Microsoft Keeps Crashing on Mac

Microsoft Word is undoubtedly the world’s most well-known word processing app. It’s a popular tool for writers, students, teachers, and anyone who has to deal with text files on a regular basis. But like any other program, Word can occasionally freeze and stop working.

The introduction of auto-save means sudden crashes aren’t as devastating as they used to be, but they’re still an issue and can have an impact on your productivity. In this article, we tackle some of the most likely fixes when Microsoft Word keeps crashing on Mac—continue to learn our lifehacks.

Before we start

 

Corrupted cache files can cause apps like Microsoft Word to crash. You can look for these files manually and delete them, but it’s much easier to use MacKeeper’s Safe Cleanup feature. It’ll search your Mac for cache files and other unnecessary data, and then delete it with a single click.

 

Here’s how to try MacKeeper’s cleaning scan for free:

1. Download and start MacKeeper, then click Safe Cleanup on the left-hand side.
2. Click Start Scan.
3. Select Caches, and choose everything you want to delete.
4. Click the Clean Junk Files button.

As you see, the app comes with one free fix, so you can properly test it, without any commitments.  

Why does Microsoft Word keep crashing on Mac?

There are many things that can cause Word to crash. If Word keeps closing on your Mac, it could be caused by any one of these factors or even a combination of them. Here are some of the most common causes:

• Your hard drive has the wrong name.
• There’s an issue with your auto-recovery folder.
• Word needs to be updated.
• Your user account isn’t working.
• A third-party driver is malfunctioning.
• Your Microsoft Word app has become corrupted.

How to fix if Microsoft Word keeps crashing on Mac

If Word keeps quitting on your Mac, you risk losing any unsaved work, and it can cause files to become corrupted and unreadable. It’s important to solve this problem as soon as possible. Here are the most common fixes:

1. Check the name of the hard drive
2. Clear the auto-recovery folder
3. Reset preferences and restart your Mac
4. Save the Word document elsewhere
5. Check Word updates
6. Create a new account
7. Enter safe mode on your Mac
8. Start Disk Utility on your Mac
9. Reinstall Microsoft Office for Mac

1. Check the name of the hard drive

Weirdly, the name of your Mac’s hard drive can cause issues with Microsoft Word, including random crashes. Here’s how to check your hard drive’s name:

1. Open Disk Utility from Applications > Utilities.
2. Select your system disk from the sidebar, and check its name starts with a letter, rather than a number. It also shouldn’t contain any special characters.

2. Clear the auto-recovery folder

There’s a folder on your Mac that contains all the automatically saved documents that can accumulate over time and cause Word to glitch. Clearing out that folder may solve the problem:

1. Open Finder and select Go > Go to Folder in the top menu bar.
2. Type or paste in ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery and hit Return.
3. Delete the contents of the AutoRecovery folder.

3. Reset Word preferences and restart Mac

Your Mac stores all kinds of settings for your apps, including Word. Resetting these preferences can help when Word keeps closing by itself. Here’s how:

1. In Word, select Word > Preferences from the menu bar.
2. Click File Locations.
3. Select User Templates from the list, then click Reset. Restart your Mac.

4. Save the Word document elsewhere

Where you’ve saved your Word file could be the reason for crashing issues. Perhaps the folder you’ve stored the file in has the wrong permissions, or maybe you’ve saved your file to an external drive that’s failing. Save your document somewhere else like this:

1. Open your Word document, and select File > Save As from your menu bar.
2. Select a new location, and click Save.

5. Check Word updates

It’s common to experience issues with outdated software, but it’s especially critical with Office programs for macOS. Microsoft autoupdate on Mac should handle this, but follow these steps to make sure you’re using the latest version of Word available for your Mac:

1. In Word, select Help > Check for updates in the menu bar.
2. Click Check for updates.
3. Click the arrow to see more details.

6. Create a new account

Specifically, you should try creating a new macOS user account. This is because settings, drivers, preferences, and other data may be corrupted or incorrectly set up in your current user account. Here’s what to do:

1. Open System Preferences, and select Users & Groups. Click Add User.
2. Enter your password and click Unlock.
3. Enter the details for your new user, and click Create User. Log into this new account and try Word again.

