Reordering and Removing Ribbon Tabs in PowerPoint 2019 for Windows

The PowerPoint 2019 for Windows interface sports the Ribbon, which is tabbed. Each of these tabs contains a set of commands. By default, PowerPoint contains several such tabs, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 1, below.

Figure 1: Default Ribbon tabs within PowerPoint 2019 interface

These Ribbon tabs can be customized, and you can indeed add a new Ribbon tab as well. In fact, you may have more tabs in your PowerPoint 2019 interface due to several reasons:

1. You may have turned on the Developer tab. This tab is not displayed by default.
2. You may have installed some PowerPoint add-ins, and these may show in an Add-Ins tab.
3. You many have installed a PowerPoint add-in that created its own Ribbon tab.
4. You may have selected a slide object that brings up a contextual tab. For example, you see extra Ribbon tabs when you select a chart on your slide.
5. You may have created your own custom Ribbon tab.

All tabs can be reordered as required. However, the default Ribbon tabs that you see in Figure 1 can only be reordered or hidden, but not removed. Also the Developer tab cannot be removed although it can also be hidden. Follow these steps to explore more:

1. You first need to bring up the PowerPoint Options dialog box. There are two ways to access this dialog box. The easier way is to right-click anywhere on the Ribbon, and choose the Customize the Ribbon option, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2.
2. 
   Figure 2: Customize the Ribbon option
3. Alternatively, choose the File menu to bring up Backstage view, as shown in Figure 3. Now, select Options (highlighted in green within Figure 3).
4. 
   Figure 3: Options within File menu
Note: Also if you are a keyboard aficionado, you can quickly press the Alt + F keys together, and then press T.


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2. Either way, this opens the PowerPoint Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 4. Make sure you choose the Customize Ribbon option within the sidebar. This shows the relevant options on the right side of the PowerPoint Options dialog box (see Figure 4 again). Note that we added new Ribbon tab (highlighted in red within Figure 4, below).
3. 
   Figure 4: PowerPoint Options dialog box
3. Select the tab which you want to reorder within the PowerPoint Options dialog box (we selected our custom tab, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 5). Then click the Move Up (to move the selected tab upwards) or Move Down (to move the selected tab downwards) buttons, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 5.
4. 
   Figure 5: Select and reorder the Ribbon tab
4. In Figure 6, below you can see that the Indezine (Custom) tab is moved down from its original position.
5. 
   Figure 6: Ribbon tab moved down
5. Figure 7, below shows the reordered Ribbon tab is now placed after the Slide Show Ribbon tab. See the tabs that are highlighted in red, and compare with Figure 1, shown previously on this page. Similarly, you can reorder any of the Ribbon tabs.
6. 
   Figure 7: Ribbon tab reordered
6. To remove a custom tab, just select it within the Customize Ribbon tab of the PowerPoint Options dialog box. Then, right-click it to bring up a contextual menu, as shown in Figure 8, below. Then select the Remove option, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 8. Alternatively, click the Remove button (also highlighted in red within Figure 8).
7. 
   Figure 8: Remove the selected tab
Note: The right-click menu also contains the Move Up and Move Down options, as shown highlighted in blue within Figure 8.
7. When done, click the OK button within the PowerPoint Options dialog box to get back to PowerPoint 2019 interface.