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

Sorting Data Containing Merged Cells

When formatting the layout of your worksheet, Excel allows you to easily merge adjacent cells together. This can cause ...

Discover More

New Page Appears at Right of First Page

When you start typing in a new document and you get to the end of the first page, Word could place the next page at the ...

Discover More

Brackets around Footnote References

When you insert footnotes in a document, Word allows you to modify the formatting applied to the footnote references. ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2019. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2019 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Quickly Customizing the Keyboard

Want a quick way to change the shortcut key associated with a tool available on a ribbon, toolbar, or menu? Here's one ...

Discover More

Changing the Maximum Undo Levels

Want to change the number of "undo" steps available when editing? You can't, because Word doesn't' really have a maximum. ...

Discover More

Automatically Saving Changes to Defaults

Have you ever started a new document only to find that the settings in Word seem to be different than what you expected? ...

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 nine minus 1?

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.