Repair and save your document
Microsoft Word not responding usually appears either as an error message or as a complete freeze of the Word graphical user interface. When you experience this glitch, either close the program or wait for the program to respond.
These suggestions apply to Microsoft Word for Office 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, Word 2010, and Word for Mac.
Cause of Microsoft Word Not Responding Messages
You’ll most often encounter a «Microsoft Word is not responding» message for one of several reasons:
- A failure to open, save, or access a document hosted on a remote server, often arising from a server timeout.
- A damaged program file.
- An incompatible add-in.
How to Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding
Sometimes the answer is as simple as restarting the computer. If this approach doesn’t resolve the problem, disabling add-ins and possibly repairing the program are the best courses of action.
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Start Word in Safe Mode. Loading the application without templates and add-ins allows you to see if the program works as it should or if it is corrupted.
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Disable add-ins. If «Word not responding» is not an error in Safe Mode, an incompatible add-in is a likely culprit.
- Select File > Options > Add-ins to open Word Options.
- Choose the Go button under Manage near the bottom of the window to open the COM Add-ins dialog box.
- Clear the check boxes next to each add-in to disable all add-ins.
- Select OK to apply the changes and close the dialog box.
If the «Word not responding» error message no longer appears, enable each add-in one at a time, and restart Word after each one to determine which one caused the problem.
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Repair the document. If the error appears when you open or save a specific Word file, that document might be corrupted. Use a tool within Word to fix it.
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Repair Word. In Windows 10, open the Settings app and select Apps & Features. Select Microsoft Office from the app list, select Modify, then follow the options to repair Office programs.
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Uninstall and reinstall Word. You’ll need your Microsoft ID and Product Key. Remove it through Windows Settings or download the MS Office Uninstall Support Tool to remove it completely. On a Mac, drag it into the trash and reinstall it.
Uninstalling Office from your computer only removes the Office applications you installed. Files, documents, and workbooks are not removed.
FAQ
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Why is spell check not working in Word?
If spell check isn’t working in Word, make sure spell check is turned on, check the proofing language, and check for proofing exceptions. If you still have problems, try opening Word in Safe Mode or disabling add-ons one at a time.
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How do I fix it when a Word file won’t open?
If a Word file won’t open, check the file association. Right-click the file, select Open With, and choose Microsoft Word. To repair a damaged file in Word, go to File > Open > Browse, and highlight the file you want. Select the Open drop-down arrow, then choose Open and Repair.
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How do I fix Word not responding without losing data?
After closing Word, reopen the program and try to recover the unsaved document. Go to File > Manage Documents > Recover Unsaved Documents, or go to File > Open > Browse and search for a backup of the file. You can also go to Windows Explorer and look for any recovered or temp files.
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Microsoft Word is a highly renowned program with a user-friendly design to create, edit, and save documents. It supports basic formatting like changing font size and colors, text style, creating bulleted lists, inserting images, and many more. Whenever you create a Word file, it gets saved in DOC or DOCX file format. However, due to some human mistakes or bugs, you might find a few flaws in the Word application such as MS Word program freezes or showing an error message saying “Microsoft Word not responding”.
When your MS Word freezes frequently and throws a Word not responding error on the top of the menu then it can be due to corrupt Word documents, incompatible third-party add-ins, improper installation of Word application, latest Windows updates are not installed, etc.
This Word error might put you in a complex situation and you will be worried about what to do when the Word is not responding. Stay calm! In such a case, you just try terminating the Word application and restart the program else restart the system. If it can’t help you, then follow the below-proven methods to fix Microsoft Word not responding.
Note: If the Word not responding is due to Word document corruption or damage then, you can easily fix it using Remo Repair Word software. Refer to method 4 to know more about it.
How To Fix Word not responding on Windows?
1. Start Microsoft Office program in Safe mode
To handle this situation, the first and foremost thing that you need to do is to open the MS Word in Safe Mode with no add-ons (or plug-ins).
- Press Windows Key + R at once.
- Copy or type winWord /safe in the Open box of the Run window and click Enter.
- Now, press and hold the Ctrl key, and double-click on the Microsoft Office Word to open it.
If the above process successfully opens your Word application in Safe mode then, the problem is not related to the Word file corruption but is due to the add-ins, which can be easily fixed using method 2.
In case, if Microsoft Word application doesn’t open in the Safe mode then your Word file is damaged or corrupted. To easily fix Microsoft Word not responding issue, make use of the Remo Repair Word tool by referring to the below method 4.
