I would like to distribute a macro in the company and a button in the menu bar for this purpose. I have read that this only makes sense via XML and should also be done via an add-in and not via normal.dotm. Everything I have found so far (Custom UI Editor) refers to Office 2010 or older. Are there already simpler solutions for Office 2016? What do software developers use who want to integrate functions of their software into Office and also need buttons for this? My wish would still be a solution that can also be realised via normal.dotm and for which I do not have to learn the XML language completely. Does anyone have any tips for me?

My tips are:
1. Don't do this via Normal.dotm. That template might have been customised by the individual user and you would be over-writing their personal productivity tools. Instead, consider doing this via an addin (template loaded as addin) or as a template which can be attached to existing documents or used to create new documents.
2. Custom UI Editor is a free way to edit the xml but you need to learn the basics of the RibbonUI xml. Years ago I knew of a relatively cheap xml editor that puts a GUI in the way so you didn't need to learn the xml. I can't recall its name but your GoogleFu might reveal it.
3. Software developers might choose to use Microsoft's Visual Studio or VSTO to create Office solutions which include buttons on ribbons. If you are worried about learning xml then this is not a good option for you but you could hire a developer who knows their way around in the tools.

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Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

Normal.dotm is not the way to distribute customizations. It should not be shared.
Use a separate Global Template. Methods for sharing such a template are on the linked page.

What you are talking about, I hope, is a button on the QAT. This is not normally called a "macrobutton." That modification should be stored in the same template as your macro; no ribbon modification is needed to do this. This is easy to do and requires nothing outside the tools built into Word.
Modifying the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) in Microsoft Word

Here is information about the different MacroButton Field.

Custom UI Editor works fine for all ribbon versions of Word. I currently use Office RibbonX Editor, which is also free.


General rule: Just about anything that works for Word 2007 works in all later versions of Word.