Microsoft Won't Open On My Mac

Jan 22, 2017 Microsoft office stopped working on my mac. I can't open excel, powerpoint, or word, I have a mac book air -Answered by a verified Mac Support Specialist We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website. Start MS Word and click on the File menu. Choose the Open option and it will open up a dialog box where you can select the Word file which needs repair. While you are selecting the file, at the right bottom side of the window, choose the Repair option and click on the Ok button. Mar 21, 2017  My Microsoft Word 11 will not open, actually none of my Microsoft Office will open. And just yesterday it was working fine. Have you restarted your Mac? Report anything that may have changed since your last joy with MS Office apps - updates, upgrades, new software installs, etc. Question: Q: Microsoft Word Won't Open More Less. Apple Footer. Sep 23, 2013  I have been using outlook 365 on my mac for about a month now. Today it will not open. It starts but never opens. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling. Nothing wants to work. Can you help? Hi See if following methods help you to solve the issue: 1.Hold the alt key and click on the Outlook icon on the Dock. If it is not there, go to the. Oct 07, 2019 If none of your installed apps can open the file, search the Internet or Mac App Store for apps that can play or convert the file: Include the name of the media format in your search. To find the format, select the file and press Command-I to open an Info window.

  1. Ms Word Won't Open On Mac
  2. Microsoft Won't Open On My Mac Computer
  3. Microsoft Won't Open On My Mac Account

Apr 01,2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

“I was trying to use MS Word but it crashed unexpectedly. Now my Microsoft Word will not open on my Mac and I don’t know what to do. I keep on trying to open different files but every time it crashes after a few seconds. How can i fix it?”

Just like any other software program, MS Word is also susceptible to issues. You will find unlimited queries on forum sites asking “why won’t my Word document open on my Mac”. Most of the people have no idea why their Microsoft Word stopped working randomly. If you are also facing a similar situation, then you will have to look for an appropriate solution that can fix this issue.

In this article, we are going to discuss the potential fixes that can resolve the Microsoft Word not working issue.

Part 1. Why Won’t Microsoft Word Open on Mac Computer?

As the MS Word is a widely used program, a malfunction could get tragic real soon. Before you get to solutions, it is essential that you go through the reasons of this problem first. The common causes of these issues are.

  • Inappropriate Shutdown or system crash
  • Shift + Delete and the file is deleted permanently from the device.
  • Formatted drives
  • Damaged and corrupted files
  • Virus or malware attack

Unless you have a brief idea about what caused the problem, you won’t be able to steer away from the common errors. The user's listed common symptoms that lead to the ”word won’t open on my Mac” issue are given below:

  • The application keeps closing without any warning.
  • MS Word encounters an unknown issue and needs to close.
  • Erase, Install, or re-install factory version of OS X
  • MS Word file can’t open due to an error.
Related: Further read and get 8 specific solutions to 'Word Keeps Crashing Mac'.

When you face a situation like this, don’t pain and look for solutions on the internet. If you are lucky, then you’ll come across real fixes soon. Otherwise, you might have to struggle to find an ideal fix.

Part 2. How to Fix 'Microsoft Word Not Opening Mac'?

With so many versions and updates on MS Word, it can get hard to simplify the solutions that would work for all versions. But, here is a summarized list of solutions that can work when Microsoft Word is not opening on Mac. All these methods are useful and easy to carry out. So, give them a try one by one.

Solution 1. Remove Word Preferences to Open Frozen Word

Sometimes, it is the random words combination or special characters that lead to such issues. It can be resolved if you follow the steps below.

  1. Open library and type Library in the Go to the Folder and hit the Go button.
  2. Look for a folder which says “Preferences”. This folder contains the preferences file you set for the MS Word program.
  3. Open the folder, search for a file named- 'com.microsoft.Word.plist' and move the file to the desktop. Now, try opening the Word file and see if the problem still persists. If it does, then move the file to its original location and move on to the next step.
  4. Exit every Microsoft program running on your Mac and click on the Word option in the Apple Menu. Tap on the “Preferences” option from the list.
  5. Choose the File Locations option and select the “User templates”.
  6. Locate the file which saved as Normal and moves it to the desktop.

