How to Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding With Ease

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Jack

Microsoft Word Not Responding

The amount of frustration and annoyance will be extreme in case we get to see an error message of Microsoft word not responding.

This, without any doubt, is because of the frequency and ultimate reliance of people to do their routine tasks on this application. There can be a number of different reasons for this error.

Sometimes the reasons are unknown, but here we’ll discuss the most frequent reasons and how these can be solved by using the best-established practices.

For our discussion, we’ll be considering Windows 10 as it’s the latest available operating system from Microsoft Corporation.

Our discussion will be divided into the following sections.

1. Reasons for Microsoft word not responding error messages

It’s always recommended first to understand the root cause of a problem if you ever are to go towards the solution phase of the problem.

So it is a must for us to understand why we receive this error message of Microsoft word not responding during its use. The following are some of the most common reasons for this problem.

  • The first and foremost thing to check is the version of Microsoft office we are using. Is it up to date? If not, then we must get it updated. It’s not that difficult thing to do as updates are always available for the user. Just download and install it; most probably, this would solve the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”
  • The second thing to check is the compatibility of the office version you have installed with the operating system you are using. For example, you have installed the latest edition of Microsoft Office on your old pc still working with Windows XP. In this case, there will be adaptability issues causing the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”
  • The next thing you must check is the availability of system drivers. Are the drivers updated? If not, then probably this is the reason why you are experiencing the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”
  • There is multiple office add-in available over the internet. We need to be careful while installing it as some of these may cause compatibility issues, and you may face the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”

2. Best practices to solve the error message “Microsoft word not responding” and make the word file functional

Since we have covered all the most common reasons for the problem so now is the right time to move towards the best available practices to solve the error message “Microsoft word not responding” and make the word file functional. Now let’s discuss this one by one.

Start Microsoft Word in Safe Mode

It is always recommended to operate in safe mode whenever you get into such kinds of problems. Microsoft word is no different from others; you can get rid of such kinds of problems by going into safe mode.

The reason why the safe mode is so much success is that it disables all third-party applications in the background, which might be causing the problems.

And when everything in the background is no more operational, you can take a close look at the root cause of the problem by launching the application.

Following is a step-by-step guideline to remove the error message “Microsoft word not responding” by using safe mode.

I. Launch the Microsoft word application from the start or press the combination of “Windows + S” and type “Microsoft Word.”

II. Now simultaneously press the “Ctrl” key and click on the office word icon. This will launch the Microsoft word in safe mode.

ms word safe mode

III. Once the Microsoft word is opened, now check if everything is working normally or not.

There can be another way to do this with the help of a command prompt. Here is how it is done

I. Press “Windows + R” and “cmd” simultaneously. By doing this command prompt will be opened.

II. Once the command prompt is opened, type in the location where Microsoft word is installed. For safe mode type “winword.exe/safe” after the path location you have specified. By doing this, Microsoft Word will be opened in safe mode.

Besides, if you are facing the issues of the winword.exe error, click to fix them easily now.

Use the Office repair tool.

There is another way to fix this problem is by using the in-built tool named Office repair tool in windows 10. This tool is specifically designed to solve a number of different Microsoft word issues. We can try this to solve the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”

Now here is the step-by-step guideline to use this tool.

I. Open the control panel from the start option available at the bottom left corner of the window. Once opened, look for the option labeled as “programs and features,” and inside there, look for the option labeled as “programs.”

II. Once opened, look for the Microsoft office. When finding right-click on it, you’ll see the option labeled as “change.” Click on it.

Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding with Office Repair Tool

III. Once opened, now choose the option labeled “Repair” and click on “continue.”

office repair tool

IV. This will initiate repairing the process. Once done, it will ask you to restart your computer.

Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding via Office Repair Tool

After your computer is restarted, relaunch the application and see if you are still getting the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”

For the latest Microsoft edition, make sure you select the option of “quick repair” for an efficient solution.

Quick repair

Non-compatibility with system drivers

As we have already mentioned above, the compatibility of system drivers is a must thing. In the case of non-compatibility, the chances of several different problems will be increased.

Now let’s discuss step-by-step guidelines to get rid of the “Microsoft word not responding” problem due to adaptability issues of system drivers.

I. Launch the device manager directly from the start menu available at the bottom left corner.

II. Once launched, look for the printer option.

III. Once found, right-click on it and select either “uninstall” or “update driver.”

update driver

IV. If you think that the printer is causing the problem, then simply select “uninstall,” which will uninstall the printer

V. If you think that the actual reason for the problem is the drivers, then simply select “update driver.” Once you select it, select the option labeled “search automatically for updated driver software” and complete the installation process.

