I wrote:
I am noticing a problem now and then with documents created by someone
else in Word.  These come up with the CONTROL TOOLBOX open as a floating
toolbox with this document.  I can remove it from the VIEW, TOOLBOXES
area, and when I have it like I want it to be WITHOUT THIS EXTRA
TOOLBOX, I then Save the file.  However, when I reopen in, no matter
what I do, this CONTROL TOOLBOX is back again.  I want to get rid of it
permanently.  I suspect it has something to do with Macros or Active X
controls, but I can't find a resource or instructions anywhere on how to
deal with this and permanently eliminate this toolbox.  In one file, I
saved everthing to a simple text file, then rebuilt it from scratch to
get rid of it, but that seems like a huge undertaking when there
probably is some reliable and simple way to handle it.  I am very
computer literate, but this one has me stumped.  Any help would be most
sincerely appreciated.  Thanks in advance for your kind and prompt
attention.
Jay Freedman <jay.freedman@verizon.net> wrote back the following:

You're correct that it has to do with ActiveX controls and macros. MS
Office uses the same security control mechanism to deal with both of
them. From the symptoms, you have the macro security level (in Tools >
Macro > Security) set to high, that is, disable all unsigned macros.
That also disables ActiveX controls, which causes the document
containing them to open in design mode.

The most sensible way to handle this is to set the security level to
medium. When you open one of these documents, you'll get a warning
dialog with Disable, Enable, and Cancel buttons. If you trust the
sender, click the Enable button and the document will open without the
toolbox. If you click Disable, you'll get the toolbox; if you click
Cancel, the document won't open.

Setting the level to low is not recommended, as it allows any macros
or controls in the document to run without warning you. It's like
removing the batteries from your smoke detector because you get a few
false alarms.

Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP         FAQ: http://word.mvps.org

His answer was true, and it worked for me, but I had another question going
just a bit further, and I have yet to get an answer to that:

You are correct that this eliminated the toolbox coming up, but it is still
a huge file that is very slow to load.  If I don't want all the macros or
want to show them, remove some or all of them - basically modify the
program to eliminate the problem areas and make it smaller, more efficient,
and easier to load, how can I do that after getting into it to remove the
offending stuff?  I am not sure how to get in there to eliminate those
aspects of it - the mechanics of doing that.  THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR
TIME AND HELP.
ltd