Microsoft Office 365 - Word app - Huge Icons upon starting new document

Question

Microsoft Office 365 - Word app - Huge Icons upon starting new document

David Olivo 0

When I open up my word app on Microsoft 365, there are huge icons on the left and right. Undo, Redo, Comments, Catch up. How do I take these off?

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3 answers

Answer 1

Those large icons (Undo, Redo, Comments, Catch up, Copilot, and the floating comment button on selected text) are part of the current Word interface design and cannot be turned off individually in the consumer desktop app.

For the comment icon that appears when text is selected, turning off Modern comments no longer removes it; this is a design change and there is no user-level setting to disable it. The only available action is to submit feedback so the Word team can consider changing or adding an option:

In Word, go to Help > Feedback (or File > Feedback in some builds).
Choose I don’t like something or Make a suggestion.
Describe that the large/floating icons are distracting and request an option to hide or reduce them.

Feedback from many users is what influences changes to these UI elements.

References:

Answer 2

John Jefferson Doyon 87,535 Independent Advisor

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

To help narrow down the issue:

Are those icons showing only when you create a new blank document, or do they also appear when opening existing documents?
It sounds like Word may be showing the simplified command bar or a changed layout. Can you share a screenshot of what you're seeing?
Which version of Word you're using (Microsoft 365 on Windows 10 or Windows 11)? Did this start after a recent Office update?

Also, try pressing Ctrl + F1 to see if the ribbon layout changes, and let me know if the large icons remain.

A screenshot would help identify exactly which feature is displaying those icons.

Yasmin, Lyna 0 Reputation points

2026-09-13T20:29:35.6866667+00:00

I have the same problem for new and existing documents. Ctrl +F1 is not changing anything. I have the windows 8 version.
Charles Kenyon 170.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-09-13T22:17:59.6933333+00:00

@Yasmin, Lyna

To get the best and quickest help with this, I recommend that you post a new question with more information about your system and what is happening, perhaps a screenshot.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5677122/(article)-how-to-ask-a-question-in-the-q-a-forums

This thread will be closed.

Answer 3

Below is an example of what is shown on the screen in a perpetual (non-subscription) version of Office. The Quick Access Toolbar which is part of the title bar by default includes Undo, Redo, Save and AutoSave. You can customize the QAT or you can hide it if you don't want to see it at all. My personal preference is to show it below the ribbon.

On the right hand side there are buttons for Comments, Editing and Share. The Editing button dynamically changes if the document is tracking changes, for example. These buttons cannot be customized.

What would help is if you upload a screen shot that illustrates what you see in your Word installation.

You may see additional options for Copilot, and you may see options for Office Predictive Text and/or Windows Text Suggestions. At least Text Predictions and Text Suggestions can be turned off.

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