How to: Show the Developer Tab on the Ribbon
To access the Developer tab on the ribbon of an Office application, you must configure it to show that tab because it doesn't appear by default. For example, you must show that tab if you want to add a GroupContentControl to a document-level customization for Word.
Note
This guidance applies to Office 2013 and Office 2010 applications only. If you want to show this tab in the 2007 Microsoft Office System, see the following version of this topic How to: Show the Developer Tab on the Ribbon.
Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and application-level projects for the following applications: Excel 2013 and Excel 2010; InfoPath 2013 and InfoPath 2010; Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2010; PowerPoint 2013 and PowerPoint 2010; Project 2013 and Project 2010; Visio 2013 and Visio 2010; Word 2013 and Word 2010. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.
Note
Access doesn't have a Developer tab.
To show the Developer tab
Start any of the Office applications supported by this topic. See the Applies to: note earlier in this topic.
On the File tab, choose the Options button.
The following figure shows the File tab and Options button in Office 2010.
Figure 1: The Options button in Office 2010.
.png "Choosing File, Options in Outlook 2010")
The following figure shows the File tab in Office 2013.
Figure 2: The File tab in Office 2013.
.png "The File tab in Outlook 2013")
The following figure shows the Options button in Office 2013.
Figure 3. The Options button in Office 2013.
.png "The Options button in Outlook 2013 Preview")
In the ApplicationNameOptions dialog box, choose the Customize Ribbon button.
The following figure shows the Options dialog box and the Customize Ribbon button in Excel 2010. The location of this button is similar in all other applications listed in the "Applies to" section near the top of this topic.
Figure 4: The Customize Ribbon button in Excel 2010.
.png "The Customize Ribbon button")
In the list of main tabs, select the Developer check box.
The following figure shows the Developer check box in Word 2010 and Word 2013. The location of this check box is similar in all other applications listed in the "Applies to" section near the top of this topic.
Figure 6: The Developer check box in Word 2010 and Word 2013.
.png "The Developer check box in the Word Options dialog")
Choose the OK button to close the Options dialog box.