how to solve ‘We are sorry, but Word has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly. ...'

Question

Whenever I open Microsoft Word, it shows this message: ‘We are sorry, but Word has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Word will need to be closed as a result. Would you like us to repair now?’ Even after clicking Repair Now, Microsoft Word still doesn’t work and it doesn’t open. Why is this happening?”

Answer 1

We see many reports in the forums that Repair Now does not work.

Instead, run an Online Repair from Windows Settings. See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/repair-an-office-application-7821d4b6-7c1d-4205-aa0e-a6b40c5bb88b .

Before you begin, note that an Online Repair usually includes a reinstall, and therefore you should make sure that you can access your Microsoft account at https://account.microsoft.com/services and that your Office product is associated with it.

Answer 2

The error appears because Word has encountered a problem in its installation or configuration that the built‑in “Repair now” prompt cannot fix. In this situation, a deeper repair (or, if needed, a full reinstall) of Office is required.

Follow these steps on Windows:

1. Close all Office apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.).
2. Open the Settings app from the Start menu.
3. Go to Apps > Installed apps (or Apps & features, depending on Windows version).
4. Find the Microsoft 365/Office entry in the list, select it, and choose Modify.
5. When prompted, choose Online Repair (not just Quick Repair), then continue.
   • Online Repair is more thorough and often reinstalls Office components, which fixes the error that the in‑app “Repair now” cannot resolve.
6. When the repair completes, restart the computer and try opening Word again.

If Word (and other Office apps) still show the same error after an Online Repair:

1. Uninstall Microsoft 365/Office from Settings > Apps.
2. Restart the computer (use Restart, not Shut down).
3. Sign in to the Microsoft account or school account where the Microsoft 365 subscription is assigned and download/reinstall Office from there.
4. After installation, open Word and confirm it starts without the error.

This behavior is typically caused by corrupted Office files or configuration that the quick “Repair now” cannot fix, which is why an Online Repair or full reinstall is needed.

---

References:

• You may receive an error when running Office 2013 in Windows 10: "We're sorry, but Word has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly."
• word will not open "Would you like to repair now? - Microsoft Q&A
• we are sorry, but word has run into an error that is preventing it from working correctly. Word will need to be closed as a result. Would you like us to repair now? - Microsoft Q&A
• How to fix my MS Word? - Microsoft Q&A
• We're Sorry but Word Has Run Into an Error - Microsoft Q&A
• How can I get office 365 to work? - Microsoft Q&A