Word is waiting for an ole action to finish

The OLE feature is extremely useful when you need to interact/communicate with other applications like Excel using Word. Moreover, you can insert an object and import data from other apps with it.

However, you can encounter the “Word Is Waiting for an Ole Action to Finish” error message because of the same feature.

Generally, the error occurs when you try to open/import data from other applications but get stuck waiting for the other app to receive the data in Word. Likewise, a corrupt add-in can also lead to this issue.

Sometimes, a simple restart of the Word app or the system resolves the issue. But in most cases, you need to apply several fixes to resolve the error message.

Nonetheless, you can go through various solutions in this article to eliminate the error message.

Why are you seeing “Word Is Waiting for an OLE Action to Finish”?

Before moving on to the fixes, try all the three options in the above error message; Switch To, Retry, and Cancel. See if the error goes away.

But if the error persists, you can go through the following fixes.

Open Word in Safe Mode

Opening Word in safe mode runs the app with the most basic configuration and without the third-party add-ins. Also, you can run it in case Word fails to open or crashes.

To open Word in safe mode,

1. Press Windows + X and select the Run option.
2. Enter the command winword /safe and click OK.
   
3. Alternatively, press and hold the Ctrl key while opening the Word app.

Close the Conflicting Applications

Since this error arises while Word interacts with other applications, you can close them to resolve your issues. 

For instance, if you were working with Mathtype, close its window. You can use the Alt +Tab keyboard shortcut to view open apps on your system.

But, in case you don’t find the open apps, you can directly close them using the task manager as follows.

1. Open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
2. Then, under the Processes tab, select the application.
3. Click the End task button in the bottom right corner.
   

For a Mac system, use the shortcut key Option + Command + Esc and select the apps you want to quit.

Note: Many people have faced the above error message while working with Adobe Acrobat. Therefore, close the program or look for a process name acrord32.exe and end it as mentioned above.

Remove the Add-In(s)

Add-ins are productive for various purposes and can assist you in performing a particular task easily. However, it can also cause the above error message as it can get corrupt and starts to interfere with the Word app.

So, you have to remove the problematic add-in from the Word app for it to work as expected. On the other hand, you can later re-add all the other ones.

1. Launch the Word app.
2. Click Options in the bottom left corner. Or, if you have opened a document, go to File > Options.
3. Click the Add-ins tab.
4. Now, select the options COM Add-ins next to the Manage field, and click the Go button.
5. Uncheck the installed add-ins one by one to disable them and see if the Word app works as expected. Alternatively, you can disable all the add-ins at once from
6. Then, once you find out the problematic add-in, select its checkbox and click Remove.

Repair the Office App

You can repair the Word app to resolve common Word issues and error messages. However, you need to repair the whole Microsoft Office package.

Nonetheless, here’s how you can do it.

1. Press Windows + X and select the Apps and Features option.
2. Then, click the Microsoft Office package installed on your system. Or, if you are using Windows 11, click the three vertical dots next to it.
3. Now, select the Modify option.
4. On the repair prompt, select Quick Repair and click Repair. Alternatively, you can also try the next option (Online Repair).
   
5. Check if the error message is resolved.

Update the Word App

An outdated Word app contains several unresolved bugs and issues. Hence, it can result in such issues. Hence, update it to the latest version to avoid the error message. 

On Windows

1. Launch the Word app.
2. Click Account in the bottom left corner.
3. Then, expand the Update Options and choose Update Now.
4. Wait for the update process to finish.
5. Relaunch the app and see if the error message is gone.

On Mac

1. First, launch the Word app.
2. Now, click the Help menu at the top and select the Check for Updates option.
3. Then, click the Update button. Additionally, check the Automatically keep Microsoft Apps up to date checkbox to allow automatic Word updates.
4. Relaunch the app and check if the error has disappeared.

Reinstall the App

If you didn’t succeed with the above fixes, you can reinstall the application to remove all the previous app data and its configurations. However, unlike on Mac, you cannot uninstall the Word app separately on Windows. You will need to uninstall the whole Office package.

Nonetheless, here’s how you can do it.

On Windows

1. Press Windows + R, type control to open the control panel.
2. Navigate to Programs > Programs and Features.
3. Select the Microsoft Office package from the list of apps.
4. Click Uninstall from the top bar and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the uninstallation process.
   

If you experience any issues while uninstalling, you can use the Microsoft Office Uninstall support tool. However, choose the correct Office version you are using on its prompt.

