My icons at top of Excel books has disappeared. How to get them back?

Question

There was a showing of many icons from Excel at the top of each worksheet and they have all disappeared and i cannot get them back. How do I get these missing icons from top of the worksheet back in view?

Answer 1

I think you likely accidentally enabled the full screen mode. Click on the three dots on the upper right to bring the icons down.

Then click on the little arrow and choose "always show ribbin".

Answer 2

The missing icons happened as a result of my dumbly clicking one character but I do not know what I clicked or where I was when this happened. Normally, when I experiment with changing things, I will click on something, see what happens and if I do not like it, I just go back and undo it. In this case, I clicked something, the icons disappeared and I did not see it happen so cannot go back to undo but I certainly did not go through all the steps recommended in the AI answer so surely there is a better answer as to how to get all the icons back at the very top of each worksheet and further, I am not in Full Screen mode, so . . . ?

Answer 3

The icons at the top of the worksheet are usually part of Excel’s menu bar and toolbars/ribbon. When they disappear, Excel is often running in a mode where these UI elements are hidden. Use the following steps to restore them:

1. Restart Windows so Excel starts from a clean state.
2. While the computer is restarting, repeatedly press F5 until the Windows splash screen appears.
3. Choose Open in Safe Mode, then press Enter. (Safe Mode temporarily disables some Windows features so the interface can be corrected.)
4. Start Excel.
5. In Excel, go to the View menu and click Full Screen to turn it off. This brings back the standard menu bar and buttons.
6. On the File menu, click Open and open the workbook where the icons were missing.
7. On the View menu, point to Toolbars, then select Customize.
8. In the Customize dialog, make sure the Worksheet check box is selected so the worksheet-related toolbar/buttons are visible again.
9. On the File menu, click Save to store these display settings with the workbook.
10. Close Excel and restart the computer normally.

If the problem continues, and the workbook was created in another Excel version or uses shared toolbars, rename the toolbar settings file (.xlb) as described in the same guidance so Excel recreates default toolbar settings.

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References:

• The Menu bar or the Minimize, Restore, and Close buttons are missing in Excel and in Word