Office Settings & Configuration

How to Change and Save Pen Line Size and Color in Office 365

Maira Mehtab Oct 23, 2026 870 views

Question details

The user wants to customize and permanently save the pen annotation settings, specifically line size and color, to prevent them from reverting to default after each stroke.

How to Change and Save Pen Line Size and Color in Office 365

Product: Office 365
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Annotating or drawing on documents using the built-in pen tools in Office 365 applications.
Observed behavior: The pen line size and color settings reset back to their defaults after making a single annotation, forcing the user to repeatedly reconfigure them.

Before you start

Ensure you are using the latest version of Office 365, as Microsoft frequently updates drawing and inking features to fix settings retention bugs.

Solution 1Recommended

Add a Custom Pen to the Draw Gallery

Instead of modifying an existing pen which may reset, adding a brand new custom pen ensures your preferred thickness and color are saved permanently.

Office 365 apps often treat modifications to default pens as temporary changes for the current stroke. To lock in your preferences, you must save them as a new custom pen in your drawing gallery.

Access the Draw Tab

Open your Office 365 application (such as Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) and click on the 'Draw' tab in the top ribbon.

Add a New Pen

Click on the 'Add Pen' button or the '+' icon located at the right side of the Pens gallery.

Select Pen Type and Attributes

Choose 'Pen' from the dropdown menu. A new pen will appear. Right-click it or click the drop-down arrow next to it to select your desired line size (thickness) and color.

Use the Custom Pen

Click away to save the settings. Whenever you need to annotate, select this newly created custom pen, and it will retain your specific size and color without resetting.

Persistent Settings: Your custom pen will now remain in the Draw gallery across your sessions for that specific application.

Solution 2

Repair Your Office 365 Installation

If custom pens continue to disappear or settings still reset after creating them, there may be a corruption in your Office installation requiring a repair.

Free Microsoft Office alternative

Enjoy Stable and Intuitive Document Annotation with WPS Office

If you are tired of Office 365 pen settings constantly resetting, switch to WPS Office. It provides robust, user-friendly, and stable drawing tools for all your annotation needs across documents, spreadsheets, and PDFs—completely free.

1. Open your document in WPS Office: Launch WPS Office and open your text document, presentation, or PDF.
2. Access the Drawing Tools: Navigate to the 'Insert' or 'Comment' tab, depending on your document type, and select the drawing or graffiti tools.
3. Annotate seamlessly: Choose your pen size and color once, and enjoy a stable annotation experience without unexpected resets.

Highly compatible with Microsoft Office formats like .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx.Stable annotation and drawing tools that remember your preferences.Built-in robust PDF editing and inking capabilities.Free, lightweight, and incredibly fast to launch.

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my pen thickness reset after every stroke in Word?

This happens when you temporarily adjust the thickness of a default pen. Office 365 often resets these temporary changes after a stroke. To prevent this, you need to use the 'Add Pen' feature to create and save a new custom pen with your specific settings.

Do my pen settings sync across all Office 365 applications?

Generally, custom pens and drawing settings are saved locally within the specific application (e.g., Word or PowerPoint). You may need to recreate your preferred custom pens in each application's Draw tab.

How do I delete a custom pen I no longer need?

Navigate to the Draw tab, right-click the custom pen in the Pens gallery, and select 'Delete Pen' from the context menu to remove it from your workspace.

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