Word docs won't open

[lori5060]

recently, discovered that my Word 2016 will not open .docx
I purchased a standalone a few years ago and I think updated to V16.16.27

I used to be able to. I can open with Preview but not text edit.
anyone have any ideas what has happened.

while im waiting for replies, I shall try a few things.

even though I didn't think I had an issue with word, I force quit
and that seemed to work.

happens every now and then. I vaguely remember posting something like this in another post.
guess it gets stuck for some reason.

mayb this info will help another with similar issue.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

recently, discovered that my Word 2016 will not open .docx

Instead of double-clicking to try and open a problematic .docx file, try this.

Open Word.
In Word's File menu, choose Open.
Navigate to the problematic .docx file in the Chooser window, and choose it.

Does it open satisfactorily now?

If it does, your Mac may have lost the association of .docx files with Microsoft Word. To fix this:

In the Finder click once on a problematic .docx file,
choose Get Info from the File menu, and
under Open With choose Microsoft Word, and then
click on Change All.
You should now be able to open all .docx files by double clicking.

 

[MacInWin]

Good catch, Randy. I keep forgetting about the association factor.

 

[lori5060]

I ended up fixing the problem for now by doing a force quit of word and working now.
tho I think I remember going into word, choose open and select file.. still didn't open.

lost the association of .docx files with Microsoft Word??? never heard of that b4!
To fix this:
In the Finder click once on a problematic .docx file,
choose Get Info from the File menu, and
under Open With choose Microsoft Word, and then
click on Change All.

will keep this handy if this should happen again and am sure it will... tho dont know why.

I know sometimes my word docx takes time to open and every now and then a coloured swirling ball tho that could be cuz I have other apps open... tho I try not to do that often.

 

[chscag]

I know sometimes my word docx takes time to open and every now and then a coloured swirling ball tho that could be cuz I have other apps open... tho I try not to do that often.

Word is a large complex program. And everytime you open it, it calls home to the mothership Microsoft to make sure it's legal. All that takes a bit of time.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I know sometimes my word docx takes time to open and every now and then a coloured swirling ball tho that could be cuz I have other apps open... tho I try not to do that often.

There are several different reasons why Word can be slow to open. The most common one is that Word has a program that it runs when first launched that looks at all of your installed fonts and checks to see if they are in good shape (not corrupted), called "Fontcachetool".

You can often speed the opening of Word by making sure that your fonts are in tip top shape so that Fontcachetool speeds through it's check. The good news is that the tool to do so is already installed on your Mac and it comes from Apple.

Use the Mac OS's included utility Font Book to both "Validate Fonts" and to
"Resolve Duplicates":

Install and validate fonts in Font Book on Mac

In Font Book on your Mac, install, download, or validate fonts to use in apps, and resolve font issues.

support.apple.com

 

[lori5060]

I have used word as long as I can remember, following it along with all its upgrades.
so much so that when I converted from Windows to Mac... I just could not wrap why head around similar app on Mac, would not do things I like to do with my documents.
so I purchased word.
I tend to sometimes have several files open at same time comparing and moving things back and forth, which I would assume could be a problem. then when I close all files and close word... I do not necessarily wait for it too close. I think this is where it gets hung up sometimes.
and it does not help if have another app or two open also.

my old computer running windows, was built specifically for me and all my quirkiness so had lots of power and capabilities. I have learned I need to tone things down a bit using my Mac and work with what I do have.

I even thought of downloading open office which I understand I very similar to word.
tho it too may have its own issues.
but that is another topic.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...
I tend to sometimes have several files open at same time comparing and moving things back and forth, which I would assume could be a problem. then when I close all files and close word... I do not necessarily wait for it too close. I think this is where it gets hung up sometimes.
and it does not help if have another app or two open also.

Your 2017 MBP should be able to handle Microsoft Word like a champ.

However, if you feel that you need better performance from Word, there are some time tested tricks to getting it to run significantly faster.

- Disable Live Word Count (Preferences: View)

- Disable WYSIWYG font and style menus (Preferences: General)

- Turn off the grammar checker. Preferences: Spelling and Grammar --> uncheck Check Grammar As You Type and Check Grammar With Spelling

- You may also want to turn off the auto-correction features if you don't need/like them. Preferences: AutoCorrect (go through all of the tabs)

Let me know if these help. Usually they help immensely. If they don't, you may need to reset your Normal template, reset preferences, or clear caches. I can help with that if it is necessary.

I even thought of downloading open office which I understand I very similar to word.
tho it too may have its own issues.

I have Microsoft Word on my primary computer, but on my secondary computers I have this program, which is extremely similar to Word, and it's FREE. In some ways I like it more than Word, but it lacks a couple of specialized features in Word that I use a lot:

Free Office (free)

FreeOffice: The best free alternative to Microsoft Office

FreeOffice, the best free alternative to Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) for Windows, Mac and Linux

www.freeoffice.com