Undo and redo function not working as before

Question

I have been experiencing several issues with Word for the last couple of weeks. I'm in University and am practically married to Word right now, which makes them particularly frustrating to deal with. I cannot easily switch back and forth between my personal and educational accounts with the same ease, having to copy and past my docs into the alternate accounts. This is a minor issue. The worst issue however, when using the undo function entire sections of work are being deleted instead of a single word or sentence. When not doing this, it decides to re-add bits of text or letters of words. The redo function does nothing but add the last letter of the last word typed. When pressed multiple times it simply does nothing. This means I am losing sentences and/or paragraphs (whichever it so chooses at the time) without the ability to retrieve them through the redo function on the task bar.

I have turned off the addons in settings, this did nothing. I asked AI to assist me and attempted the following without success:

Reset Word’s Template File (Normal.dotm)

This template controls Word’s default behavior. If it’s corrupted or carrying weird settings, it can break core features like Undo/Redo.

🔧 Steps:

1. Close Word completely
2. Press Windows + R, type:

    shellCopyEdit%appdata%\Microsoft\Templates
   

   and press Enter
3. Look for Normal.dotm
4. Rename it to something like Normal_backup.dotm (don’t delete it yet)
5. Restart Word — it will generate a fresh Normal.dotm

Then test Undo/Redo again.

I really need it to work as before, for my sanity and grades, please advise!

Thank you

* Moved from Community Center

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your issue on this forum.

I understand that Undo-Redo functions In Word doesn't work properly.

If the Undo and Redo functions in Word are behaving unpredictably. deleting entire sections or failing to restore text properly. Here are some troubleshooting steps you can try:

1. Repair Microsoft Office

• Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.
• Locate Microsoft Office, click Modify, and select Quick Repair, and restart the device.
• If the issue remains, try Online Repair, which reinstalls Office while keeping your settings intact.

For more details, you can refer to the official Microsoft Support page:
Undo, redo, or repeat an action - Microsoft Support.

If this resolves your issue, you can mark it as answered to the thread.

Best regards,
KushTech || Microsoft Community Support Specialist.

Answer 2

Undo and Redo both work on an "action-by-action" basis. What is considered a single action is not always obvious, though. You will get a clue by looking at the drop down for the Undo button.