Changing Toolbar Location

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 15, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

You can quickly and easily change the location of Word toolbars to achieve whatever appearance you desire on your screen. For instance, if you double-click your mouse on any portion of a toolbar that is not occupied by a tool, the toolbar is removed from its normal location and appears in its own dialog box.

Once in a dialog box format, you can easily drag a toolbar to any location on the screen desired. If you approach a side of the screen, the toolbar will "dock" to the side.

You should experiment with toolbar locations to determine which is best for the type of work you do.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1235) 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

Adding Line Numbers

Many types of documents, such as legal documents, require the use of line numbers to make it easier to identify specific ...

Discover More

Counting Jobs Completed On a Date

When you store the date and time in a single cell, it can be a bit confusing to count how many cells contain a particular ...

Discover More

Simulating Alt+Enter in a Formula

You can use the Alt+Enter keyboard shortcut while entering information in order to force your data onto multiple lines in ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Changes to Toolbars aren't Persistent

If you make changes to a toolbar in Word, you expect those changes to be available the next time you start the program. ...

Discover More

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

Customizing a Toolbar

Word is quite flexible in how you can configure the user interface. This tip explains how you can customize a toolbar so ...

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 seven more than 3?

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.