16. Customize options and the user interface

After you become accustomed to using Word 2019, you might notice certain default behaviors that don’t fit the way you work. For example, you might always select a non-default paste option. The default Word functionality is based on the way that most people work with documents, or in some cases, because one option had to be selected as the default. You can modify the default behavior of many functions so that you can work more efficiently. You can also change aspects of the program to make it more suitable for the kinds of documents you create.

When working in Word, you interact with commands (in the form of buttons, lists, and galleries) on the various tabs of the ribbon. Many people use a few commands from each tab often, and don’t make frequent use of the other command. You can centralize and streamline your interactions with the ribbon by adding the commands (from ribbon tabs other than Home) that you use most often to the Quick Access Toolbar and by positioning the Quick Access Toolbar below the ribbon so it’s closer to the document content. You can also hide or display specific ribbon tabs and modify the content that appears on the ribbon.

This chapter guides you through procedures related to changing default Word options, customizing the Quick Access Toolbar and ribbon, and managing add-ins and security options.

The options discussed in this topic are available in the Word Options dialog box, which you open from the Backstage view. Each Office app has its own Options dialog box. Because so many options are available for each app and for Office, they are divided among pages (and in some cases, additional dialog boxes that you open from the pages). The pages are represented by page tabs in the left pane of the Word Options dialog box.

Shading indicates the active page tab

The left pane of the Word Options dialog box is divided into three sections:

• The first section contains the General, Display, Proofing, Save, Language, Ease of Access, and Advanced page tabs. These are the pages of options that standard Word users will most commonly make changes to when customizing the app functionality.

• The second section contains the Customize Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar page tabs. These are the pages on which you customize the presentation of commands in the user interface.

• The third section contains the Add-ins and Trust Center page tabs. These pages are access points for higher-level customizations that can affect the security of your computer, and are not often necessary to modify.

A brief description of the page content appears at the top of each page. Each page is further divided into sections of related options. The General page contains information that is shared among the Office apps. Other pages contain options that are specific to the app or to the file you’re working in.

The images in this topic depict the default selections for each option. Many options have only On/Off settings as indicated by a selected or cleared check box. Options with settings other than On or Off are described in the content that follows the image.

Options for all Office apps

The options in the first four sections of the General page are shared among the Office apps installed on the computer you’re working on, and include the following:

• When using multiple displays, you can choose whether to optimize for best appearance or for compatibility.

• You can turn off the Mini Toolbar, which hosts common formatting commands and appears by default when you select content.

• You can turn off the Live Preview feature if you find it distracting to have content formatting change when the pointer passes over a formatting command.

• You can minimize or turn off the display of ScreenTips when you point to buttons.

• You can specify the user name and initials you want to accompany your comments and tracked changes, and override the display of information from the account associated with your installation of Office.

• You can choose the background graphics (Office background) and color scheme (Office theme) for the Office app windows.

  Tip

  You can also set the Office background and theme on the Account page of the Backstage view. For information about Office backgrounds and themes, see “Manage Office and app settings” in Chapter 1, “Word 2019 basics.”

• If you have an Office 365 subscription, you can turn on Office intelligent services. Intelligent services help you to create the best possible content by interacting behind the scenes with online databases of content and ideas. The intelligent services available in Word include Editor, Smart Lookup, Translator, automatic alt text, and the fan favorite, dictation. (Other Office intelligent services include PowerPoint Designer, PowerPoint QuickStarter, and Excel Ideas.) Turning on Office intelligent services in any Office app turns them on for all Office apps.

• If you have a LinkedIn account, you can turn on LinkedIn features. In Word, this gives you access to the Résumé Assistant. (LinkedIn features also include profile cards in Outlook, SharePoint, and OneDrive for Business.)

General options for Word

The last two sections of options on the General page of the Word Options dialog box are specific to Word:

• The Start Up Options section contains options related to setting Word as the default document editor, and a couple of options that you might want to configure: to open documents in Reading view if you can’t edit them, and to turn off the Home page (also called the Start screen) that appears when you start Word without opening a specific file. When the Home page is turned off, starting the app without opening a specific file automatically creates a new, blank file.