7. Enter safe mode on your Mac

This is a classic way to troubleshoot problems with macOS. Safe mode boots up your Mac only with the software and drivers that come with the operating system. If Word stops crashing in safe mode, then the issue is likely caused by a third-party driver.

Boot an Apple Silicon Mac into safe mode like this:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Press and hold power until you see Loading startup options.
3. Choose a volume.
4. Press and hold the Shift key, then Continue in Safe Mode.

On an Intel Mac, get into a safe mode like this:

1. Turn on or restart your Mac, and immediately press and hold Shift.
2. When you see the login window, release Shift.
3. Log into your Mac. Log in again, if you’re prompted to.

8. Start Disk Utility on your Mac

It’s possible more fundamental problems relating to your internal disk are why Word keeps quitting. Running the First Aid function in Disk Utility can help:

1. Press Control+Space to open Spotlight and search for Disk Utility to open it. Choose your drive from the sidebar. Click First Aid.
2. Click Run.
3. Click Continue, and let the process run.

9. Reinstall Microsoft Office for Mac

This is the last resort that is likely to work if your previous installation of Word didn’t go the way it was supposed to. Go through these steps to reinstall Word on Mac:

1. Quit all the Microsoft Office apps that you’re currently running.
2. Open the Applications folder in Finder, and send every Microsoft Office app to the Trash.
3. Go to the App Store and reinstall the suite.

How to recover damaged and unsaved Word documents on Mac

Word’s auto-save function only kicks in when you’ve saved a file manually at least once. However, if your Word file was never saved or if it’s damaged, you might still be able to recover it, like this:

• Select the target location
• Search for lost files
• Recover Word files

1. Select the target location

Word has an AutoRecover function, which may help you get back unsaved data if the app crashes. Check in this AutoRecover folder on your Mac for recovered files like this:

1. In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder in the menu bar. Type ~/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery and press Return.
2. Check the AutoRecovery folder for files and try to open them.

2. Search for lost files

Using Word’s search feature, you might be able to recover damaged or unsaved files. Here’s how:

1. In Word, select File > Open Recent > More from the menu bar.
2. Type the name of your file in the search bar in the top right. Double-click the file you want to open.  

3. Recover Word files

You can also try recovering text from a damaged Word file by following these instructions:

1. Open Word, and choose Word > Preferences from the menu bar. Click General.
2. Tick Confirm file format conversion when opening. Close the preferences pane.
3. Select File > Open from the menu bar. Select your file, choose Recover Text from the Open drop-down menu, then click Open.

How to prevent Word crashing on Mac

There are a few other things you might want to try if you find Microsoft Word keeps crashing unexpectedly on your Mac. Do these, and hopefully, you can prevent future Word issues:

• Keep everything up to date: Not just Word or even just Microsoft apps. Keep macOS and all your third-party apps up to date, because incompatibilities can cause crashes.
• Close unneeded apps: Running lots of apps at once can eat into your system’s RAM and tie up your processor, which may cause Word to close itself.
• Check your Microsoft licenses: Are you using an authentic copy of Word? If you’ve bought a fake license, it could cause issues with your software’s performance. You should also check your license if you get a warning saying your account doesn’t allow editing on a Mac.

Other fixes for common Word on Mac issues

Aside from Word quitting by itself, you might also experience other issues with Microsoft’s popular word processor. If so, check out this list:

• Word is frozen on Mac.
• How to force quit Word on Mac.
• Microsoft Word not responding or won’t open on Mac.

1. Word is frozen on Mac

When your Mac is processing a particularly difficult task or working on multiple things at once, you’ll see the rainbow spinning beach ball. This is usually nothing to be concerned about—it should go away fairly quickly. But sometimes it doesn’t, and Word gets frozen, in which case, follow these steps:

1. Give it a minute. If you have an older iMac or MacBook, you might just need to wait a bit longer.
2. If you’ve waited for a long time and nothing happens, force quit Word and try again.

Still having issues? Check out our guide on what to do when your Mac freezes.

2. How to Force Quit Word on Mac

If you can’t close a document when Word is frozen, you might need to force quit the app. This is fine as long as your auto-save has been enabled, otherwise, you’ll lose all your progress. Here’s how to force quit Word:

1. Press Cmd+Opt+Escape to open Force Quit Applications.  Select Microsoft Word, and click Force Quit.
2. Click Force Quit.

