How to Reset OneNote 2016 Toolbar and Ribbon Settings to Defaults?

If you had customized OneNote Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar settings and need to revert back to the default settings, here are a couple of ways to do that.

Backup OneNote 2016 custom toolbar configuration to a file

Before resetting, you may want to backup the existing configuration. To backup your custom toolbar configuration in OneNote, use these steps:

Start OneNote 2016, click the File menu and select Options.

onenote 2016 reset ribbon toolbar

In the OneNote options dialog click Customize Ribbon, click Import/Export button and choose Export all customizations option.

onenote 2016 reset ribbon toolbar

Type in the output file name, or use the default file name “OneNote Customizations.exportedUI”

onenote 2016 reset ribbon toolbar

Method 1: Reset OneNote Toolbar Settings using GUI

In the OneNote Options dialog, click Customize Ribbon, and click Reset.

onenote 2016 reset ribbon toolbar

onenote 2016 reset ribbon toolbarSelect one of the two options provided: Reset only selected Ribbon tab, or Reset all customizations. Clicking the 2nd option would reset the Ribbon as well as Quick Access Toolbar settings to defaults. Click Yes when prompted for confirmation.

onenote 2016 reset ribbon toolbar



Quick Tip: To selectively reset the Quick Access Toolbar settings, select “Quick Access Toolbar” setting in the left pane of the OneNote options dialog, and click Reset. Click Reset only Quick Access Toolbar, and click OK.

Method 2: Reset OneNote Toolbar Settings by Deleting the UI Customizations file

Customizations to OneNote Ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar are saved in a file named OneNote.officeUI, in the following folder:

%localappdata%\Microsoft\Office

(Type the above folder path in Explorer Address bar and press ENTER.)

This is the file which administrators use to deploy custom Quick Access Toolbar and Ribbon settings across multiple computers.

Deleting the file “OneNote.officeUI” would cause OneNote to revert back the toolbar settings to defaults. Be sure to close OneNote first before deleting this file.

onenote 2016 reset ribbon toolbar

onenote 2016 reset ribbon toolbar


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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

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