Level: Beginner-Advanced
Operating System: Windows 10, Windows 11
Versions of Word: 2010, 2021, 2024, 365 (and likely more)
Note: This is an Article that was created on the Microsoft Answers site that I saved so it could be edited. Despite appearances, it is not on a Microsoft site, now.
There are two diagnostic methods to open the Word application in Windows. One is Safe Mode and the other is without Add-Ins. These can be done using
the /safe and the /a switches.
Neither of these is intended to be a way to use Word to do work. They are to try and trace the source of problems.
I often use No Add-Ins /a switch when opening Word and want to see it without my customizations. This opens Word without using the Normal template and with (almost) no Add-Ins loaded. Recently I noticed a few things and decided to document what I am seeing and share that. Even though both load without the Normal.dotm template or Add-Ins, the No-Addin mode is not the same as Safe Mode.
| Safe Mode | No Add-Ins |
Normal Template Attached | No | No |
Macros Available | No * | No * |
Ribbon Customizations Active | No | Yes |
QAT Customizations Active | No | Yes |
Template Add-Ins Active | No | No |
Com Add-Ins Active | No | No ** |
Building Blocks and AutoText | None *** | None *** |
* Macros can be recorded and can be run but those in the Normal template or Add-Ins are not available. You can load Add-In templates manually and macros in them will then be available.
** Some Add- Ins are available when started in No Add-Ins mode but not COM or template Add-Ins! I've found that code Add-Ins from Git-Hub are still active when Word is started with the /a switch.
*** Building Blocks and AutoText including built-in are not available. They can be created. You can load Add-In templates manually and building blocks in them will then be available.
Macros and Building Blocks can be used in any of these, but only if the template containing them is attached, open, or loaded after Word is started.
Here are screenshots of the Ribbon at the Home tab.
Safe Mode:
No Add-Ins:
My standard ribbon:
Script Lab is a Microsoft Garage App. Easy Code Formatter is an Open Source program. I do not have any problems with either, but they are not removed from Word using the /a switch. Both of these came from BitHub and may be javascript add-ins, I am unsure.
My standard ribbon also uses an Add-In template by Greg Maxey from the MVP site that uses XML editing to combine the Clipboard and Editing groups on the Home tab. They are separated in both Safe mode and No-Add-ins mode. After this article was written I also removed the Editor, Voice, and Add-Ins groups from my standard ribbon through the Modify the Ribbon commands rather than by XML editing. Those removals persist in the No-Add-Ins mode but the removed groups are present in the Safe mode ribbon.
Modifications to the Ribbon or QAT made through the UI are there in No Add-Ins but not in Safe mode.
Here the modifications include moving the QAT to below the Ribbon and removal of the save, undo and redo commands from the OAT.
(I have on other occasions added tabs to the ribbon through the user interface (Styles and Equations). They show up with No Add-Ins but does not under Safe mode.) The other things on the QAT in my standard ribbon are from various template Add-Ins.
The ribbon tabs boxed in my standard ribbon are there through template or com add-ins and are removed when I use the /a switch.
The Office color Theme is used with the /a switch but not in Safe mode.
Built-in and custom Building Blocks / AutoText are not available in either.
In the No Add-Ins mode, it is possible to manually add or activate template Add-Ins through the Developer Tab and to use the Modify the Ribbon dialog. This is not the case in Safe mode.
I checked these in Word 2021 on Windows 11 and found the same results.
The above screenshots are from Office 365 on Windows 10. Here are the Ribbons in Word 2010.
Safe Mode:
No Add-Ins:
My Standard Ribbon:
Word 365 and Word 2010 share the custom ui file so I expected and found that customizations to the UI through the UI are showing up when Word is opened without Add-Ins but not when Word is opened in Safe mode. The tabs boxed in my standard ribbon are added by template or COM add-ins. The ones from GitHub are only for later versions of Word and so are not on this ribbon. Again the QAT modifications stick (see above).
