Can anybody explain to my why MS Word online is so utterly broken and borderline unusable?

Question

Every time I upload a Word document to Sharepoint (so colleagues can edit, comment, and work on it), Word online completely sabotages it. Recently it has been randomly jamming words or whole sentences together (e.g. "highservicestandards") adding in random punctuation, sometimes in the middle of words (e.g. "stan..dards") and duplicating whole sentences or paragraphs.

It does all of these things automatically, unprompted, and no matter how many times I fix them they just come back again. It has become so bad that I basically can't work on shared documents, which seriously impacts by ability to do my job. I would like to hear somebody from Microsoft answer to this - I can't believe an application that is so widely used and relied upon, produced by such a big company, is so utterly useless.

Answer 1

Word online was developed as an adjunct helper program for those using the desktop applications. It has many limitations and yes, it can mess up documents. My recommendation is to use it for viewing and possibly printing, but not for editing.

Here is my pdf on the different Microsoft programs called Word.
https://addbalance.com/word/download.htm#MicrosoftWordPrograms

This is a user-to-user support forum.

Microsoft is not hearing about your problems from what you post here. You are discussing a problem with your fellow users here. We can give good advice about how to work with Word as it is and give suggestions for making it work properly.

Designers and their supervisors do see feedback. (You will almost certainly not get a direct response to that feedback but they do see it.)

Here is more about that:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/giving-feedback-on-microsoft-word-or-other/8df81a9b-84aa-46ef-bf88-24fb7fec96ba

I suggest using the public feedback portal so other users can see your feedback, comment and vote. If you want, you can post the URL of your feedback with your question here to lead others with the same problem to your feedback. Be the “squeaky wheel” that gets fixed!

Do not expect the online or mobile apps to ever replace the desktop applications.

Answer 2

Hello @Thomas MCDOUGALL

Welcome to the Microsoft Q&A Community! 

Thank you for taking the time to report this. I understand how serious and disruptive this issue is, especially when Word for the web alters text on its own, merges words, inserts punctuation, or duplicates content. I want to address this thoroughly and professionally so we can isolate the root cause and restore your ability to collaborate reliably. 

Below are a few focused questions followed by detailed actions you can take immediately, as well as long‑term solutions. 

1. What is the file format? Please confirm whether the document is saved as .docx. 
2. Does the document use any non‑standard or brand‑specific fonts? Try using standard fonts such as Calibri or Arial. 
3. If you open the file via Open in App, does the issue persist? 
4. Are there many users editing the file at the same time? When multiple users edit simultaneously, referring to Troubleshoot common coauthoring errors - Microsoft Support, Word may generate conflict messages such as “Resolve Conflicts” or “Recovered Conflicts.” If these are not resolved immediately, unexpected merges, paragraph deletion, or duplicated content can occur.  
5. Was any text copied from PDFs or websites? 
6. Which browser is being used? Have you tried using another browser or Incognito one? Does the issue occur there?   

In the meantime, you may restore the last “known good” version from SharePoint with Version History. Using Version History ensures you start from a clean, uncorrupted state while preserving all previous edits. This is the fastest and most reliable way to roll back unintended automatic changes.  

For reference: Restore a previous version of an item or file in SharePoint - Microsoft Support 

If you can provide answers to the scoping questions above, I will be able to give you a precise root‑cause analysis and tailored remediation steps. I look forward to your response.  

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Answer 3

It sounds like you're experiencing significant issues with Microsoft Word Online, particularly when collaborating on documents via SharePoint. Problems like words or sentences merging, random punctuation appearing, and duplication of text can be frustrating and hinder productivity.

These types of issues may be related to document corruption or software glitches. It's important to determine if the problem lies within the specific document or if it's a broader issue with Word Online. Here are some steps you might consider:

1. Check Document Integrity: Try opening other Word documents to see if the same issues occur. If they do, the problem might be with Word Online or SharePoint rather than the specific document.
2. Repair Office: If you suspect a software issue, performing an Office Online Repair might help. This can resolve many common problems.
3. Clear Cache: Sometimes, clearing your browser's cache or trying a different browser can resolve unexpected behavior in web applications.
4. Feedback to Microsoft: Since you mentioned the need for a response from Microsoft, consider providing feedback through the application. This can help them identify and address the issues more effectively.

If the problem persists, you may want to reach out to Microsoft support for further assistance.

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References:

• How to troubleshoot damaged documents in Word
• How to fix MS Word has run into an error that is preventing from working properly. Word will need to be closed as a result.