Adding Your Own Menu Items

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 3, 2021)

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 add a menu item that runs a macro you have designed. To add an item to a Word menu, follow these steps:

Select Customize from the Tools menu. Word displays the Customize dialog box.
Make sure the Commands tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

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

In the Categories list, select either the category of commands you want to add to the menu, or select Macros if you want to add a macro to a menu.
In the list of available commands for the category, select the one that you want to add to a menu.
Drag the selected command to the menu where you want it added. The menu appears as you move the selected command over the menu name.
As you reach the point where you want the item to be added, release the mouse button.

Note:

If you would like to know how to use the macros described on this page (or on any other page on the WordTips sites), I've prepared a special page that includes helpful information. Click here to open that special page in a new browser tab.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1051) 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...

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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.