2. Disable Add-ins causing Microsoft Word not responding
After opening the Word application in Safe mode. The next thing to do to resolve Microsoft Word not responding is to disable the incompatible add-ins that cause Microsoft freezing, crashing, or not responding errors.
- Open Word file which is still in the safe mode to fix Word not responding.
- Click the File tab and then select Options.
- Select the Add-ins option and click on the Go button.
- Now, uncheck the available third-party add-ins one at a time and Restart the Windows computer.
- Repeat this method till all the add-ins causing the Word not responding is not disabled.
Once you fix the Microsoft Word not responding issue by disabling the third-party add-ins, you can exit the Word program to stop Safe mode and then start it again normally to access your Word document on Windows without any error.
3. Repair Microsoft Word/ Office Programs
You can make use of the below steps to fix Word not responding using the inbuilt Repair option. This method will fix all the issues related to the Microsoft Word program and thereby you can easily access all your Word documents.
- Go to Settings on your Windows computer.
- Click on the Apps option and then choose Apps and features.
- Select Microsoft Office Professional or Word (if it is shown) and hit the Modify button.
- Click on the Quick Repair if you want to fix the Word not responding frequently without the internet or select Online Repair to fix the issue using the internet.
- Finally, click the Repair button to start fixing Word not responding in Windows 10.
If your Word application still crashes or not responds after you open a Word file, then this Microsoft Word error is due to severe Word file corruption, which can be easily fixed using the below method.
4. Utilize the Remo Repair Word tool
Remo Repair Word is the ultimate solution to repair your corrupt Word document that is not responding in just a few simple clicks. The tool is equipped with highly advanced algorithms that could easily detect and repair all Word document errors securely. After repair, you can easily extract all your Word data including the attached hyperlinks, embedded tables, pictures, clip arts, and many others with high accuracy.
Download and try the tool now without having to pay anything!!!
Free Download For Windows
Step 1: Download and install the Remo Repair Word tool on your Windows.
Step 2: Launch the tool and click on the Browse option to select the corrupt Word document showing not responding error.
Step 3: Click on the Repair button to initiate the repair process.
Step 4: After the completion of the Repair process, click on the Save button to restore the fixed Word document to your desired location.
Features Of Remo Repair Word tool
- Allows you to preview the repaired Word document for free.
- Easily repairs .doc and .docx Word file formats created on MS Word 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003, and 2000.
- Easy to use GUI to help even the novice users to fix the frozen Word file, Word not responding, Word file crashing, etc.
- Offers 24 / 7 free technical support.
- The tool is compatible with all the latest versions of the Windows operating system including Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, etc. to repair the Word document safely.
5. Uninstall and Reinstall Microsoft Word
Before you uninstall the Word application to fix Word not responding due to improper installation, it is advised to save your MS Office activation/ serial key in a text document to activate the Microsoft Word again.
- Click on the Windows Start button and type Control Panel.
- Open Control Panel and click on the Program and Features.
- Locate and select the Microsoft Word program and click Uninstall.
- After the uninstallation process completes, reinstall Microsoft Word.
Microsoft Word is probably the best-known word processing software on the market. In fact, many people use the term “Word” generically to refer to any word processing program. Despite years of development and widespread use, the Word application doesn’t always run smoothly. Often, Word freezes during startup or will not open a file. In many cases, the problem is not caused by Word itself, but by previously installed add-ins, macros, or antivirus software. Corrupted documents or templates can also prevent Word from responding when you launch it.
Contents
- Restart and install updates
- Start Word in Safe Mode
- Automatic Office Repair
- Disable Word add-ins
- Delete Normal.dotm
- Change the Windows default printer
- Problems with antivirus software
Restart and install updates
This simple trick will often resolve the issue:
- Instead of openingWord by double-clicking a document, click the application icon.
- Create a new document and save it. In most cases, you can then open Word as usual by double-clicking on a document after that.
Missing updates in the program are another common source of the problem. Sometimes, Microsoft Word stops working or fails to open if the latest updates have not been installed and you’re using newer macros or Windows system components. Make sure that both Word and Windows are automatically updated on a regular basis.
Tip
Microsoft 365, formerly known as “Microsoft Office 365” is a server-based Office suite including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for personal users and small businesses. With Microsoft 365, you always automatically have the latest version and never have to worry about updates.