• The Real-time Collaboration Options section allows you to turn on or off the display of names on presence flags within Word when you’re coauthoring a document.

  See Also

  For information about collaborative document development in Word 2019, see Chapter 11, “Collaborate on documents.”

To open the Word Options dialog box

1. Select the File tab to display the Backstage view.

2. In the left pane, select Options.

To display a specific page of the Word Options dialog box

1. Open the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the left pane, select the tab of the page that you want to display.

To close the Word Options dialog box

• To commit to any changes, select OK.

• To cancel any changes, select Cancel or select the Close button (X) in the upper-right corner of the dialog box.

To enable or disable the Mini Toolbar

1. Open the Word Options dialog box, and display the General page.

2. In the User Interface options section, select or clear the Show Mini Toolbar on selection check box.

To enable or disable the Live Preview feature

1. Display the General page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the User Interface options section, select or clear the Enable Live Preview check box.

To control the display of ScreenTips

1. Display the General page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the User Interface options section, display the ScreenTip style list, and then select any of the following:

   • Show feature descriptions in ScreenTips

   • Don’t show feature descriptions in ScreenTips

   • Don’t show ScreenTips

To change the user identification that appears in comments and tracked changes

1. Display the General page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Personalize your copy of Microsoft Office section, do the following:

   • In the User name and Initials boxes, enter the information you want to use.

   • Select or clear the Always use these values regardless of sign in to Office check box.

To enable Office intelligent services

• Select the Enable services check box.

To enable LinkedIn features

• Select the Enable LinkedIn features in my Office applications check box.

To enable or disable the Word Home page

1. Display the General page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Start up options section, select or clear the Show the Start screen when this application starts check box.

To configure real-time collaboration options

• Select the Show names on presence flags check box.

Options for displaying document content

Editorial options for working with document content

You might find that you want to modify the spelling and grammar correction options in the When Correcting Spelling And Grammar In Word section of the page. These options control whether Word automatically checks for spelling errors, grammar errors, and writing style issues. When automatic checking is turned on, Word displays red wavy lines under words it thinks are spelled wrong, blue double lines under words that don’t meet its grammar guidelines, and gold dotted lines under words or phrases that could be rephrased for clarity or conciseness. If you find those lines distracting, you can turn off the automatic checking, modify the grammar and style issues Word checks for, or turn off the display of the lines for the current document (or for all documents).

When reviewing spelling in a document, you have options to ignore one or all instances of suspected spelling errors. You choose to ignore all instances of a flagged spelling error in a document either from the shortcut menu or from the Spelling pane. Word remembers your selection and removes the squiggly underlines from all instances of that word. If you want Word to forget those settings and conduct a fresh spelling check, you can do that from this page.

The AutoCorrect settings affect the way Word processes specific text and character combinations that you enter, so it’s good to be familiar with them.

Reasons to modify the AutoCorrect settings include:

• If you find that Word is consistently changing text that you enter, in a way that you don’t want it to.

• If you consistently make a spelling mistake that you would like Word to correct for you.

• If you want to create a shortcut for entering longer text segments. (For example, if you want Word to enter Wide World Importers whenever you type WW.)

• If you want suggestions to improve your choice of words.

To stop Word from automatically correcting a specific type of text entry

1. Display the Proofing page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the AutoCorrect options section, select the AutoCorrect Options button.

3. In the AutoCorrect dialog box, display the AutoCorrect or Math AutoCorrect tab.

   

   Automatic text correction options

4. Locate each correction that you want to turn off, and clear the check box. Then select OK.

To stop Word from automatically applying formatting

1. Display the Proofing page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the AutoCorrect options section, select the AutoCorrect Options button.

3. In the AutoCorrect dialog box, display the AutoFormat or AutoFormat As You Type tab.

   

   Automatic formatting options

4. Locate each formatting option that you want to turn off, and clear the check box. Then select OK.

To automatically change a specific text entry to another

1. Display the Proofing page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the AutoCorrect options section, select the AutoCorrect Options button.

