Hide Task pane in microsoft office add-in by default when Excel workbook is opened and when add-in is initialized in Excel

Question

I am making a Excel task pane add-in using React and the Excel JavaScript API. The issue I am facing is the add-in task pane is visible by default when I open a new Excel worbook or when addin is initialized in excel. I have gone through multiple articles which says how to open task pane automatically but none describes how to disable the task pane opening on workbook.

So how can I disable automatic opening of task pane when we open a new workbook or when we install the addin.

Excel office 365
Windows 10 pro

Manifiest.xml :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<OfficeApp xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/appforoffice/1.1" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:bt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/officeappbasictypes/1.0" xmlns:ov="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/taskpaneappversionoverrides" xsi:type="TaskPaneApp">
  <Id>81d7e91a-c8e6-454f-806a-9b84cf3e7dd5</Id>
  <Version>1.0.0.0</Version>
  <ProviderName>Contoso</ProviderName>
  <DefaultLocale>en-US</DefaultLocale>
  <DisplayName DefaultValue="Add-in"/>
  <Description DefaultValue="A template to get started."/>
  <IconUrl DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/assets/login_32.png"/>
  <HighResolutionIconUrl DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/assets/login.png"/>
  <SupportUrl DefaultValue="https://www.contoso.com/help"/>
  <AppDomains>
    <AppDomain>https://www.contoso.com</AppDomain>
  </AppDomains>
  <Hosts>
    <Host Name="Workbook"/>
  </Hosts>
  <Requirements>
    <Sets DefaultMinVersion="1.1">
      <Set Name="SharedRuntime" MinVersion="1.1"/>
    </Sets>
  </Requirements>
  <DefaultSettings>
    <SourceLocation DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/taskpane.html"/>
  </DefaultSettings>
  <Permissions>ReadWriteDocument</Permissions>
  <VersionOverrides xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/taskpaneappversionoverrides" xsi:type="VersionOverridesV1_0">
    <Hosts>
      <Host xsi:type="Workbook">
        <Runtimes>
          <Runtime resid="Taskpane.Url" lifetime="long" />
        </Runtimes>
        <DesktopFormFactor>
          <GetStarted>
            <Title resid="GetStarted.Title"/>
            <Description resid="GetStarted.Description"/>
            <LearnMoreUrl resid="GetStarted.LearnMoreUrl"/>
          </GetStarted>
          <ExtensionPoint xsi:type="PrimaryCommandSurface">
            <CustomTab id="CustomTab">
              <Group id="AuthGroup">

                <Label resid="AuthGroupNameLabel" />
                <Icon>
                  <bt:Image size="16" resid="Group1LoginIcon16" />
                  <bt:Image size="32" resid="Group1LoginIcon32" />
                  <bt:Image size="80" resid="Group1LoginIcon80" />
                </Icon>

