How to Enable Developer Menu in Microsoft Word?

Microsoft Word has lot of hidden features. Developer menu is one such a feature many users are not aware. In fact, people using Word for years do not that they can easily customize the ribbon and menu items as per their convenience. Here we will explain how to enable developer menu in Microsoft Word for Windows and Mac versions.

Developer Menu in Word

By default, Word will not show developer menu and its sub-groups in the ribbon. You need to manually enable this option to get the hidden features. In this article, we will show the steps with Microsoft 365 version and the process is same for Word 2019 and earlier versions.

Enable Developer Menu in Word for Windows

Follow the below instructions in Microsoft 365 Word version in Windows:

• Open blank Word document and navigate to “File > Options” menu.
• This will open “Word Options” dialog box and go to “Customize Ribbon” section from the sidebar.
• Enable “Developer” option under “Customize the Ribbon > Main Tabs” section. You can also disable “Add-ins” group under “Developer” item.

• Click “OK” and you can see the “Developer” menu between “View” and “Help” menu items in the ribbon.

Enable Developer Menu in Word for Mac

Follow the below instructions in Microsoft 365 Word for Mac:

• Open Word and go to “Word > Preferences…” menu. Alternatively, you can press “Command + ,” keys to open preferences in Word.

• Click on “Ribbon & Toolbar Settings” icon under “Author and Proofing Tools” section.

• You will see two list of items under “Ribbon” tab.
• Scroll down to bottom of the “Custom the Ribbon:” section and enable the checkbox against “Developer” option.   

• Click “Save” button and check your Word menu items.
• Now, you will see a new “Developer” menu added in the ribbon.

What Can You Do with Developer Menu?

Click on the newly added menu items and the developer menu has the following sections.

• Code – you can record and run macro with Visual Basic editor.
• Add-ins – view and install add-ins to add additional features to your Word software.
• Control – add form control elements like text box, check box, combo box, etc. in your document. You can also enable design mode and use these controls with additional features. Note that Word for Mac has limited form controls as “Legacy Controls” and no “Design Mode” is available.

The following options are only available in Word Windows version under “Developer” menu.

• Mapping – here you can check the XML data available on the document and create control to link.
• Protect – you can block authors and restrict document editing using these features. It is possible to apply restrictions on formatting and editing like make the document read only or only allow comments.
• Templates – view template files used on the document and attach additional templates. You can also add or remove add-ins to load in your document.

Final Words

Other than form control and few other options, there are not much you can do with “Developer” menu in Word. You can find macros, add-ins and document protection options are available under other menu sections. However, Word by default hide the developer menu both in Windows and Mac versions. You can enable the menu as explained above to use form controls in Word.