Error on Word

Question

When I bring up a document a window appears indicating that "Word has run into an error". A button stating "repair now" appears. I selected that button however, nothing has been repaired or corrected. I cannot open any of my word documents as the same window appears.

Answer 1

Run Online Repair from Windows Settings instead of using Word’s unsuccessful Repair Now button; Online Repair repairs the entire Office installation and is more thorough than Quick Repair.^1^

Run Online Repair

Before beginning, ensure that the Microsoft account used for Office is accessible and that the Office license appears under its services, because Online Repair can reinstall Office as part of the process.^2^

Close every Office application, then use the path for your Windows version:

Windows 11

1. Right-click Start and select Installed apps.
2. Find Microsoft 365 or your named Microsoft Office edition.
3. Select the three dots (…) beside it, then Modify.
4. Approve the User Account Control prompt if displayed.
5. Select Online Repair → Repair.
6. Complete the prompts, restart Windows, and test Word.

Windows 10

1. Right-click Start and select Apps and Features.
2. Select Microsoft 365 or your Microsoft Office suite.
3. Select Modify.
4. Choose Online Repair → Repair and complete the prompts.
5. Restart Windows and test Word.

This repairs the whole Office suite even though only Word is failing. If the installer only offers an MSI-based repair screen, select Repair → Continue instead.^1^

If Word still cannot open

Test whether an add-in is blocking startup:

1. Press Windows key+R.
2. Enter:

      winword /safe
   

3. Select OK.
4. If Word opens and its title bar shows Safe Mode, go to File → Options → Add-Ins.
5. At the bottom, select COM Add-ins under Manage, then select Go.
6. Clear one add-in, restart Word normally, and repeat until the faulty add-in is identified. Older ABBYY FineReader, PowerWord, and Dragon Naturally Speaking add-ins are specifically known to cause compatibility problems.^3^

If Word does not open in Safe Mode, add-ins are not the indicated path; proceed to reinstall Office.^3^

Reinstall fallback

If Online Repair completes but Word still fails:

1. Use Microsoft’s Office uninstall troubleshooter on the affected PC.
2. Follow its prompts and restart when requested.
3. Reinstall the Office version associated with your Microsoft account.

The troubleshooter supports Microsoft 365 and Office 2021, 2019, and 2016 on Windows 10 or later, but it currently cannot uninstall Office 2024.^4^

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References

1. Repair an Office application | Microsoft Support
2. Word not opening - Microsoft Q&A
3. I get a "stopped working" error when I start Office applications on my PC | Microsoft Support
4. [Windows 10](https://support.microsoft.com/office/lifecycle/something-went-wrong-error-when-you-try-to-start-a-microsoft-365-app)