Like many people I still get confused about how a Standard toolbar differs from a Formatting toolbar while undergoing ms word training. A Standard toolbar is the one that allows you to: create a blank document, cut and paste content, open a file or folder, and undo or redo tasks (among others.) If you find these functions on the Standard toolbar, you automatically know you are on the right one. The Formatting toolbar, on the other hand, has the commonly-used functions of making font bold, italicized, or underlined (meaning, you get to change the format.)