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: Turning Off ScreenTips.

Turning Off ScreenTips

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 25, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021

ScreenTips are the small yellow boxes that appear as you position the mouse pointer over a ribbon tool or over another control on the Word program window. Some people find these ScreenTips distracting, so Microsoft provided a way for you to control whether they are displayed or not.

To turn off ScreenTips, follow these steps:

Display the Word Options dialog box. (In Word 2007 click the Office button and then click Word Options. In Word 2010 or a later version, display the File tab of the ribbon and then click Options.)
At the left side of the dialog box click on Popular (Word 2007) or General (later versions of Word). (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The General options of the Word Options dialog box.

Using the ScreenTip Style drop-down list, choose Don't Show ScreenTips.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (12865) 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: Turning Off ScreenTips.

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

Linking Comments to Multiple Cells

In Excel, single comments are associated with single cells. If you want to have a comment be linked to multiple cells, ...

Discover More

No Ribbon on New Documents

The way that you work with commands in Word is primarily through the ribbon. What do you do if the ribbon disappears when ...

Discover More

Calculating an Average Time

When working with elapsed times, you may want to calculate an average of those times. This tip demonstrates just how easy ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Jumping to a Page within a Section

In long documents it is often helpful to jump directly to a particular page. Word provides several tools you can use to ...

Discover More

Calculating Average Word Length

Word keeps track of many statistics about your documents. The problem, it seems, is getting exactly the statistics you ...

Discover More

Switching between a Dialog Box and the Document

Word uses lots of dialog boxes as a way of setting configuration options and gathering information from users. When ...

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 2 + 3?

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.