Have you ever wished that cutting and pasting text or graphics between programs was easier? Would you like a quicker way to apply styles to a slide or a template to your work? For example, you may have to collect and analyze sales data in Microsoft Excel, type the weekly report in Microsoft Word, and then prepare a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint® to summarize the Excel data and the Word report for the next staff meeting.

The task pane in Microsoft Office XP frees you from those repeated trips to the menu bar and having to scroll through lists of actions. The task pane gives you one location for the actions you use most when doing your work in Office. Now, opening a file, creating a new document, doing a search for a worksheet, or applying a style are only a mouse click away.

The task pane is located on the right side of your screen and is present when you first start an Office XP program.

In the upper part of the task pane you'll see a bar with back and forward arrows on the left and a down arrow on the right.

After switching to one task pane, you can switch back to the previous one by clicking the left arrow. To return to the current task pane, click the right arrow. These buttons behave like the Back and Forward buttons in Internet browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer. The down arrow lets you move directly to a specific task pane. Clicking the X closes the task pane.

As you move through the various task panes, the title of the task pane will change to reflect the task you are performing. For example, from the New... task pane (New File in Microsoft Access, New Workbook in Excel, New page or New Web site in Microsoft FrontPage®, New Presentation in PowerPoint, and New Document in Word), you go to the Search task pane. The title of the task pane is now Basic Search.

Getting to work with the task pane

When you first start an Office XP program, the task pane, which collects in one place the actions you need to begin working, begins in New File, New Workbook, New Web site or New Page, New Presentation, or New Document. In this task pane you can:

• Open a file.
• Create new work, use a template, or modify an existing file.
• Add a network place.
• Use Microsoft Help.

Finding your work with the Basic Search and Advanced Search task panes

With the Basic or Advanced Search task panes, you can look for your work (files, workbooks, Web pages, presentations, graphics, and so on) in locations ranging from your computer hard disk drive to your Network Places (which can be on local networks or the Internet).

You open the Basic Search task pane by clicking the down arrow, and then clicking Search. The Basic Search task pane is the first to open. The Advanced Search task pane is opened by clicking Advanced Search at the bottom of the Basic Search task pane. With the basic search you can search for file titles, words in documents, or properties. The advanced search lets you design more specific queries based on dates, names, file sizes, and more.

Regardless of which Office XP program you are working in, the search will give you all the possible matches. When you select a file to open, Office will start the program you need to work in that file.

Copying and pasting with the Clipboard task pane

In the Clipboard task pane, you can collect up to 24 items. The Clipboard task pane allows you to view a thumbnail of any item that can be cut or copied by an Office XP program (text, graphics, photographs, and more).

To view the Clipboard task pane, click the down arrow and click Clipboard. Copy or cut items as you normally would. Once the items are in the Clipboard task pane, you can preview them, select individual items to paste, paste all the items from the clipboard at once, or delete all the items from the Clipboard.

For more information about using the Office Clipboard, read View up to 24 Items on the Clipboard in Office XP.

Adding graphics with the Insert Clip Art task pane

The Insert Clip Art task pane in Excel, FrontPage, PowerPoint, and Word provides you with quick access to clip art through a search function that finds and displays clips for you by title, collection, or type (clip art, photographs, movies, or sounds). After the clips are displayed, you can work with them by moving your pointer over each thumbnail. A down arrow appears on the right of the clip, and then you can select the desired action from the menu.

Creating presentations with the Slide task panes

When working in PowerPoint, you can access the slide task panes by clicking the down arrow, and selecting the task pane you need. These task panes are:

• The Slide Layout task pane, in which you can control the arrangement of elements.
• The Slide Design task pane, in which you can apply a design template, a color scheme, or an animation scheme.
• The Custom Animation task pane, in which you can apply or modify animation effects (for example, entrance effects like "Fly in" or "Checkerboard") to fit your needs.
• The Slide Transition task pane, in which you can apply slide transitions (such as " Fade" or "Wipe") for your presentation and change transition settings, such as speed and timing.
• The Animation Scheme task pane, in which you can apply preset animation effects uniformly to one or more slides in a presentation, instead of applying each effect yourself in the Custom Animation pane.

Editing a document with task panes

The document task panes, available in Word, help you compose and share your work with others in the following ways:

• The Styles and Formatting task pane allows you to apply styles to text or to change or modify the style your text has.
• The Reveal Formatting task pane lets you view, modify, and analyze the styles and formatting of your text.
• The Mail Merge task pane provides you with six easy steps that walk you through the process of producing a bulk mailing, either for print or e-mail.
• The Translate task pane can do a machine translation of a word, phrase, or selection of text from one language to another (available for certain languages only).

Note  If you open a program and the task pane hasn't opened, on the View menu, click Task Pane. If you are working in Access, or in an Excel chart sheet, on the View menu, click Toolbars, and then click Task Pane.

If you don't want the task pane to show automatically when you start a program, clear the Show at startup check box at the bottom of the New File, New Workbook, New Page or Web site, New Presentation, or New Document task pane, depending on the program you are using.

More information

For more information about task panes, see Help for the Microsoft Office XP program you are using.