Resetting Toolbars to Their Default

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 20, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word is very flexible. You can customize your working environment to your heart's content. You can change menus, the toolbar, viewing and printing options, and many more variables. There may come a day, however, when you want to reset the Word toolbars to their default condition. When you do this, all the toolbar buttons and their order will be set to the same condition they were when you first installed Word. If you want to reset a toolbar, follow these steps:

Choose Customize from the Tools menu. You will see the Customize dialog box.
Make sure the Toolbars tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box.

In the list of available toolbars, select the one you want to reset.
Click on the Reset button. Word displays the Reset Toolbar dialog box.
Select the location or template for which you want the resetting to occur.
Click on OK to reset the toolbar.
Repeat steps 3 through 6 for each toolbar you want to reset.
Click on Close to dismiss the Customize dialog box.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1127) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Checking for an Entry in a Cell

You may be looking for a way to have a formula determine if a particular cell has anything in it. Here's how you can find ...

Discover More

Squaring Table Cells

Inserting a table is fast and easy in Word. You may want to make sure that the cells in the table are as square as ...

Discover More

Changing Width and Height to Inches

Want to set the width and height of a row and column by specifying a number of inches? It's not quite as straightforward ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Displaying the Outlining Toolbar by Default

The Outlining toolbar contains tools that are helpful to use, even if you aren't working on your document's outline. This ...

Discover More

Changing Toolbar Location

If you don't like where your toolbars are located, just move them around.

Discover More

Finding a Missing Toolbar

A few methods for finding an errant toolbar in Word.

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 0 + 7?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.