Using Large Toolbar Buttons

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 3, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Let's face it—for those of us getting to the bifocal age, the toolbar buttons are sometimes a bit too small. In fact, it is sometimes downright impossible to tell exactly what that is on an icon! (Is that a chain link or a sausage beneath that ball?) This problem seems particularly acute when working with a monitor set to a high resolution.

Fortunately, you can make the toolbars appear a bit larger. Just follow these steps:

Choose the Customize option from the Tools menu. Word displays the Customize dialog box.
Click on the Options tab. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Options tab of the Customize dialog box.

Make sure the Large Icons option is selected.
Click on Close.

Notice how the toolbar buttons now seem huge—but you can at least see them! This change doesn't affect just Word, but any Microsoft Office program you have installed on your system.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (1881) applies to Microsoft Word 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. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Selecting a Group of Words

Want to select a chunk of text in a document? Perhaps the easiest way to do this involves using the mouse in conjunction ...

Discover More

Controlling the Printing of Highlighting

Using Word's built-in highlighter tool can be a great way to add markup to a document and attract a reader's eyes to ...

Discover More

Stepping through Sentences

Need to select an entire sentence at once? You can do so by creating a short macro that does the task for you, or you can ...

Discover More

The First and Last Word on Word! Bestselling For Dummies author Dan Gookin puts his usual fun and friendly candor back to work to show you how to navigate Word 2013. Spend more time working and less time trying to figure it all out! Check out Word 2013 For Dummies today!

More WordTips (menu)

Finding a Missing Toolbar

A few methods for finding an errant toolbar in Word.

Discover More

Forcing Custom Toolbars to Stay in Position

Word 2002 and Word 2003 use dynamic toolbars that can adjust themselves based on usage patterns of the tools. This can ...

Discover More

Quickly Removing a Toolbar Button

Need to remove a toolbar button, but don't want to go through the hassle of displaying the Configure dialog box? You can ...

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 one more than 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 menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.