Word for Mac (2008)

Greetings - total newbie here, so patience please. Could someone please advise what's the most appropriate part of this forum to ask a question about word for mac? Not even sure if this is the type of material that is discussed on here, but hoping so. Thanks.

Using the forum names and descriptions as a guide. Try your best - sometimes questions could fit in multiple places. If it's in the wrong place, it will be moved by one of the staff members.

Let her rip!

Here's probably fine, but we do have a subgroup called Mac OS X -- Apps and Games that it would also fit into.

Thanks - and a Q

Thanks for the response - as you can tell I'm not a regular, so hoping that this question is okay here. My issue is Word for Mac crashing when a particular file is being used. It's a big file (44MB) that's loaded with graphics (all pdf and jpg, in case that matters). The file will open, but as soon as I try to do anything in the file (return, insert a letter, etc. etc.) Word crashes and does not recover the file. This happens almost instantly - no hangup, just crash-o-rama. I have tried cutting sections out of the document and pasting them into a fresh one, and sometimes the new document crashes sometimes not. I have also tried copying everything except the last paragraph mark (read this on another blog) and pasting into a fresh document, and also downsaving into word 97, but none of this has any effect. Any advice would be appreciated - again, if this isn't a good forum for this sort of questions, my apologies. Thanks in advance, and obviously I am more than happy to provide any other details needed. S

PS no other files I am using have similar problems, and I have tried uninstalling and re-installing the whole MS office for Mac package.

As I started to read about your dilemma, I was thinking of suggesting things you go on to say that you've tried already. (Thanks, good post.) So all I can offer is the idea of breaking the file down into smaller parts. Perhaps that will isolate the page that is causing it to crash.

There are some threads in the Microsoft support forums on the issue of Word for Mac crashes that appear to be document-specific. Might be worth having a look there. I've got a similar problem. The causes of these crashes are often unclear based on what i have read, and often do not seem to relate to the operating system or Word for version, merely the specific complex document.. Playing nice with Time Machine and sloppy document-specific formatting appear to play roles. I now turn off Autorecover and keep Time Machine off when I use Word on my iMac, then turn TM back on when done with Word. I save often and make frequent backup copies. I also turn on all Word's marks when working on a complex document (pilcrow, text guides, etc) because apparently that helps to prevent inadvertently creating formatting problems in complex documents. Some have had success when importing Word documents from a Windows machine with saving in various formats. There is also a move called "the Maggie" that I understand some people use to recover from that kind of situation, named for the person who discovered it, but it strips some work like track changes and/or comments I think, and I have not used it.

I am not a Word expert by the way, and I love Word for Mac. But like any complex software, it has it's quirks when we push it with complex documents.

To the OP:

You didn't mention how much memory you have installed nor anything at all about your Mac or which version of OS X you're running? A Word file 44 MB is going to require quite a bit of memory to edit and an adequate amount of disk space for virtual memory. The same would be true if you were using Windows.

Also, in Word 2008 preferences, save, make sure you turn on "Always make a backup". That will help to prevent file loss in the event of a crash. The auto recovery feature of Word 2008 and 2011 is worthless since a crash sends the auto recovered file into "never never land".

Apedreus said:

My issue is Word for Mac crashing when a particular file is being used. It's a big file (44MB) that's loaded with graphics (all pdf and jpg, in case that matters).

Click to expand...

Try turning off the display of graphics in Word (in Preferences,
under the View tab).

See if you can do a Save As of the file as soon as it opens. Sometimes the new file isn't corrupted like the original.

If that doesn't work, try using the "spike":
Select all the text in the problem document except for the
final paragraph marker, then press Command+F3, then switch to a new blank
document and "unspike" the text by pressing Command+Shift+F3. Then try
saving the new file.

If you can't do that, try this:
Open the "Open File" dialog box (press Command+O). Select the problem file, but _don't_ click OK. Instead, in the Enable drop down menu choose Recover Text From Any File, and then click on the Open button.

I hope this helps.