In article ,
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

And note that what your dad is seeing sounds like the Document Map. There's
a toolbar button to turn it on and off, and it's also on the View Menu.

That was it - problem solved. Thank you both for your replies.

Switching to Normal view wouldn't get rid of it (since it is visible only in
Normal view).

Hmm, but it did... That was why I originally wanted to make Word open in
Normal view, because Normal view got rid of the Document Map, so I
figured that Normal view was what he had used from the beginning, then
unknowingly switched to some other mode.

I suspect what your dad meant by "normal" view was Page Layout
view. The tip Stefan gave you will help with that, but it would also help to
turn off the DM before switching to Page Layout view.

Indeed it was - turning off the Document Map and choosing Page Layout
view returned Word to a state he was 100% familiar with.

/Chris

snipped sig


"Stefan Blom" wrote in message
...
See http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/SaveViewAndZoom.htm.

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP


"Chris" wrote in message
...
Being "the guy who knows computers", my dad asked me to troubleshoot
his
Word 97 for him. I never use Word, so I've had trouble helping him.

Somehow, Word always opens files - new ones (CTRL-N) or old files
saved
on disk - in a mode (Layout mode I think) which displays a sidebar
containing headlines and such on the left side of the screen. It
never
"used to do this" - it just "suddenly started".

Choosing "Normal mode" from the "View" menu cures this temporarily,
but
when a new document is opened - the sidebar is there again. Any way
to
stay in normal mode *permanently*?

Searching the Web and Usenet, some of the solutions to similar
problems
involved creating macros or messing around with template files, but
there has to be a simpler way. (My dad could never misconfigure an
autostart macro to open documents in Layout mode...)

Isn't there some option, a checkbox or something, hidden somewhere,
saying "Default editing mode: Normal mode"?

Any help greatly appreciated!

/Chris