How to Find Out Which Command Word Executes

You may sometimes need to find the name of the built-in command Word executes when you click an icon or select a command in the Ribbon. For example, you need to know the command name in order to assign a keyboard shortcut to the command. You also need to know the command name if you want a macro to run instead of a built-in command. In order to achieve this, the macro must be named as the command executed by the built-in command. This article explains how to quickly determine the correct command name.

Example

You want to run your own macro when inserting a comment in order to make all new comments appear with predefined content. You can create a macro with any name and assign the macro to a toolbar (Word 2003 and earlier) or to the Quick Access Toolbar (Word 2007, Word 2010, Word 2013 or Word 2016). But if you want the macro to run automatically instead of the built-in command for inserting a comment, you will need to determine the exact name of the command.

What to do

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+[Plus on the numeric keypad].

The cursor changes into a cloverleaf:

2. Click the command you want to find information about (in this example Insert > Comment).

Note that you can click until you hit a specific command – the cloverleaf cursor changes to an arrow cursor until positioned over a proper target. If the command is in a menu (or on another tab than the active tab in case of Word 2007, Word 2010, Word 2013 or Word 2016), just make selections until you can click the relevant command.

When you click a command, the Customize Keyboard dialog box opens with the selected command displayed as illustrated below.

In Word 2007, Word 2010, Word 2013 or Word 2016, you may experience that a target you click does not give any result. I have also seen a message saying "Word encountered a problem" when clicking an item in a list of some kind. However, you should be able to find most command names as explained above.

If you enter the "cloverleaf-mode" by mistake, you can press the Esc key to return to normal mode.

If you know Word 2003 or earlier versions of Word, you may notice that the command names are closely related to the menu structure in those versions of Word. For example, commands found in the Format menu start with "Format" (example: "FormatParagraph" is the name of the command that opens the Paragraph dialog box. The command names are retained in Word 2007 and later versions. If you remember the menu structure you may be able to quess a command name.

Macro example – intercept a built-in command

If you insert a comment using the built-in command, the result is a comment that shows your user initials (LF in the example below) plus an index number (1 in the example below):

If you copy the macro below and insert it in your Normal.dot / Normal.dotm or in a global template, all comments you insert will instead look like this:

In the illustrations above, formatting marks are visible in order to show exactly what is included in the comment.

The macro