Microsoft 365 personal Word problems

Question

Shelley Smith 0

Opening a document is slow, sometimes disappears and won't let me edit.

0 comments

1 answer

Answer 1

John Jefferson Doyon 88,925 Independent Advisor

Try opening Word in Safe Mode first to check if an add-in is causing the problem:

If Word works normally in Safe Mode, an add-in may be causing the issue.

If the issue still persists, to help narrow down the issue:

Does this happen with every Word document or only certain files?
Are the documents saved locally on the PC or in OneDrive?
When the document disappears, does Word close completely, freeze, or does the document window just vanish?

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Thanks!

Shelley Smith 0 Reputation points

2026-09-09T23:28:38.7633333+00:00

Safe mode made no difference. Still same slowness, disappearing act. I have been trying to edit certain docs so not sure but assume they are all treated the same. I will check that. I think they are cloud storage since alot of local docs disappeared disappeared when I got a new computer. Wrong again
John Jefferson Doyon 88,925 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-09-09T23:32:53.7766667+00:00
Thanks for checking.

Since Safe Mode made no difference, the next step is to see if the issue is with Word itself or with files stored in OneDrive.

Please test one of the affected documents:

Open the document.

Go to File > Save As.

Save a copy to a local folder such as Documents or Desktop.

Open that local copy and try editing it.

If the local copy works normally, the issue may be related to OneDrive or cloud syncing.

Also, when the document “disappears,” does Word close completely, or does only the document window disappear while Word stays open?

And please let me know if you see a cloud icon or OneDrive location under File > Info for the affected document.

Thanks!