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FIX: Microsoft Word has stopped working in Windows 10
14 min. read
Updated onAugust 8, 2024
updated onAugust 8, 2024
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Key notes
To fix various driver issues on your PC, you will need a dedicated tool to find the freshest and the original drivers. You can use PC HelpSoft Driver Updater to do it in 3 easy steps:
Probably one of the most popular Office applications isMicrosoft Word. The text editor has millions of users, despite the fact that the application also has a few issues.
A common, and at the same time very vague error message, is, for instance,Microsoft Word has stopped working.
Today we’re going to focus on it and show you how to fix this problem onWindows 10.
What can I do if Word stops working on Windows 10?
How do I fix Microsoft Word (Office suite)?
- Repair the Office installation
This solution should work for all versions of Office. After repairing your Office installation, check if theerrorappears again. This also helps when you are faced with themsosync.exe error.
- Install the latest updates
Outdated versions of Word and Office might have a few bugs or incompatibility issues, so it’s recommended that you always update them.
To download Office updates, do the following:
If you have Office 2010 or older, you can check for updates by following these steps:
Windows 10 performs updates automatically, but you can also check manually for updates. To do that, follow these steps:
Update drivers
After updating the apps, make sure to also check your drivers. Windows usually update drivers in the background or with certain updates, however, glitches are possible.
So we recommend updating the drivers using reliable third-party tools to automatically install the newest one.
Downloading and installing drivers manually is a process that carries the risk of getting the wrong driver installed, which may lead to serious malfunctions of your system.
That being said, if you are not sure what kind of software to choose for driver administration, discover here thebest driver update software on Windows 10. Otherwise we recommend using PC HelpSoft Driver Updater.
⇒Get PC HelpSoft Driver Updater
- Reinstall Office completely
Reinstalling Office will get you a new, updated copy of the program, with no glitches, cache, or temporary files that might have affected the program’s functionality before.
To uninstall Office 2013, 2016, orOffice 365from your PC, you’ll need todownload Microsoft’s Office removal tool. It will remove all files and registry entries associated with Office.
After downloading the tool, start it and follow the instructions on the screen to complete the uninstall. Now you just need to restart your PC and install the same version of Office.
If you have Microsoft Office 2010 or older, we recommend that you download the appropriate removal tool from Microsoft’s website.
More so, to efficiently uninstall Office apps from your computer, without letting file leftovers behind, it’s advised to use thebest uninstaller software today.
- Disable Add-ins
In order to enhance their functionality,Wordand many other Office tools support add-ins. These little applications allow you to expand the functionality ofWordor any other Office tool with new features.
Unfortunately, not all add-ins are compatible with Windows 10 or with your version of Office and that can lead to the issue discussed here.
To find a problematic add-in you’ll need to repeat previous steps and enable add-ins one by one. Keep in mind that after enabling an add-in you have to restartWordagain. Repeat this process until you find the add-in that is causing this problem.
It’s worth mentioning that some users reported thatABBYY FineReader 9.0 Sprintadd-in was problematic for them on Word 2016.
However, it appears that updating ABBYY FineReader can resolve the issue for good.
Besides, Microsoft reported thatKingSoft’s PowerWordandDragon Naturally Speakingadd-ins also have problems withOffice 2013and 2016. The Bluetooth add-in also caused some trouble.
In all instances, disabling the ad-ins restored access to Word.
- Modify your registry
Word will automatically recreate the deleted key, and the problem should be resolved. We have to mention that this solution should work with almost any version of Word, so be sure to try it out.
- Remove the old printer driver
After deleting the driver, restart your PC and check if the issue is resolved. If removing the driver solves the problem, download and install the latest driver for your printer from the manufacturer’s website.
- Remove any recently installed software
Third-party applications can interfere with Word and causeerrors. To fix this problem, you’ll need to uninstall any recently installed software.
If you added any new hardware to your PC, such as a printer or scanner, you might want to try removing its driver and software and check if that solves the issue.
Or you might want to remove any tools that you installed in the past few weeks.
- Insert your document into another file
TheMicrosoft Word has stopped workingerrorcan sometimes appear while trying to open previously saved documents. If that’s the case, this step might help.
- Delete the Word Options registry key
Keys in your registry can get corrupted, and if that happens, you’ll need to remove them manually. Removing keys from the registry can lead to instability issues, therefore we advise you to create a backup of your registry, just in case.
