Displaying the Full Ribbon

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 7, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365

Kamal notes that half of the ribbon in Word is concealed. Every time he has to do something like change font, font size, underline, italicize, etc., Kamal has to click Home for the full ribbon to appear, do the task, and then the full ribbon gets concealed again. He wonders how to get the full ribbon to remain visible at all times.

This is a common occurrence in Word. The ribbon can either be fully displayed or it can be minimized when not in use. The condition that Kamal describes is for a ribbon that is minimized. You can switch the ribbon back to a normal, full display by using any of these techniques:

Double-click any ribbon tab.
Press Ctrl+F1.
Right-click any ribbon tab and clear the check mark beside the Minimize the Ribbon option. (Word 2007 and Word 2010.)
Right-click any ribbon tab and click on Collapse the Ribbon (Word 2013 or a later version.)
Click the small downward-pointing arrow at the right end of the ribbon. (This method is only available with Word 2010. You will have to use one of the other methods listed above to display the full ribbon with any other version of Word.)

As you can tell, there are many ways that Word provides to accomplish the same task. For most people, it is the first method (double clicking) that causes the problem in the first place. It is easy to double-click a ribbon tab without even realizing it, and then your ribbon is hidden without understanding why.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (8376) 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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What is two more than 7?

2020-02-02 17:53:22

Yuri Zaitsev

Hello!
By default, the Home tab on the feed is in the first place. When editing a table, the Designer tab may be enabled. Then you have to switch to the Home tab either with the mouse or by using Alt+left Arrow+OK. the Second option is especially bad: you need to go through 8 tabs until you get to the first one. This is not very convenient, because the feed blinks and changes on each tab.
How do I switch from any other tab to the Home tab using a macro that can be assigned a keyboard shortcut?
Good-bye!

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Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.