Here’s how to receive automatic updates:
- In the Windows 10 settings app, choose “Update and Security” and then “Windows Update” and click on “Advanced options” at the bottom of the screen.
- In the next window, turn on “Receive updates for other Microsoft products when you update Windows”. This means that Windows Update will automatically search for updates for Word and other Office components and install them in the background along with Windows security updates.
Start Word in Safe Mode
You can start Word in Safe Mode, as you would if you were having difficulties starting Windows. Safe Mode bypasses add-ins, macros, customized toolbars, or templates that are loaded automatically at startup. There are two ways to start Word in Safe Mode:
- Hold down the Ctrl key while double-clicking the Word icon to open the application. Word then starts in Safe Mode.
- Alternatively, you can use the “/safe” command to open Word. To do this, use the keyboard shortcut Windows logo key + R and enter “winword /safe”.
Automatic Office Repair
Microsoft has a built-in Office Repair utility that you can use to fix many problems that cause Office applications like Word to stop responding.
- This repair feature can be found in the Windows 10 settings under “Apps”.
- Search the list for “Microsoft Office” and click on “Modify”.
- Choose “Yes” when prompted by User Account Control to confirm.
- In the next dialog box, you can choose to add or remove further features or repair the entire Office suite. If the repair is successful, you’ll usually be able to launch Word without any issues.
There is also an automatic document recovery feature that opens if documents were not saved the last time you closed Word. The next time you launch Word, the software will try to recover unsaved Word documents automatically.
Disable Word add-ins
If Word works in Safe Mode but doesn’t start properly other time, the problem is usually caused by a previously installed add-in.
- Click on “Options” on the “File” tab on the ribbon.
- In the next dialog box, select the “Add-ins” section in the sidebar. All installed add-ins will be listed.
- In the “Manage” drop-down menu at the bottom of the dialog box, select “COM Add-ins” and click on “Go”.
- Uncheck the box for all COM add-ins in the list to start Word without these potentially problematic add-ins. Select “OK” and then restart Word. If an incompatible add-in was causing Word to stop working, the application should now run without any issues.
In this dialog box, you can re-enable individualWord—add-ins one by one to locate the problem add-in. If possible, install a new version of the incompatible add-in. Otherwise, remove it or leave it inactive until the vendor provides an update.
Delete Normal.dotm
Word uses the Normal.dotm template for all new documents. This template includes default styles, customized ribbons, and other settings. An error in this template can cause Word to stop working.
- First, close Word.
- Rename the “Normal.dotm” file in the folder C:Users<username>AppDataRoamingMicrosoftTemplates. For example, you could rename it to “_Normal.dotm”.
- When you restart Word, a new default template will be created automatically. Any custom styles or other customizations will be lost.
Change the Windows default printer
Like all Microsoft Office applications, Word accesses information from the installed default printer to match the layout of documents on the screen as closely as possible to the print layout. If the default printer driver does not work or the default printer is not connected, Word may fail to open.
- In the Windows 10 settings, go to “Devices” and then “Printers & scanners” and set a working printer as the default printer. For example, choose the preinstalled “Microsoft Print to PDF” printer.
- Restart Word. The problem should now be resolved if it was caused by the printer settings.
Problems with antivirus software
Third-party antivirus software can cause Word to freeze when you open it or prevent it from opening at all. Some antivirus software does not recognize Word macros or add-ins correctly and blocks them. In many cases, an error message is not even displayed when this happens.
- Check the scan logof your antivirus software to see whether Word or a certain add-in was blocked.
- If you can’t find anything in the log, try to start Word with the antivirus software turned off. If this solves the problem, the antivirus software was most likely the culprit.
- Go to the settings of your antivirus software and try to exclude Word and other Microsoft Office components as well as all add-ins you want to use. You are less likely to have any issues opening Word and other Microsoft applications if you use the Microsoft Defender Antivirus software included in Windows 10 instead of third-party antivirus programs.
Word Shortcuts: an overview of the best ones
Word shortcuts make working with the popular word processing program quicker and easier. Whether you are copying text, printing a document or changing the formatting – many commands do not need a mouse click to be activated. Thanks to shortcuts, you can work faster and more effectively. Here is a list of the most common Word shortcuts.
