Resetting Ribbons to Their Default

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 29, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

Word is very flexible. You can customize your working environment in many different ways. One way you can make changes is to add or remove tools from the ribbons visible at the top of the screen. (You can do this in Word 2010 or a later version; you can't change ribbons in Word 2007.)

There may come a day when you want to reset the Word ribbons to their default condition. When you do this, all the ribbons and the order of tools on the ribbons will be set to the same condition they were when you first installed Word. If you want to reset a ribbon, follow these steps:

Display the File tab of the ribbon.
Click Options. Word displays the Word Options dialog box.
At the left of the dialog box click Customize Ribbon. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Customize Ribbon options of the Word Options dialog box.

If you want to reset only a single ribbon tab, select that tab at the right side of the dialog box.
Click the Reset button. Word presents you with two options.
If you want to reset only a single ribbon tab (step 4), then choose Reset Only Selected Ribbon Tab. If you want to reset all the customizations you made to all ribbon tabs, then choose Reset All Customizations.
Click OK to dismiss the Word Options dialog box.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9568) applies to Microsoft Word 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 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...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Inserting a Paragraph from within a Macro

Macros are often used to process documents, resulting in changes of one manner or another. If you need your macro to add ...

Discover More

Controlling the Plotting of Empty Cells

When creating a chart from information that contains empty cells, you can direct Excel how it should proceed. This tip ...

Discover More

Replacing Quoted Text with Italics

If you have text surrounded by quotes in a document, you may want to remove the quote marks and make the text that was ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Horizontally Viewing All Your Text

If you are viewing a document and your text runs off the right side of the document window, it can be a real bother to ...

Discover More

Confirming File Conversions

Open a file that isn't a Word document and Word will still try to convert it to a Word document. If you want Word to let ...

Discover More

Turning on Picture Placeholders

Displaying graphics in a document requires a great deal more computer processing than displaying simple text. A document ...

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 six minus 4?

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 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.