Microsoft Word Keeps Crashing on Mac | 3 Proven Solution to Fix the Problem

Microsoft Word is a reliable widely used application to read and write documents. It also works flawlessly on all computers including MacBook. Despite its credibility, you face difficulties when the Microsoft Word keeps crashing on Mac or see error messages such as “Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for this inconvenience.”. Luckily, there are safe troubleshooting steps you can follow inorder to solve this issue. To understand why MS word keeps crashing on Mac and solve this issue, stick till the end of the article.

Why Does Microsoft Word Keep Crashing on Mac?

Some of the most common reason why MS Word keeps crashing in Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave and the most versions of macOS is that:

  • The Word preferences are corrupted within the computer
  • If the user profile is corrupted.
  • Background applications interfere with Word on Mac
  • Damaged application files

How do I Stop Word From Crashing on my Mac?

In order to stop Word from stopping on your mac, follow the below troubleshooting steps one after the other.

1. Reset Word Preferences if MS Word Keeps Crashing on Mac

Resetting the preferences will ensure that the corrupted Word preferences are removed to solve this error. To reset them, here is what you need to do:

  • From the menu, go to > Home> Go, hold the Option key, and select Library
  • Now navigate to Application Support > Microsoft folder and then drag com. Microsoft. Word.plist to the desktop.
  • Next, relaunch the Word on Mac. Now you will be able to launch the application without any trouble.

In case the problem still persists, move to the next step 

Did you know: If your Word file is not opening on Mac, it could also be due to corruption of the word file. In such a case you need to fix the corruption on the file to open and access the Word document

2. Reset Normal.dotm to fix MS Word Problems on Mac

In most cases, your MS word should start working on Mac after resetting the preferences. If not, resetting the normal.dotm file will do the trick. Here is how you can do it.

  1. Go to the menu, and choose Home>Go, press and hold the Option key, and select Library.
  2. Navigate to~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/My Templates
  3. Find the normal file. dotm and delete the file
  4. This way, you can reset the normal.dotm file and open MS Word on Mac.

If the still problem persists, chances are your hard drive is corrupted or damaged. However, you can run disk repair on Mac to solve this problem.

Note: Any damage to the hard drive will not only corrupt files but also erase the program files and documents that are needed to run MS word on Mac. Hence, you need to use a credible data recovery tool to safely recover the Word documents on Mac.

If your computer unexpectedly resulted in a system crash due to various reasons. Resulting in data loss from the hard drive, which had important files like Word, Excel. In case, if you don't have back up then you can safely recover all your data by using an efficient tool such as Remo Recover. You can download the software for free and retrieve all the data without any difficulty.

3. Create Another User Account on Mac

Although it may seem strange, there could be troubles with your Mac user account as well. Make a new account to avoid this problem and repair Microsoft Word keeps crashing Mac.

  • Go to System Preferences.
  • Now open User and group and at the bottom click on the Lock
  • Enter the password and click on the +
  • Click on the Create Account and enter all the details

Now you will be able to create a new account. If still, the problem persists then move to the next section of the article.

4. Boot Mac in Safe Mode

Here is how you can fix MS Word crashes on Mac by following the steps below.

  • Just Turn on Mac or Restart
  • Press the Shift key when you see the Apple logo.
  • Hold the shift key for a moment, and Mac would be restarted in safe mode.
  • Now at the upper right corner of the screen, you can see Safe Mode, you can Sign in to any account and open MS Word on it.

5. Run Disk Utility to Stop Word from Crashing

In order to troubleshoot issues in Mac, you can use the Repair Disk Permissions option. Follow the below steps to do so.

  • On the Go To menu, click on Utilities.
  • Run the Disk Utility.
  • Choose your computer's main hard drive.
  • Click on the First Aid option and wait for the program to scan and fix the issues.

Conclusion

Apart from the above-mentioned troubleshooting steps, you can also try updating the software to fix any issues. This will certainly fix most logical problems without your interference. Even if updating the tool doesn’t solve the problem, reinstall the MS word for Mac to fix the issues. 

Also Read:

  1. Microsoft PowerPoint Crashing? Know How to Fix PPT Crashing Issue
  2. Microsoft Word not Opening on Mac | 4 Free Solutions
  3. Microsoft Word Not Working? Know How to Fix Word has Stopped Working
  4. Microsoft Word Crashing - Scenarios and Solutions | 2022
Default image
Tony Landry

Tony Landry is a Web Content Editor at Remo Software. He loves to write, edit, and manage content for users trying to troubleshoot and fix problems on Windows, Outlook, storage drives, and Cloud storage networks. With an aptitude that transcends writing, Tony is recognized as a Microsoft Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint expert. His comprehensive solutions stem from an in-depth understanding of these tools, enhancing his standing as a trusted problem-solving resource.

He has published more than 200 articles on the Remo Software blog. He actively engages in research and problem-solving techniques to consistently generate great web content. Fixing various hardware problems on computer and storage devices along with a great knack for fixing Outlook errors, Tony is also the fun-time IT guy for all his work friends. Tony Landry’s work has been published in windowstechit, onlinegeeks, journeybytes and onlinecomputertips.

Articles: 207