Office 2013 Word Keeps Freezing (Not responding)

A lot of problems with Office 2013 are caused by third party (non-Microsoft) applications.  This is my (expanding) list of things to try when Office 2013\365 won’t start or crashes:

See the Article “Why can’t I start my Office 2013 application at:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/why-cant-i-start-my-office-2013-application-HA104011864.aspx

For the error message Error: "Microsoft Office cannot verify the license for this product." See:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2797062/en-us

Refer to the following website for information on repairing Office 2013\365:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project-help/repair-or-remove-office-2010-HA010357402.aspx

See Office 2013 install woes - http://office-watch.com/t/n.aspx?a=1834

See the KnowledgeBase article “Office 2013 applications crash on launch at the splash screen” at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2813143

Or see the KnowledgeBase article Error: “Something went wrong and we can't sign you in right now” when trying to install Office 2013 at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2811180/en-us/

Try to run word in safe mode by typing winword/safe.

If thatdoes not helpthen, in the search box type winword --> Word 2013 will be displayed --> right click on it --> Select Properties --> Go to the compatibility tab --> Check to see if there is a check mark next to compatibilty mode.

If it is checked then uncheck it and then uncheck the option of Run as Administrator if its checked.

Now run the word

Also see my response in

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office\_2013\_release-word/microsoft-word-2013-has-stopped-working/67b81016-849f-481a-bce5-bf04797ac03b

Do you have Abbyy Finereader installed on the PC? A number of people have reported that removing it overcomes problems with 2013.  See:

Office programs may crash with the FineReader add-in installed at:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2755838

Do you have “Fun Tools” add-in? A number of people have reported that removing it overcomes problems with 2013

Do you have Toshiba Book Reader installed on the PC?  It has been reported that uninstalling that brings Office back to working status.

Do you have the Acrobat PDFMaker add-in.  It has been reported that uninstalling that overcomes an issue with a message appearing that states "The document contains macros. Macro support for this application is disabled. Features requiring VBA are not available. Would you like to open this document as a read only?"

Also see: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office\_2013\_release-word/microsoft-word-has-stopped-working-when-i-close/8375b5b6-4f7e-46ed-a02b-90152ecad287#LastReplyand

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office\_home-word/word-and-excel-2013-crashing-on-windows-7/5389390c-e989-4c8e-8fe0-62673f1410ce?page=4#LastReply

It appears that there may be some hardware incompatibilities as well.  If you have the NVIDIA driver NVWGF2UM.DLL, try renaming it as: NVWGF2UM.oldas was mentioned in:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office\_2013\_release-word/microsoft-word-has-stopped-working-when-i-close/8375b5b6-4f7e-46ed-a02b-90152ecad287#LastReply

From the File tab, select Options and then click on Advanced and then in the Display section of the dialog, check the box for Disable hardware graphics acceleration

For the error message "There was a problem sending the command to the program", use Windows Explorer to access the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office15 folder and right click on WINWORD.EXE then on Properties, go to the Compatibility tab and uncheck all the boxes.  It has also been reported that the problem can be overcome by editing the registry at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Document.12\shell\Open and deleting the ddeexec key.

The ddeexec can also be deleted from

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.DocumentMacroEnabled.12\shell\Open.

That fix is described at ...

http://www.dilloway.co.uk/there-was-a-problem-sending-the-command.html

It has been reported that uninstalling FastPictureView and FastPictureViewer Pro… overcomes the issue of the Minimize, Maximize, Close and Help buttons not being visible in Office 2013.

If you have a Canon 8350 printer, try using the Canon MF8000 UFRI LT XPS driver as detail in the post by Riad Amstha on April 14 in the thread at:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office\_365hp-word/office-2013-crashes-with-canon-8350-printer/e2bf6530-92e0-47ef-b6ec-e803a91793d0?page=3#LastReply

For the problem of nothing appearing when you start typing in a blank document in Word in Office 365 Home Premium, and you hear a bell sound with each keypress, but no characters appear, disable the SMARTInk add-in for an interactive whiteboard.

Problem is still active. No bug fixes yet from Microsoft. This problem seems to extend to the whole Office 2013 suite. If I leave any of the programs open for about a minute or two, it will freeze. I don't even have to be doing a single thing, just leaving it open allows the freeze. For me to be able to get any work done, I have to furiously type and press CTRL+S every sentence or two for fear or losing information in the freeze. I'm running:

• Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1, up-to-date
• 6 GB DDR3 RAM
• 1 GB GDDR5 GPU -  Radeon HD 5800 Series
• Core i7 CPU

Like everyone else, I have tried all of the suggestions given. Maybe it is some sort of memory exception? I don't think Microsoft cares to release any patches for it because they're focusing on their Office 365 suite now.

Until the problem is resolved, I would recommend using an open source alternative such as Open Office or Libre Office.

See the Article “Why can’t I start my Office 2013 application at:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/support/why-cant-i-start-my-office-2013-application-HA104011864.aspx

If that does not help, then you might remove all traces of the Office installation by running the fixit from the following article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2739501

and then reinstall Office by logging into www.office.com/myaccountwith your registered email address and click Install Office.

Hello Deepa

I am now having the same issue with MSWord freezing up constantly. 

It is only happening with MSWord.  It started a few days ago with an MS update.  This is the first time I have had this issue.  I am using MS Office 2013 Professional.  It's been installed (on my new laptop) since last summer/early fall 2013.

As soon as I open a document, it freezes.  My only option is to close Word down. It's completely unusable :((

I've followed the steps you have provided to others' here including going into Programs/Features: Change: Repair ... but it's still not working. 

I am using MS Office 2013 Professional.

Please help!

I found a 'workaround' to the freezing issue with Word. Since doing this method the freezing has not re-appeared. Seems silly but it has worked so far:

1. When done with the file, hit save a few times

2. minimize the window to the toolbar and go do something else for a bit. I haven't tested to find out how long to wait, so a few minutes should be ok.

3. Then expand the window again, hit save again and you can close without freezing. The last save may not be necessary but I don't want to explore further.

I am sure this can be tightened up with further testing but I am a writer not a software debugger. Microsoft can send me a check for the debugging work anytime.