Changing the GoTo Default

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 2, 2025)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

Roger regularly uses GoTo (F5) to move to a bookmark. Since he's always jumping to bookmarks, he would like to make "Bookmark" the default selection in the dialog box. Instead, the top item in the list ("Page") is always the default. Roger wonders how he can change this default.

When you first press F5 to display the GoTo tab of the Find and Replace dialog box, Roger is right—the Page option is selected. However, in all the versions of Word that we tested, once you select Bookmark at the left side of the dialog box, then every other time you press F5 in the current Word session, your choice (Bookmark) is remembered and displayed as the default.

There is no way to change the default, in Word, for the first time you press F5. If changing the GoTo object is bothersome for the one time you need to do it during each Word session, then there is a round-about approach you can take. Instead of pressing F5, just press Shift+Ctrl+F5. This displays the Bookmark dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Bookmark dialog box.

At this point you can simply use the arrow keys to select a bookmark and then press Enter. The result is that you are taken to the bookmark location. This is actually a bit easier than using the GoTo tab of the Find and Replace dialog box to jump to a bookmark, as you don't need to mess with the drop-down list that is in that dialog box. (Normally, drop-down lists require the use of the mouse, and the Bookmark dialog box is more friendly to using the keyboard without the need to use the mouse.)

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11173) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021.

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

Generating a Table of Authorities

With the entries for your table of authorities marked throughout your document, you are ready to actually generate the ...

Discover More

Heading Changes for Multi-page Tables

When you have a long table that extends over multiple pages, Word allows you to specify one or more rows to be repeated ...

Discover More

Disabled Page Setup Tools

It can be frustrating if you expect to use some of Excel's tools normally available on the ribbon, but those tools are ...

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)

Setting a VBA Variable from a Bookmark

Bookmarks are quite helpful in a document. You may want to transfer the contents of a bookmark into a macro variable in ...

Discover More

Reusing a Bookmark

Bookmarks in Word are just like bookmarks used in paper books, any given bookmark may be reused to mark a new location. ...

Discover More

Deleting Unused Bookmarks

Bookmarks can be very helpful in a document. In very old documents, however, there may be a lot of bookmarks that are no ...

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 less than 6?

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.