Invisible Macros

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated August 24, 2019)

Do you like to customize Word by adding macros to different menu and toolbar options? If so, you may have noticed that you can't always find your macros when you try to attach one to a menu in the Customize dialog box. The macro may be visible in the macros list when you press Alt+F8, but not in the Customize dialog box.

The most likely cause of this problem is that the macro is not saved in the Normal.dot template but in some other template. It would be visible in the regular macros list because all the "reachable" macros are listed there, by default. It would not be visible in the Customize dialog box because only the macros in Normal.Dot are visible there, by default.

To get around this problem, there are two possible solutions. First, the macro can be moved to the Normal.Dot template file using the Organizer feature of Word. (You get there by clicking on Organizer from the Macro dialog box.) The second solution is to make sure your menu customization is saved in the same template in which the desired macro is saved. You do that by following these steps:

Choose Customize from the Tools menu. This displays the Customize dialog box.
Click on the Commands tab. (See Figure 1.)

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

In the Categories list, choose Macros. The right side of the dialog box should list the macros available.
If the macro you desire is not visible, use the Save In drop-down list to select a different template file. You should select the one you know your desired macro is saved in.
Make your menu changes as desired.

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 (1911) 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

Finding Default Shortcut Keys

There are scores of shortcut keys defined in Word. If you want to discover what all those shortcut keys are, here are a ...

Discover More

Expanding a Custom Dictionary

Does Word tell you that your custom dictionary is full? It might not actually be full, but even if it is, you can add ...

Discover More

Pulling Access Information into Excel

If you have a lot of data stored in Access databases, you may want to get at that information using Excel. There are a ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Making Macros Run Faster

Designing a macro to make it run faster.

Discover More

Numbers to Text, Take Three (Over a Million)

So, you need to convert a number to text that is over one million? Here is a VBA macro that will convert up to 999,999,999.

Discover More

Printing Styles in a Macro

There may be times when you want your macro to print out a list of styles in the document. If so, then you can do it with ...

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 1 + 8?

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.