How to Reset Microsoft Office (Word) to Default Settings

If MS Word is not working correctly, reset Microsoft Word to default settings and see if it helps.

If Microsoft Office applications (like Word or Excel) have problems, try to reset Office settings to see if it can help fix the issues.

RELATED: How to Repair Microsoft Office

This blog post also teaches how to reset Word to default settings in two ways.

How to Reset Microsoft Office Settings to Default

1. Press the ⊞ Windows key + S to open Search.
2. Type Microsoft 365 (Office) in the search field, right-click Microsoft 365 (Office) app, and click App settings.
3. To reset Office, scroll down to the Reset section and select the Reset button.
4. In the pop-up that appears, click the Reset button again to confirm. It will reinstall Microsoft Office and revert the settings to default.

Or, open File Explorer and navigate to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16. Right-click the OSPPREARM.exe file and click Run as administrator from the context menu. If prompted, select Yes to reset Microsoft Office settings.

RELATED: How to Reinstall Microsoft Office

How to Reset Word to Default Settings

Here, I’ll teach you two ways to reset Microsoft Word to default settings.

Method 1: Rename the Normal.dotm file

1. Save your work and close all Microsoft Office applications.
2. Press the Windows key + E on your keyboard. It opens the File Explorer window.
3. Click View > Options, select the View tab, and tick Show hidden files, folders, and drives box under Hidden files and folders (Windows 10), or click See More (three dots), click Options, select the View tab, and tick Show hidden files, folders, and drives box (Windows 11).
4. Click Apply and select OK to save the settings.
5. Then, press the Windows key + R. It opens the Run dialog box.
6. Type %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates in the Run dialog box and hit Enter.
7. Right-click the Normal.dotm file and click Rename from the context menu. Change the name of the file to Normal.old. After renaming the file, Microsoft Word will create a new file with the original factory settings.

If you want, you can repeat the above steps to hide the hidden files and folders.

Method 2: Reset Microsoft Word to default settings with Registry

1. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
2. Type regedit and click OK. If prompted, select YES. It opens the Registry Editor window.
3. For Office 365,2021,2019,2016, double-click HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Office > 16.0 and click Word.
4. Hit Delete on your keyboard to delete the Word key.
5. Close the Registry Editor window and restart your computer. It should reset Microsoft Word to default settings.