while pasting in a word doc, it crashes

Question

Dear Support Team,

While pasting text with references from another Word document into a Word document, it crashes. Although both Word documents are mine.

Kindly help me resolve this.

Answer 1

Is the problem specifically with text that contains references? Are those references created in a third-party reference & citations manager?

As the AI bot suggested, try pasting the content in plain text format, and see if that prevents Word from crashing.

I would suggest that you use the Paste Special dialog box (Home tab > Clipboard group > Paste > Paste Special). Choose the "Unformatted Text" option.

Answer 2

Hi Zimmi Singh

Just a quick note that this forum is a peer-to-peer community, so while members can share advice and experiences only. - not Microsoft support team.

You can refer to AI’s answer first and try the troubleshooting steps provided there, as they cover several common causes of Word closing unexpectedly during copy and paste operations.

If the issue still occurs after trying those steps, I would also suggest checking whether the behavior is related to an issue within either the source or destination document. You can try Word’s Open and Repair feature:

• Make a backup copy of the affected document.
• In Word, go to File > Open > Browse.
• Select the document > Select the arrow next to Open, then choose Open and Repair.
• Once the document opens, save it under a new file name and test the copy/paste operation again.

Microsoft provides Open and Repair as an option for attempting to recover a Word file that is not working as expected.

Open a document after a file corruption error | Microsoft Support

If the problem continues, please let me know:

• Your Word version and build number from File > Account > About Word.
• Whether this happens with only these two documents or with other Word documents as well.
• What type of “references” you are copying, such as citations/bibliography, footnotes/endnotes, cross-references, or references created using software such as EndNote, Zotero, or Mendeley.

I hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to let me know if you have any further questions.

Answer 3

Try these steps in order:

1. Change the paste behavior to reduce formatting conflicts.
   • In Word, go to File > Options > Advanced.
   • Under Cut, copy, and paste, change the relevant paste setting to Keep Text Only or Merge Formatting.
   • Select OK.
   • Then paste again.
2. Use Paste Options at the time of paste.
   • Place the cursor where the content should go.
   • Press Ctrl+V.
   • Select the Paste Options button, or press Ctrl.
   • Choose Keep Text Only or another paste option instead of preserving all original formatting.
3. If the crash happens only with one destination document, insert the content into a new blank document first.
   • Select File > New > Blank Document.
   • On the Insert tab, select Object > Text from File.
   • Insert the source file content there.
   • This can help if the destination document is damaged.
4. Test whether an add-in or template is involved.
   • Press Windows+R.
   • Type winword /a and press Enter.
   • Open the documents and try the paste again.
   • If Word does not crash in this mode, the issue is likely related to add-ins or global templates.
5. If the problem started after a recent Microsoft 365 update and the paste is part of a mail merge using a template file, check whether Word is on Version 2603 (Build 19822.20180).
   • That version has a known issue where Word can crash during mail merge with .dot or .dotm templates.
   • That issue is currently under investigation.
6. If an older third-party integration is installed, update it.
   • Older versions of GigaTrust before version 11.2 are known to cause crashes in Office apps.
   • Updating GigaTrust to 11.2 or later fixes that issue.

If registry changes are considered later during deeper troubleshooting, use caution because incorrect registry changes can cause serious problems.

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• Control the formatting when you paste text
• How to troubleshoot problems that occur when you start or use Word
• Word might crash when performing a mail merge with templates (.dot/dotm)
• Excel, Word, or PowerPoint may crash with older versions of GigaTrust software