I suspect what you're seeing on the left is thumbnails (View | Thumbnails).
The New Document task pane appears when you select File | New..., but this
can be changed (see
http://sbarnhill.mvps.org/WordFAQs/C...ngWord2002.htm). Your main
problem is probably that you're still using adaptive menus and toolbars. Go
to Tools | Customize | Options and check the boxes for "Always show full
menus" and "Show Standard and Formatting toolbars on two rows."

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"faithdunne" wrote in message
...
I have repeatedly tried to stablize my toolbar. I can no longer get the
icon
for blank document. With every new document, about one-sixth of my screen
on
the left shows pages and page numbers as if I were asking for a print
set-up.
When I hit "new document" under "file," I then have a a section on the
right-side of my screen giving me several options including "new
document."
This is another step wasting my time. I am wondering if any of my
micro-soft
downloads changed my programme this way.