Are you experiencing crashes, crashes, or installation problems in Microsoft Office? Here are some ways to fix the problem.
You are using or trying to use Microsoft Office and are experiencing technical problems. Maybe certain features aren’t working properly, or one of the Office apps itself is freezing or crashing. Perhaps you’re having trouble installing, activating, or signing in to Office. How can you troubleshoot?
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One option is to run an Office repair. If that doesn’t work, then reinstalling Office may be necessary. But Microsoft can also help through a free program called Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant. Referred to as SaRA for short, this utility scans your Office configuration and tries to resolve specific problems.
The steps I describe here should work with any desktop version of Office, or subscription-based Microsoft 365 or one-time license version. I’m also running Office in Windows, so these tips apply to Windows 10 and 11.
Try repairing Office first. To do this in Windows 10 or 11, go to Settings and then Apps. Select the option for Apps & Features. Scroll down the list of apps until you see an entry for your version of Office. In Windows 10, click on that entry and select Modify. In Windows 11, click the three-dot icon for that entry and select Modify (Picture A).
Picture A
A pop-up asks how you want to repair your Office programs. The Quick Repair option is the fastest and simplest, so select it first and then click the Repair button (Figure BUG).
Figure BUG
You’ll be prompted to start the repair, so click Repair at the prompt. Windows will then run a quick fix of Office. Once done, open the Office application that is giving you problems and see if you can reproduce the problem. If the problem persists, return to the Apps & Features screen and select Repair for Office. This time, select the Online Repair option. Make sure you have a good internet connection and then click Repair again (SIZE).
SIZE
Once the online repair is complete, reopen the problematic Office application and try to reproduce the problematic behavior. If the problem persists, your next step is to uninstall Office and then reinstall it. The drawback here is that you will lose certain customizations to Office and will have to recreate them.
Make sure you have media for Office or the availability of its online source, such as Microsoft account page. Return to the entry for Office at the Apps & Features screen, select the entry and select Uninstall. When prompted, click Uninstall again. You are notified that the program and files will be deleted. Click Uninstall to confirm (Visualization).
Visualization
Then reinstall Office and run the misbehaving program to see if it works. Whether you go through the uninstall process or not and it solves the problem or not, you can take another step.
Microsoft’s free Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant can sometimes identify and fix certain problems in Office. Not all types of troubleshooting options are supported by the tool, so your experience with it may be affected or missed. But it’s still worth a shot, especially if you’re having trouble installing or activating Office.
Browse to SaRA product page and click the Download button to get the program. Extract the downloaded ZIP archive and run the SaraSetup.exe file to install the tool. At one point during the setup, SaRA will ask you which app is giving you problems. Select Office or Opinion depending on the source of the problem. You can also select Advanced Diagnostics for further analysis. Press next (Figure E).
Figure E
On the next screen, select the specific issue. Press next (Figure F).
Figure F
The tool asks if this is the affected machine. Assuming so, click Yes and then Next. Sign in to your account if prompted. The tool runs several checks to try to diagnose the problem. SaRA can guide you through certain steps to assist in troubleshooting. Follow its instructions.
If the tool is successful, it will ask if the problem has been resolved and present a form for you to fill out. Try to reproduce the problem again to confirm that it is fixed (WOOD Figure).
WOOD Figure
