Mac Forum / Applications / Word / March 2006

Recently, whenever I open a document in Microsoft Word, whether an
existing or new document, a blank "window" appears on the lower half of
the document.  I wish I could post a picture of it, but I cannot so
I'll describe the window:
 Beneath the standard toolbar is the movable Word window.  At the top
of this window are the three buttons (red, yellow, green) and the
document title.  Below this is the ruler.  Below the ruler is the
document window, containing all text and images.  Below this is the
horizontal scroll bar.  The vertical scroll bar is on the right.  There
is a blank white square in the lower right corner of this frame, where
the horizontal and vertical scroll bars would meet.  This is normal and
what I want to appear.
 But now, there is also a blank pane or frame below the horizontal
scroll bar.  In the lower right corner of this is the diagonally
folded/dog-eared paper that one would use to resize the window.
However, this does not work.  The pane/frame cannot be resized, I
cannot make it disappear by default, and it takes up the lower third of
the screen for the window's width.

Moreover, I cannot type in it, I don't want it to appear, and I've no
idea what it is.  Sometimes, if I select the green button in the upper
left of the window, this blank parts disappears, but sometimes, I
cannot get rid of it.

What is this called and why is it appearing?  How do I make it
disappear?