TabBar

macOS · Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint

TabBar.A tab bar for Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the Mac.

Open the Window menu in Word and read what is in it: Contract_v3, Contract_v3_tracked, Contract_v3_client. TabBar puts a row of tabs there instead. Every open document is a tab in a slim bar above the window, and one click brings it forward.

Download for Word — $19.90 Download for Excel — $19.90 Download for PowerPoint — $19.90

One app for all three on the Mac App Store: TabBar for Office — $39.99

Features

Switch between open documents in one click

One-click switching

Click a tab and that document comes forward. No Window menu, no Mission Control, no counting positions in an alphabetical list.

A tab for every open file

Every open Word document, Excel workbook and PowerPoint presentation becomes a tab in a slim bar pinned above the window.

There with Office, gone without it

The bar appears when Word, Excel or PowerPoint is in focus and stays out of the way otherwise. ⌘H puts it away and brings it back.

The width is yours to set

Drag the grip on the bar's right edge to make it as wide as you need, up to 80% of the screen. It opens at that width next time.

Follows the window

The bar tracks the active Office window and stays anchored above it, so the two never overlap as you move or resize things.

Runs from the menu bar

A status-bar item holds every control. No Dock icon, no window of its own, and nothing installed into Office itself. Launch at login is optional.

Never touches your files

It reads the names of the documents you have open and raises the one you clicked. It does not open a file, read a line of it, change it, or send anything anywhere. No account, no sign-in.

No native Mac alternative

Word, Excel and PowerPoint for Mac have no document tabs, and the leading Office-tabs tool is Windows-only. TabBar fills the gap.

Four languages

English, German, Spanish and Hebrew, with right-to-left layout where it applies.

How it works

TabBar for Word, TabBar for Excel and TabBar for PowerPoint

TabBar for Word

When a Word document (.docx, .doc) is in focus, a tab bar appears above the window listing every open document. Click a tab to switch.

“Every open document, one bar” — the TabBar bar above Microsoft Word on a Mac, with a tab for each of five open documents.

TabBar for Excel

Excel gives you sheet tabs along the bottom of a workbook and none for the workbooks themselves. This is the missing row: one tab per open workbook, above the window.

“Sheet tabs below. Workbook tabs above.” — the TabBar bar above Microsoft Excel on a Mac, with a tab for each open workbook and Excel's own sheet tabs along the bottom.

TabBar for PowerPoint

When a PowerPoint presentation (.pptx, .ppt) is in focus, a tab bar appears above the window listing every open presentation. Click a tab to switch.

“Every open deck, one click away.” — the TabBar bar above Microsoft PowerPoint on a Mac, with a tab for each of four open presentations and the current one marked.

Pricing

Two ways to get it, neither of them a subscription

The Mac App Store edition is one app covering Word, Excel and PowerPoint, bought once. The direct downloads are one licence per Office application.

Mac App Store · one app, all three

$39.99

One purchase, and it covers Word, Excel and PowerPoint in a single app. No tab limit, and nothing left to unlock inside it. Not a subscription, and Restore re-applies it on your other Macs. If you bought the unlock while the app was free, you already own this and pay nothing more.

TabBar for Office

TabBar for Word, TabBar for Excel and TabBar for PowerPoint used to be three separate listings. Since version 2.0 they are one app, and it is the only one on the Mac App Store.

Direct download · one app per Office application

$19.90

Per app, one time. No tab limit from the start, one licence for up to five Macs, transferable between them, with updates and macOS compatibility included.

Download for Word — $19.90 Download for Excel — $19.90 Download for PowerPoint — $19.90

Download is free; the licence is purchased inside the app on first launch. Payments are processed by Lemon Squeezy Inc., our authorized reseller and Merchant of Record.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is TabBar?

TabBar is a native macOS app that adds a floating tab bar above Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. When a Word, Excel or PowerPoint window is in focus, a small bar appears above it showing all your open documents. Click any tab to switch.

Does TabBar support Apple Silicon?

Yes. It runs natively on Apple Silicon (M1, M2, M3, M4) and on Intel Macs.

What is the difference between the Mac App Store version and the direct download?

The Mac App Store edition is a single app covering Word, Excel and PowerPoint, bought once for $39.99. It also marks the tab of the document you are currently in. The direct download is a $19.90 licence per Office application, unlocked from the start, covering up to five Macs, and it updates itself from within the app. The merged app is on the Mac App Store only for now; direct, it is still one app per application.

How does the purchase work?

On the Mac App Store you buy the app once for $39.99 and everything is there — there is nothing to unlock inside it, and Restore brings it back on your other Macs. With the direct download, open the app and you'll be guided through a one-time $19.90 purchase via Lemon Squeezy, our Merchant of Record. You'll receive a licence key by email that activates the app on up to 5 Macs.

What are the licensing details for TabBar for Word, TabBar for Excel and TabBar for PowerPoint?

The direct downloads are separate, standalone apps, licensed separately — one per Office application. Each direct licence covers up to 5 computers and can be transferred between devices. It includes updates, macOS compatibility and technical support, as a one-time purchase. On the Mac App Store there is one app instead, covering all three.

Does the application launch automatically on system startup?

Yes, you can configure the application to launch automatically when your Mac boots up, from the menu-bar item.

I launched the app but the tab bar does not appear.

The bar only appears when a Word, Excel or PowerPoint window (depending on the app) is open and in focus. It is also hidden if you have toggled it off — press ⌘H, or use Show/Hide in the menu-bar item, to bring it back.

The bar still does not appear when the window is in focus.

It is a permission. The direct download needs Accessibility: open System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility and make sure the app is listed and switched on, adding it manually if it is not there. The Mac App Store build needs Automation instead, and asks for it itself: if macOS has blocked it, the bar shows a Grant Permission button that restores access in two one-time approvals, without quitting Office.

More from BD TECH

Other small Mac apps from the same desk

The developer behind TabBar makes a handful of narrow Mac utilities. These four are the ones that tend to end up on the same machine.

  • Snippet

    macOS · iOS

    The text you send over and over, on a keyboard you can reach inside any app and in the Mac menu bar. Select an incoming message and a template fills its own fields from it.

    Mac App Store

  • A hotkey, a line of text, Enter. The task goes straight into Apple Reminders, so it reaches your iPhone and notifies you there whether or not the app is running.

    Mac App Store

  • Voynich

    macOS · iOS

    Encrypts files and folders where they sit, replacing each with an AES-256-GCM container under the same name. On the device, behind Touch ID, with no account and a documented format that opens without the app.

    Mac App Store

  • RSync Pro

    macOS

    Keeps a folder mirrored to a second disk, or to a server of your own over SSH, syncing the moment a file changes. Real rsync, driven from a Mac window.

    Mac App Store

Support

Questions or need a hand getting set up?

Email reaches the developer directly.