Word crashes when using form fields

Question

I have a client that has Word 2010 on a Windows 7 system using a form (created using Office 2010 and saved in .doc format) that they have used regularly that uses Legacy Form Fields and is protected.  The form has not been updated in anyway, however recently everytime the client opens the form and when filling out as they tab out of any form field Word crashes.  They have tried the form on a different computer running Office 2010 on a Windows XP system and the form works with no issues. 

I have not received confirmation whether or not updates have been applied to their system recently before the form stopped working properly.  Any thoughts of why the Windows 7 Word 2010 combo might randomly cause issues?  I wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts before I reommended a reinstallation of Word.

Answer 1

I got a response with a strange twist.

The form is built to autocalculate 10 fields with an expression of Charge1+Charge2+...Charge10.  The client played around with the form and the expression deleting out the Charge10 and re-tried the form and it worked, however when he added Charge10 back to the formula if crashed again.  I have used forms that have many more fields than that with no problems so I cant imagine that having 10 calculations is the issue, but I am at a loss at this point.

All add-ins are off.  Any other ideas before I recommend that he just try a fresh install of Word?

Answer 2

Compare the two computers to see whether the one with the crashes has any add-ins for Word that aren't on the other computer. Interference from an add-in is the most likely cause, and a damaged Normal.dotm template is the second most likely. Reinstallation won't fix either of those problems.

Answer 3

For more queries related to forms, post your query in the following forum:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/word/threads

Answer 4

Thanks for the tips, it is a remote user with limited internet and I am still waiting to hear back from them on a few troubleshooting tips from yesterday.

The only other information I have received is that Word works fine with other documents and opens the form when it is not protected, however as soon as it becomes protected and the form becomes fill-in enabled, it crashes after the user enters information into a field and exits said field using the Tab key.

I have asked for the the Debug information, because he gets a Debug option when it crashes, but he has not supplied it yet.  I will pass on the event viewer suggestion.

Answer 5

Does Word crash with any error? Check the event viewer for error logs.

You may also start Word in safe mode and verify whether issue re-occurs:

To start Word in safe mode, click on Start > All Programs > Accessories > Run > type ‘ Word /safe’ without quotes > OK

Note: There is a space between Word and ‘/’

If Word works correctly in safe mode disable the add-ins following steps mentioned below and determine the problem causing add-in:

a) Click on File menu, click Options > Add-ins > Go button besides Manage: Com-in Add.

b) Check if there are add-ins listed, clear the checkbox

c) Close the Office program and restart it.

d) Disable each add-in one at a time, restart the Word, and repeat the above procedure. If the issue reappears again, it will help you to determine which add-in is causing this issue.