Word 2016 crashing when clicking on the File menu

Anonymous
2017-04-26T15:33:52+00:00

We have noticed that since this month’s updates have installed Word 2016 is crashing when clicking on the File menu when certain (not all) documents are open. 

Our initial investigations have revealed that if we open a document that works (a fresh .docx or any .doc) and while Word is still open try and open a problematic .docx it works.  If we try and open a problematic .docx with Word closed first, accessing the File menu causes Word to crash.  What’s interesting is that it doesn’t seem to be all .docx files, only certain ones, but for the moment we haven’t identified any commonality between the problem files, in fact most are simple documents with no embedded pictures, macros etc.

Removing the Update for Word 2016 (KB3178720) resolves the issue.  However, if we install this update on its own on a VM, it does not cause the issue, so it appears to be caused by a combination of updates released this month rather than just this particular update, but removing this one update resolves the problem.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-05-26T12:23:11+00:00

    This is the answer, tested a few of the Word files that were having issues and they now do not crash when clicking on 'File'.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-05-25T17:14:19+00:00

    Hi,

    do you use Windows 7?

    If yes, we activated the compatibility mode for word and excel.

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\16\winword.exe or excel.exe, right click, tab compatibility mode, activate the checkbox (it doesn´t matter in which mode), save, close all office apps -> try it again.

    For us was this the solution, not removing the windows updates.

    Cheers,

    Michael

    This worked. Thank you Michael!

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-05-18T17:13:45+00:00

    I have this problem too on all Office 2016 applications when opening Office documents on a Sharepoint 2010 Publishing farm. I don't have this problem opening Office documents that are not from this farm. I removed April KBs

    KB3178720 

    KB3178719

    KB3178699

    which worked but the May updates are causing the same problem. Here's the Event Log info I get from Word:

    Problem signature:

      Problem Event Name:                        BEX

      Application Name:                             WINWORD.EXE

      Application Version:                           16.0.4534.1000

      Application Timestamp:                     58ecdde8

      Fault Module Name:                          mso40uiwin32client.dll

      Fault Module Version:                       16.0.4534.1000

      Fault Module Timestamp:                 58ecd9cc

      Exception Offset:                                005e3d69

     Exception Code:                                  c0000005

      Exception Data:                                   00000008

      OS Version:                                          6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.48

      Locale ID:                                             1033

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-05-08T13:07:55+00:00

    Hi,

    we have similar issues:

    Environment:

    • Windows 7 Enterprise Service Pack 1 64 bit
    • Office 2016 Professional Plus 32 bit
    • SharePoint 2013

    Issue: Word or Excel crash when clicking on the file tab with the error message:

    Faulting application name: WINWORD.EXE, version: 16.0.4522.1001, time stamp: 0x58d1818f

    Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000

    Exception code: 0xc0000005

    Fault offset: 0xcac43d61

    Faulting process id: 0x10c4

    Faulting application start time: 0x01d2c4a25b9913e4

    Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office16\WINWORD.EXE

    Faulting module path: unknown

    when it was downloaded from SharePoint with custom meta tags (site columns)

    Solution:

    Remove

    • KB3178720 for word
    • KB3191861 for excel

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  5. Anonymous
    2017-05-08T12:56:37+00:00

    With the new Updates from May the same issue occurs. I contacted Microsoft Support again and they said the the product Crew is still analyzing the Problem.

    They suppose it could be a Problem with an installed application and the Office updates.

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