Changing Above-the-Line Fonts

Neil asked if there was a way to change the MRU list of fonts that appears at the top of any font list in Word. Specifically, Neil wanted to have his "standard" fonts always appear in the font MRU list. Unfortunately, there is no way to do this. Word keeps track of the font MRU list in the Registry, and all you can do is turn it on or off. If you want to turn it off, completely, follow these steps:

1. Get out of Word completely (exit the program).
2. From the Start menu, choose Run. Windows displays the Run dialog box.
3. In the Open box, enter regedit and click OK. The Registry Editor is started.
4. Use the tree at the left side of the Registry Editor to locate and select the following key. (You will need to change the "11.0" to represent your version of Word.)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options

5. Choose Edit | New | String Value. The Registry Editor adds a new string value to the right pane, and the value's name is selected so you can change it.
6. Type NoFontMRUList and press Enter.
7. With the NoFontMRUList string value selected, choose Edit | Modify. The Registry Editor displays the Edit String dialog box.
8. In the Value Data box, type the number 1.
9. Click OK. The Edit String dialog box is closed and the string value is updated.
10. Exit the Registry Editor.

The next time you start Word, the font MRU no longer appears in the program. If you later want the font MRU to appear, use the Registry Editor to change the NoFontMRUList value to 0, or simply delete it from the Registry.

If you want to maintain the font MRU list and simply change what is displayed within it, there is no way to do so without setting fonts within your document. As the list name denotes, the names of the most recently used fonts are those listed in the font MRU list.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1510) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.