Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Finding and Changing Word's Internal Commands.

Finding and Changing Word's Internal Commands

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated November 6, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

When you are developing macros, you may want to replace one of the built-in commands used by Word with your own macro code. In order to do this, you must find out the name used by Word to refer to the built-in commands. You can do so by following these steps:

Display the Developer tab of the ribbon.
Click the Macros tool, in the Code group. Word displays the Macros dialog box.
Using the Macros In drop-down list, select Word Commands. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Macros dialog box.

Using the command list, locate and select the command you want to edit. Once selected, the name should appear not only in the list of commands, but also in the Macro Name box at the top of the dialog box.

Now, if you want to change the command, continue on with the rest of these steps:

Using the Macros In drop-down list (the same one you used in step 3), select where you want your edited command saved. The command name (the one you selected in step 4) should still appear in the Macro Name box at the top of the dialog box.
Click on Create. Word starts the VBA Editor and shows the program instructions that make up the built-in command.
Make your changes to the command.
Close the Editor window by clicking on the Close icon in the upper-right corner of the window.
Save your changes, if prompted.

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 (8027) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Finding and Changing Word's Internal Commands.

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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What is 9 + 7?

2021-11-07 06:07:12

Kiwerry

Interesting, thanks Allen
Unfortunately not available in the other Office components - or, at least, not accessible using the method.

2021-11-07 05:40:35

Doug B

I'm wondering if you change a built-in Word command, do you not run the risk of your work being overwritten during future Word updates?

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