Solution 2. Open and Repair Microsoft Word

Everyone knows how to open Microsoft Word on Mac but we are not talking about just opening and closing the files. You can also repair the MS Word files with the following steps.

Microsoft Won
  1. Start MS Word and click on the File menu. Choose the Open option and it will open up a dialog box where you can select the Word file which needs repair.
  2. While you are selecting the file, at the right bottom side of the window, choose the Repair option and click on the Ok button.

The Mac utility will automatically repair the not opening Word file and you will be able to use it now.

Solution 3. Run Disk Utility to Repair Word

Besides the above methods fail, you can also run the Disk Utility to repair the Word file if the Microsoft Word is not opening on your Mac computer.

  1. Inside the Go menu, choose the Utilities option and start the Disk Utility program.
  2. Make sure that you choose the Primary hard disk of your Mac and then click on the “First Aid” tab.
  3. You will get a pop-up option which asks you to run First Aid on the drive. Hit the Run option and the Disk Utility will repair the Disk volume errors and permissions issues.

When the process finishes, click on “Done” and check whether the problem is fixed or not. There are maximum chances that the problem will be resolved. But if MS Word is still not responding correctly to commands, then there is one 100% guaranteed solution left to recover your Word Documents.

Solution 4. Recover Not Opening Word Files on Mac

While you are trying to repair the drive and Word files, it is common that the solutions don’t work as expected and the files get deleted from Mac. Here is the perfect solution if getting stuck in such circumstances without any recovery option.

The best tool available for Word file recovery on the internet is Recoverit Word Recovery software. This software is capable of recovering various kinds of deleted or lost data. For example, Word documents, PowerPoint, Excel files, PDF, photos, videos, songs, audios, and many more. It is a faster, easier, and 100% secure data recovery tool with the highest recovery rate in the market.

Watch the Video for Mac DOC Files Recovery

Now, let's have a look at the simple steps on Word document recovery. You only need to launch the Word file recovery software and do a few clicks.

Step 1: Select a location storing the Word file

To recover the not opening document caused by accidental deletion, you need to select the drive where the data files are lost. Then, click the 'Start' button.

Step 2: Scan the Word location for files

Typically, the software will run an all-around scan and search for the lost and deleted files on the entire drive. If you perform an emptied trash recovery or HFS+ data rescue, you can even try the deep scan mode.

Step 3: Preview and recover Word documents

When the scan completes, the files will be listed on the screen. The software will sort out the files according to format to make the search easier. You can select multiple files at a time and have a preview at them.

Part 3. Tips Against 'Microsoft Word Won't Open on Mac'

If you don’t want to go through this problem, then you should have to take care of a few things. This way, you will be successful in avoiding the Microsoft Word won't open on Mac issue in the future. So, here are some tips that you need to follow:

Ms Word Won't Open On Mac

  • Avoid relying on automated tools to clean up the cache or redundant files on your Mac. These tools often end up deleting the important files on the device.
  • In case you use the Command Line to delete a file, be careful as a single mistake can lead to bigger issues.
  • Never format a drive before creating a backup otherwise you might end up losing important files.
  • Stay focused while partitioning the drives on your Mac. Improper partitioning can lead to corruption of data files stored on the drive.
  • Avoid rushing commands on the MS Word. If you pass on multiple commands at once, then Word might get confused and the file might become inaccessible due to some random mistake.

Even a little mishandling can lead to major working issues in MS Word. So, instead of worrying about how you can rescue the data, try keeping the data safe on the first hand.

Now you know how to open Word on Mac along with the process of repair. And if you are facing a dilemma and the want to recover Word files, then you can always think of using Recoverit Data recovery software.

