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.
This guidance applies to Office 2010 or later 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 VSTO Add-in projects for the following applications: Excel; InfoPath 2013 and InfoPath 2010; Outlook; PowerPoint; Project; Visio; Word. For more information, see Features available by Office application and project type.
Access doesn’t have a Developer tab.
Interested in developing solutions that extend the Office experience across multiple platforms? Check out the new Office Add-ins model. Office Add-ins have a small footprint compared to VSTO Add-ins and solutions, and you can build them by using almost any web programming technology, such as HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3, and XML.
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.
The following figure shows the File tab in Office 2013.
The following figure shows the Options button in Office 2013.
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.
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.
Choose the OK button to close the Options dialog box.
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.
This guidance applies to Office 2010 or later 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 VSTO Add-in projects for the following applications: Excel; InfoPath 2013 and InfoPath 2010; Outlook; PowerPoint; Project; Visio; Word. For more information, see Features available by Office application and project type.
Access doesn’t have a Developer tab.
Interested in developing solutions that extend the Office experience across multiple platforms? Check out the new Office Add-ins model. Office Add-ins have a small footprint compared to VSTO Add-ins and solutions, and you can build them by using almost any web programming technology, such as HTML5, JavaScript, CSS3, and XML.
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.
The following figure shows the File tab in Office 2013.
The following figure shows the Options button in Office 2013.
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.
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.
Choose the OK button to close the Options dialog box.
Lori KaufmanLori Kaufman
Writer
Lori Kaufman is a technology expert with 25 years of experience. She’s been a senior technical writer, worked as a programmer, and has even run her own multi-location business. Read more.
As its name implies, the “Developer” tab in Office programs allows you to create applications to use with Office programs, write macros, run macros you previously recorded, use XML commands and ActiveX controls, use form controls, and is not available by default.
Even if you are not a developer, you may want to work with document templates in Word, add some form controls to your document in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, customize the Office programs using macros, or use a custom form in Outlook. All of these tasks require the “Developer” tab and we’ll show you how to activate it.
NOTE: We used Word 2013 to illustrate this feature, but the “Developer” tab is available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Publisher and is activated in the same way.
To begin, right-click on an empty spot on the ribbon and select “Customize the Ribbon” from the popup menu.
The “Customize the Ribbon and keyboard shortcuts” screen on the “Word Options” dialog box displays.
NOTE: You can also access this screen by clicking the “File” tab in your document, selecting “Options” on the backstage screen, and then clicking “Customize Ribbon” in the list of items on the left side of the “Word Options” dialog box.
In the list under the “Customize the Ribbon” drop-down list, select the “Developer” check box so there is a check mark in the box.
Click “OK” to accept the change and close the “Word Options” dialog box.
The “Developer” tab now displays on the ribbon, as shown in the image at the beginning of this article.
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Lori Kaufman
Lori Kaufman is a technology expert with 25 years of experience. She’s been a senior technical writer, worked as a programmer, and has even run her own multi-location business.
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The ribbon is a set of toolbars at the top of the window in Office programs designed to help you quickly find the commands that you need to complete a task.
Show Ribbon options
When the ribbon is visible, in the lower-right corner of the ribbon, click the Ribbon Display Options icon.
Choose a state for the ribbon:
Full-screen mode hides the ribbon for the best view of your document, and only shows the ribbon when you select More , or press the ALT key.
Show tabs only shows only the ribbon tabs, so you see more of your document, and you can still quickly switch among the tabs.
Always show Ribbon keeps all the tabs and commands on the ribbon visible all the time.
Expand or collapse the ribbon
You can toggle between having the ribbon expanded or collapsed in multiple ways.
If the ribbon is collapsed, expand it by doing do one of the following:
Double-click any of the ribbon tabs.
Right-click any of the ribbon tabs, and then select Collapse the ribbon.
If the ribbon is expanded, collapse it by doing do one of the following:
Double-click any of the ribbon tabs.
Right-click any of the ribbon tabs, and then select Collapse the ribbon.
Right-click Ribbon display options in the lower right of the ribbon, and then select Collapse the ribbon.
If the ribbon isn’t visible at all
If the ribbon isn’t visible at all (no tabs are showing), then you probably have the state set to Full-screen mode. Select More at the top right of the screen. This will temporarily restore the ribbon.
When you return to the document, the ribbon will be hidden again. To keep the ribbon displayed, select a different state from the Ribbon Display Options menu.
The ribbon is a set of toolbars at the top of the window in Office programs designed to help you quickly find the commands that you need to complete a task.
Show Ribbon options
At the top-right corner, select the Ribbon Display Options icon .
Choose an option for the ribbon:
Show Tabs and Commands keeps all the tabs and commands on the ribbon visible all the time.
Show tabs shows only the ribbon tabs, so you see more of your document, and you can still quickly switch among the tabs.
