How to Suppress ScreenTips in Word

Q. When I work in Word, small yellow boxes often pop up next to my cursor to identify what I’m pointing at. I guess many users find those pop-ups helpful, but they distract me. Can I suppress them?

A. They’re called ScreenTips , and as with many Windows functions, they delight some users with their helpfulness and annoy others by their intrusiveness. Here’s what a ScreenTip looks like when a cursor is pointing at, say, the Strikethrough icon (ABC with a line through it) in the toolbar.

To suppress all ScreenTips , click on Tools, Options and the View tab, bringing up this screen:

Under the Show category, uncheck the ScreenTips box (in the first column) to program Word to halt the pop-ups and then click on OK .

While you’re in that screen, take note of all the other Word customizing default options.