Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Word 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Word, click here: Shortcut for Full Screen Reading View.

Shortcut for Full-Screen Mode

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated August 30, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word includes a full-screen mode that minimizes the extraneous information (tools, menus, etc.) displayed on the screen. The normal way of switching to full-screen mode is to choose View | Full Screen. You exit the mode by either clicking the Close Full Screen button or by pressing Esc.

If you'd like to use a keyboard shortcut to enter full-screen mode, one method is to press Alt+V, then U. (These are the keystrokes to activate the proper menu choices.) To create your own shortcut, follow these steps:

Choose Customize from the Tools menu. Word displays the Customize dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Customize dialog box.

Click the Keyboard button. Word displays the Customize Keyboard dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Customize Keyboard dialog box.

In the list of Categories, choose View.
In the list of Commands, choose ToggleFull.
Place the insertion point in the Press New Shortcut Key box.
Press the shortcut key you want to use, such as Alt+S.
Click Assign.
Close the dialog boxes.

One interesting thing is that when you assign they shortcut in this manner, the same key is used to switch to and from full-screen mode. This is possible because the command you assign to the shortcut is actually a toggle.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (102) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Word (Word 2007 and later) here: Shortcut for Full Screen Reading View.

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...

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What is two more than 7?

2016-11-20 17:31:25

Judy Newlin

I am trying to make my page larger..
Windows 2013. Have to say "what were you thinking" with some of the changes to this? I thought you could go back to Windows 10 if you have a problem...but do NOT know how to do that. Judy Newlin

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