Auto-Hide ribbon hides the ribbon for the best view of your document, and only shows the ribbon when you select More , or press the ALT key.
Collapse the ribbon or expand it again
Double-click any of the ribbon tabs or press CTRL+F1 to collapse the ribbon if you need to see more of your document.
To see the ribbon again, just double-click any ribbon tab, or press CTRL+F1.
If the ribbon isn’t visible at all
If the ribbon isn’t visible at all (no tabs are showing), then you probably have it set to Auto-hide. Select More at the top right of the screen. This will temporarily restore the ribbon.
When you return to the document, the ribbon will be hidden again. To keep the ribbon displayed, select one of the Show options above.
See also
Minimize the ribbon
You can minimize the ribbon if you need to see more of the document you are creating. To collapse the ribbon, select the Minimize the Ribbon arrow at the top right.
To see the ribbon again, select the arrow again.
See also
The ribbon is a set of toolbars at the top of the window in Office programs designed to help you quickly find the commands that you need to complete a task.
Show ribbon options
At the right corner of the ribbon, select the Ribbon Display Options icon .
Note: If you don’t see the ribbon or the Ribbon Display Options icon, it may be hidden. Move your cursor to the top of the browser window to make the ribbon appear as well as the icon.
Choose an option in the menu:
Classic Ribbon displays the full ribbon you may be used to from previous versions of Office.
Simplified Ribbon displays a more compact version that takes up less space.
Always Show will always have the ribbon visible.
Automatically Hide will hide the ribbon until you move your cursor to the top and it will reappear.
For keyboard users, you can use CTRL + F6 or WIN + ALT to invoke the ribbon.
For touch users, simply scroll back up or tap the title bar to bring it back. Scrolling up and down quickly will also trigger showing and hiding the ribbon.
How to show developer tab/ribbon in Word?
Developer tab contains many advanced functions of Word and it has not been displayed in Word by default. This tutorial will show you the way to show developer tab in ribbon.
Recommended Productivity Tools for Word
Show developer tab in Word 2007
Amazing! Use Efficient Tabs in Word (Office) like Chrome, Firefox and New Internet Explorer!
Step 1: click Office icon on the top left of Word, and then click Word Options button;
Step 2: check Show Developer tab in the Ribbon
Step 3: click OK, and developer tab will be shown in the ribbon.
Show developer tab in Word 2010/2013
Step 1: click File tab and then click Options;
Step 2: click Customize Ribbon, and then check Develop item as next figure shown;
Step 3: click OK to show Developer tab in ribbon.
Apply the functions in Developer tab directly with Kutools for Word
Kutools for Word, a handy add-in, includes groups of tools to ease your work and enhance your ability of processing word document. Free Trial for 45 days! Get It Now!
With Kutools for Word, you can directly apply advanced functions such as inserting check box, and without finding them from Developer tab. See screenshot:
How to show/display developer tab in Excel Ribbon?
In Excel, the Developer tab is hidden on the Ribbon in default, but if you usually do some special operations in Excel, such as insert controls, record macros and so on, showing the Developer tab on the Ribbon can greatly improve your work efficiency. Now I will tell you how to show or display the Developer tab in Excel Ribbon.
Show Developer tab in Ribbon in Excel 2010 and later versions
To show the Developer tab in Excel 2010 and later versions, please do as follow steps:
1. Click File > Options to open the Excel Options dialog. See screenshot:
2. In the popped out Excel Options dialog, click Customize Ribbon in left pane. See screen shot:
3. And go right to the Customize the Ribbon section, and check Developer option in the Main Tabs list. See screenshot:
4. Click OK to close Excel Options dialog. Now you can see the Developer tab has shown in the Ribbon.
Show Developer tab in Ribbon in Excel 2007
In Excel 2007, you also can check an option in the Excel Options dialog to show the Developer tab in the Ribbon.
1. Click Office Button > Excel Options. See screenshot:
2 Then in the popping Excel Options dialog, click Popular in the left pane, then go to Top options for working with Excel section, and check Show Developer tab in the Ribbon option. See screenshot:
3. Click OK to close Excel Options dialog. Now the Developer tab is displaying in the Ribbon.
In this article you will learn how to add the Developer tab to the Ribbon in Word. The Developer tab includes commands that are not available in other tabs in Word – but the tab is turned off by default so you need to turn it on to get access to the commands.
The steps to follow to add the Developer tab to the Ribbon depend on your version of Word (get help to find your version of Word).
How to add the developer tab to the Ribbon in Word 2010 and newer versions of Word
Follow the steps below if you have Word 2010, Word 2013, Word 2016, Word 2019, or Word for Microsoft 365.
- Select File tab > Options > Customize Ribbon (see 1 in Figure 1).