3. In the AutoCorrect dialog box, on the AutoCorrect tab, do the following, and then select OK:

   1. In the Replace box, enter the misspelling or abbreviated text. The list scrolls to display the closest entries.

   2. In the With box, enter the corrected spelling or full-length text you want Word to replace the original entry with.

Options that affect where and when Word saves and looks for documents and templates are available in the Save Documents and Offline Editing Options sections. These options can be rather important—not necessarily to change them, but to know where Word stores files so that you can browse to them if necessary.

Customize your save options

Three options that you might find useful include:

• AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on Word If you’re working on a file that you’ve opened from OneDrive or a SharePoint site, you can turn this option on so that Word automatically saves changes as you make them.

  Tip

  If you open a file in Word from SharePoint and don’t make any changes, the SharePoint site will still display your name as having made recent changes.

• Save AutoRecover Information If you’re making a lot of changes that you don’t want to lose, or feel that your system might run into trouble (for example, if you’re in a location that experiences frequent power outages and you don’t have battery backup), you can automatically save drafts more frequently than the default of every 10 minutes.

• Default Local File Location You can specify the folder that Word displays in the Save As dialog box when you select This PC in the Other Locations list. The default is your Documents folder, but if you routinely save in another location, you can save yourself a few steps by choosing that instead. (Or you can add the location to the Other Locations list.)

The location specified in the Offline Editing section is where Word stores local copies of online files it’s working with. It’s best to not change anything in this section.

Options for saving fonts with the current document are available in the Preserve Fidelity section. When you distribute a Word document electronically (as a .docx file), the fonts in the document render correctly on-screen only if they are installed on the computer that’s displaying the document. If you use fonts in your document other than those that come with Office, or if you have reason to believe that the fonts you use won’t be available on a computer or device that displays the document, you can embed the fonts in the document.

Embed nonstandard fonts in documents so they display correctly on other computers

Embedding fonts in a document increases the size of the file. You can minimize the increase by embedding only the characters that are used in the document. Letters, numbers, and symbols that aren’t in the document when you embed the fonts will not be available. Embedding all the characters of a font requires more storage space, especially if you use multiple fonts in the document, but makes the characters available on other systems so the document content can be gracefully edited.

To turn off the AutoSave feature when working with online files

• Clear the AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on Word check box.

• On the Quick Access Toolbar, toggle AutoSave to Off.

To change the automatic draft saving frequency

1. Display the Save page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Save documents section, set the saving frequency in the Save AutoRecover information every box.

To change the default local folder

1. Start File Explorer and browse to the folder you want to set as the default.

2. Do either of the following to copy the folder path to the Clipboard:

   • Select the folder icon at the left end of the Address box to display the folder path. Then press Ctrl+C.

   • Right-click the Address box, and then select Copy address as text.

3. Display the Save page of the Word Options dialog box.

4. In the Save documents section, select the content of the Default local file location box.

5. Do either of the following to paste the folder path into the box:

   • Press Ctrl+V.

   • Right-click the selection, and then select Paste.

To embed fonts in a document

1. Display the Save page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Preserve fidelity when sharing this document section, select the Embed fonts in the file check box.

3. If you don’t want to embed the entire character set of all fonts used in the document, select Embed only the characters used in the document (best for reducing file size) check box.

You can install additional language packs

You can configure two types of language options on the Language page:

• Editing languages, which control the keyboard and proofing settings

• Display languages, which control the language of user interface labels (such as ribbon tab names and button names) and built-in user assistance features (such as ScreenTips)

The keyboard languages are installed through Windows, but you can start the process from this page. If you’ve already installed a language on your computer through Windows, that language is automatically available to you in Office as a keyboard language. The Office proofing tools and display languages are specific to Office and aren’t provided by Windows.

To add an editing language to Office

1. Display the Language page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Choose Editing Languages section, in the Add additional editing languages list, select the language you want to add. Then select the Add button adjacent to the list.

To enable the keyboard layout for a language

1. In the Keyboard Layout column, select the Not enabled link to display the Region & Language page of the Time & Language settings.

   

   Languages that you install through Windows are available to you as keyboard languages

2. On the Region & Language page, select Add a language.

3. In the Choose a language to install pane, locate the language that you want to enable the keyboard for. Select the language, and then select Next.

