Microsoft Office is a very important tool used by worldwide users for doing various professional work. It is used extensively by the users to create, edit documents and also for making PowerPoint presentations. With the help of this extensive tool, users often make Excel sheets for maintaining their accounts and for accessing Outlook mails. However, some problems may appear from time to time in this application, while using it. 

So, if you are facing some problems with your Microsoft Office 365, then do not worry at all. Here, we will be discussing some prominent solutions to get rid of all sorts of problems that may appear in Microsoft Office. 

Methods to Troubleshoot Different Microsoft Office Problems:

So, let us see some of the most effective and easiest methods that you can use to solve the various problems occurring in Microsoft Office:-

Method 1: Install the Latest Updates

You have to check that you have updated your Microsoft Office with the latest updates. For this, you can turn on the Automatic Windows Update option. This will install all the recommended and optional updates on your computer. This can sometimes fix the problems by removing the outdated files and replacing them with the latest files. 

You can follow the steps stated hereunder to perform the update without any difficulty:-

  • First, you have to open any of the apps of Microsoft Office, like Word, and make a new document. 
  • After that, click on the “Files” option. Then, select the “Account” option. 
  • Next, within the option of “Product Information”, you have to select the option of “Update Options”. Then, click on the “Update Now” option. 
  • When the update is done, you can close the “You’re up to date!” window. 

It is very important to keep your computer up to date. Now, check if the Microsoft Office 365 problems are solved or not. If the problems still persist, then you can try out the next solution.

Method 2: Put your Document in Another File

The information of a Word document is present in the final paragraph mark. However, if the document gets damaged, then you will not be able to access the document unless you remove this final paragraph mark. 

So, follow the given steps to leave the final paragraph mark behind and access the MS Word document:-   

  • On the Microsoft Word window, select the “File” option. Then, select the “New” option and then “Bland Document”. 
  • After that, go to the “Insert” tab. Then, select the “Object” option located in the group of “Text”. After that, select the “Text from File” option. 
  • Now, choose the file and click on the “Insert” option. 

After this process of Microsoft Office troubleshoot, check if the problem has been fixed or not.

Method 3: Use the “/a” Switch to Open Microsoft Word

You can use the “/a” switch to know the location of the problem in Microsoft Word. This is a troubleshooting tool and it stops the automatic loading of global templates and add-ins. It also helps in preventing the modification and reading of the settings files by locking it. 

You can open Word by using the “/a” switch by following the given instruction:-

  • Open the Start menu and in the search box, you have to type “Run” and hit the Enter button. 
  • Now, hit Enter after typing “winword /a” in the Run box. 

If you see that the Microsoft Office problems are not showing, then, you can go to the next solution and resolve this error. 

Method 4: Delete the Registry Subkey of the Microsoft Word Data

Word Data registry subkey is where the most frequently used options in Word are stored. One easy step of troubleshooting is to delete the registry subkey of the Word Data completely. Now, after restarting Word, the default settings will be used to rebuild the Word Data registry key.  

You can use the following steps to delete the registry subkey of Word Data:-

  • Close all the programs of Office. 
  • After that, open the Start menu and in the search box, you have to type “regedit” and press Enter. 
  • Then, you have to find the registry subkey of your Microsoft Word. According to the Word version, you will be able to find the subkey in the following locations:

A. Word Version 2016

You have to open the “HIKEY_CURRENT_USER” folder. Then, go to the folder of “Software”. After that, click on “Microsoft”,  then on “Office”. Next, you have to click on the “16.0” and then “Word” folder. Now, open the folder of “Options”.  

B. Word Version 2013

Open the folder of “HIKEY_CURRENT_USER”, and select the “Software” folder. Then, go to the “Microsoft” folder. After that, open the “Office” folder and then”15.0”, and “Word”.Lastly, open the “Options” folder. 

C. Windows Version 2010

Select the “HIKEY_CURRENT_USER” folder and then click on “Software”, “Microsoft”, and then “Office”. After that, open the folder of “14.0”, “Word”, and then “Options”. 

  • Now, you have to select “Options”. Then, go to the “File” menu and click on “Export”. 
  • Next, you have to save the file to the desktop after renaming it “Wddata.reg”. 
  • After that, go to the “Edit” menu and select the “Delete” option and confirm by clicking the option of “Yes”. 
  • Then, close the Registry Editor window. 
  • Now, launch the Word application.

If you see that the MS Word is working fine, then you have successfully completed the process of Microsoft Office troubleshoot. However, if you see that the problem still persists, then you have to restore the registry the original registry key and try the next solution. 

Restore the Original Registry Key of Word:

  • Close all the programs of the Office that you are running. 
  • After that, go to the desktop and double-click on the icon of “Wdoptn.reg”. 
  • Then, select the “Yes” option and confirm it by clicking on “OK”. 

Method 5: Replace the Global Templates File of Normal.dotm

You have to replace the global templates file to prevent the behaviors of Word from getting affected by macros, AutoText, and formatting stored in the file. However, in some cases, you will see that there are multiple global template files. This is seen especially in the computers that are running numerous versions of Word. So, you have to rename all of these files. This will confirm the proper installation of Word. You can follow the given steps to rename the global template files:-

  • Close the Office programs that are open. 
  • Then, open the search bar, type “cmd” and hit the Enter button. 
  • Now, you have to type the given command in the Command Prompt as per your Word version and after typing, hit the Enter button. 

Type “ren %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dotm OldNormal.dotm” for Word version 2016, 2013, 2010, and 2007. And, you have to type “ren %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Normal.dot OldNormal.dot” for Word version 2003.    

Now, in the Command Prompt, you have to write “exit” and hit Enter. 

Launch Word and see if the Microsoft Office 365 problems are solved or not. This will indicate that the problem was actually with your files of the global template. 

Final Words

As Microsoft Office is a very important tool, any problem with its components can cause a great inconvenience. So, to get rid of this inconvenience and the Microsoft Office troubleshoot problems, you can try the above-discussed solutions. These are very effective solutions and you will definitely be able to fix the problems.