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Hello,
I have one user having issues exiting Word 2016. This started happening recently (maybe 2 weeks ago).
-We cannot exit via the X button (it responds that it has been clicked but nothing happens)
-We cannot exit via the menu in Word (it responds that it has been clicked but nothing happens)
-We can close via the menu in word
-We can right-click and "close window" via the taskbar.
-This only happens if we "enable editing"
-Documents that had editing enabled, then were closed via right-click on taskbar will close without issue the next time they are opened (they also do not prompt with the enable editing banner).
-All other Office apps have no issue exiting
-Opening a word doc via safe mode loads the document but displays no content (it's just empty/white)
-I disabled all the "COM Add-ins"
-I ran Office online repair
-I ran: DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Scanhealth, DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth, DISM.exe /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup, sfc /scannow
Any ideas on what else I could look at or try?
Thanks,
Jesse
Update on this. I just found out from the Office Admin that they have a local app installed called "Worldox" that intentionally disables the X button... Apparently it has something to do with catching hooks in the app... Sorry I didn't know about this sooner.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(310.4, 8%, 40%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EB%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The firm's Worldox administrator can enable/disable Word Close by X and Worldox provides a custom Close or Exit button on the Quick Access Toolbar.
Hi @Jesse Marano ,
Did only Word have this problem?
Did this problem appear in all Word documents?
If this problem only appear in specific document, where did you save it?
Try to test if you can close Word by Alt+F4.
I suggest you go to this location:
C:\Users\<User Name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates
Remove the file named: Normal.dotm (Or you can cut to Desktop), then restart Word.
You can also run the Antivirus software to check if the computer is attacked.
Or try to disable firewall and antivirus software, maybe they disable any options or shortcut key.
Any updates please let me know and I'm glad to help you.
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![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(252.8, 66%, 34%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
This worked for me.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(297.6, 19%, 38%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EBJ%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
My office IT department erroneously added some Worldox stuff to my home computer, when they were trying to add it to my remote desktop while I was logged in from home. It messed up my home installation of Word, including deactivating the "X" to close the program. In addition to the Normal.dotm file that emizhang-msft suggested deleting, however, I ended up having to search for all ".dotm" files on my C drive. There were some others with other names, one having worldox in the file name, and after deleting all of those I was able to get rid of this issue. Thanks for the help!
Worldox installation does not "mess up" a Word installation.
The Worldox Word integration template name begins either with @WDWord or @W64Word and can be found in Word's default Startup folder.
Worldox Administrator can enable or disable Close by X.
Worldox provides an alternate custom Word Close or Exit button on the Quick Access Toolbar.
Normal.dotm is unrelated to Worldox integration.
To uninstall Worldox, terminate the client program, then delete the C:\Worldox folder. That's it.
Thank you for taking the time to reply @Emi Zhang-MSFT
Did only Word have this problem?
-Only Word is having the problem. All other Office apps exit without issue.
Did this problem appear in all Word documents?
-So far it's happening in every document we've tried.
If this problem only appear in specific document, where did you save it?
-The documents we are working with are on the desktop.
Try to test if you can close Word by Alt+F4.
-I have not tried this yet, but I will.
Remove the file named: Normal.dotm (Or you can cut to Desktop), then restart Word.
-I forgot to mention that I tried this previously, but it didn't change the behavior.
You can also run the Antivirus software to check if the computer is attacked.
-Antivirus (Sophos) hasn't reported any issues on this computer.
Or try to disable firewall and antivirus software, maybe they disable any options or shortcut key.
-I have not tried this, though since closing the document works after we've "enabled editing" then closed (via taskbar) and opened again, I suspect this will not help.
Thanks,
Jesse
Hi Jesse,
Any updates about this problem now? Did you install any programs or add-ins recently?
Try to perform a clean boot in Windows, it will help you disable all third programs and help you check there is a program conflict:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows
HI @Emi Zhang-MSFT !
I haven't had any further success. I will give the clean boot a try. It might take me a few days to coordinate the time with the end user, but I'll let you know the results.
Thank you
I was working with the user to see if I could recreate the issue under my admin account, so I could work after hours and not interrupt their work day. With the same files and process I was not able to recreate the issue under my admin account.
Is there anything under a user account I could be looking at? Or even a way I could refresh their account on the computer to get a clean slate with any add-ins?
Thanks,
Update on this. I just found out from the Office Admin that they have a local app installed called "Worldox" that intentionally disables the X button... Apparently it has something to do with catching hooks in the app... Sorry I didn't know about this sooner.