Word Shortcuts: an overview of the best ones
Excel is not responding: What to do when Excel is not working
Excel is not working: As a Microsoft Office user, you’ve no doubt experienced this issue before. Excel freezes and suddenly stops responding for a number of reasons. These can include problematic add-ins or other issues that are not caused by Excel itself, such as printer settings or issues with antivirus software. We’ll show you how you can easily fix this problem yourself.
Excel is not responding: What to do when Excel is not working
How to turn spell check on and off in Word
In this guide, you’ll learn how to turn spell check on and off in Word. If you want to check your spelling in Word, you can set the application to automatically display misspelled words and grammatical errors. Word can also suggest corrections, which you can accept or ignore. You can show or hide these highlighted errors at any time.
How to turn spell check on and off in Word
What to do if spell check isn’t working in Word
Has spell check stopped working in Microsoft Word? If so, it’s usually either turned off or the text is formatted in the wrong language. Usually, all you have to do is select the correct language so that only actual spelling errors are marked with wavy red lines. Incorrectly formatted styles can also cause the spell check to stop working.
What to do if spell check isn’t working in Word
If you meet the Microsoft Word not responding issue on Windows 10 or Mac when typing, saving, closing, printing, and don’t how to fix it, check the 10 ways in this post to fix Word not responding error and use the best free data recovery software – MiniTool Power Data Recovery – to try to recover lost or mistakenly deleted Word document files.
Microsoft Word Not Responding
Common questions of “Word not responding” issue:
- How can I save a Word document that is not responding?
- How do you unfreeze a Word document?
- What do I do when Microsoft Word is not responding when I didn’t save?
- What to do if Word is not responding on Mac?
- How do you unfreeze Microsoft Word on a Mac?
Many of you may have ever encountered the “Word not responding” error when using Microsoft Word.
Normally for those who have a habit to constantly save the word file when typing, they may force to close the Word software and then open it again to choose a most recent version to save to recover the word file. But for others who don’t do this or forget to save the word document, it would be a disaster and the word doc file may be lost or can’t be opened again.
Therefore, how to fix Word not responding error and recover the unsaved Word document file?
This post provides 10 ways to help you fix Word not responding Windows 10/Mac, Microsoft Word has stopped working, Word crashes or keeps freezing issues, and provides a professional Word file recovery software for Windows 10/8/7 and Mac to enable you to recover lost or unsaved document file.
Let’s find out what might cause Word not responding issue and how to fix it.
#1. Disable Third-party Plug-ins (Add-ons)
Third-party plug-ins or add-ons are often considered as the biggest troublemakers that cause Microsoft Word not responding or freezes issue.
You can disable or remove the plug-ins from Microsoft Word one by one, restart the computer and open Microsoft Word again to see if it can fix this issue. Check how to disable plug-ins in Microsoft Word below.
Step 1. Open Microsoft Word and click File button in the toolbar, then click Options in the left panel.
Step 2. Next you can click Add-ins in the left panel, and all the plug-ins in Word will be listed in the right panel.
Step 3. Then you can disable all third-party add-ons from your Microsoft Office Word. You can click Go button next to the COM Add-ins box, and tick any add-ins in the list and click OK to disable them.
After that, you can restart your computer and open Microsoft Word again to see if the Word not responding issue is fixed. If not, continue to check other ways below to fix it.
#2. Start Microsoft Word in Safe Mode to Fix Word Not Responding
Microsoft Word Safe Mode is specially designed to troubleshoot word issues. If you start Word in Safe Mode, all third-party services and applications will be automatically disabled. You can open Microsoft in Safe Mode to see if it can work normally. You can check how to launch Word in Safe Mode below.
Step 1. You can click Start in your Windows 10 computer and find the Microsoft Word application. You can also press Windows + S key on the keyboard, and type Microsoft Word to locate and point to Microsoft Word program.
Step 2. Now you can press Ctrl key and click the Office Word program at the same time, and it will launch Microsoft Word in Safe Mode.
Step 3. Then you can use the Word program to see if it can work well, and if the Word not responding issue is still existed.
You can also run Microsoft Word in Safe Mode by using Command Prompt.
You can press Windows + R keys on the keyboard, type cmd to open Command Prompt.
Then you can enter the path where the Office Word program is installed in the command prompt window, and type winword.exe /safe after the path. Thus you can run Word in safe mode.
Microsoft own offers an MS Office Application Recovery feature. You may try this feature to see if it can help fix Microsoft Word not responding, has stopped working issue, and recover the unsaved word document files. Check the step-by-step guide below.
