Unfortunately, we have all seen at least one of the following error messages when using Microsoft Word:
- Unable to read word document Files.
- This file is not in a recognizable format.
- ‘xxx.doc’ cannot be accessed. The file may be read-only, or you may be trying to access a read-only location. Or, the server the document is stored on may not be responding
- WORD.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program.
Microsoft Word is probably the most used word processing application in the world. In the beginning, Word had little more capabilities than today’s WordPad and was competing with Word Perfect which was a very good and advanced word processor. However, word could do something no other word processor at the time could…it could import spreadsheets directly from Microsoft Excel which has always been an excellent spreadsheet. Over time, Word became the best word processor available.
Before you can troubleshoot Word, there are a few things you need to understand about the application:
- Word uses a global template called normal.dot to store global macros and most of its format settings.
- Word uses a Startup folder to store add-ins and macros that start automatically when Word is opened.
- Individual paragraph formatting is stored in the paragraph marker at the end of the paragraph and general paragraph formatting for the entire document is stored in the final paragraph marker at the end of the document.
- Proofing Tools for both spelling and grammar are stored in a Registry key called Proofing Tools and also in a Microsoft Shared folder on your hard drive called Proof
The Detect and Repair Option
The Detect and option can be opened from the Help menu. The Detect and Repair utility provides two options for the repair process. The first option allows you to restore missing shortcuts and the second will discard any customized settings.
To use this utility successfully, you must have access to the installation files. If the installation was performed over the network, you must have network connectivity. If a CD-ROM was used to perform the installation then you must have the installation CD-ROM.
During the verification stage, all files associated with the application are compared to the original installation files. If any components have missing or corrupt files, new copies of files or registry settings are retrieved from the original installation source. These files are then copied to the proper locations on the user’s computer. Registry entries are also reset to default installation settings if necessary.
Use this option carefully because it will erase all customizations and can only fix Microsoft word problems that are caused by corrupt files.
Word Won’t Open, Freezes or Crashes immediately on Startup
This error is usually caused by a corrupted normal.dat file or add-in. One way to check to see if this is the problem is to go to Start -> Run and type winword.exe /a (be sure to leave a space before the /). This switch opens word with a clean empty template and no add-ins. If this works, find the normal.dot file or files (there can be more than one) and delete it or them. They will be located in C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates. When you open Word again, it will look for the normal.dot file and if it can’t find one, it will create a new file.
If this fails, open C:\Windows\ <your user name>\Application data\ Microsoft\ Word\ Startup to see if there are any addins. Move the add-in files to a different folder. Word should open. If it does, then replace each file one at a time and reopen Word until you find the file that is causing the problem.
Spell or Grammar Checker Freezes or Crashes the Computer
If the spelling checker is not available (greyed out) or just not working, go in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\ Shared Tools\ Proofing Tools in windows XP (the location may be slightly different on windows 2000 or Vista). This Key contains four sub keys: Grammar, Hyphenation, Spelling, and Thesaurus. To repair Microsoft word, delete the folder that is causing problems and restart Word. As always when it can’t find something it will recreate it.
If that does not work, go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Proof\xxxx (xxxx stands for a number, on my machine it is 1033) and delete the key. When you reopen word, type anything then start the spell checker. Word will tell you this feature is not installed and ask you to install it. Make sure you have your installation discs handy.
Summary
Use the detect and repair option carefully because everything will be reset to the default values. The other suggestions will usually fix your Microsoft word problem. If none these suggestions work, then you will need to uninstall the application and then reinstall it. That always works.
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