Finding a Lost Menu Bar

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 15, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


5

Dave reported a situation in which one of his Word users had somehow completely lost the menu bar. Theoretically, the menu bar should not be "losable," so when such an event does occur, it is a good sign that something is wrong.

There are a few things you can check. First, because the menu bar is treated pretty much like a toolbar, it is possible to undock it and move it anywhere desired on the screen. If you run Windows at a high resolution, undock the menu bar and move it to the far right of the screen, and then change to a lower resolution in Windows, it is possible that the menu bar won't be visible because it is now outside the area of the screen you can see.

If you suspect this is the case, trying changing back to the higher resolution—just temporarily—and moving the menu bar back where it belongs. When you later switch to the lower resolution, the menu bar should still be visible.

If this doesn't do it, try these steps:

  1. Choose Customize from the Tools menu. Word displays the Customize dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Toolbars tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box.

  4. Scroll down the list of available toolbars until you see the Menu Bar option.
  5. It should be impossible to uncheck the check box beside the Menu Bar option, but you can still select the option. Do so and click the Reset button. Word displays a dialog box asking if you want to reset changes to the menu bar. (See Figure 2.)
  6. Figure 2. The Reset Toolbar dialog box.

  7. Click Yes.

Hopefully, this will display your menu bar. If it doesn't, try starting Word from the command line with the /a switch. Depending on the problem that may be causing the missing menu bar, this could trigger Word to do some repairs to itself. You can also try exiting Word and deleting or renaming the Normal.dot file, which is the default location for saving many customizations in Word.

If the menu bar is still not visible, there is one other macro-based solution you can try. Run the following macro:

Sub FindBars()
    Dim cb As CommandBar
    For Each cb In Application.CommandBars
        If cb.Position = msoBarFloating And cb.Visible = True Then
            cb.Position = msoBarTop
        End If
    Next
End Sub

This macro steps through every one of the command bars (which means both menu bars and toolbars) and, if they are floating and visible, puts them back in their default position at the top of the Word window.

If you are wondering how you can run the macro when you cannot get to the VBA Editor by using menus you cannot see, remember that you can display the Macros dialog box by pressing Alt+F8, or you can jump directly to the VBA Editor by pressing Alt+F11.

If you continue to have problems with the menu bar, then more drastic action is necessary. There is an excellent article at the Word MVP site that indicates some of the steps (including the drastic ones) that you can take:

http://wordmvp.com/FAQs/AppErrors/MissingMenusEtc.htm

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (59) 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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Deleting a Macro

Macros are often created to accomplish a specific task, after which they are no longer needed. If you need to delete a ...

Discover More

Changing How Word Presents Your Document

Tired of the old black-on-white text displayed by Word? Depending on your program version, you can configure Word to show ...

Discover More

Grouping Records in a Mail Merge

Need to group records in some manner when they are used in a mail merge? It can be frustrating when your records are not ...

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)

Horizontally Viewing All Your Text

If you are viewing a document and your text runs off the right side of the document window, it can be a real bother to ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of Blue Squiggly Underlines

In an effort to make your writing better, Word uses "squiggly" underlines to mark things it thinks you may need to ...

Discover More

Delay in Dialog Box Appearing

If your copy of Word seems to be slowing down a lot lately, it could be time to do some remedial work on your system. ...

Discover More
Subscribe

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.

What is 9 - 8?

2017-07-14 07:30:05

Bryan Blackburn

probably went to view and clicked read more and then forgot to click view and edit to switch it back.


2015-03-23 19:12:11

Kay

I have lost the top menu bar on Word 2000 that lets me slect bold, underline, script, italic etc. I have it set on standard as I was instructed and still gone. Have no idea how this happened but need it back to use Word to compose. Thank you.


2015-03-02 00:49:47

Ad

I used Alt - F8 and got back the menu and toolbar but lost Word = just a grey area w/o typing ability. There was a "W" in toolbar. I clicked on "W" and got back a white page but without a toolbar.


2015-01-10 23:51:25

Kevin

Dear Allen, This was fantastic! I had completely lost my "page setup" on the File button dropdown. I did the check on the Menu Bar, clicked the Reset button, and VOILA! there it was, after two months disappeared. Thank you so much!


2014-11-19 11:19:57

Carole

Help - I click the start menu then the Work 2003 icon and nothing happens.

I have to open another word doc then get a blank page to use the software

I have even tried going into programmes but it still does nothing


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.

Videos
Subscribe

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

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.