Step 1. You can click Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Office Tools -> MS Office Application Recovery, to open Microsoft Office recovery tool.
Step 2. Next you can select the Word file that is not responding, and click Recovery Application option to recover the unsaved or lost word file.
If you can’t find this feature on your computer, you can try other ways in this post to fix the Word not responding issue.
#4. Use Free Data Recovery Software to Recover Deleted/Lost Word Files
MiniTool Power Data Recovery is the best professional data recovery software for Windows 10/8/7/. It enables you to easily recover lost or mistakenly deleted Word document files.
This top data recovery tool helps you recover files, folders, photos, music, videos, or any kinds of data from computer hard drive, external hard drive, SSD, USB drive, SD card and more.
This best free file undelete software for Windows 10/8/7 is 100% clean and safe. You can use it to recover deleted/lost data and files from different data loss situations, incl. OS crash, virus attack, malware infection, hard drive errors, etc. If the word file is lost due to the Word not responding error, you can also use this tool to recover the lost word file.
Free download MiniTool Power Data Recovery in Windows 10/8/7 PC, and follow the 3 simple steps below to recover deleted or lost word files.
Free Download
Step 1 – Open the word file recovery software
Launch MiniTool Power Data Recovery to enter its main UI. Click This PC in the left column.
Step 2 – Scan deleted, lost word files
Select the partition or drive in which contains your lost word files, and click Scan button.
If you don’t know the exact partition where your word files are lost, then you can scan the partitions on your Windows 10 PC one by one until you find the lost word files.
Step 3 – Find and recover the word files
When the scan process is completed, you can find the lost or deleted word doc files from the scan result window, and click Save button to store the recovered word files to a new path.
You can also click Find, Filter, Show Lost Files buttons to quickly find the lost or deleted word files. Find function lets you search the word file by name, while Filter feature allows you to find the files by file extension, file size, file creation date, etc.
Tip: To recover deleted or lost word files on Mac, please turn to the professional Mac data recovery software – MiniTool Mac Data Recovery.
You can also try to fix Word not responding, Word keeps freezing or Word crashes issue by using Office embedded repair tool.
Step 1. You can click Start, type control panel, choose the top result Control Panel to open it.
Step 2. Next you can click Programs -> Uninstall a program.
Step 3. Then you can right-click Microsoft Office Suite, and click Change. In the pop-up window, you can click Repair and Continue.
Step 4. In the pop-up window, you will see a message “How would you like to repair your Office Programs”. It offers two repair modes: Online Repair, Quick Repair. You can select one preferred repair mode to let it repair the Office programs.
After the Word repair finishes, you can restart the computer and check if the Word file can normally respond now.
#6. Temporarily Disable Anti-virus Software
If you have installed third-party antivirus software in your computer, you can temporarily disable the antivirus software to see if the Word not responding or crashing/freezing issue can be fixed.
After you disable the antivirus software, you can restart your computer and open Word again to see if it can normally work, if not, then you can turn on the antivirus software again since it protects your computer from threats.
#7. Update Device Drivers, Graphics Card
Outdated device drivers, graphics card version may also cause malfunction of Office Word program. You may try to update device drivers, and update graphics card to see if it can fix Word not responding Windows 10 error.
You can easily update device drivers in Windows 10 with Device Manager.
Step 1. You can click Start and type Device Manager, choose the top best-match result to open Windows 10 Device Manager.
Step 2. Choose the device category and right-click the target device and select Update Driver.
If you want to update graphics card driver, you can click Display adaptors, and right-click the graphics driver to choose Update Driver.
Step 3. Then you can select Search automatically for updated driver software to update the driver of the device.
#8. Temporarily Disable Hardware Acceleration
Microsoft Word not responding error may be also caused by hardware acceleration error in the Windows 10 OS. You can try to disable hardware graphics acceleration to see if the Word program can normally work.
Step 1. You can right-click the desktop and choose Personalize option. Then select Display and choose Change display settings.
Step 2. You can click Advanced settings to open Graphics Properties window, and tap Troubleshoot option.
Step 3. If the current display driver allows you to change the settings, you can click Change settings button to open Display Adapter Troubleshooter.
Step 4. Then you can drag the pointer to move it to the left to totally Disable Hardware Acceleration or reduce the hardware acceleration, and click OK.
#9. Fix Word Not Responding When Printing by Changing Default Printer
If the Microsoft Word is not responding when printing in Windows 10, you can change the default printer to have a try.
