Task Panes were new to Excel XP and show down the right side of the Excel window.  They are sensitive to the user's current input, for example when you first open Excel they will show the 'tasks' you would expect to need. Open new workbook, open a template, etc. The picture (left) shows the 'Getting Started' pane with all the different 'Task Panes' available showing in the drop-down, but these seldom need selecting as they are 'task specific'. XML is only available with Office 2003 Pro.