MS Word Unexpectedly Quits

[taquinas]

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a fairly new Mac user...

Within the past week or so, MS Word began quitting after the splash screen and then giving me the message "The application has unexpectedly quit," etc. Now it doesn't even make it to the splash screen. I'm using MS Office X (updated to 10.1.6) with OS 10.3.7 on a 900 mhz G3 iBook with 384 mb of ram.

I found this site (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313535) which seemed to describe my problem. However, I went through all the steps and Word still doesn't work. Worse, in the process of moving fonts to and from their folders, I'm afraid I mixed up the contents of the different font folders (hd/os 9 system folder/library/fonts, hd/system/library/fonts, hd/library/fonts, user/library/fonts.) Is there a way to tell which files should be in which folders?

I've also tried reinstalling Word and repairing permissions, neither of which solved the problem. Any advice (other than "You're an idiot for mixing up the font folders," a fact of which I'm already well aware) would be most appreciated.

 

[Rower_CPU]

Have you tried deleting the preferences file for Word? It should be your username/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist.

A wonky preferences file can often cause crashes like that.

 

[dvdh]

I ran into the same problem with Office X (Word specifically) running on 10.2.8. It not only seemed to affect the stability of Word, but also other applications that were running simultaneously or shortly after the Word crash. The only thing that seemed to help was deleting the preference files for MS apps (I deleted everything with exception to those prefs. assigned to Exploder and Messenger). This seemed to work for a while, but the problem is coming back, so I am starting to wonder if there is a problem with Word just sporadically corrupting itself. So I guess I'll just keep deleting the pref. files every month or so. . . .

 

[taquinas]

Have you tried deleting the preferences file for Word? It should be your username/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist.

A wonky preferences file can often cause crashes like that.

I deleted com.microsoft.Word.plist (couldn't find the exact file you named), and it still crashes. Am I safe deleting all other Office related preference files (as mentioned above) in username/library/preferences/microsoft, or are there certain ones I should not delete?

 

[Rower_CPU]

You're safe deleting others, and as dvdh mentions above that's probably what you need to do.

 

[taquinas]

Hmmm...I deleted all other related pref files...still nothing.

Is it possible that my screwing with the font folders could have exacerbated a problem that could have been solved by simply deleting preferences? If so, how do I go about remedying this?

 

[Blue Velvet]

Yes, you may have accidentally shifted a font that Word uses as part of its functionality...

Stupid but vital question first: Have you repaired permissions?

Why not try setting up a new account and installing MS Word into the applications folder of that account -- not the main Applications folder at root level of your boot drive... it may help pinpoint the problem, checking what library you've messed with.

 

[taquinas]

Yes, you may have accidentally shifted a font that Word uses as part of its functionality...

Stupid but vital question first: Have you repaired permissions?

Yes

 

[iLikeMyiMac]

I also have the same problem as you that I think appeared after the 10.7.3 update. It happens only after I run and finish a spell check but not every time. Right now I'm going to go through troubleshooting steps listed in this thread and see if it fixes it.

I hope iWork is released.

 

[taquinas]

Ok...I created a new user account, installed Word, and it works fine on the other account. However, after deleting all Word-related preference files I could find, it still won't run on my normal account. I suppose I could move all my documents and stuff to the other account, but that seems like excessive work.

 

[Timelessblur]

try completley unintstalling word from you computer and then delete all files that go with it (pref and stuff like that)
then reinstall install it from scratch. some time the glitch that came up or something you did unknowly is almost impossible to track down so a fresh install of word might be the easiest and fast solution to do it.

 

[taquinas]

That worked, finally. I deleted all of Office and all Office-related files, then reinstalled the whole thing. Seems to be working fine....for the time being. Thanks for the help.

 

[Timelessblur]

That worked, finally. I deleted all of Office and all Office-related files, then reinstalled the whole thing. Seems to be working fine....for the time being. Thanks for the help.

people always seem to forget the rule when in dought uninstall it then reinstall it. It fixes almost all the problems out there

 

[Blue Velvet]

I've also tried reinstalling Word and repairing permissions, neither of which solved the problem.

At first, reinstalling didn't work, and now doing it again for a 2nd time has repaired the problem?

 

[taquinas]

At first, reinstalling didn't work, and now doing it again for a 2nd time has repaired the problem?

That's right. The first time I only uninstalled Word and reinstalled it. The second time I uninstalled Office and all related preference files and reinstalled the whole thing. Second worked, first didn't.