4. In the Install language features pane, select the options you want, and then select Install.

To install the proofing tools for a language or to install a display language

1. In the Proofing column, select the Not installed link to display the Language Accessory Pack For Office page of the Office website.

2. On the Language Accessory Pack page, locate the language that you want to install the proofing tools for.

   

   The language accessory pack includes the proofing tools and display language, if available

3. Select the Download link specific to your operating system version.

4. In the prompt that appears, select Run to begin the installation of the selected language accessory pack. An Office message box informs you that you must close all Office apps and Internet Explorer to install the language pack.

To set a default editing language

1. Display the Language page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Choose Editing Languages section, in the Editing Language list, select the language you want to set as the default.

3. To the right of the pane, select Set as Default.

To remove an editing language

1. In the Editing Language list, select the language you want to remove.

2. To the right of the pane, select Remove.

To prioritize a display language or Help language

1. Display the Language page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Choose Display Language section, in the Display Language or Help Language list, select the language you want to prioritize.

3. Select the Move Up button adjacent to the pane.

App setting sections

• Editing options

• Cut, copy, and paste

• Pen

• Show document content

• Display

• Print

• Save

• General

Document setting sections

• Image Size and Quality

• Chart

• When printing this document

• Preserve fidelity when sharing this document

• Layout options for

• Compatibility options for

Manage the ways you can edit content

The options in the Editing Options and Cut, Copy, And Paste sections are self-explanatory, other than the Use Smart Cut And Paste option. This option is very useful when working with text in a Word document because it controls whether the app tries to merge content into adjacent lists when you cut it from one location and paste it in another.

Manage the ways Word pastes content

Most of the options in the Image Size And Quality and Chart sections are specific to the current document. These options can frequently be useful:

• Discard editing data When you insert images in a document and then edit them by using the tools on the Format tool tab for pictures, Word saves the editing data so you can undo your changes. You can decrease the file size of a document by discarding the editing data.

• Do not compress images in file When you’re finalizing a document for distribution, you have the option to compress the media within the file. This results in a smaller file size but also a lower quality. You also have the option to exclude images from the media compression.

The option in the Chart section controls whether custom data labels and formatting stay with data points in charts. It seems likely that this would always be the better option, but if you find that it presents a problem, you can turn it off here.

Manage the impact of images on file size

Options in the Display section are among those that you might want to configure for the way you work. You can change the number of documents that appear in the Recent file list in the right pane of the Open page of the Backstage view.

Configure the display of information in the Backstage view and in the app window

You can also display your most recently edited documents directly in the left pane of the Backstage view, below the Options button, for easy access. This can be very convenient, but the option is not turned on by default.

Quickly access recent documents from the left pane of the Backstage view

You configure the display of ScreenTips and whether they include feature descriptions on the General page of the Word Options dialog box. However, the option to display keyboard shortcuts within ScreenTips is here in the Display section of the Advanced page. If you like to work from the keyboard and don’t have the full list of keyboard shortcuts memorized, you can learn them by including them in ScreenTips.

There are two sections of printing options: the first are general printing options, and the second are specific to the document you’re working in. You can configure the same options for printing the current document on the Print page of the Backstage view. The advantage to configuring the document-specific options here is that they travel with the document.

Save specific print options with the current document

The options in the Save section of the Advanced page are important to consider. The first option, which is not selected by default, prevents Word from overwriting the Normal template without your permission. The option to allow background saves, which is on by default, is important for the saving of recovery versions.

Advanced options related to saving documents

The General section of the Advanced page includes options that don’t fit elsewhere. One item of note here is the Mailing Address box. If you enter your name and address in this box, Word automatically fills it in for you when you create envelopes and mailing labels.

Provide your address to Word for use in mail merge documents

The options in the Layout Options section of the Advanced page are document-specific and reasonably specialized. Few Word users will need to modify these settings. New additions to this section allow you to control the hyphenation of words that would break between pages or columns.

Layout options modify the positioning of content

A new document-specific Compatibility Options section at the bottom of the Advanced page allows you to configure more than 50 options for compatibility with different word-processing software or language standards.