On Mac

1. Open the Finder app.
2. Under the Applications tab, select the Microsoft Word app.
3. Right-click on it and select Move to Trash.

After uninstalling, you can download the Office package (including Word) from its official site. First, sign in with your associated Microsoft account and install it from there. 

For Mac, open the Microsoft Office installer.pkg or similar from the downloads folder and install it on your system.

Finally, launch the Word app and check if it’s working as expected.

Error regarding OLE has something to with the communication between Word and other Office applications, and this is also might be due to add-ins on your Word….Replies (3) e70dPress Windows key + R to open the Run window.Type winword /safe, and click OK.Observe if you will experience the same behavior.

How do I unfreeze Microsoft Word without losing work?

Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, and then click Task Manager. Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar, and then click Task Manager. Click on the processes tab> look for Winword.exe > click on it and click on end process.

What do I do if my Word document is frozen?

Step 1. Press the combination Cmd+Option+Esc, and a window will pop-up. Step 2. After pressing the above keyboard combination, the Force Quit Applications should appear, select Microsoft Word and then click on the “Force Quit” button.

Will my Word document save if I force quit?

Also, if you have closed or quit the file manually, then the AutoRecover file is gone. Each time Word opens, it searches for AutoRecover files. If it finds anything to recover, it will show up in the Document Recovery task pane. To check and see if it is enabled, go to the Word options and click on “Save”.

What do you do when an unsaved document is not responding?

Open the Office application that you were using. Click the File tab. Click Recent. Scroll to the bottom of your “Recent Documents” (Office 2013 only), then click “Recover Unsaved Documents” if you are in Word, “Recover Unsaved Workbooks” if you are in Excel, or “Recover Unsaved Presentations” if you are in PowerPoint.

Why can’t I recover my unsaved Word document?

If you forgot to save Word document or your computer restarted and lost Word document, you can use the AutoRecover feature to recover unsaved Word document. Open Word, click the File tab > click Info > click Manage Document > click Recover Unsaved Documents. Then, find the unsaved Word document, click Open > Save As.

How do you close a word using the keyboard?

Close a document: Ctrl + W — “W” is for “whisk away that Word doc!”

What is the shortcut key to close a document?

Create and Edit DocumentsCreate a new document. Ctrl+N.Open a document. Ctrl+O.Close a document. Ctrl+W.Split the document window. Alt+Ctrl+S.Remove the document window split. Alt+Shift+C or Alt+Ctrl+S.Save a document. Ctrl+S.

What is Ctrl J in Word?

In Microsoft Word and other word processor programs, pressing Ctrl+J aligns the selected text or line to justify the screen.

What would you click if you want to reverse a recent action?

To reverse your last action, press CTRL+Z. You can reverse more than one action.

How do I remove all character formatting?

Use Ctrl + A to select all text in a document and then click the Clear All Formatting button to remove the formatting from the text (aka character level formatting.)

How do I clear the formatting in a Word document?

Clear formatting from textSelect the text that you want to return to its default formatting.In Word: On the Edit menu, click Clear and then select Clear Formatting. In PowerPoint: On the Home tab, in the Font group, click Clear All Formatting .

How do I remove special formatting in Word?

Clear formatting from any or all of the text in a document.Select the text from which you want to remove formatting in Word. Select Clear All Formatting in the upper-right corner of the Font group on the Home tab of the ribbon. Any formatting applied to the selected text will be removed.

Or, Word is waiting for an OLE action to finish in MS
office 2016.

Or, MS Word 2016 error “Word is waiting for an OLE
action to finish”.

Problem Descriptions: I had installed MS office 2016 today in my laptop
after a complete format. The very strange things I noticed after MS office
installation was, when I was trying to copy any image in Word file, it was
giving me this error. It was too much frustrating as the error was not going
away easily, even if you click on cancel, Switch to, or Retry options, its
keeps on hanging…

Error Screenshot:

Solution:

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OLE stands for Object Linking & Embedding. OLE is a machine specially developed by Microsoft to help MS Office applications, such as MS Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, interact and communicate with other applications. In this article, we’ve covered the problem in detail and suggested some of the easiest solutions you can apply to your computer to eliminate the error completely. We also listed the reasons why this error usually occurs on your computer.

What causes the “Word is waiting for OLE action to complete” error?

After studying the problem in detail, we concluded that the following causes are probably the most important for the error to occur.