- In the right side of the Word Options dialog box, select Main Tabs (see 2 in Figure 1) and turn on Developer (see 3 in Figure 1).
- Click OK .
Figure 1. How to add the Developer tab to the Ribbon in Word 2010 and newer versions of Word.
Now the Developer tab will appear in the Ribbon:
Figure 2. The Developer tab has been added in Word and is shown in the Ribbon (screen dump here from Word for Microsoft 365).
How to add the developer tab to the Ribbon in Word 2007
- Select Office Button > Word Options > Popular category (see 1 in Figure 3).
- Turn on Show Developer tab in the Ribbon (see 2 in Figure 3).
- Click OK .
Figure 3. How to add the Developer tab to the Ribbon in Word 2007.
The Developer tab opens advanced functions as macros, form designer, VBA code editor for experienced users, but it is not visible by default. To show the Developer tab in Excel, do the following:
1. To open the Excel Options dialog box, do one of the following:
- On the File tab, click the Options button:
2. In the Excel Options dialog box, on the Customize Ribbon tab, in the left column, check the Developer tab:
After checking the Developer checkbox, the Developer tab remains visible until you uncheck the checkbox or reinstall Microsoft Excel.
3. Click OK.
The Developer tab includes the following groups:
- The Code group:
- The Macros button on the Developer tab opens a list of recorded macros.
- The Record macro button starts recording user actions in Excel. To stop the recording, click the Record macro button again.
- The Visual Basic button opens the Visual Basic editor application that allows you to edit recorded macros and create VBA programs.
- The Add-ins group included buttons to manage different add-in types in Excel.
- The Controls group provides a visual form designer for experienced Excel users.
- The XML group provides advanced XML import/export functions and XML resources management for experienced Excel users.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to ask OfficeToolTips team.
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If you’re a power user of Excel, the Developer tab is a great addition to the Ribbon.
It lets you access useful features that are otherwise hidden away.
But you have to get to the Developer Tab to show first!
Because for some reason, it’s not in the Ribbon by default.
Let’s look at how to open up this hidden tab – as well as what you can add to it.
Open up a new workbook, and let’s get started!
*This tutorial is for Excel 2019/Microsoft 365 (for Windows). Got a different version? No problem, you can still follow the exact same steps.
Table of Contents
Adding the Developer tab to the Ribbon
The fastest way to add the Developer tab to the Ribbon starts with a simple-right click.
Right-click on one of the Ribbon tabs, and you’ll see a new menu come up:
Click Customize the Ribbon, and you’ll get a new window:
From here, check the box next to Developer and click OK.
Once you’ve done that, the Developer tab will appear at the end of the Ribbon:
You can also access this options pane by going to File > Options > Customize Ribbon.
Kasper Langmann, Co-founder of Spreadsheeto
While you’re in this view, take a look at some of the other options that are available, too. You can remove tabs from the Ribbon by unchecking them, for example.
Or you can remove specific sections that you don’t use from tabs. You can even add a new tab and put your most commonly used features in it:
It’s a great way to customize the Ribbon so you can work faster.
What can you do with the Developer tab?
The Developer tab has four sections—let’s go over them quickly.
First up is the Code section.
In this section, you can use some basic programming to create powerful scripts and actions in Excel.
Excel supports both Visual Basic and Excel Macros, both of which can help automate your repetitive tasks or perform complicated calculations.
Macros are complicated, but very useful—if you’re interested in finding out more, check out our Macros module in Zero to Hero. It’ll take you from beginner to expert at your own pace.
Next, we have the Add-ins section.
There’s a huge number of Excel add-ins that you can download from the Office Store. Click the Add-ins button to start browsing them.
You can find Gantt chart makers, colorizers, data visualization tools, stock market information sets, and more. There’s a mix of free and paid tools available.
The Excel add-ins and COM add-ins buttons let you manage the add-ins you’ve downloaded.
You can also see the add-ins that are available by going to the Office Store through your browser.
Kasper Langmann, Co-founder of Spreadsheeto
Third is the Controls section.
These controls help you work with form controls. Excel forms turn your spreadsheets into interactive forms.
They’re great for collecting data, sharing information, and generally making it easier to interact with worksheets.
Finally, there’s the XML tab.
Many applications read and produce data in the extensible markup language, also known as XML. This section helps Excel and re-export information in that format.
You can also use XML within Excel to specify some additional information about your data. (To find out more about what Excel can do with XML, check out Microsoft’s Overview of XML in Excel or our tutorial.)
Unless you use other applications that require XML, or you already know a lot about XML tables, you probably won’t be using this tab.
As you can see, the contents of the Developer tab are rather technical. If you don’t know why you would need any of these tools, you probably don’t need them!
Nonetheless, it’s useful to know how to find them if you do.
Kasper Langmann, Co-founder of Spreadsheeto