Layout options modify the positioning of content

You can add commands to the Quick Access Toolbar directly from the ribbon, or from the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box.

The Quick Access Toolbar is a convenient command organization option

You can customize the Quick Access Toolbar in the following ways:

• You can define a custom Quick Access Toolbar for all documents (referred to in the Word Options dialog box as documents), or you can define a custom Quick Access Toolbar for a specific document.

• You can add any command from any group of any tab, including tool tabs, to the toolbar.

• You can display a separator between different types of buttons.

• You can move commands around on the toolbar until they are in the order you want.

• You can reset everything back to the default Quick Access Toolbar configuration.

After you add commands to the Quick Access Toolbar, you can reorganize them and divide them into groups to simplify the process of locating the command you want.

As you add commands to the Quick Access Toolbar, it expands to accommodate them. If you add a lot of commands, it might become difficult to view the text in the title bar, or all the commands on the Quick Access Toolbar might not be visible, defeating the purpose of adding them. To resolve this problem and also position the Quick Access Toolbar closer to the file content, you can move the Quick Access Toolbar below the ribbon.

To add a command to the Quick Access Toolbar from the ribbon

• Right-click a command on the ribbon, and then select Add to Quick Access Toolbar. You can add any type of command this way; you can even add a drop-down list of options or gallery of thumbnails.

  

  Add any button to the Quick Access Toolbar directly from the ribbon

• At the right end of the Quick Access Toolbar, select the Customize Quick Access Toolbar button. On the menu of commonly used commands, select a command you want to add.

  

  Commonly used commands are available from the menu

To display the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box

• At the right end of the Quick Access Toolbar, select the Customize Quick Access Toolbar button, and then select More Commands.

• Select the File tab and then, in the left pane of the Backstage view, select Options. In the left pane of the Word Options dialog box, select Quick Access Toolbar.

• Right-click any ribbon tab or empty area of the ribbon, and then select Customize Quick Access Toolbar.

To add a command to the Quick Access Toolbar from the Word Options dialog box

1. Display the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Choose commands from list, select the tab the command appears on, or select Popular Commands, Commands Not in the Ribbon, All Commands, or Macros.

3. In the left list, locate and select the command you want to add to the Quick Access Toolbar. Then select Add.

To move the Quick Access Toolbar

• At the right end of the Quick Access Toolbar, select the Customize Quick Access Toolbar button, and then select Show Below the Ribbon or Show Above the Ribbon.

• Display the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box. In the area below the Choose commands from list, select or clear the Show Quick Access Toolbar below the Ribbon check box.

• Right-click any tab or empty space on the ribbon, and then select Show Quick Access Toolbar Below the Ribbon or Show Quick Access Toolbar Above the Ribbon.

To define a custom Quick Access Toolbar for a specific document

1. Display the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Customize Quick Access Toolbar list (above the right pane) select For file name.

3. Add the commands to the toolbar that you want to make available to anyone who edits the file, and then select OK. The app displays the file-specific Quick Access Toolbar to the right of the user’s own Quick Access Toolbar.

   Tip

   If a command is on a user’s Quick Access Toolbar and on a file-specific Quick Access Toolbar, it will be shown in both toolbars.

To display a separator on the Quick Access Toolbar

1. Display the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the right pane, select the command after which you want to insert the separator.

3. Do either of the following:

   • In the left pane, double-click <Separator>.

   • Select <Separator> in the left pane, and then select the Add button.

To move buttons on the Quick Access Toolbar

1. Display the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the right pane, select the button you want to move. Then select the Move Up or Move Down arrow until it reaches the position you want.

To reset the Quick Access Toolbar to its default configuration

1. Display the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the lower-right corner, select Reset, and then select either of the following:

   • Reset only Quick Access Toolbar

   • Reset all customizations

3. In the Microsoft Office message box verifying the change, select Yes.

If you don’t want to entirely hide the ribbon, you can modify its content. From the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box, you can control the tabs that appear on the ribbon, and the groups that appear on the tabs.

