Getting Rid of ScreenTips

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated February 29, 2020)

ScreenTips are the small yellow boxes that appear as you position the mouse pointer over a toolbar button or over another control on the Word program window. Some people find these ScreenTips distracting, so Microsoft provided a way for you to control whether they are displayed or not. To turn off ScreenTips, follow these steps:

Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
Click General (Popular in Word 2007) at the left side of the dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The General options of the Word Options dialog box.

Using the ScreenTip style drop-down list, choose Don't' Show ScreenTips.
Click on OK.

Despite what the option in the dialog box implies in Word 2007, this setting turns off ScreenTips for controls other than toolbars, as well. For instance, ScreenTips normally appear as you position the mouse pointer over the different areas of the Status Bar. With the ScreenTip style set to not show ScreenTips, they don't appear for Status Bar options, either. If you are using later versions of Word, ScreenTips still appear for Status Bar options even with the ScreenTip style set to not show ScreenTips.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (6048) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365.

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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