Microsoft Word Has Stopped Working: 8 Causes and Fixes

When Word suddenly displays the error message “Microsoft Word Has Stopped Working” and closes, your work can be lost and your workflow interrupted. This crash typically occurs due to a corrupted add-in, a damaged Normal.dotm template, conflicting antivirus software, or a problem with the Office installation itself. This article explains the eight most common causes behind this error and provides the exact fixes for each one so you can get back to editing your documents.

Why Word Displays “Has Stopped Working” and Crashes

The “Microsoft Word Has Stopped Working” error is a generic Windows error message that appears when the Word process (WINWORD.EXE) encounters an unhandled exception or a memory access violation. The operating system terminates the program to prevent system instability. The root causes fall into several categories: problematic add-ins that interfere with Word’s core code, a corrupted Normal.dotm template that loads with every session, damaged Office files from an incomplete update, or conflicts with antivirus software that scans Word files in real time. In enterprise environments, Group Policy settings that restrict Word’s behavior can also trigger this error. Each cause requires a different fix, and applying the wrong one wastes time. The methods below are ordered from the fastest and least invasive to the most thorough.

8 Fixes for the “Microsoft Word Has Stopped Working” Error

Fix 1: Start Word in Safe Mode

1. Close all Word windows
   Make sure no Word processes are running in the background. Open Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Escape and end any WINWORD.EXE tasks if needed.
2. Launch Word in Safe Mode
   Press and hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard, then double-click the Word icon. A dialog box asks “Do you want to start Word in Safe Mode?” Select Yes.
3. Test if Word opens without crashing
   If Word opens successfully in Safe Mode, the crash is caused by an add-in or a corrupted template. Proceed to Fix 2 or Fix 3. If Word still crashes in Safe Mode, skip to Fix 4.

Fix 2: Disable All COM Add-ins

1. Open Word in normal mode
   If Word crashes immediately, hold Ctrl to start in Safe Mode first, then go to File > Options.
2. Navigate to Add-ins
   In the Word Options dialog, select Add-ins from the left pane. At the bottom, next to Manage, select COM Add-ins from the dropdown and click Go.
3. Clear all checkboxes
   Uncheck every add-in listed. Do not delete them yet. Click OK and restart Word normally.
4. Re-enable add-ins one by one
   If Word works, return to the COM Add-ins dialog and enable one add-in at a time. Restart Word after each enable. When Word crashes again, you have found the problematic add-in. Remove it permanently.

Fix 3: Rename the Normal.dotm Template

1. Open File Explorer
   Press Windows+E to open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the Templates folder
   Paste the following path into the address bar and press Enter: %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates
3. Rename Normal.dotm
   Right-click the file named Normal.dotm and select Rename. Change the name to Normal.old.dotm. If you cannot see file extensions, enable them in View > Show > File name extensions.
4. Restart Word
   Launch Word again. Word creates a fresh Normal.dotm template with default settings. If the crash is gone, the old template was corrupted.

Fix 4: Repair Office Installation

1. Open Settings
   Press Windows+I to open Windows Settings.
2. Go to Apps
   Select Apps > Installed apps (Windows 11) or Apps & features (Windows 10).
3. Find Microsoft 365 or Office
   Scroll to Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Office in the list. Click the three-dot menu next to it and select Modify.
4. Choose Quick Repair first
   Select Quick Repair and click Repair. Windows checks and fixes Office files without deleting your data. If the error persists, repeat the steps and choose Online Repair for a deeper fix that requires an internet connection.

Fix 5: Check for Conflicting Antivirus Software

1. Temporarily disable real-time protection
   Open your antivirus software (Windows Security, Norton, McAfee, etc.) and turn off real-time scanning or file system protection for 5 minutes.
2. Test Word
   Launch Word and open a document. If it no longer crashes, the antivirus is the cause.
3. Add Word as an exclusion
   In your antivirus settings, add an exclusion for the entire Office installation folder. The default path is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office or C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office. Also exclude the %appdata%\Microsoft\Templates folder. Re-enable real-time protection.

Fix 6: Run the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant

1. Download the tool
   Go to the Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant (SARA) download page and install the tool.
2. Select Office
   Open SARA and choose Office from the list of applications.
3. Choose “Word has stopped working”
   Select the symptom that matches your issue. The tool runs automated diagnostics and applies fixes such as repairing registry keys and resetting default settings.

Fix 7: Update Windows and Office

1. Check for Windows updates
   Go to Settings > Windows Update and click Check for updates. Install any pending updates and restart your computer.
2. Update Office
   Open Word (if it opens) or any Office app. Go to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now. If Word cannot open, download the latest Office update from the Microsoft Download Center using another computer.

Fix 8: Create a New Windows User Profile

1. Open Settings
   Press Windows+I and go to Accounts > Family & other users (Windows 11) or Other users (Windows 10).
2. Add a new user
   Click Add account and follow the prompts to create a new local user (do not use a Microsoft account).
3. Log into the new profile
   Sign out of your current account and sign into the new one. Open Word and test it. If Word works, your original user profile is corrupted. Migrate your documents and settings to the new profile.

If Word Still Has Issues After the Main Fix

Word Crashes When Opening a Specific Document Only

The document itself may be corrupted. Use the built-in Open and Repair feature: In Word, go to File > Open > Browse. Select the file, click the dropdown arrow next to the Open button, and choose Open and Repair. Word attempts to recover the document. If this fails, try opening the document in Word Online (office.com) and saving a copy to your local drive.

Word Crashes When Printing

A corrupted printer driver can cause Word to crash. Go to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Printers & scanners. Select your default printer and click Remove device. Then add the printer again. Alternatively, set a different printer as default, such as Microsoft Print to PDF, to test whether the crash is printer-specific.

Word Crashes After the Latest Windows Update

A recent Windows update may have introduced a conflict. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates. Select the most recent update and uninstall it. Restart your computer and test Word. If the crash stops, block that update from reinstalling by using the Show or hide updates troubleshooter from Microsoft.

Comparison of Fixes by Effort and Success Rate

Fix	Time Required	Success Rate
Safe Mode test	1 minute	Diagnostic only
Disable COM add-ins	5 minutes	High (if add-in is the cause)
Rename Normal.dotm	2 minutes	High
Repair Office	10-30 minutes	Medium
Antivirus exclusion	5 minutes	Medium
Run SARA tool	15 minutes	Medium
Update Windows/Office	20 minutes	Medium
New user profile	30 minutes	High

Now you can systematically resolve the “Microsoft Word Has Stopped Working” error by testing Safe Mode first and then working through the remaining fixes in order. Start with disabling add-ins and renaming Normal.dotm because these two steps solve the majority of crash cases. As an advanced tip, you can prevent future crashes by regularly clearing Word’s cache: go to File > Options > Save and uncheck “Allow background saves” to reduce file corruption risk.