To delete this key from the registry, do the following:
After doing that, try to start Word again and check if the problem is resolved. If the problem still persists, runWddata.regon your Desktop to restore the deleted key.
- Replace the Normal.dot global template file
Word stores formatting and macros in a global template file, and if your global template file is corrupted you’ll get thiserror message. So renaming the Normal.dot file should work.
Note that by altering this file you can lose your customization options such as styles, macros, etc. If you want to preserve those settings, we highly recommend that you copy the customization from one global template to another by using the Organizer.
- Disable Startup folder add-ins
If the problem still persists, you need to do the following:
- Delete COM add-ins registry keys
If the problem is resolved, it means that COM add-ins are causing this issue. To fix the problem, you need to find and disable the problematic COM add-in. First, you need to restore the deleted keys by running the exported .reg files. After that, follow these steps:
- Change the default printer
If theerror messagedoesn’t appear, it means that your printer was causing this problem.
To fix the problem, we advise that you update your printer drivers usingPC HelpSoft Driver Updater,as mentioned in the first solution, and check if that solves the issue.
- Create a new Windows profile
After making a new user account, switch to it and check if the problem is resolved.
If Word is working properly, you might have to continue using the new user account if you don’t manage to find another working solution.
How do I fix Microsoft Word 2013 issues?
- Set Word to Power Saving mode
Users reported Word 2013 being set to High-Performance mode surely causes functionality issues.
So go to your switchable graphics control panel and set Word 2013 to work in Power Savings mode. After doing that, try to run Word and check if the problem is resolved.
- Check your graphics card driver
This issue can sometimes appear due to problems with your graphics card driver. Users reported that they had problems with Nvidia drivers, and they fixed them by renaming theNVWGF2UM.DLLtoNVWGF2UM.old.
Renaming the driver files isn’t the best solution, especially since it’s hard to find the problematic driver file.
So we advise you to update your graphics card driver and check if that solves the issue. If the problem still persists, you might want to remove your driver and use the default driver from Microsoft.
Solution 3 – Disable your dedicated graphics card
Many laptops and some desktop computers have both integrated and dedicated graphics cards. According to users, they experiencedMicrosoft Word has stopped workingerrorbecause Word 2013 wasn’t compatible with theirAMDgraphics card.
To fix this problem, you need to temporarily disable the dedicated graphics card from the switchable graphics menu. After doing that, try to start Word 2013 and check if the problem is resolved. If the issue is fixed, you’ll need to download the latest drivers for your dedicated graphics card and check if that solves the problem.
- Disable Hardware Acceleration
If you can’t open Word 2013 at all, you can disable hardware acceleration using Registry Editor. To do that, follow these steps:
We have to mention that modifying the registry comes with certain risks, so we strongly advise you to create a backup of your registry before making any changes.
Hardware acceleration can be useful to achieve maximum performance with certain apps, but it seems that with Word 2013, there’s an opposite effect.
- Delete any add-in leftover files
Sometimes when you delete a certain add-in, its files might remain in the Office Startup folder.
Users reported that this is what happened with theMendeleyadd-in after they removed it.
Keep in mind that almost any leftover file from add-ins can cause this problem to appear, so be sure to check the Office Startup folder.
We already explained how to enter the Office Startup folder in one of our previous solutions, so be sure to check that solution for detailed instructions.
How do I fix Microsoft Word 2010 issues?
Users reported issues with theBluetooth add-inin Office 2013 and Office 2010. If you can’t disable the Bluetooth add-in, you might have to uninstall the Bluetooth driver or update it.
If you use Bluetooth frequently and you don’t want to uninstall the driver, you might be able to fix the problem by renaming two files.
On this note, users suggested renamingbtmoffice.dllandbtmofficea.dll. You can simply add .bak and the end of the file name to safely rename your files.
To find the files easier, use the search bar in File Explorer.
So these were our solutions to get Work running again. If you need to further investigate how to repair a Word document, we’ve got a dedicated articlespecifically on this topic.
If any of our recommendations worked for you, we’d like to hear that, so please use the comments sections below.
More about the topics:Microsoft Word issues
Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Milan has been enthusiastic about technology ever since his childhood days, and this led him to take interest in all PC-related technologies. He’s a PC enthusiast and he spends most of his time learning about computers and technology.
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s one of the Troubleshooting experts in our worldwide team, specializing in Windows errors & software issues.
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Milan Stanojevic
Windows Toubleshooting Expert
Before joining WindowsReport, he worked as a front-end web developer. Now, he’s specialized in Windows errors & software issues.
