The formatting toolbar is a toolbar in Microsoft Office 2003 and earlier applications, that gives the user the ability to change the formatting of selected text.

Options available in the formatting toolbar

  • Change the font.
  • Change the size of the font.
  • Change the font color.
  • Make the text bold, italics, or underline.
  • Change the alignment.
  • Change the style to currency, percent, or comma.
  • Increase or decrease the decimal and indent.
  • Change the borders.
  • Fill (highlight) the text.

How to enable the formatting toolbar

If you are running Office 2003 applications or earlier versions, like Word 2003 or Excel 2003, click View and then Toolbars. In the Toolbars sub-menu, click the Formatting option to enable the formatting toolbar.

Microsoft Office 2007 and later applications use the Ribbon instead of the formatting toolbar. Many functions previously accessed on the formatting toolbar were moved to the Home or Write tab of the Ribbon.

Toolbar, Word processor terms