Fix: Microsoft Word not responding error
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How to fix Microsoft Word not responding error. If Microsoft Word stops working or becomes unresponsive on your computer, you will find below steps to resolve the issue of Microsoft Word unresponsiveness.
Microsoft Word is not responding
Most Word users have experienced Microsoft Word unresponsiveness, freezes, and refusing to work on their computers. When this happens, Microsoft Word cannot open the requested file, and the Microsoft Word program often crashes with the following error message. “Microsoft Word has stopped working
A problem caused the program to stop working properly. Windows will close the program and notify you if there is a solution available. In most cases, the problem can be resolved by disabling add-ons, fix files, and other methods provided below.
Change the default printer
If Microsoft Word cannot communicate with the printer connected to the computer, it may become unresponsive.
Therefore, please follow the steps below to switch the default printer on your computer to Microsoft XPS Document Writer and see if this helps solve the problem.
Open Settings > click on Printers & Scanners. On the next screen, click on Printers & Scanners in the left pane. In the right pane, click on Microsoft XPS Document Writer and click on Manage.
On the next screen, click on the Set as Default option.
After setting the Microsoft XPS Document Writer as the default printer, open Microsoft Word and check if the problem is resolved.
Repair Microsoft Word
The problem of Microsoft Word not responding may be due to program file corruption.
Right-click on the Start button and click on Run. In the Run Command Window, type: appwiz.cpl and click on OK.
On the next screen, right-click on Microsoft Office and click on the Repair option in the menu that appears.
Note: If the Repair option is not available, right-click on Change > select Repair in the pop-up and click on Continue.
Wait for the repair program to restart Word and repair the Microsoft Office program.
Run Word in safe mode
Opening Microsoft Word in safe mode will disable all plug-ins and add-ons installed on your computer.
Right-click on the Start button and click on Run. On the Run command window, type: winword.exe /safe and click on OK to start Microsoft Word in Safe Mode.
Now try opening the non-responsive Word File again on your computer.
If this solves the problem, you can follow the next method to disable active plug-ins one by one to determine which plug-ins are causing problems on your computer.
Disable plugins and add-ons
External plug-ins installed by you or sometimes added automatically may interfere with the normal operation of Microsoft Word.
Therefore, please follow the steps below to disable the Microsoft Word plug-in (if any) installed on your computer.
Open Microsoft Word Program on your computer and open a blank document. Once you are in Microsoft Word, click on the File tab.
Note: Open Microsoft Word in Safe Mode, in case you are unable to open the Word program.
In the menu that appears, scroll down and click on Options. In the Word Options screen, click on the Add-ins in the left pane. In the right-pane, select Word Add-ins and click on the Go… button.
On the Add-Ins screen, uncheck the little box next to the active Add-Ins and click on OK to save the change.
After disabling the Word Add-Ins, restart Microsoft Word to check whether the Microsoft Word unresponsiveness problem has been fixed.
As mentioned above, you can try to isolate the specific add-on that is causing the computer problem by disabling the add-ons one by one.
More: If you do not want to use face recognition, please refer to the article on how to disable face detection and biometric recognition in Windows 10.