You can hide and display individual ribbon tabs

On this page, you can customize the ribbon in the following ways:

• You can hide an entire tab.

• You can remove a group of commands from a tab. (The group is not removed from the app, only from the tab.)

• You can move or copy a group of commands to another tab.

• You can create a custom group on any tab and then add commands to it. (You cannot add commands to a predefined group.)

• You can create a custom tab. For example, you might want to do this if you use only a few commands from each tab and you find it inefficient to flip between them.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the ribbon to come up with the configuration that best suits the way you work. If at any point you find that your new ribbon is harder to work with rather than easier, you can easily reset everything back to the default configuration.

To display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box

• Display the Word Options dialog box. In the left pane, select Customize Ribbon.

• Right-click any ribbon tab or empty area of the ribbon, and then select Customize the Ribbon.

To show or hide a tab

1. Display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Customize the Ribbon list, select the tab set you want to manage:

   • All Tabs

   • Tool Tabs

   • Main Tabs

3. In the right pane, select or clear the check box of any tab other than the File tab. (You can’t hide the File tab.)

To remove a group of commands from a tab

1. Display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Customize the Ribbon list, select the tab set you want to manage.

3. In the Customize the Ribbon pane, select the Expand button (+) to the left of the tab you want to modify.

4. Select the group you want to remove, and then in the center pane, select the Remove button.

To create a custom tab

1. Display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. On the Customize Ribbon page, select New Tab to insert a new custom tab below the active tab in the Customize The Ribbon pane. The new tab includes an empty custom group.

   

   Creating a new tab and group

To rename a custom tab

1. Display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Customize the Ribbon pane, select the custom tab. Then select Rename.

3. In the Rename dialog box, replace the existing tab name with the tab name you want, and then select OK.

To rename a custom group

1. Select the custom group, and then select Rename to open the Rename dialog box in which you can specify an icon and display name for the group.

   

   Assign an icon to appear when the group is narrow

2. In the Rename dialog box, do the following, and then select OK:

   • In the Display name box, replace the current name with the group name that you want to display.

   • In the Symbol pane, select an icon that you want to display when the ribbon is too narrow to display the group’s commands.

To create a custom group

1. Display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. On the Customize Ribbon page, in the right pane, select the tab you want to add the group to. Then select the New Group button to add an empty custom group.

To add commands to a custom group

1. Display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Customize the Ribbon list, expand the tab set you want to manage, and then select the group you want to add the commands to.

3. In the Choose commands from list, select the tab the command appears on, or select Popular Commands, Commands Not in the Ribbon, All Commands, or Macros.

4. In the left list, locate and select the command you want to add to the group. Then select the Add button.

To reset the ribbon to its default configuration

1. Display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the lower-right corner, select Reset, and then select either of the following:

   • Reset only selected Ribbon Tab

   • Reset all customizations

There are several sources of add-ins:

• You can purchase add-ins from third-party vendors; for example, you can purchase an add-in that allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to Word commands that don’t already have them.

• You can download free add-ins from the Microsoft website or other websites.

• Third-party applications such as Adobe Acrobat and Intuit Quickbooks might install add-ins so you can interact with them from within Microsoft Office 2019 programs.

You can locate information about the add-ins on your computer and manage the add-ins from the Add-ins page of the Word Options dialog box.

The Add-ins page displays installed add-ins of all types

Each type of add-in has its own management interface. You can add and remove add-ins, turn off installed add-ins, and enable add-ins that have been disabled.

Display and manage active and disabled add-ins

Many add-ins install themselves, but to use some add-ins, you must first install them on your computer and then load them into your computer’s memory.

To display management options for a type of add-in

1. Display the Add-Ins page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the Manage list at the bottom of the page, select the type of add-in you want to manage. Then select the adjacent Go button.

To install an add-in

1. Display the dialog box for the type of add-in you want to manage.

2. In the dialog box, select Add or Add New.

3. In the Add Add-In dialog box, navigate to the folder where the add-in you want to install is stored, and double-click its name.

4. In the list of available add-ins in the Add-In dialog box, select the check box of the new add-in, and then select OK or Load to make the add-in available for use in Word.