Step 1. You can press Windows + R on the keyboard, type control panel and hit Enter to open Windows Control Panel.
Step 2. Next you can select View device and printers under Hardware and Sound. And right-click another printer and select Set as default printer.
Then you can restart your Windows 10 computer to see if the Word not responding issue has been solved.
#10. Start Windows 10 in Safe Mode to Check Computer System Errors
If the Microsoft Word not responding error constantly occurs in your Windows 10 computer, you can also start Windows 10 in Safe Mode to check computer System Errors, file system corruptions, hard disk errors, etc.
How to Fix Word Not Responding Mac
Normally you can try these three methods to fix Word not responding on Mac.
#1. Open and Repair Word
Open Word and click Open on the File menu -> Choose the Word DOCX file -> Click the down arrow on the Open button, click Open and Repair.
#2. Repair Disk Errors and Permissions
Click Utilities on the Go menu -> Click Disk Utility to open this program -> Choose the hard drive and click First Aid tab -> Click Run to repair disk errors and permissions -> Click Done after it finishes.
#3. Launch Word in Safe Mode
- You can restart your Mac computer, press and hold the Shift key on the keyboard at the same time.
- When the Mac computer is turned on, you can release the Shift key, and you can see the Safe Boot on Mac startup screen.
- Then you can run Word for Mac in Safe Mode to see if Wording not responding/opening on Mac is fixed.
Useful Tip
To avoid the possible data loss due to Word not responding error, it’s suggested that you always back up important word files with professional and free backup software.
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Bottom Line
It’s recommended that you save the word file time to time when you are using it. If the word file is not responding, crashes or freezes when using, saving or printing, you can try these 10 ways in this post to restore the unsaved word files, as well as recover lost or mistakenly deleted word files with MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
If you still have issues about how to recover lost or deleted word files, please contact [email protected].
Have you ever experienced writing when all of a sudden your Microsoft Word is not responding?
One of the most annoying times when you are working with Microsoft Word is that whenever you are at the middle of a task and in a hurry, all of a sudden the entire program froze and the screen became white and an error message appears Microsoft Word is Not Responding.
Sometimes, the error shows up during saving or even while typing. You will notice that you are unable to type any letters or click on anything. The worst part is your file might be lost when the application closes, and you might need to redo everything.
This error may be caused by a lot of factors and this is what we will discuss in this article today. We value how much you needed to finish your work, and so it is just right that you understand why this error is happening, what could be the potential reasons and what you can do to resolve this.
Part 1. Restore Lost Files with Data Recovery When Microsoft Word is Not RespondingPart 2. Three Other Effective Ways on How to Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding IssuePart 3. Bonus Tip: Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding on MacPart 4. Summary
Part 1. Restore Lost Files with Data Recovery When Microsoft Word is Not Responding
Lost computer files are difficult to retrieve compared to your mobile phone, just like the file you were saving on the Microsoft Word before it was not responding. Although it saves a copy of the last file you created by default, you might have a hard time navigating to that folder and sometimes only to find out, it was not saved at all.
The best option you can do is to install FoneDog Data Recovery. It deeply scans your computer and quickly recovers lost files including those from Microsoft Word. This recovery program features retrieval of important files such as documents, images, videos, audios, recycle bin, and more.
Free DownloadFree Download
How to Use FoneDog Data Recovery:
If this is your first time using this program, follow this guide on how you can quickly get your lost Microsoft Word file back:
- Open FoneDog Data Recovery on your computer. Follow its on-screen prompt on how to download and install the software.
- Choose the desired file to recover. For this example, select Documents and select the Hard Drive where your Microsoft Word is located; this will make the scanning quicker. Otherwise, choose all the drives listed. Click Scan.
- Wait for the scanning to be completed and find the recovered files under the .docx format
- Mark the document/s you want to recover and click the Recover button to save them on your computer.
If for example, the exact file you were looking was not found among the quick scan results, you can retry and select the deep scan method.
That’s it! You can now proceed on saving or printing the said Microsoft Word file and submit it on the deadline!
Part 2. Three Other Effective Ways on How to Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding Issue
Microsoft Word not responding issue is actually a simple error if you know where and what to do if you want to know how you can recover and fix this problem, we have listed 3 other effective ways. Check them out.
Solution 1. Access Repair Tool
When the Microsoft Word is not responding during saving or opening a document, you can repair the program using the Repair Tool on Windows. The process on every Windows version might be different but the steps are similar.