Once the process is complete, launch the application and see if you are still getting the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”

Disconnect All Network Drives

Another useful and proven method to solve the error message “Microsoft word not responding” is by disconnecting/disengaging all network drives. Now let’s discuss step-by-step guidelines on how to do this process.

I. Click the option labeled “This PC” to open the window that will display all local and network drives.

Disconnect network drive to fix Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding

II. Once opened, look for the network drives. Right-click on it to open the list of options. From there, select the option labeled “Disconnect” to disconnect network drives.

disconnect network drive

III. Once you select this option, there will be another dialog box open, asking for your confirmation. Press “Yes” to complete the process.

disconnect network drive

IV. Do this process for all the network drives you to want to disconnect.

In this way, all the network drives are disconnected successfully. Now launch the application and see if you are still getting the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”

Uninstall/Disable all installed Add-ins

As already stated above, there is multiple office add-in available over the internet. We need to be careful while installing it as some of these may cause compatibility issues, and you may face the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”

Now let’s discuss step-by-step guidelines on how to do this process.

I. To start simultaneously, press the “windows” and “R” keys simultaneously. There you’ll have the run box opened; there, you need to type “winword.exe/a.” and it will open the Microsoft word.

Disable all add-ins to fix Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding

II. Once the word is opened, go to “options” and select the option labeled as “Add-ins.”

disable add-ins

III. Now select the option labeled as “Manage.” It will open a drop-down menu, and from there, select the option labeled “COM Add-ins.”

IV. Inside it, select the option labeled as “Go” and unselect all third-party add-ins.

V. Now press “Ok.”

disable add-ins

Once it is completed, restart Microsoft Word and see if you still get the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”

3. Best practices to repair the corrupted file due to the error message “Microsoft word not responding.”

Sometimes the extent of damage caused by the error message “Microsoft word not responding” is so severe that some of the very important files get corrupted, and you can no longer get access to them.

So what to do in that scenario? Thankfully we do have a Stellar Word Repair Tool that can help us in this situation. It can easily repair every corrupt word file without even changing a single text and its format. So we get exactly the same file and its content with the help of this application.

Now let’s have a look at the step-by-step guidelines of this tool to get rid of the “Microsoft word not responding” problem.

I. Go to its website and download the tool.

II. Once it is downloaded, install it and launch the application.

III. There will be an option labeled “Add file” click on it to add the desired file you want to repair from your local drive.

Add Files to Repair

IV. Now select the “Scan” option. Once selected, the uploaded file will start getting scanned.

Scan Word Files

V. Once the file is scanned. Next, we’ll have an option for repair. Select it to start the repair process.

Start to Repair Word Files

VI. Once the file is repaired, save it on your local drive.

Fix Microsoft word not responding with Stellar repair for word

VII. If the file is still not working, then choose the option labeled “Advance Repair.” That surely will work.

FAQs

Q1: Is there a way to prevent Microsoft Word from freezing? Yes, there are a few preventive measures you can take. Keep your software updated, avoid working with excessively large files, and regularly maintain your computer by scanning for malware and optimizing system resources.

Q2: Can a slow computer affect Word’s responsiveness? Yes, a slow computer with insufficient system resources can impact Word’s performance. Make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements and close any resource-intensive applications running in the background.

Q3: Why does Word become unresponsive when I try to open a specific document? The issue could be due to a corrupted document. Try opening the document in Word’s safe mode or use an online repair tool to fix any file corruption issues.

Q4: Are there alternative word processing applications I can use as a backup? Yes, there are several alternative word processing applications available, such as Google Docs, LibreOffice, and Apple Pages. These applications offer similar functionality and can be used as backups if you encounter issues with Microsoft Word.

Q5: What should I do if none of the troubleshooting methods work? If you’ve tried all the troubleshooting methods mentioned in this article and Word still doesn’t respond, it’s recommended to seek assistance from Microsoft support or an IT professional who can provide further guidance.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have covered all the reasons which cause the error message “Microsoft word not responding,” along with their best available fixes and how we can repair the corrupted file. We do hope that this guideline will assist you in a good way.

Jack
Jack

Ten years of experience in information and computer technology. Passionate about electronic devices, smartphones, computers, and modern technology.

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