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Hello, our clients are experiencing issues with generating mailmerge documents .dot format in word.
We have a custom template that does the basic word mailmerge, formats the document as per their company configuration, margins, font, font size, then saves the final merged document. The document appears to save correctly, thus the whole process appears to work.
Once the document finishes the mail merge process Word just crashes...
This issue was first reported by users on the Current Channel, but somehow had a version only released to the Current Channel (Preview).
March 09, 2026 Version 2603 (Build 19822.20044)
March 02, 2026 Version 2603 (Build 19822.20012)
As of writing this bug(26/03/2026), the Current Channel now has listed an update
March 24, 2026 Version 2603 (Build 19822.20114), This version also Crashes Word after the mailmerge process finishes.
I will perform some additional debugging to see exactly at what point does this crash occur.
But I wanted to report this issue to see if this is happening to anyone else.
Event logs for the error using Version 2603 (Build 19822.20114)
[Moderator note: personal info removed]
Regards,
Michael
A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents.
I have done some additional testing and have verified that the issue is related to Saving a document that contains macros.
Even just editing the word document, then pressing save, this crashes Word.
Please see the attached gif for an example of the Word crash.
Word is crashing and then blocking the file.
PS: Word macros are enabled, and the path of the letter and the reference template are in the trusted locations.
I only get the crash if I have included a Project reference. such as the one in this picture.
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:
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!
I was going to ask the same question Doug Robbins did.
He is one of the most knowledgeable people around about mail merge.
Do you still get the security warnings if using .dotm files in Trusted locations?
Feedback created: https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/241334b9-de2b-f111-9730-0022485314bc
Hopefully someone fixes this issue soon, as we can't keep asking our clients to revert their office versions, as that is in breach of their Cyber security Insurance policies.
We have advised them to all move to the Monthly Enterprise Channel for more stable updates, so hopefully this bug does not make its way into that channel.
Thank you everyone for your input. I'll Post a fix/solution if anything changes.
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I have voted for it to support you.
Thank you for your contribution and kindness in this matter.
Please feel free to reach out me again if you still need my assistance.
Have a nice day!
Do you still experience the issue if you convert the document to the current format, rather than having it in Compatibility Mode.
Hi Doug, word also crashes using .dotm files, for both the letter and the reference. FYI, I created a brand new template to be used as a reference, it has 1 function that prints a msgbox "TEST". As soon as I include the reference and Press Save, Word crashes.
Hello Doug, yes this issue happens using dotm files too.
I have narrowed the issue down to when a word template is added as a reference. it crashes on Save, and any letter that already has a reference added, also crashes on Save.
Hello @Michael Veloso
As you have described, you are experiencing Microsoft Word crashes after completing a mail merge using a custom .dot template.
If it works normally:
Issue happens:
Affected Versions
The issue appears limited to Word Version 2603, initially in Current Channel (Preview), and now in the standard Current Channel:
At the moment, I haven’t seen many reports about this issue with Version 2603. You are one of the first to raise it on the forum. Hopefully, if others experience the same problem, they will find your thread and understand that this issue is currently occurring.
Currently, there isn’t a specific way to troubleshoot this issue, so I recommend rolling back to a more stable older version as a temporary workaround.
How to revert to an earlier version of Office - Microsoft Support
Besides, if you discover any new information, please share it here so that other users can also benefit from it.
If you still need my assistance, please come back with screenshots or any additional details so I can review it again and see if there’s anything more I can help you with.
Have a nice day!
If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".
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Thank you for your update.
You can try these steps to see if this issue still continues:
Repair Office apps
For your reference: Repair an Office application - Microsoft Support
Note:
If this issue still persists, I suggest that you should roll back to a more stable older version as a temporary workaround.
Kind regards,
Thank you for the reply.
I will try a repair when I'm in the office on Monday.
But fyi, I had just used the office deployment tool to set my version to this broken version 2603 so I could replicate the issue.
Also set it to 2602 to confirm it's working correctly on that version.
Currently Reverting office to version 2602 will stop Word from Crashing.
It's not a long term solution, but I will test each new office update and add a comment once a version is released that addresses this issue.
Thank you for your kindness and for taking the time to contribute. It’s greatly appreciated.
Have a great day!