Understanding the Organizer

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 6, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Word provides the ability to work with templates, which in turn allow you to associate styles, macros, and AutoText entries with a particular document. In versions of Word prior to Word 2007, templates can also be used to modify the appearance of toolbars, buttons, and menus.

As you can tell, templates are very powerful and they provide a great deal of flexibility to Word. Sometimes, however, it can be a real pain to get a good "overall" view of what you have available in a particular template or even in a document.

This is where the Organizer comes into play. Word provides the Organizer (a deceptively simple name) to provide a degree of control over what customization elements are included in a template or a document. While you don't use the Organizer to create any of these elements, you can use it to copy them from one template or document to another, or to delete them completely.

Exactly what you can do with the Organizer depends on the version of Word you are using. The Organizer can be used to manage styles, toolbars, AutoText, and macros.

There are several different ways you can start the Organizer:

Choose Style from the Format menu. This displays the Style dialog box, on which you should click the Organizer button.
Choose Macro from the Tools menu, and then Macros from the resulting submenu. This displays the Macros dialog box. Click on the Organizer button.
Choose Templates and Add-ins from the Tools menu. This displays the Templates and Add-ins dialog box, on which you should click the Organizer 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 (1350) 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

Referring to the Last Cell

It is not unusual to use worksheets to collect information over time. As you keep adding information to the worksheet, ...

Discover More

Documenting Changes in VBA Code

Your company may be regulated by requirements that it document any changes to the macros in an Excel worksheet. Your ...

Discover More

Table Rows Truncated in Printout

If you have problems getting the printout of a table to look correct, it can be frustrating. This tip provides a few ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Creating an Executive Summary

Word includes an "executive summary" tool that allows you to automatically summarize a document. This tool provides a ...

Discover More

Versions Not Saving Correctly

If you use Word's versioning tool, you may notice that you sometimes get errors with the versions in your documents. This ...

Discover More

Small Red Dots under Addresses

Does your document have all sorts of different colored underlines on it? Tracking down what most of them are can be easy, ...

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 six minus 4?

2019-08-16 13:05:20

Steve

Word is soooooooooooo Frustrating. Where is the tools menu?

2018-11-19 10:20:45

Alonzo Mosley

There is no "Format" menu in the new versions of Word.

One way to get to the Organizer is (if you have the "Developer" tab activated) is to go to Developer=>Templates, click on "Document Template" icon and look for an "Organizer" button in the lower left. I don't think you can get there through Home=>Styles.

2018-03-24 16:32:11

Lewis Eigen

I was under the impression that the Normal.dot template only stores the formatted AutoCorrect entries and the others are stored somewhere in the Office folder. So how does this move those unformatted AutoCorrects?

2015-07-17 12:15:22

dflak@newbreed.com

Where is the format menu in Word 2103?

2014-07-11 15:18:17

Jeff

Is there a shortcut to the organizer in Word 2013 that I can place in my quick access ribbon? I've already got "Manage Styles" up there, but I'd like a direct link to the organizer.

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.