3. Microsoft Word not responding or won't open on Mac

You may come across an issue when Word stops responding whenever you try to launch it. If you have to use the Force Quit feature every time you attempt to start the program, Word’s preferences may have become corrupted. Fix them like in two steps:

1. Rename your Word document
2. Delete Word’s preferences files

Rename your Word document

You might have a problem opening a .word doc if its name contains special characters. Follow these simple steps to rename your file:

1. Find the Word file you want to rename and right-click. Select Rename.
2. Type in the new name. Make sure it’s just letters and/or numbers, then try launching the app again.

Delete Word’s preferences file

After you’ve deleted Word’s preferences file, it will reset the app’s setup, which can clear faulty settings that may be causing Word to freeze up or crash. Here’s how to delete Word’s preferences:

1. In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder in the menu bar. Type ~/Library/Preferences, and press Return.
2. Delete the com.microsoft.Word.plist and com.microsoft.office.plist files if you see them. Restart Word.

4. Microsoft Word slow on Mac

Various factors can cause Microsoft's performance to become laggy. This checklist of potential slowdown fixes may help:

• Turn off the spell checker
• Disable your firewall
• Close demanding background processes

Turn off the spell checker

When this is turned on, Word will constantly check your content for potential spelling and grammar errors. This may cause the software to lag, particularly with larger files. Luckily, you can turn it off:

1. Open Word’s preferences from the menu bar, under Word > Preferences. Select Spelling & Grammar.
2. Untick Check spelling as you type. Close the preferences pane.

Disable your firewall

When Office attempts to connect to the internet upon startup, firewalls can block this connection, causing the program to work slowly. Although this isn’t a good long-term solution, you can temporarily disable the macOS firewall:

1. Open System Settings, and select Network from the sidebar menu. Click Firewall.
2. Use the switch to toggle the firewall off.

Close demanding background processes

Your Mac may be running all kinds of apps and processes in the background. If any of these are taking a toll on your processor or RAM, then you might find they affect the performance of Microsoft Word. Check for these processes and close them:

1. Press Cmd+Space to open Spotlight, then search for and open Activity Monitor.
2. In the CPU section, click the % CPU column to sort it by CPU usage.
3. To close a process, double-click it, then click the Quit button.

Alternatives to Microsoft Word for Mac

Although Word is popular, it’s not the only word processor around. There are many alternatives for Mac, and practically all of them are compatible with Microsoft Word files. Should you continue having issues with Word closing down unexpectedly, here are just a few alternatives you can try:

• Pages: Available on macOS and iOS, Pages is Apple’s free word processor. It has the company’s design ethos stamped all over it, with a simple, intuitive interface and more of a visual focus than Word.
• Apache OpenOffice: This free app is one of several office apps that branched off from the now discontinued OpenOffice.org. It’s completely free and open source.
• LibreOffice: Another open-source office suite based on OpenOffice.org. Try it out if you’re having issues with Microsoft Word.
• Google Docs: Google’s cloud-based word processor works inside your web browser. It’s nowhere near as feature-rich as Microsoft Word, but it has one big advantage—cloud storage and auto-saving by default. As soon as you start typing, Google Docs saves your file to your account, and you can access it from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Microsoft 365: Probably the best alternative to Microsoft Word is… Microsoft Word—specifically the cloud-based version. This gives you a lot of the Word features you’re used to, but with the added benefits of cloud computing. There are paid subscriptions, but you can also get free Microsoft Word for Mac.

Say goodbye to issues with Microsoft Word

If you’re like a lot of computer users, then you rely on Microsoft’s tools practically every day. When Word keeps closing by itself, it can quickly become frustrating and a huge waste of time. We’ve looked at multiple solutions to this issue here, and hopefully one of them works for you, so you don’t keep losing your work.

Whenever you’re troubleshooting such issues, though, we recommend giving MacKeeper a try. Its Safe Cleanup tool can clear your Mac of junk files and other unneeded data in a matter of moments. When you’re trying to solve a problem with Microsoft Word for Mac, it could be just what you need.