06-30T12:26:48+00:00

Ah, your last para sheds a bit more light on the issue :-) Draft View is designed to maximize performance, so by design it is restricted in a number of ways, one of which is the UI. It's expected behavior for the Sidebar to close when the Footnotes/Endnotes Pane opens & vice-versa.

What you might consider is assigning a custom keystroke to each of them. You can then continue use Draft View -- highly commendable, btw -- but just 'toggle' between display of the two panels rather than the 2 step approach of closing one then opening the other. I.e., I use:

Control+Option+D toggles the Document Map

Control+Option+E toggles the Endnote Pane

Unfortunately, that doesn't help with the width of the Document Map. However, if you go to a bit more trouble to create a macro you could include adjustment to the preferred width.

NOTE: When in Draft View, regardless of which method you use {keystrokes, menus, toolbar buttons) do not switch directly from viewing the Endnotes Area to any of the Sidebar choices while the insertion point [cursor] is still in the Endnotes Area. I believe there is a bug which I can reproduce consistently here but have not confirmed elsewhere. If the insertion point is in the Endnotes Area Word will crash. Oddly, it doesn't happen if you switch to Document Map while in the Footnotes Area... go figure :-) I believe a macro could help work around this but haven't taken the time to experiment with it.

Toolbar customizations (by default) are stored in the Normal.dotm template, as are custom keystroke assignments. They can also be stored in other template files if you so designate & can be copied from one template/document to another by using the Organizer.

Regards,

Bob J.

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-08-07T22:37:16+00:00

    Thanks Bob.  I have solved some of the erratic behaviour.  I had a button on my toolbar which offered all Sidebar choices.  Once I removed that button, things became a lot more intuitive and reliable.  I now use a much simpler button called: *View Document Map Pane.*That works fine.

    I'll take a look at the custom keystrokes solution.

    Thanks and best

    Mark

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  2. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.6K Reputation points
    2012-06-29T17:50:59+00:00

    Your assumption that the Sidebar should be a "permanent fixture" from one document to another -- as well as from one Word session to another -- is correct. I'm not certain of every possible influence, but the most likely to investigate are:

    • Updates: Make sure Office is fully updated [14.2.2]
    • Run Disk Utility to repair disk permissions
    • Quit/launch Word daily -- it's best not to leave any program running 24/7
    • On that same note, restart your Mac at least once weekly

    If you're complying with all of the above I'd suspect a damaged or corrupt preferences file. Should those suggestions not remedy the behavior see if this will:

    1. Quit all programs
    2. Go to User:Library:Preferences [On Lion, go to Finder then hold Option while you open the Go menu to select Library]
    3. Rename the file com.microsoft.Word.plist [e.g., x.microsoft.Word.plist]
    4. Launch Word & display the Sidebar
    5. Quit Word
    6. Launch Word again & see whether the Sidebar performs as it should

    Word builds a new .plist file when you Quit, so the Sidebar setting should be retained.

    If all goes as it should you can delete the .plist file you renamed but you may have some Preference that will have to be reset. OTOH, if the issue isn't resolved you can continue with the new .plist, but if you don't want to restore your previous Preferences you can:

    1. Quit Word
    2. Delete the new .plist
    3. Change the name of the original .plist back to what it was

    Regards,

    Bob J.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-06-29T13:25:52+00:00

    Try this Trick (don't know that this will help).

    Setup sidebar as you desire.

    then do something to document. (add an extra period)

    Then remove what you added.

    Now do Save As... and save with same name. (overwriting old file).

    Now that file should always open as you have set.

    To make sure go to Microsoft > Preference and click on Save tab and put check next Prompt to save changes to normal template. Then each time you make changes for the document being worked on but not subsequent documents. Choose no or cancel and if you want changes to stick click okay. The first time click okay. Afterwards no, unless you added something you want to keep.

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  4. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.6K Reputation points
    2012-06-29T17:28:01+00:00

    Unfortunately, displaying the Sidebar is not a document-specific setting nor does Normal.dotm have anything to do with whether the setting is retained.

    Regards,

    Bob J.

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