Office 2007 added a ribbon bar to the interface, but did not allow customization of tabs on the ribbon bar. You couldn’t add, remove, or move buttons on tabs without using third-party tools.
Microsoft changed this for Office 2010, 2013 and 2016. You can now add commands to ribbon tabs by adding custom groups to existing tabs, as well as adding your own custom tabs with custom groups.
NOTE. You cannot change the default tabs and groups that are built into Word or any other Office 2010 program. Commands that cannot be changed are grayed out in the list of tabs and groups when you customize the ribbon. Customizing the Ribbon also depends on the Office program you are currently working with and does not apply to other Office programs. The ribbon must be customized in each Office program separately.
Customize the Office Ribbon
As an example, in this post, we will add an Amount button to the Layout tab in the Table Tools tab, as well as to our own custom tab and group.
To add the Amount button to the Layout tab of the Table Tools tab, click the File tab.
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In the list of options on the left, click Options.
The Word Options dialog box appears. Select the Customize Ribbon option from the list on the left.
From the Select Commands From drop-down list, select Commands Not On The Ribbon.
Scroll down until you find the Amount command and select it.
Select the tool tabs from the Customize Ribbon drop-down list. Tool tabs are tabs that appear only when needed. For example, the Table Tools (Design and Layout) tabs appear when the cursor is in a table.
Scroll down the list of tabs until you find the Layout tab under Table Tools and select it.
You can only add your own buttons to custom groups on tabs. To add a custom group, click New Group.
A new group (custom) is added in the Layout section. Make sure it is selected and click Rename.
In the Rename dialog box, enter a name for the new group in the Display Name edit box. When renaming a custom group, you can also select an icon that represents that group. To do this, browse the available icons and select one. Click OK.
Make sure Amount is selected in the list on the left, and the newly renamed custom group is selected in the list on the right. Click the Add button to add the Amount command to the new custom group.
You will see the Amount command listed in the new custom group under the Layout tab.
Click OK to accept your changes and close the Word Options dialog box.
To access the Layout tab, your cursor must be in a table. Create a small table if necessary and place the cursor in any cell in the table. Notice the Table Tools tabs that are now displayed. Click the Layout tab.
The Amount button is available in a new custom group that you added to the Layout tab.
You can also add buttons to your own ribbon tab. To do this, open the Word Options dialog box as described earlier in this publication and select the Customize Ribbon option. In the Customize Ribbon dropdown, leave Main Tabs selected. Click the “New Tab” button.
A new tab (custom) is added to the tab list, and a new group is automatically added under the new tab. Select “New Tab” (“Custom”) and click “Rename”.
In the Rename dialog box, enter a name in the Display Name box and click OK.
To rename a new group created in a new tab, select New Group (Custom) and click Rename.
In the Rename dialog box, enter a name for the custom group in the Display Name edit box. Again, optionally select an icon to represent the group. Click OK.
Make sure Sum is selected in the list on the left and the new custom group under the new tab is selected in the list on the right. Click Add to add the Amount command to a new group in a new tab.
The Sum command appears under the new group in a new tab.
Before we close the Word Options dialog box and look at our new button in a new tab, let’s export the changes we made to back them up. Click the Import / Export button at the bottom of the Word Options dialog box. Select Export All Settings from the drop-down menu.
In the Save File dialog box, navigate to the folder where you want to save the Word Preferences backup file. Enter a filename with a .exportedUI extension. Click Save.
Now close the Word Options dialog box by clicking OK.
Click the new tab available on the ribbon.
The new custom group appears on the tab that contains the Amount button.
If you want to remove the new tab, open the Customize Ribbon screen in the Word Options dialog box, as described earlier in this post. Select a new tab in the list on the right and click Delete.
You can also reset the currently selected ribbon tab to default settings, or reset all of your settings. To do this, click the “Reset” button and select the desired option from the drop-down menu.
A confirmation dialog will open to make sure you want to delete your settings. Click Yes to proceed with the reset.
If you selected Reset All Settings, all custom tabs and ribbon groups are removed. To restore custom ribbon tabs and groups, use the Import / Export button on the Customize Ribbon screen in the Word Options dialog box to import a previously exported saved .exportedUI file.
You can also customize ribbon tabs and tab groups by rearranging their order. To do this, open the Customize Ribbon screen in the Word Options dialog box, as described earlier in this publication. Select the tab you want to move and click the up arrow or down arrow button to the right of the list to move the tab.
To move groups on the tabs, select the group you want to move and click one of the arrow buttons to move it up or down.
As mentioned at the beginning of this post, you cannot remove inline tabs on the ribbon. However, you can hide the tabs if you don’t want them to appear on the ribbon. To hide a tab, select the checkbox to the left of the tab you want to hide so that there is NO checkbox in the box. You can always show it again later by checking the box so that the box is checked. Enjoy!
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