Exceeded maximum number of pages on Word

Anonymous

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 Tried all those troubleshooting steps, so please don't reply with a link to a clearly outdated KB article.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

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

0 comments

75 additional answers

Anonymous

2019-12-14T22:33:59+00:00

Sorry for the delay in responding. A BIOS update bricked my motherboard and I needed to rebuild my computer.

I was hoping that a fresh Windows build with a clean install of Office would solve the problem, but it does not. I tend to agree with other responses that this a bug introduced by the recent 12/3 update.

My original doc is graphic heavy at 125 pages, clocking in at 45MB. Neither the page count nor file size has ever presented an issue in the years of prior use on this type of document.

The various fixes suggested here and in prior KB articles do not satisfy the issue.

I can say that using the Navigation menu is a sure-fire way to trigger the issue. Click on any header brings up the message and boogers up any hope of working in the file from that point forward. I have had hit-or-miss success with editing the doc without creating the error if I avoid the Navigation pane.

The file is located on a local LAN, but working on the document from that location or a local desktop copy makes no different in whether or not the error is triggered.

Lending further support to the idea of a bug is that I have attempted to edit the document on three other computers--two that have older builds of Office, and another that is up-to-date. The ones that haven't been updated to the latest version of Word edit the document without issue. The computers with the most recent updates display the error.

I would further think that the fact that this issue seems to have erupted lately (based on the number of responses to this post) after a multi-year lapse in similar issues might be an indicator of a fault somewhere in the new build.

But for the sake of clarity, my computer has the following specs:

Intel i7-9700 @ 3.6GTHz

64GB RAM

320 GB free on Samsung EVO 970 SSD

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080

Windows 10 Pro 1809 OS Build 17763.316

64-bit

Everything has latest drivers and updates applied as of 12/12/19.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2019-12-14T22:19:20+00:00

Same issue on a doc that's been fine for years thru multiple edits: "You have exceeded the maximum number of pages supported by Word or this document may be damaged..."

20 meg, 64k characters, graphics-heavy, 66 pages.

Lower left corner page count shows Page 1 of 11. An earlier version shows Page 1 of 9.

Doc won't scroll beyond 11. Word stops responding. Won't print.

Earlier editions of same file behave the same way.

Ran pending Windows update.

Tried reinstall on Office.

Tried starting Windows, then Open [Browse], Open and Repair. No good.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2019-12-14T21:00:37+00:00

me too on the 10th

Let's wait for any fix for this bug by microsoft.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments
Anonymous

2019-12-14T20:38:30+00:00

I, too, am experiencing this issue, and also now suspect this issue is somehow a result of one of the last two Office updates. The last time I checked, the last two updates were Dec. 3 and Dec. 10. I began receiving the error on the 10th.
Was this answer helpful?

0 comments No comments