How to fix the "Sorry, something went wrong with Word" issue

Have you encountered the annoying error message "Word has encountered a problem and cannot work properly. It needs to close Word. Would you like to fix this problem now?" when trying to access MS Office? We'll provide you with some quick fixes for this issue. But before diving into the solutions, it's crucial to understand the reasons behind the Excel error. So, let's discuss the problem first.

"Word encountered an error"

"Sorry, Word encountered an error" refers to an issue where Microsoft Word experiences a malfunction or error. This could be due to various reasons such as software corruption, compatibility issues, missing updates, problematic add-ins, or system glitches. It's essential to troubleshoot these problems to resume normal functioning of the program.

When users attempt to upgrade their MS Office applications to a new version, they might encounter an error message stating, "We're sorry, but Word encountered an error that caused it to stop working correctly."

If any users run their MS Office applications in compatibility mode, they may encounter errors.

Essentially, the issue is that when any user tries to upgrade their MS Office application, other applications like Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Word are set to open in compatibility mode by default, which causes an error message to be displayed to the user.

Therefore, to fix the “Sorry, Word has run into an error” issue, try the solutions provided below.

How to Fix the 'Word Encountered an Error' Issue in Windows 10

Here, we provide you with four quick and most reliable solutions to resolve your issue immediately. Hence, please follow the exact steps of these troubleshooting methods.

Note: Before doing this, make sure you back up all important files. While problems are rare, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Fix 1. Address command issues

1. Right-click the "Start" menu and select "Run." This will open the "Run" dialog box. In this window, type in the command C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16, then press Enter.

Step 2. This will open the Office version folder in "Program Files." Here, you'll need to find the following file

• For Microsoft Word, search for winword.exe or simply WINWORD
• For Microsoft Excel, search for excel.exe or just EXCEL
• For PowerPoint, search for powerpoint.exe or simply POWERPOINT
• For Outlook, look for outlook.exe or just OUTLOOK
• For Access, locate msaccess.exe or simply MSACCESS

Step 3: Right-click on the respective file and select Properties above. When the Properties dialog box for Word or Excel or PowerPoint or Outlook or MSAccess opens, go to the Compatibility tab, UN-check the box next to 'Run this program in compatibility mode for' and click OK.

Now check if the issue is resolved. If it is, you can create a shortcut to run the application in compatibility mode, unless a suitable fix has been released in the meantime.

Solution 2: Disable or remove add-ons

Sometimes, these types of errors occur due to the presence of add-ons. Thus, you can effectively resolve this error by removing or disabling a specific add-on. To disable that particular add-on, follow these exact steps.

<Step 1> Click “File” > “Options” from the Word ribbon menu.

Step 2: Click on the Add-ins in the Excel Options window that opens.

Step 3: Click Go to display a list of all the add-ins currently running in the Excel application.

<Step 4> Now, disable add-ons one by one to see if the problem goes away.

If the issue is resolved, you'll need to proceed with the upgrade or update without it. You can also contact the extension's developer and share your feedback so they can fix the issue.

Note: Do not disable all extensions at once, or you will not be able to determine which extension is causing the problem.

Fix 3: Disable Compatibility Mode

This can also happen if the program is running in Compatibility Mode. In most cases, this isn't needed anymore, and if you've been using it, it's time to disable it and check if that solves the problem. The best way to fix this is by using the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter.

Step 1: Open the Start menu, search for “Program Compatibility Checker.” When it appears in the list, click to run it and agree to any UAC prompts that appear.

Step 2: This will display a list of programs installed on your computer. Find "Word," "Excel," or "PowerPoint," then click the "Next" button.

Step 3: The system will offer to either Try recommended settings or Choose default program to pick compatibility settings.

Step 4: Select Set up and troubleshoot. You may need to repeat this process for other options that appear in Custom settings. You'll be asked several questions, unless the issue has already been resolved.

Repairing a Microsoft Office Installation

Microsoft Office includes a built-in repair tool that's part of the installer. This utility can fix any damaged or missing files in the installation. As such, if the error is due to these reasons, the issue should be resolved after the repair process.

Step 1: Open the Control Panel and click on the "Programs and Features" section. This will open a new window where you can see all the applications installed on your system.

Step 2. Search for the Microsoft Word app in the list, right-click on it, and select “Change.”

Step 3: A new window will open, informing you how the Office application will be repaired. You have two options here: “Quick Repair” or “Online Repair,” along with “Repair” and “Cancel” buttons. Click on the “Repair” option and proceed with the wizard's further instructions.

After completing the steps, please check if your issue has been resolved!

How to Efficiently Repair Damaged Word/Excel/PPT/PDF Files

People often worry about losing access to crucial Word/Excel/PPT files due to corruption. Are you one of them? If yes, here's a solution! For corrupted Word, Excel, or PPT files, we recommend using the Fixo Document Repair tool. This is an excellent file repair software that can fix your issues with just a few clicks. Let's learn more about this fantastic tool.

Repair corrupted Word files

It can quickly fix severely corrupted Word files and restore complete data while keeping the original formatting intact. All in all, this advanced tool can promptly fix any damaged Microsoft Word file.

Repair corrupted Excel files

There are some files that are so severely damaged that an Office application cannot read any data from them. But with this tool, you can recover heavily corrupted or damaged XLS and XLSX files and retrieve all the content from Excel in its original format. The best thing about this utility is that it recovers all Excel files, including images, charts, tables, cell comments, and formulas.

Repair Corrupted PDF Files

PDF Repair is another significant feature of Fixo tools. With this utility, you can quickly repair corrupted PDF documents from your computer or any external storage device.

It can be downloaded for free with just a few clicks.

Step 1: Download and run Fixo on your computer or laptop. Choose "File Repair" to fix corrupted Office documents, including Word, Excel, PDF, and so on. Click "Add File" to select the damaged document.

Step 2: Click “Repair All” to fix multiple files at once. If you only want to repair one document, hover over the file and click “Repair.” You can also preview the document by clicking the eye icon.

Select the file to repair

Step 3: Click “Save” to save the selected documents. Choose “Save All” to save all repaired files. “View Repaired Files” takes you to the folder where your repaired files are located.

Tool documentation repair software also features:

Repair Office files in bulk Repair Office files

Too many files to recover? Batch of files corrupted? You can use it to easily select and repair multiple damaged files in bulk. The tool can fix several documents with PPT, Excel, PDF files or sheets at once.

Preview repaired file

The Fixo file repair tool always allows users to preview the repaired Word, Excel, PPT, and PDF file data before saving it to any specific location on their system. This unique preview feature always helps users verify if the impending result matches the original data.

Overall, Fixo Repair Tool is a top-rated solution for repairing Word/Excel/PPT files preferred by many professionals. We always recommend downloading this tool from the official website and using it as per your requirements.

Bottom line

If you've been following along so far, you should now have a comprehensive understanding of the four most effective ways to fix the “We're Sorry, but Word Has Encountered an Error” issue. Be sure to follow the steps we provided above accurately to resolve the problem.

If your PDF file is corrupted, try downloading a file repair tool and fix it with just a few clicks as described above. If you have any questions, feel free to ask us in the comments section, and we'll respond as soon as possible.