Here’s how to access and fix Microsoft Word:
- Open the Control Panel on your computer. You can do this by typing control panel on the search bar beside the Start button (Windows icon).
- When the control panel window opens, find and click on Apps and Features
- Navigate to Microsoft Word among the listed apps and features of your computer and then right-click and select Change.
- Select Repair on the Installation Wizard screen and follow the onscreen prompt to complete the repair and then restart Microsoft Word
Upon restarting the application, check if you are able to save the file and continue where you left off.
Solution 2. Turn off/Remove Add-ins on Microsoft Word
Another option to fix your Microsoft Word is to disable the add-ins. These add-ins are custom features added to your MS Word and sometimes, they might cause issues while accessing or using the program.
How to disable Add-ins on MS Word?
- Access your Microsoft Word and go to File and click Options. Find and select Add-ins
- Scroll down to Manage and click go
- Choose the add-ins you want to turn off listed inside the dialog box. Simply uncheck the box to disable the desired add-in/s
However, this solution is quite technical, especially when you are unfamiliar with add-ins. You might end up messing up the entire application in case you disable them without proper knowledge about add-ins.
Solution 3. Locate Microsoft Word Backup File
If the above solutions did not resolve the issue, you can restore the Microsoft Word backup file. Like what I mentioned earlier, Microsoft Word creates an automatic backup file by default so you can retrieve any lost file, in any case, the application will have issues.
Usually, when the MS word application does not respond, it will crash immediately and close. Upon re-opening the program, there is an auto-recovered file shown on the left pane. There is none, you can search for the backup file instead.
To search for the backup file, follow this guide:
- If you were able to save the file, then you can go to the folder location and search through the files with .wbk extension. These are extensions used by the program to create copies of the .doc file format in case it is corrupted or been deleted.
- After searching in the folder and there was no file found, you can try entering *.wbk on your computer’s search box and press enter. This will prompt the entire computer to search for all the files with the same extension. A list of all document will appear on the screen, search through this list for the missing file.
- Once you have located the missing document, go to the File menu and click Open
- Select All Files and choose the backup file you found earlier and select Open
If by any chance this method does not work, you can try auto-recovering the Word document.
- Open the Task Manager, and go to the Processes tab. You can access the Task Manager by right-clicking on the taskbar menu or you can use the Win + Run and enter taskmgr
- Find Winword.exe or Microsoft Word and click End Task. You must do this to all the file extensions you see on this tab until you have closed all file extensions
- Exit Task Manager and retry to open MS Word. Upon opening the MS Word, there will be an auto-recovered file on the left side of the application. Choose the correct document and double-click on it. After opening the recovered file, you can go ahead and click Save As and find the right destination folder
Part 3. Bonus Tip: Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding on Mac
We have given you the details solutions on how to fix Microsoft Word not responding on a Windows computer. However, we haven’t provided any solutions to those Mac users yet, so as a bonus, we will give you quick fixes on Mac.
The very first thing you can do is to force quit the Microsoft Word once you see the error message on your screen. After that, try the following methods:
Method 1. Erase Auto Recover Folder
- Click Home from the Go To menu and open Microsoft User Data found in Documents. From here you are able to see the Auto-recovery folder.
- Open this folder and find the missing Microsoft Word and copy the file to another folder of your choice.
- Re-launch Microsoft Word and see if it works and responding
Method 2. Remove MS Word Preference Files
- Enter ~/Library on the Go To menu and access the Preferences folder
- Locate Microsoft.Word.plist and copy or move this to another folder or the desktop
- Try to access Microsoft Word again and see if you are able to use it now
But, what if the file is no longer found, what should be your next steps? Remember, when you are unable to find the missing Word document, you can always rely on FoneDog Data Recovery. This program works on both the Windows and Mac computers.
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Part 4. Summary
In this article, we are able to provide you 4 ways to fix Microsoft Word not responding issue. This problem is a common scenario for those users who use this application on a daily basis. Usually, this error occurs during saving the document or upon accessing the file.
Among the solutions we have gathered, using FoneDog Data Recovery is the best method since you will no longer have to spend a lot of time searching and troubleshooting your computer just to retrieve the missing file.
Apart from this, we have also listed other solutions that could help you go over this error on your Windows and Mac computers. I hope this article has provided you with the complete guide and help you resolve this problem in no time.