Microsoft Word Document Will Not Open On Mac

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Occasionally, Windows files get damaged or corrupted. This makes it difficult to open these files in Microsoft Word.If this happens to you, the below guide can help you recover the files and continue working. If someone does save the document with features that aren’t supported by Word for the web, you can still co-author, just not in Word for the web anymore. If everyone in the group has Word 2010, Word 2013, or Word for Mac 2011, continue working together in Word (click Open in Word and continue editing). What You Should Do When Word Document Denies to Open Oliver Powell Updated on October 16, 2018 File Repair 20 Comments 3 min read One of the highly used inbuilt applications of Microsoft Windows based systems is Microsoft Office. Word Macro-Enabled Document (.docm) The XML-based document format that preserves VBA macro code. VBA macros run in Word 2016 for Mac and Word for Mac 2011, but they do not run in Word 2008. Word Macro-Enabled Template (.dotm) Saves the document as an XML-based template that preserves VBA macro code.

  1. Per my understanding on your question, if you open a Word document, the Word Application icon appear on the dock. But the content window won't prompt out. Please check the following steps: 1.Open the document Click on Word in your dock. 2.On the top ribbon, it should be changed into Word tool bar.
  2. If you are using third-party fonts, Word for Mac might experience problems with the font that you have installed. For more information, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article: 295062 Third-party installed font does not appear in the font list in Word for Mac. Note The document may have to be accessed on a PC. The document may also.
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Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Symptoms

While using Word for Mac one or more Toolbars are missing and cannot be added.

Cause

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This behavior can be caused by one of these things:

  • The oval button in the upper-right corner of the document was clicked. This button 'toggles' display of toolbars on and off.
  • There is an issue with the Normal template in Word.
  • The toolbars or menus are modified.

Resolution

To resolve this problem, try the following methods.

Method 1: Make sure that tool bar display is not turned off

  1. In the upper-right corner of the window click the oval button.

    Note

    When this button is clicked, it hides all the toolbars. A second click causes the toolbars to be displayed.

  2. If the toolbars reappear, quit, and then restart Word to make sure that the appropriate toolbars are displayed.

If Method 1 did not resolve the problem, try Method 2.

Method 2: Reset the toolbars and menus in Word

You can reset the toolbars and menus in the Customize Toolbars and Menus option, any saved customization is removed, and all settings are reverted to the original default settings.

  1. Open Word.
  2. Go to View in the menu.
  3. Choose Toolbars.
  4. Select Customize Toolbars and Menus.
  5. Select Toolbars and Menus in the top of the Customize Toolbars and Menus window.
  6. Select the item in the list you want to reset (Menu Bar, Standard, Formatting).
  7. Click Reset.
  8. Click OK when getting prompt: 'Are you sure you want to reset the changes made..'
  9. Click OK.

Note

When View is missing from the menu, then you can also Control Click the Standard Toolbar and go to Customize Toolbars and Menus here.

If Method 2 did not resolve the problem, try Method 3.

Method 3: Create a new Normal template Note

When a new Normal template is created, any saved customization is removed, and all settings are reverted to the original default settings.

Step 1: Quit all programs

To quit active applications, follow these steps:

  1. On the Apple menu, click Force Quit.

  2. Select an application in the 'Force Quit Applications' window.

  3. Click Force Quit.

  4. Repeat the previous steps until you quit all active applications.

Warning

When an application is force quit, any unsaved changes to open documents are not saved.

When you are finished, click the red button in the upper-left corner and proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Word 2008 and 2011: Move the Normal.dotm template file to the Trash

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  1. Quit all Microsoft Office applications.
  2. On the Go menu, click Home.
  3. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  4. Select the Application Support folder.
  5. Select the Microsoft folder.
  6. Open the Office folder.
  7. Open the User Templates folder.
  8. Move Normal.dotm to the Trash.
  9. Start Word, a new Normal.dotm template will be created when you choose Quit Word in the Word menu.

Note

When you had Word 2004 on your Mac previously and you now have Word 2008 or Word 2011, also check if the Word 2004 Normal file is present on the system, if so, trash this Normal template file as well.

Step 3: Word 2004: Move the Normal template file to the Trash

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  1. Quit all Microsoft Office applications.
  2. On the Go menu, click Home.
  3. Select the Documents folder.
  4. Select the **Microsoft User Data **folder.
  5. Move Normal to the Trash.
  6. Start Word, a new Normal template will be created when you choose Quit Word in the Word menu.
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Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Symptoms

When you save a Word for Mac document, the application crashes or quits unexpectedly.

Resolution

Step 1: Download and install all Office updates

To obtain updates with Office for Mac applications, follow these steps:

Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac, which comes with Office, can keep your Microsoft software up to date. When AutoUpdate is set to check for updates automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, there's no need to search for critical updates and information; AutoUpdate delivers them directly to your computer. To do this:

  1. Start any Office for Mac application on your computer.
  2. Click Help menu, click Check for Updates.

For additional information about Office for Mac updates, seeWhere and how to obtain Office for Mac software updates.

