Microsoft Word troubleshooting and how-to guides
You installed a new custom font on your Windows 10 or Windows 11 PC, but when you open Word, that font does not appear in the Theme Fonts list under the Design tab. The Theme Fonts list shows only the built-in Office font pairs, not your freshly installed typeface. This problem occurs because Word caches … Read more
When you insert numbers in a Word table, default proportional spacing can make columns look uneven. Each digit occupies a different width, so 1.00 and 9.99 do not align vertically. This article explains how to use the OpenType tabular number style to force all digits to the same width, applied only to the table cells … Read more
You select a custom font in Word and try to apply italic formatting, but the text remains upright even though the font family includes a dedicated italic variant file. This problem occurs because Word is not recognizing the separate italic font file as part of the same font family, often due to incorrect font naming, … Read more
When you change the default font in Word, the setting usually applies only to the Normal style and only to Latin text. If your document contains Asian characters such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, those characters may still display in a different font like MS Mincho or SimSun. This happens because Word stores separate font … Read more
You create a document in Word that uses special characters, accented letters, or non-Latin glyphs. On your screen, every character looks correct. When you export the document to PDF, some glyphs appear different or become missing. This mismatch between on-screen display and PDF output often happens because of font embedding rules, font substitution, and rendering … Read more
You have a Word document where one font is used inconsistently, and you need to replace it with another font across the entire file. Manually scanning each page to find and change every instance is time-consuming and error-prone. Word provides a built-in feature called Find Font that lets you locate and replace a specific font … Read more
When you open the font dropdown or the Font dialog in Word, you see the same font name listed two or three times. This makes it harder to find the font you want and can slow down your work. The cause is usually leftover font registry entries or multiple font files with the same name … Read more
When you edit a Word document saved to OneDrive, Word automatically saves versions of your work. By default, OneDrive keeps version history for 90 days. After that period, older versions are deleted and become unrecoverable through the standard File > Info > Version History interface. This article explains how to extend the version retention period … Read more
You open a Word document expecting modern features like Live Preview, Designer, or modern comments to work, but they are grayed out or missing. This happens when Word silently opens the file in Compatibility Mode, which disables features introduced after the document’s original format version. This article explains why Compatibility Mode activates without warning and … Read more
When you save a Word document as a PDF, hyperlinks often stop working or break across pages. This happens because the default export settings do not include interactive elements like links. By adjusting a few options before exporting, you can keep all hyperlinks clickable in the final PDF. This article explains the correct save settings … Read more