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Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Symptoms

When you try to start Microsoft Excel for Mac, you receive the following error message:

Microsoft Excel has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Microsoft Won't Open On My Mac Computer

Cause

This error may occur if one of the following conditions is true:

  • The Excel preferences are corrupted.
  • Programs that are running in the background are interfering with Excel for Mac.
  • Application files are corrupted.
  • A user account profile is corrupted.

Resolution

To resolve this issue, try the following methods, in order, until the issue is resolved.

Method 1

Step 1: Quit all programs

You must quit all programs before you continue. To quit an application, select the application on the toolbar (top), and then select Quit. If you cannot quit an application or do not know how, hold down the Command and Option keys, and then press Esc on your keyboard. Select the application in the 'Force Quit Application' window, and then select Force Quit. Click Force Quit to quit the application.

When you are finished, click the red button in the upper-left corner and go to step 2.

Step 2: Remove your Excel preferences

  1. Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac applications.

  2. On the Go menu, click Home.

  3. Open Library. Note The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  4. Open Preferences.

  5. Drag com.microsoft.Excel.plist to the desktop. If you cannot locate the file, Excel is using the default preferences. Go to step 7.

  6. Open Excel, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Excel, restore the file to its original location, and go to the next step. If the problem is resolved, drag com.microsoft.Excel.plist to the Trash.

  7. Quit all Office for Mac applications.

  8. On the Go menu, click Home.

  9. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  10. Open Preferences.

  11. Open Microsoft, and then drag com.microsoft.Excel.prefs.plist to the desktop. If you cannot locate the file, Excel is using the default preferences. Go to step 13.

  12. Open Excel, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Excel, restore the file to its original location, and go to Method 2. If the problem is resolved, drag com.microsoft.Excel,prefs.plist to the Trash.

Method 2

Use the 'Repair Disk Permissions' option

You can use the Repair Disk Permissions option to troubleshoot permissions problems in Mac OS X 10.2 or later versions. To use the Repair Disk Permissions option, follow these steps:

  1. On the Go menu, click Utilities.
  2. Start the Disk Utility program.
  3. Click the primary hard disk drive for your computer.
  4. Click the First Aid tab.
  5. Click Repair Disk Permissions.

Note

The Disk Utility program only repairs software that is installed by Apple. This utility also repairs folders, such as the Applications folder. However, this utility does not repair software that is in your home folder.

Open Excel and check if the issue is resolved. If it is not, continue to Method 3.

Method 3

Create and use a new user account

To create a new user account, use the following procedure.

Note

You many have to reinstall Office if you log on with a new account.

  1. Click the Apple icon, and then click System Preferences.

  2. Click Accounts.

  3. Click the plus sign ('+') in the lower-left corner to open the new account window.

    Note

    If you are not the Administrator of the computer, click Click the lock to make changes. Log on by using your Administrator user name and password, and then click OK.

  4. Type the word Test for the user name, and leave the password box blank. Click Create Account. When you receive a warning, click OK.

  5. Click to select Allow User to Administer this computer. (If this option is not available, just go to the next step).

  6. Click the Apple icon, and then click Log Out name.

  7. Log on with your Test account.

Open Excel and check if the issue is resolved. If you can save when you use a new user account, contact Apple support to troubleshoot your existing account. If you do not want to keep your existing account, you can rename the 'Test' account that you create in the following procedure, and continue to use that account. If it is not, continue to Method 4.

Method 4

Remove and then reinstall Office

Microsoft outlook won

Microsoft Won't Open On My Mac Account

For information about how to remove and then reinstall Office, see the following article:

Third-party disclaimer information

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

The information and the solution in this document represent the current view of Microsoft Corporation on these issues as of the date of publication. This solution is available through Microsoft or through a third-party provider. Microsoft does not specifically recommend any third-party provider or third-party solution that this article might describe. There might also be other third-party providers or third-party solutions that this article does not describe. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, this information should not be interpreted to be a commitment by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot guarantee or endorse the accuracy of any information or of any solution that is presented by Microsoft or by any mentioned third-party provider.