• Background processes: Some background processes may prevent you from performing certain actions in Microsoft Word, causing the “Microsoft Word is waiting for another application to complete the OLE action” error.
• Add-ons: Some add-ons may interfere with Microsoft Word on your computer. You should try disabling add-ons and see if this solves the problem.
• Compatibility Mode: In some cases, Microsoft Word runs in compatibility mode, which can prevent it from working properly. You can disable this mode and see if that solves the problem.

Now that we have explained most of the causes of this problem, you can start implementing solutions.

How to solve the “Word is waiting for OLE action to complete” problem

Disable add-ons

Microsoft Word is a versatile program that can be used for a variety of tasks, from drafting documents to creating complex reports. These Add-ins are small programs that extend the functionality of Word, but they can also hog system resources and slow down the program. If you find that your copy of Word is running more slowly than usual, you may want to disable any Add-ins that you don’t need. Here’s how:

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Click on the “File” tab, then select “Options.”
3. In the “Word Options” window, select “Add-Ins.”
4. In the “Manage” drop-down menu, select “Disabled Items.”
5. Click “Go.”
6. In the “Disabled Items” dialog box, select any Add-ins that you want to disable and click “OK.”

With these steps, you can quickly disable any unnecessary Add-ins and help improve the performance of Microsoft Word.

Reboot your computer

There are times when your computer just isn’t working right. Maybe it’s running slowly, or you can’t open certain programs. Whatever the problem, restarting your computer can often fix it. Here’s how to do it on Windows 10:

1. Click the Start button, then click the power icon.
2. Select Restart from the menu that appears.
3. Your computer will now restart and hopefully, the problem will be resolved.

If you’re still having trouble after restarting your computer, you may need to try a more drastic measure, such as resetting your computer to its factory settings. But before you do that, be sure to create a backup of all your important files first!

Perform a disk cleanup

Windows 10 offers a built-in tool called Disk Cleanup that can help you free up space on your hard drive. Here’s how to use it:

1. Open the Start menu and type “Disk Cleanup.”
2. Select the Drive you want to clean up. For most people, this will be the C: drive.
3. Click “OK” to open the Disk Cleanup window.
4. Check the boxes next to the types of files you want to delete. The options include temporary files, recycle bin items and thumbnails. If you’re not sure what something is, you can click the “View Files” button to see a list of files that will be deleted.
5. Once you’ve selected all the file types you want to delete, click “Clean up system files” at the bottom of the window. This will open a new window with additional file types that can be deleted. Again, check the boxes next to the file types you want to delete and click “OK.”
6. Finally, click “Delete Files” to confirm and start the deletion process. Disk Cleanup will now delete the selected files from your computer. This should help you free up some space on your hard drive and potentially fix the “Word is waiting for an OLE action to complete” error.

Disable compatibility mode

Here’s how to disable compatibility mode on Windows 10:

1. Right-click the program shortcut or .exe file.
2. Select Properties.
3. Click the Compatibility tab.
4. Clear the checkbox next to “Run this program in compatibility mode for.”
5. Click OK to close the window.

This will disable the compatibility mode for the program, meaning that it will run normally on your computer without any issues. If you’re having trouble with a program that is running in compatibility mode, this is usually the first fix to try.

Reinstall Microsoft package

Microsoft Suite is a comprehensive set of productivity tools that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more. If you’re having trouble with your existing Microsoft Suite installation on Windows 10, you can try reinstalling it. Here’s how:

1. First, uninstall Microsoft Suite from your computer. You can do this by going to Control Panel > Programs and Features, selecting Microsoft Office from the list of installed programs, and clicking “Uninstall.”
2. Next, download the latest version of Microsoft Suite from the official website. Make sure to select the correct version for your Windows operating system.
3. Once the download is complete, run the installer and follow the prompts to complete the installation process. Once Microsoft Suite is installed, you should be able to use it without any issues.

Shut down MS Word using the task manager

Windows 10 offers a number of ways to end the Microsoft Word process, including using Task Manager. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

1. Open Task Manager by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting “Task Manager” from the pop-up menu.
2. Select the “Processes” tab at the top of the Task Manager window.
3. Find the “Microsoft Word” process in the list of processes and click on it to select it.
4. Click on the “End Process” button at the bottom of the Task Manager window.
5. Confirm that you want to end the process by clicking on the “End Process” button in the confirmation dialog box.

By following these steps, you can quickly and easily end the Microsoft Word process using Task Manager in Windows 10.

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