If the issue continues to occur, proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Check the hard disc name

Make sure that your hard disc has a name. The name cannot be all numbers but can contain numbers. The name must start with a letter. It must not contain any special characters, such as periods, commas, semi-colons, quotation marks, and so on.

Step 3: Save to a different location

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If you are saving a file in your Documents folder, instead try saving the file to the desktop or to a different location.

Remember that there is a 255-character limit to the file name, and the path of the saved file is included in the name. For example, a file that is saved to the desktop has the path 'HDusersyour user nameDesktop.' These characters are counted toward the 255-character limit.

If you want to save to a network share or to an external device (such as a flash drive), first save the file to your local hard disc. If you can save the file to the hard disc (your Documents folder), there is nothing wrong with the Excel installation or with the file. If you cannot save to your local hard disc, go to step 3.

Mac

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If you cannot save the file to an external device, contact Apple or the manufacturer of the external device. If you cannot save to a network share, contact the network administrator (your IT department) or the owner of the share. If you do not have an IT department and you want to save to a network, contact Microsoft Professional Support.

Step 4: Empty the AutoRecovery folder

Important

The location of certain files are different if you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed. To check if it is installed, open Word, and then click About Word from the Word menu. If the version number is 14.2.0 or above, you have Service Pack 2 and you should follow the Service Pack 2 steps when provided in this article.

If there are too many items in the AutoRecovery folder (userDocumentsMicrosoft User DataOffice 2008 AutoRecovery or Office 2010 AutoRecovery), this can cause memory problems and save problems because these files are loaded into memory when Word is started.

Move AutoRecovery files to the desktop or to another folder to see whether they are causing the problem. To do this, follow these steps:

To empty the AutoRecovery folder, follow these steps if have version 14.2.0 (also known as Service Pack 2) installed:

  1. Quit all applications.

  2. On the File menu, click New Folder.

    A new folder is created on the desktop. The folder will be called 'New Folder.'

  3. On the Go menu, click Home.

  4. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  5. Open Application Support, and then open Microsoft.

  6. Open Office 2011 AutoRecovery.

  7. On the Edit menu, click Select All.

  8. Drag all files into 'New Folder' on the desktop.

    The AutoRecovery folder should be empty.

  9. Open Excel for Mac 2011 and try to save a file.

    If you can save a file, review the contents of 'New Folder' to decide which files that you want to keep.

    If the problem continues to occur, go to the next method.

To empty the AutoRecovery folder, follow these steps if you do not have Service Pack 2 installed:

  1. Quit all applications.

  2. On the File menu, click New Folder.

    A new folder is created on the desktop. The folder will be called 'New Folder.'

  3. On the Go menu, click Documents.

  4. Open Microsoft User Data, and then open Office 2011 AutoRecovery.

  5. On the Edit menu, click Select All.

  6. Drag all files into 'New Folder' on the desktop.

    The AutoRecovery folder should be empty.

  7. Open Excel for Mac 2011 and try to save a file.

    If you can save a file, review the contents of 'New Folder' to decide which files that you want to keep.

    If the problem continues to occur, go to the next method.

Step 5: Remove Word preferences

Note

Removing the preferences will remove any customizations that you made. These customizations include changes to toolbars and custom dictionaries and keyboard shortcuts that you created.

  1. Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac applications.

  2. On the Go menu, click Home.

  3. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  4. Open Preferences.

  5. Look for a file that is named com.microsoft.Word.plist.

  6. If you locate the file, move it to the desktop. If you cannot locate the file, the application is using the default preferences.

  7. If you locate the file and move it to the desktop, start Word, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Word, and then restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.Word.plist file to the trash.

  8. Quit all Office for Mac applications.

  9. On the Go menu, click Home.

  10. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  11. Open Preferences, and then open Microsoft.

  12. Locate the file that is named com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist.

  13. Move the file to the desktop.

  14. Start Word, and then check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Word, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist file to the trash.

  15. On the Go menu, click Home.

  16. Open Library.

    Note

    The Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

  17. Open Application Support, and then open Microsoft.

  18. Open Office, and then open User Templates.

  19. Locate the file that is named Normal, and then move the file to the desktop.

  20. Start Word, and then check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the Normal file to the Trash. If the issue continues to occur, go to the next step.

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Step 6: Create a new user account

Sometimes, user-specific information can become corrupted. This can interfere with installing or using the application. To determine whether this is the case, you can log on as a different user or create a new user account, and then test the application.

If the issue occurs even when you use the alternative account, go to the next step.

Step 7: Test saving the file in safe mode

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Try to save when the computer is operating in safe mode. If you can save while in safe mode, the problem probably concerns software that is running in the background.

For information about how to enter safe mode in Mac OS, seeClean startup to see if background programs are interfering with Office for Mac.

More information

Word Document Will Not Open On Mac

If the steps in this article did not resolve the issue, visit the Mac forums for possible resolutions/workarounds.