Resetting Toolbars to Their Default

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 4, 2025)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003


Excel is very flexible. You can customize your working environment to your heart's content. You can change menus, the toolbar, viewing and printing options, and many more variables. There may come a day, however, when you want to reset the Excel toolbars structure their default condition. When you do this, all the toolbar buttons and their order will be set to the same condition they were when you first installed Excel.

If you want to reset the Excel toolbars, perform these steps:

  1. Choose Customize from the Tools menu. Excel displays the Customize dialog box.
  2. Make sure the Toolbars tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Toolbars tab of the Customize dialog box.

  4. In the list of available toolbars, select the one you want to reset.
  5. Click on the Reset button. You are asked to confirm resetting of the toolbar.
  6. Click on OK to reset the toolbar.
  7. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for each toolbar you want to reset.
  8. Click on Close to dismiss the Customize dialog box.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2727) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Removing Items from a Context Menu

Context menus appear when you right-click an item in Excel. If you want to modify the menu that appears, the way to do so ...

Discover More

Returning Zero When a Referenced Cell is Blank

Reference a cell in a macro, and if that cell is blank Excel normally equates that to a zero value. What if you don't ...

Discover More

ExcelTips Ribbon 2021 Archive (Table of Contents)

ExcelTips is a weekly newsletter that provides tips on how to best use Microsoft's spreadsheet program. At the ...

Discover More

Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2019 For Dummies today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Random Resetting of the Standard Toolbar

Excel allows you to easily customize what appears on its various toolbars. If you make customizations to the Standard ...

Discover More

Quickly Removing a Toolbar Button

Want to get rid of a toolbar button? There's no need to drag open the menus and dialog boxes; just use the shortcut ...

Discover More

Where is Toolbar Customization Information Stored?

When you make a change to one of Excel's toolbars, do you know where that change is stored? This tip explains the name ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, 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.

What is six more than 9?

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 Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.