Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Quickly Customizing the Keyboard.

Quickly Customizing the Keyboard

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated March 12, 2022)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

If you absolutely love to customize Word, then you will love this tip. You already know that it can be a pain to customize some features of Word. For instance, if you want to customize the keyboard so you can pull up different features already available from menus or toolbars. Try this, instead:

Press Ctrl+Alt and then press the plus key on the numeric keypad. Word changes the mouse pointer so it looks like a small cloverleaf.
Click on any tool on the ribbon or on a toolbar.

At this point Word displays the Customize Keyboard dialog box. You are probably already familiar with this dialog box. The difference is that the dialog box already contains the information relating to the tool on which you clicked. Thus, you can very easily modify the keyboard shortcut keys for that particular item. When you are done, click on Close to dismiss the 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 (13043) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Quickly Customizing the Keyboard.

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

Using Graphics to Represent Data Series

You can spice up your bar chart by using a graphic, of your choosing, to construct the bars. This tip shows how easy it ...

Discover More

Labeling X-Y Scatter Plots

Figuring out how to get the data points in an X-Y scatter plot labeled can be confusing; Excel certainly doesn't make it ...

Discover More

Automatically Setting Document Properties

Document properties are used to define metadata that is stored with a document. If you need to often set document ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Resetting Word

If you want to reset everything in your Word installation, it can be done by simply making a few deletions. This tip ...

Discover More

Making the Paste Options Button Option Persistent

It is nice when you change settings in Word and the program remembers your settings from session to session. In this tip ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of ScreenTips

All those little ScreenTips bug you when moving through the toolbars and ribbons of Word? You can turn them off by ...

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.