Word 2008 crash (not at startup/file open)

[boberonicus]

I'm running:

Microsoft Word 2008 Version 12.1.5 (081119)
on my MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz Intel, 4GB RAM, 240 GB free on 500GB drive)
on OS X( v 10.5.6)

On an ever-increasing frequency, MS Word 2008 crashes while editing modest-sized .doc files (with tables/fonts/new styles). It's not when I'm performing any particular command. The app quits, requests to send info to Microsoft, and relaunches with an older, recovered version of the doc. So I lose about 10 minutes work. Autosave is on.

Reboot Mac doesn't help, not sure what to do next. Can I get to the log file? Is there an intelligent way to troubleshoot this? The only thing I've found on the net relates to a crash when opening the app or saving a file.

Thanks for any diagnostic ideas.

Robert

 

[jeremybuff]

I know this doesn't help your situation, but have you thought about using Pages instead? It's a lot quicker than Word for Mac. I used Word for Mac for the quite a while because Word was so great on PC. Once I tried Pages, I never looked back.

The iWork suite really is great; it's smooth. I even like it's looks more. Any reason why you haven't tried Pages?

 

[boberonicus]

Thanks for your suggestion, but I'm more interested in diagnosing the problem than discussing the relative merits of various software suites.

 

[Gray-Wolf]

You might try PMing Nadyne here on the forums. She works for MS:Mac and has great ideas, and wants input as well. Look in another "Word" thread for her name and PM button. Its sometimes better to get it straight from the horses mouth, so to speak.

 

[boberonicus]

It's a good idea; I saw her name in similar threads that I searched before creating this one. Looks like I'm not able to PM anyone yet.

 

[discoforce]

Can't help with the diagnosis, but I can confirm similar problems with Word & Excel 2008. Compared to 2004, both programs crash much more often (especially when working with tables I've found).

Because I've experienced this on two different macs, I'd assumed that was just part of the new Office experience. However, if you find a solution, please post it here.

 

[jeremybuff]

Thanks for your suggestion, but I'm more interested in diagnosing the problem than discussing the relative merits of various software suites.

I just diagnosed the problem for you: Microsoft. It's a problem with M$ office on Mac, and has been for a while. Office is only better than OpenOffice or NeoOffice.

 

[boberonicus]

I just diagnosed the problem for you: Microsoft. It's a problem with M$ office on Mac, and has been for a while. Office is only better than OpenOffice or NeoOffice.

I'm sure there's an actual reason for this problem, and I'm trying to figure it what it is. I apologize for upsetting you. If I'm able to determine the nature of the problem and/or solution, I'll post the answer here. In the interim, you can drop the polemics.

 

[jeremybuff]

I'm sure there's an actual reason for this problem, and I'm trying to figure it what it is. I apologize for upsetting you. If I'm able to determine the nature of the problem and/or solution, I'll post the answer here. In the interim, you can drop the polemics.

Didn't upset me in the least bit. I would say that the nature/root of this problem is simple bad software and programming on Microsoft's end, but I sure as heck do not want to keep up with the "polemics".

Good luck on your journey, however!

 

[boberonicus]

Crash details attached

I was also thinking about attaching the .doc I was working on at the time, but my client probably wouldn't appreciate it...

 

[nadyne]

It's impossible to guess what's going on with the information you've provided. Let's do some troubleshooting.

Consider the lineage of the documents. Are these all new documents that you've created in Office 2008, and you're the only person who's worked on them? Are they older documents that were created in earlier versions of Office? Are they edited by others? If you can figure out that there's a commonality in the documents that are having issues, then you might be able to figure out an issue.

First, the basics. I see that you're up-to-date with your OS and Office 2008 updates (which is great!), so have you done anything like repair permissions or check to see if your preferences are damaged? Have you run an application like Xslimmer or Monolingual?

Have you checked your template? Here's information for troubleshooting the Normal tempate.