                <Control xsi:type="Button" id="Contoso.LoginControl">
                  <Label resid="LoginButtonLabel" />
                  <Supertip>
                    <Title resid="LoginButtonToolTipTitle" />
                    <Description resid="LoginButtonToolTipDescription" />
                  </Supertip>
                  <Icon>
                    <bt:Image size="16" resid="Group1LoginIcon16" />
                    <bt:Image size="32" resid="Group1LoginIcon32" />
                    <bt:Image size="80" resid="Group1LoginIcon80" />
                  </Icon>
                  <Action xsi:type="ShowTaskpane">
                    <TaskpaneId>LoginPanelId</TaskpaneId>
                    <SourceLocation resid="LoginTaskPaneUrl" />
                    <Title resid="LoginTaskPaneTitle" />
                  </Action>
                </Control>
              </Group>
              <Label resid="ribbonNameLabel" />
            </CustomTab>
          </ExtensionPoint>
        </DesktopFormFactor>
      </Host>
    </Hosts>
    <Resources>
      <bt:Images>
        <bt:Image id="Group1LoginIcon16" DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/assets/login_16.png"/>
        <bt:Image id="Group1LoginIcon32" DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/assets/login_32.png"/>
        <bt:Image id="Group1LoginIcon80" DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/assets/login.png"/>
      </bt:Images>
      <bt:Urls>
        <bt:Url id="GetStarted.LearnMoreUrl" DefaultValue="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=276812"/>
        <bt:Url id="Commands.Url" DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/commands.html"/>
        <bt:Url id="LoginTaskPaneUrl" DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/taskpane.html"/>
        <bt:Url id="Functions.Script.Url" DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/public/functions.js"/>
        <bt:Url id="Functions.Metadata.Url" DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/public/functions.json"/>
        <bt:Url id="Taskpane.Url" DefaultValue="https://localhost:3000/taskpane.html"/>
      </bt:Urls>
      <bt:ShortStrings>
        <bt:String id="GetStarted.Title" DefaultValue="Get started with your sample add-in!"/>
        <bt:String id="ribbonNameLabel" DefaultValue="Add-in"/>
        <bt:String id="AuthGroupNameLabel" DefaultValue="Auth"/>
        <bt:String id="LoginButtonLabel" DefaultValue="Login" />
        <bt:String id="LoginTaskPaneTitle" DefaultValue="Login" />
        <bt:String id="LoginButtonToolTipTitle" DefaultValue="Tooltip Title" />
      </bt:ShortStrings>
      <bt:LongStrings>
        <bt:String id="GetStarted.Description" DefaultValue="Welcome to Add-in"/>
        <bt:String id="LoginButtonToolTipDescription" DefaultValue="Tooltip Description" />
      </bt:LongStrings>
    </Resources>
  </VersionOverrides>
</OfficeApp>

Eugene Astafiev · Answer 1 · 2023-03-17T10:44:09.120

The following section in your manifest file is resposnible for opening the task pane with a document:

<Action xsi:type="ShowTaskpane">
   <TaskpaneId>LoginPanelId</TaskpaneId>
   <SourceLocation resid="LoginTaskPaneUrl" />
   <Title resid="LoginTaskPaneTitle" />
</Action>

Also in the code of your add-in you could mark your document to open a task pane for:

Office.context.document.settings.set("Office.AutoShowTaskpaneWithDocument", true);
Office.context.document.settings.saveAsync();

The Office.js settings.set method is used set Office.AutoShowTaskpaneWithDocument to true. Or as possible alternative you could use the Open XML SDK for that.

Read more about that in the Automatically open a task pane with a document article.

As you can see there are two sides where configuration should be set up - the manifest file and the document. You need to configure one of the sides to not show the task pane. It is up to you where to remove data. But there is no flag which can be configured dynamically (like a callback). You can post or vote for an existing feature request on Tech Community where they are considered when the Office dev team goes through the planning process.

Thanks Eugene for your response but how to disable automatic opening of task pane. Is there any flag which can disable it ?? since I want the task pane to open only when ribbon button is clicked — vibhor Gupta, Mar 17 '23 at 07:14
Thanks @Eugene I have fiqured out a work around I have posted my solution — vibhor Gupta, Mar 18 '23 at 08:44

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 18 '23 at 08:51

Replaced ShowTaskPane with ExecuteFunction action in manifest.xml

<Action xsi:type="ExecuteFunction">
   <FunctionName>btnopentaskpane</FunctionName>
</Action>

Added btnOpenTaskpane in commands.ts file :

async function btnOpenTaskpane(event) {
  console.log("Open task pane button pressed");
  Office.addin.showAsTaskpane()
  event.completed();
}
Office.actions.associate("btnOpenTaskpane", btnOpenTaskpane);

For better understanding we can refer github repo examples provided by microsoft

Hide Task pane in microsoft office add-in by default when Excel workbook is opened and when add-in is initialized in Excel

2 Answers2