Exceeded maximum number of pages on Word

Anonymous
2019-12-10T03:29:26+00:00

Just today I began receiving an error message that states "You have exceeded the maximum number of pages supported by Word or this document may be damaged..."

Opening up a tried and true file that's been in use for the last 3 months...including just fine not 3 days ago (no updates to the file, nor a related template version from which the new file was constructed) Latest version of Office 365.

Symptoms beyond the error is that the file will not display in print view. File will not save. Will not print. Will not export.

Verified on multiple Win10 machines with latest updates and patches (as of this post). Tried it on an older computer that hasn't been used or updated since September. File works fine.

Saw older posts reference this issue, but nothing since 2014. Tried all those troubleshooting steps, so please don't reply with a link to a clearly outdated KB article.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2019-12-20T07:21:55+00:00

Hi All,

Thanks for all your effort in this thread.

As this thread has multiple replies, to help the user who having the same issue, I would like to make a quick summary on this issue:

Issue symptom:

After updating your Office to the version 1911, when using Word to work on the document with multiple pages, you might receive the error: "You have exceeded the maximum number of pages supported by MS Word."

 

Issue environment:

Office 365 Business Version 1911 (Build 12228.20364 Click to Run) Monthly Channel

Office 2016 Professional Plus 1911 (Build 1228.20364 Click to Run) Monthly Channel

Solution:

Thanks for Matt's confirmation, this issue seems to be resolved after he updating his Office application to the Monthly Targeted Channel version 1912 Build 12325.20172. As this is an insider update channel, we do not suggest updating into this channel as it has certain risks.

However, since the fix has been deployed in the insider channel, this means it will be roll out to the Monthly users in the future updates, please wait patiently. Thanks for your understanding.

Note: Join the insider channel require you to be an Office 365 subscriber, so if you are using Office 2016 Professional Plus(which is an One-Time purchase product), you won't be able to join the insider channel at this time. 

Workaround:

As Renato mentioned, he was benefit from the this thread. Although this is a Mac thread, but the method could be also applied to the Windows side. Here is the workaround:

1.Open the issued document, wait until the error prompt "You have exceeded the maximum number of pages.. " prompt out.

2.Leave the error prompt alone, create a new blank document.

3.Copy the content in the issued document and paste it to the blank document we just created.

4.Save&Close the new document. And open it again, check if the issue still persist.

Again, we greatly appreciate for all your effort in this thread.

Regards,

Alex Chen

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-12-19T18:28:22+00:00

    Sign up for Office Insider (#1), then run the Office Updates (#2) from within your app.

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  2. Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2019-12-19T16:43:08+00:00

    Judging from your shortcut keys, you have a Mac version of Office, so this solution might not be applicable to Windows versions.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-12-19T13:51:04+00:00

    Dear Alex Chen , Doug,   and all people

    I have just done the same procedures that RAJU SUNKASARI  (araju) listed in another MS Forum  and...... as a miracle,  my new document is also functional for me.

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/mac-word-error-message-you-have-exceeded-the/c77bc2b4-2a4b-4ecc-8414-6c1d79fdaf87?rtAction=1576762608105

    The following worked for me.

    Once it forces itself into draft view ( after the long wait) it displays the max pages reached error. Leave that window alone. Open New Blank Document, perform copy all from the bad document (CMD-A, CMD-C) and paste (CMD-V) into the new document. Now the new document is fully functional for me. 

    However, this problem is hitting people all around the world

    We still don't  know what is damaging the files.

    There must be something , some action  that corrupts the file, .........

    I will send the video recording of my screen showing the details below if someone is still interested in keep investigating the mistery 

    https://1drv.ms/p/s!AodYV8hB6rqd1UH5nYkOAck05Bh7?e=07RpHc

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-12-19T11:57:15+00:00

    I'm having the same issue with a specific file/s. File size is 960 KB

    I updated microsoft around a week ago. The issue has been occurring for the past three days.

    When I open it I'm not able to scroll past page 5 before word stops responding and I get the error message. It then switches to draft view and either won't switch back or just stops responding again. 

    The number of pages keeps changing. Sometimes it shows only 9, other times it shows in the thousands. The doc should actually have 34.

    Other people have had no issues with this file. But I've tested many other docs and had no issues with those so it seems like it is isolated to this file?

    I even had a colleague copy all content into a fresh doc but the issue is still occurring on the new version. 

    Have tried open and repair, and also tried converting to .html then back to word. No luck.

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