Is your document part of a master document?

Do you have any add-ins installed?

If you don't get anywhere with these, then it's possible that your document is corrupted.

All of the links that I've provided here are from the Word:Mac MVPs. These people are more awesome than words can express, and they know the apps backwards and forwards. They tend to hang out in the Word:Mac public forum, and they're immensely helpful when it comes to troubleshooting problems with Word documents. If the troubleshooting steps that I outlined above don't get you anywhere, you might want to post the details of your problem there to see if they can help.

Regards,
Nadyne.

 

[boberonicus]

> It's impossible to guess what's going on with the information you've provided.
So, the crash data I attached does not provide any meaningful info?

> Are these all new documents that you've created in Office 2008,
No, they're pretty venerable. First created in Word 2003, full of styles.

> you're the only person who's worked on them?
Yes.

> If you can figure out that there's a commonality in the documents that are having issues
Not that I'm aware of. Sounds like I may need to create a new doc and copy and paste stuff in, and re-create styles. That'll be a bit painful, but if you think it would help, I'd do it.

> repair permissions
Did that, no difference (post-repair crash attached).

> check to see if your preferences are damaged?
Just did it, we'll see if it fixes things...

> Have you run an application like Xslimmer or Monolingual?
No.

> Have you checked your template?
Not yet. Would prefer to try one fix at a time.

> Is your document part of a master document
No.

> Do you have any add-ins installed?
No.

Thanks for your help and the MVP pointer. Do you know what the warranty is for this product, and how to obtain support directly from MS? If out-of-warranty, I'd be willing to pay.

Thanks,

Robert

 

[nadyne]

So, the crash data I attached does not provide any meaningful info?

When I first wrote, I didn't see that you'd provided the crash log. Even so, it might provide meaningful information, but not to me. As you might have noticed from my signature, I'm a user experience researcher -- I don't touch our code.

No, they're pretty venerable. First created in Word 2003, full of styles.

So they were originally created on Word for Windows? Just making sure, since Word 2003 is a Windows application, whereas Word 2004 is a Mac app.


Since I see that you're trying the prefs thing, let's see if that makes your problem any better. I agree with you that trying one thing at a time is the best. After that, I'd try the steps for troubleshooting an issue in the normal template.

Thanks for your help and the MVP pointer. Do you know what the warranty is for this product, and how to obtain support directly from MS? If out-of-warranty, I'd be willing to pay.

If you purchased your copy of Office 2008 at a retail outlet (Apple, Amazon, etc), your license includes two free calls to tech support. To get the right phone number or email address for support for your region, go to Microsoft tech support and select "other solution centers" -- we're listed under the Office section. When you call or email, you'll need your product ID, which you can get by launching any app and opening the "About" box for it.

Regards,
Nadyne.

 

[Schwieb]

When I first wrote, I didn't see that you'd provided the crash log. Even so, it might provide meaningful information, but not to me. As you might have noticed from my signature, I'm a user experience researcher -- I don't touch our code.

Ah, but I am a developer, and that crash log is useful to me...

It looks like Word is crashing while AutoSave is saving a file that contains picture bullets. Try removing your picture bullets and see if the problem goes away. It looks like this is a known bug in Word, and hopefully we'll have a fix for it soon.

Schwieb
Sr. Development Lead
MacBU

 

[eRondeau]

I'm a user experience researcher -- I don't touch our code. Regards, Nadyne.

Ah, but I am a developer, and that crash log is useful to me... Sr. Development Lead, MacBU

Good Lord, Microsoft is EVERYWHERE!!!

 

[boberonicus]

It looks like Word is crashing while AutoSave is saving a file that contains picture bullets. Try removing your picture bullets and see if the problem goes away. It looks like this is a known bug in Word, and hopefully we'll have a fix for it soon.

That seems to have done the trick, although the crashes weren't THAT frequent, so I'm not sure. In any case, I really appreciate your help.

Robert