Deleting Menu Items

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 7, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word is remarkable in both its flexibility and capabilities for customization. This includes allowing you to completely change the menus within Word, if you so desire. For instance, you may want to delete a menu item so it cannot be selected by other people using your computer. To delete an item from a Word menu, follow these steps:

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

Figure 1. The Customize dialog box.

Click on the menu from which you want to delete a menu item. (Not in the Customize dialog box, but actually within Word while the Customize dialog box is open.) This displays the menu.
Drag the item you want deleted off of the menu.
Click on Close in the Customize dialog box when done.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1050) 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

Misbehaving Rulers

When upgrading from Word 2000 to 2002, many people have a problem with the Ruler function. This tip explains how to fix ...

Discover More

Noting When a Workbook was Changed

Do you need to know when a workbook was last changed? There are a couple of ways you can go about keeping track of the ...

Discover More

Getting Help Offline

Word provides two different sources from which you can get help—either online or offline. By default, Word uses the ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! An easy-to-understand guide to the more advanced features available in the Microsoft 365 version of Word. Enhance the quality of your documents and boost productivity in any field with this in-depth resource. Complete your Word-related tasks more efficiently as you unlock lesser-known tools and learn to quickly access the features you need. Check out Microsoft 365 Word For Professionals For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Disappearing Macro Menus

Word is quite versatile in how you can customize it. You can add all sorts of macros to menus, but doing so may cause ...

Discover More

Custom Menu Stays, but Options Disappear

It can be disconcerting when a custom menu you've used for years suddenly loses all the options it previously contained. ...

Discover More

Floating Menus

Some of the secondary menus used in Word can be made into floating toolbars, if you know the trick. It's not that hard; ...

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 2 + 2?

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.