You can configure security and privacy settings in the Trust Center

If you don’t take care when modifying the Trust Center settings, you could expose Word, your computer, and your network to malicious software. Depending on the type of files you work with and the breadth of your work network, you might find it appropriate to modify some of these settings in Word. Review the available settings so you can evaluate whether any of them would be appropriate to change in your specific situation.

The Trust Center has 11 pages of options that you can configure. When you first open the Trust Center from the Backstage view, the Macro Settings page is active. As in the Word Options dialog box, you select a page tab name in the left pane to display that page in the right pane.

It is safest to run macros only from trusted sources

Most pages display options that are very specific to the page name. When you’re working in Word, some circumstances will send you directly to this dialog box—for example, if you open a document that contains macros, and then select the info bar to enable them, Word takes you to this page.

Many of the Trust Center options are beyond the scope of any needs that you’d usually have when creating documents. Some options that might be of interest are those that make it easier to work in documents that you trust, but that Word might not know are safe.

When you open a document from an online location (such as a cloud storage location or email message) or from a location that has been deemed unsafe, Word opens the file in Protected View, with most editing functions disabled. This prevents any malicious code embedded in the file from gaining access to your computer. If you’re uncertain about the origin of a file that you’re opening, you can choose to open the file in Protected View.

In Protected View, the title bar displays Read-Only in brackets to the right of the file name, and a yellow banner at the top of the content pane provides information about why the file has been opened in Protected View. If you know that the document is from a safe location or sender, and you want to edit the file content, you can choose to enable editing.

If you frequently need to edit documents that open in Protected View, you can modify options on three pages of the Trust Center to affect this:

• If you want to open a document from a specific storage location without going into Protected View, you can add that folder (and its subfolders, if you want) to your Trusted Locations list.

  

  Trust the contents of specific storage folders

  If you want to trust folders on other computers on your network, you must first specifically choose that option. Otherwise, when you try to add a network folder as a trusted location, the Trust Center displays a message that it is not permitted by your current security settings. Before selecting the option to allow network locations, consider who or what has access to the network locations you intend to allow, and whether the locations are secure or could host malicious content.

• If you want to be able to edit all files of a specific type (based on the file extension) you can modify the File Block settings.

  

  Block specific file types or permit editing in Protected View

• You can exclude an entire class of files (files originating from the internet, stored in unsafe locations, or received as email attachments) from Protected View.

  

  Turn off Protected View for a class of files

Before doing any of these things, you should carefully consider whether the “rule” you’re making will always yield the results you want.

If you frequently work with a specific Word document that contains active content, and you feel that the security prompts are unnecessarily slowing you down, you can choose to trust the document. When you do so, it is added to the Trusted Documents list. You can manage the Trusted Documents list from the Trusted Documents page of the Trust Center. You can stipulate whether to trust documents that aren’t stored locally, turn off the Trusted Documents function completely (to stop trusting all documents), or clear the Trusted Documents list to start over.

If you experience trouble with a trusted document, you can reset the list here

If you track changes and insert comments in documents, you might run into this surprising behavior—Word changing your user information to “Author” when you save the document. To correct that problem, clear the Remove Personal Information From File Properties On Save check box in the Document-specific Settings section of the Privacy Options page.

Privacy options are important to manage if you use the collaboration features

From the Research & Reference section of this page, you can configure translation options and manage the reference books and research sites available in Word.

Add reference services to your available resources

Some, but not all, of the Trust Center pages include buttons that you can select to reset that set of options to the defaults, so take care when making changes; if you’re uncertain whether you should invoke a change, select Cancel to close the Trust Center without committing to the changes.

As with options in the Word Options dialog box, you should take the time to familiarize yourself with the Trust Center settings so you know what changes are possible to make, in the event that it is appropriate to do so in your computing environment.

To open the Trust Center

1. Open the Word Options dialog box.

2. In the left pane, select the Trust Center page tab.

3. On the Trust Center page, select the Trust Center Settings button.

To stop Word from attributing your comments to Author when you save files

1. Open the Trust Center and display the Privacy Options page.

2. In the Document-specific settings section of the Privacy Options page, clear the Remove personal information from file properties on save check box.

