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 Tried all those troubleshooting steps, so please don't reply with a link to a clearly outdated KB article.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
    2020-01-23T20:08:01+00:00

    In the "real world", the "fix" will probably never be in. It happens too infrequently for MS to bother "wasting" money fixing it.

    If you believe in mermaids, you'll probably see a mermaid before MS fixes this problem. And even if they do fix it, they won't announce it. The fix MAY or may not mentioned in the update release documentation, but if it is, the documentation will be worded in a way that will make it effectively impossible to relate this problem to the fix ...

    .

    Now, all you can do is hope that Doug will see your post and offer to fix it for you.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-01-23T17:05:14+00:00

    I have this exact same problem.   A word document I've worked in for years and never had a problem.  Now I get the "You have exceeded the maximum number of pages..."  Its 470 pages, 500KB.  I tried copy/paste into a new document (minus the last paragraph marker), no luck.

    When will the fix be rolled out?  1912 Build 12325.20172?  I don't have Office Insider.

    Thanks.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-01-14T13:15:28+00:00

    Thanks for clarifying how the cure worked, Rohn.  Very much appreciated!  I understand a lot more about the structure of Word today than I did yesterday.

    Sorry for duplicating my tribute to Doug.  Live and learn!  :o)

    Marty

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-01-14T08:57:18+00:00

    Hi Martin:

    .

    Good to hear you got a fix. Doug is a rock star that way. He has an exceptional understanding of the underlying (XML) code built in to Word documents. And and a very few others are able and willing to dig in to corrupt files to fix them. Something that MS does not bother to do.

    .

    The very last paragraph mark in the document is also an implied section break. This fundamental fact is unknown by most people. As well as containing the paragraph formatting it contains the "section"/Page formatting (margins etc). In the simplest case, a document with only 1 section, that is the all of the page formatting for the whole document.  If the corruption causing the problem is in the section formatting, eliminating that last implied section break can fix problems.  Doug's solution is an easy fix.  Add a couple of extra blank paragraphs then select from the bottom of the document to the top and paste into a new blank file.  The new document has a properly formatted final section break, and the copied text contains all other relevant formatting.  All of your content should be there. You may have to reset margins and a couple of settings to recreate your original document layout. But it certainly is preferable to recreating all or most of the document.

    .

    FYI: everyone see's all of the replies so there is no need to address the same comments to different people in separate replies. You can mention all of the relevant names to get our specific attention.

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