Whoever is reading this, anxiety, depression, or even rage may fill your heart now as Microsoft Word crashes amid opening, editing, saving, or printing a file. That gets worse when you try it multiple times and the software keeps crashing.
We must do something to get the software to work properly to ensure we complete the task on time. Stay tuned and find the methods to fix your crashed Word. Also, if you want to recover the file that you haven’t saved or resume the incomplete printing, this post includes the solutions too.
Fixes for Crashing Word:
- Method 1: Restart the Computer
- Method 2: Update or Reinstall Word
- Method 3: Restore Database Files of Word
- Method 4: Disable Add-ins
- Method 5: Run Word in Safe Mode
- Tip: Recover A Word File If Word Crashes When Saving It
Method 1: Restart the Computer
What is the most versatile way for computer errors? A reboot.
Both Windows OS and macOS are designed to be self-healing. While restarting your computer, the system gets the chance to fix all the glitches by itself. No third party is involved.
So, restart your computer. Run the Word and see if it crashes or not.
Method 2: Update or Reinstall Word
Computer and phone applications have bugs and whoever created a program will try to find all the existing bugs and think about solutions to fix the bugs. App developers will, therefore, release an update from time to time to the users to fix the possible bugs.
If your Word crashes out for no reason, that’s possibly not anything about your computer or file, it’s the software itself to be blamed.
- On your Word, run an update by clicking File – Account – Update Options – Update Now. The names of the buttons may differ because of different versions of Word on Windows.
- For Mac users, just go to App Store and find Word, click the Update button.
Method 3: Restore Database Files of Word
People might delete some important database files when their intention is to clear trash and cache from the Word folder on This PC manually.
While using Word for text file editing, caches are produced and left on our computer, taking up the storage of the system drive and slowing down the PC. Some computer cleaners boast that they can maximize the performance of your device by terminating all disturbing trash, which is just propaganda though. Some will just slip through the net and keep on slowing down your computer.
If you know a little bit about computers and the location of the Word software on your computer, you can delete those cache by yourself. In this process, you may have accidentally deleted some database files that support the Word to run properly.
If that really happens, you can either go to the Trash Bin of your computer and restore them or reinstall the whole Word software if the Trash is empty.
Method 4: Disable Add-ins, or Even Remove
Similar to the extensions for Chrome, third-parties add-ins are believed to boost the productivity of Microsoft Word. However, with more add-ins mounted to your Microsoft Word, the risk of crashing your Word is bigger as add-ins are not as reliable as a decent and licensed program.
- The developers of add-ins will spend more time upgrading the performance of their creation to attract more Word owners. As for the bugs that minorities will face, they will most likely not list it as a priority.
As an add-in lover, the first importance is to disable or even remove the add-ins for your Word software. Even though later you might lose some fun using the program, at least, you can still use the program.
On your Word software, hit the File option from the top left corner and choose Options from the pull-down list. Word will pop out a new window where you need to click on Add-ins on the list.
There, hit the Go button that lies next to the Manage: Com-in Add option. A new dialogue shows up where you can disable add-ins by unchecking them, or get rid of them with the Remove button.
Click OK to complete.
Tip:
If you can’t endure a dull Word without add-ins, you may try to disable one add-in at a time and run a file. See which add-in is the culprit and remove it solely.
Method 5: Run Word in Safe Mode
You may complain: Word crashes when I run it and I can’t even launch it. How can I disable the add-ins?
There’s a walkaround for this setback: the Safe Mode.
Safe Mode is a backup startup developed by Microsoft. It aims to help users launch an Office tool when the program is not opening and responding. It will launch an Office kit without the interruption from add-ins, bugs, and errors.
First of all, locate the CTRL button on your keyboard and press it. Then, double-click on the shortcut of Word on your desktop.
A prompt appears asking you whether you want to start Word in Safe Mode. Click Yes to confirm.
The software is open now. Start to disable the add-ins then.
Tip: Recover A Word File If Word Crashes When Saving It
Things are just fine if Word crashes when you try to launch it or open a Word file. You don’t suffer at all. But if you’re reading this part, you may be waiting for this nightmare, Word crashes while saving a file, to go away.
The file that you shed sweat for is not saved. Nothing is more torturing if the deadline is near. But don’t accept fate just yet, there’s something we can try.
First of all, Microsoft applies an auto-save function for every Office kit. This auto-save will save the file on your computer hard drive even if you don’t save it. Find your unsaved Word file via the path below then.
- Windows: C:\Users\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Word
- Mac: Users\Library\Containers\com.Microsoft\Data\Library\Preferences\AutoRecovery
Bonus: Recover Unsaved Word File when Autosave Is Not Working
If you’re saying that autosave is not activated on your Word or you can’t find the target file from the folder, you may apply to a third-party retriever like echoshare Data Recovery.
Like a remedy, it will bring your unsaved, corrupted, or deleted files in any format back to you. Data loss is not more a stumbling stone but dust and dirt that you will never care about. Download this data recovery software, run a scan on your computer hard drive, locate the unsaved data that Word fails to save, and recover it. Simple and quick.