The introduction includes a complete list of practice files and download instructions.

1. Open the Word Options dialog box.

2. Explore each page of the dialog box.

3. On the General, Display, Proofing, Save, Language, and Advanced pages, do the following:

   • Notice the sections and the options in each section.

   • Note the options that apply only to the current file.

   • Modify the options on each page as necessary to fit the way you work.

4. Close the Word Options dialog box.

1. Move the Quick Access Toolbar below the ribbon. Consider the merits of this location versus the original location.

2. From the Customize Quick Access Toolbar menu, add the Print Preview and Print command to the Quick Access Toolbar.

3. From the Design tab of the ribbon, add the following commands to the Quick Access Toolbar:

   • From the Document Formatting group, add the Paragraph Spacing command.

   • From the Page Background group, add the Watermark command.

4. Notice that each of the commands is represented on the Quick Access Toolbar exactly as it is on the ribbon. Selecting the Paragraph Spacing arrow displays a list, and selecting Watermark displays a gallery.

5. From the Show group on the View tab, add the Ruler command and the Gridlines command to the Quick Access Toolbar. Notice that the commands are represented on the Quick Access Toolbar as check boxes.

6. Point to the commands you added to the Quick Access Toolbar and then to the same commands on the View tab. Notice that ScreenTips for commands on the Quick Access Toolbar are identical to those for commands on the ribbon.

7. Display the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box, and then do the following:

   • In the left pane, display the commands that appear on the Layout tab.

   • Add the Grid Settings button from the Layout tab to the Quick Access Toolbar.

   • In the right pane, move the Paragraph Spacing button to the bottom of the list so that it will be the rightmost button on the Quick Access Toolbar (immediately to the left of the Customize Quick Access Toolbar button).

   • Insert a separator between the original commands and the commands you added in this task set.

   • Insert two separators between the Watermark and Ruler commands.

8. Close the Word Options dialog box and observe your customized Quick Access Toolbar. Note the way that a single separator sets off commands, and the way that a double separator sets off commands.

9. Redisplay the Quick Access Toolbar page of the Word Options dialog box.

10. Reset the Quick Access Toolbar to its default configuration, and then close the dialog box. Notice that resetting the Quick Access Toolbar does not change its location.

11. Close the document without saving it.

1. Display the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

2. Remove the Mailings tab from the ribbon, and add the Developer tab (if it isn’t already shown).

3. Create a custom tab and name it MyShapes.

4. Move the MyShapes tab to the top of the right pane so that it will be the leftmost optional ribbon tab (immediately to the right of the File tab).

5. Change the name of the custom group on the MyShapes tab to Curved Shapes, and select a curved or circular icon to represent the group.

6. Create three more custom groups on the MyShapes tab; name them Angular Shapes, Connectors, and Quick Erase; and add appropriate icons to represent the groups.

7. In the Choose commands from list, select Commands Not in the Ribbon. From the list, add the Arc and Oval commands to the Curved Shapes group, the Isosceles Triangle and Rectangle commands to the Angular Shapes group, the Elbow Arrow Connector and Elbow Connector commands to the Connectors group, and the Clear and Clear Formats commands to the Quick Erase group.

8. Close the Word Options dialog box and display your custom tab. Select the Arc command, and then drag on the page to draw an arc.

9. Change the width of the app window to collapse at least one custom group, and verify that the group button displays the icon you selected.

10. Restore the app window to its original width and redisplay the Customize Ribbon page of the Word Options dialog box.

11. Reset the ribbon to its default configuration, and then close the dialog box.

12. Close the document without saving it.

1. Open the Word Options dialog box.

2. Display the Add-ins page, and then do the following:

   • Review the add-ins installed on your computer.

   • Notice the types of add-ins that are active, and display the dialog box for that type of add-in.

   • Notice add-ins that are turned on or off, and modify the setting if you want to.

   • Close the dialog box.

3. Display the Trust Center page, and then do the following:

   • Open the Trust Center.

   • Review the settings therein, but don’t make any changes.

   • Close the Trust Center.

4. Close the Word Options dialog box.