Ran into this the other day (And thanks to Darren M. for sharing his solution with me). Here’s the deal:
Problem
When running SharePoint workflows (for example, the built in SharePoint 2010 Collect Feedback, Approval, Collect Signatures workflows), the edit task” ribbon button does not appear in the Word, Excel or other Office application Ribbon Bar (Document Information Panel).
Figure 1 : this is what we SHOULD be seeing, in Word 2007. Instead nothing appears
Figure 2 : this is what we SHOULD be seeing, in Word 2010, instead nothing appears
Solution
You want to delete this Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftInternet ExplorerActiveX Compatibility{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
Reference
The clues to this solution were found in the following links if you want to read more:
I dont see the reg key mentioned above , what else can I look for
I’m using Word 2013, and I don’t see the workflow taskbar. Any suggestions.
go to the quick access toolbar and add the button ‘view workflow tasks’
open the doc click the button and then if you dont see the wf in the dialogue click refresh and then choose the wf and click open and the bar should be there.