Is it possible to save my work before I force Word to close? I'm using Word on a Windows 10 computer. Usually, when Microsoft Word crashes or freezes, it throws a frustrating error message "Microsoft word not responding" or " Microsoft Word has stopped working". When facing this issue, you might have no other option but to force quit the program and leave your Word unsaved.
It's a disaster! To help you out, this page shows you how to fix Microsoft Word not responding issue with 6 practical solutions.
For users who are encountering Microsoft word not responding on Mac and want to restore unsaved Word files on Mac, link to the online tutorial. Step 1. Step 2. Shut down MS Word inside this application select it, right-click and select "End task". Step 3. Starting Word in Safe mode without templates and add-ins allows you to see if the program works as it should or if it is corrupted. Or, press and hold the Ctrl key and double-click the Word shortcut. If Word opens normally, it means the file is not damaged.
If you can't open Word in safe mode either, your file is probably corrupted. At this point, you'll need a Word repair tool to help you repair damaged files. One of the main factors that might be responsible for the Word not responding issue is usually due to an incompatibility with the third party Add-ins. Therefore, we advise you to disable the Add-ins to check if this is the cause of the issue.
Access the Safe mode and start the Word document using the way above. Click the "Go" button near the drop-down box named "Manage: Com-in Add". Another handy solution you can try to fix Microsoft Word not responding error and recover unsaved document is using the MS Office Application Recovery feature. Choose the document that's not responding when you see a list of currently running office applications.
Click the option "Recover Application" and recover the document you were working on. Microsoft has a utility to fix Word or Excel not responding issues.
You can follow the steps below to repair your MS Office and make the Word application to work again. Step 4. Keep your MS Office activation key and save it to another secure device. Re-install Microsoft Office on your PC and activate it with your serial key. Sorry this didn't help. The problem applies to all word documents. It seems only to affect word, as powerpoint and excel are both running well. In my case Aravinda's advice -- which came at the point that I was about to uninstall Office and request a refund -- halted the freezes.
The culprit was an outdated add-on from EndNote that got loaded at install time from a legacy Word setting apparenty. Once that add-on was removed, Word stopped freezing. More testing will be needed, of course. I just appied Aravinda's fix a few minutes ago. But I'll return here if there are any further issues. Hopefully that won't be necessary.
Choose where you want to search below Search Search the Community. However, recently it has started to freeze within 5 minutes of opening a document showing the "not responding message" Any help would be appreciated. This thread is locked. You can follow the question or vote as helpful, but you cannot reply to this thread. I have the same question Report abuse. Details required :. Cancel Submit. Aravinda Balakrishna.
Hi George, As per the description provided, it seems that you are unable to use the Word document and the word freezes. I need more information to help you better.