up vote 3 down vote favorite
1
share [g+] share [fb]

How can I stop the Research Pane from appearing in Microsoft Office, for example when I am holding Alt and click somewhere in an email in Outlook? This is unintentional and typically happens when I am Alt-Tabbing between windows and causes a painful delay. Can this be switched off?

link|improve this question
33% accept rate
Which Microsoft Office do you use? 2007 or 2010 (or something else)? – Rolnik Mar 30 '11 at 21:27
1  
For those interested in the bounty, I'm referring specifically to 2007 if it makes a difference but I suspect it doesn't. – Daniel DiPaolo Apr 4 '11 at 20:33
feedback

3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

After fighting with this myself for years, I found out the answer.

From Word, press Alt-F11 to open the VB Editor.

Press Ctrl-G to open the Immediate Window.

Type this line and press Enter:

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

link|improve this answer
Fantastic! Thank you. Not even Microsoft support could tell me how to do it, but you did. Appreciated. – Andrew Doran Mar 27 at 15:21
feedback
up vote 6 down vote
+25

Unfortunately, the answer is "No, this can't be switched off".

People have been wondering this for quite a while now (here's some examples dating back to like 2007):

You'll probably have to rig up something kludgy to trap the keys using AutoHotkey or AutoIt or alike.

Couple things you can try to live with it:

  • Remove all entries from the Research Options and ensure it's not trying to access network-based research services (so at least it will open quickly).
  • Leave the pane open all the time (just shrink it down a bit, or undock it and hide it someplace out of the way).

Not the answer you want I'm sure, but it's the answer as far as I can find.

link|improve this answer
+1 for the research revealing shared misery at least, and also for the other good suggestions for reducing the headache – Daniel DiPaolo Apr 4 '11 at 20:36
Thanks, glad to know it's not just me. Appreciate your time in investigating this. – Andrew Doran Apr 5 '11 at 13:41
Daniel, @rzlines Oct '09 response was correct and works well when add/remove is run as Administrator. Some registry edits to complete the cleanup. – V Stuart Foote Apr 6 '11 at 2:46
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

Try this:

Add/Remove Programs ---> Microsoft Office ---> Add or Remove Features ---> expand Office Tools ---> disable Research Explorer Bar

source

link|improve this answer
1  
I tried that and unfortunately it hasn't worked - I still see the research pane appearing when I hold down Alt. – Andrew Doran Mar 9 '10 at 15:22
Andrew, you may want to check on that. It has to be for all Office 2007 users on the PC, but when run as Administrator the Add/Remove Programs --> Microsoft Office --> Add or Remove Features Installation Options --> Office Tools --> Research Explorer Bar set to "Not Available" and Continue. Followed by reboot is honored. Research bar is disabled. The per user HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Research Key can be cleared. Highlight <alt> should no longer result in Research bar launch. – V Stuart Foote Apr 6 '11 at 2:36
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.