Share via

Word formatting toolbar has disappeared.

Anonymous
2011-07-08T11:52:30+00:00

I am using Word 2004 for Mac.  My formatting toolbar has disappeared.  I have gone through 'view' > 'toolbars'  and ticked 'formatting', but cannot see the toolbar.  Any suggestions?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Anonymous
    2015-03-01T20:54:03+00:00

    I know this thread is ancient, but wanted to mention something that happened today.  Word 2011 formatting toolbar was detached from the Word main window.  That is, I could move the Word window but the formatting toolbar stayed put on the screen.  For whatever reason, holding down Shift while launching the app, then doing View/Toolbars/Formatting put the toolbar back where it belongs.

    Thanks, Bob.  This was making me crazy.

    Best,

    Tony Lima

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.3K Reputation points
    2011-07-11T10:23:05+00:00

    Well, let's just clarify one thing... Word's default is to not display the Formatting toolbar, so it stands to reason that it now doesn't show up when you launch normally (no Shift key). What you didn't explicitly indicate is: If you now launch normally, turn the toolbar on then Quit Word does the bar still not display at next normal launch?

    Even though the toolbars are stored in Normal.dotm, whether one is displayed is stored as a Preference. According to your reply to the suggestion to delete the current Preference file you weren't able to do so - Is that correct? It's now looking like that's where the problem is.

    Make sure Word isn't running. As Bernard suggested, go to your User:Library:Preferences folder to locate the file named: com.microsoft.Word.plist

    Delete that file & empty the Trash. Then launch Word & display the Formatting Toolbar. When you Quit then launch normally again you should find that the toolbar is still showing up.

    Regards,

    Bob J.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.3K Reputation points
    2011-07-09T13:53:22+00:00

    Then let's backtrack - things are trending a little towards the "shotgun" approach :-)

    Word's toolbars are stored in the Normal template & the built-in toolbars cannot be deleted. That means that something has been bypassed or overlooked, and I've not seen any confirmation of your current update level of Office. Some of what I'm suggesting is repetitive of what you've already done, but it isn't just a matter of what you do but the order in which you do it. So...

    1. As Bernard suggested you first need to confirm that Office 2004 is fully updated. If the software isn't current any other troubleshooting may well be worthless. Go to Word> About Word to see what your current update level is. If anything less than 11.6.4 go here to retrieve & apply the 11.6.4 update [You may have to apply earlier updates depending on what the current level is. Follow the links in the System Requirements as necessary.]:

    http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26350 2. Repair Disk Permissions using Apple's Disk Utility or comparable program regardless of whether the update had already been installed. 3. Restart your Mac - but don't launch Word. 4. Locate & delete any instances of the Normal template that may be on any connected volumes, including backup versions, except for the one in your Microsoft User Data folder. 5. Empty the Trash 6. Launch Word to see if the Formatting toolbar is restored. If not... 7. Quit Word 8. Hold the Shift key while you launch the program to see if the toolbar shows up.

    Reply with your results - pro or con. Even if unsuccessful it will put you on track for taking the next logical steps.

    Regards,

    Bob J.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments

21 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 435.3K Reputation points
    2011-07-09T11:58:23+00:00

    Two suggestions I've not seen mentioned in the thread...

    First;

    1. Go into Tools> Customize> Customize Toolbars/Menus, Toolbars page
    2. Click on the name of the Formatting toolbar to select it
    3. Click the Reset button

    If that doesn't restore it;

    1. Clear the checks for all toolbars except Formatting
    2. Go into Apple Menu> System Preferences> Display
    3. Set the resolution to something considerably lower that usual
    4. Switch back to Word to see if the Formatting toolbar displays. If not, look closely at the bottom edge of the main Menu Bar to see if the Formatting toolbar is stuck up underneath it (although it may be on either of the 4 sides of the screen)
    5. Drag the bar into the central portion of the screen, then restore your native resolution

    Regards,

    Bob J.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2011-07-08T12:06:07+00:00

    Hi David,

    It's there somewhere, probably just playing hide and seek with you. :-)

    Look closely at your other toolbars because the formatting bar might be attached to the end of one of the others and has run off the screen.

    Also you could pull some of the other bars off their current location and the formatting bar may reveal itself.

    Finally depending on your screen size, it could be somewhere else on the screen and you're just not looking at it.

    Hope this helps

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments