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 Tried all those troubleshooting steps, so please don't reply with a link to a clearly outdated KB article.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
    2020-01-24T12:54:05+00:00

    I had the same problem

    I copied and pasted all my file into a new doc and the problem is gonne.

    Now I am working fine with this doc

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-01-24T10:45:42+00:00

    ...

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

    I read Doug's post further up in this thread, followed his instructions, and got a usable file back from him in under 12 hours.  He's good.

    I haven't yet been able to replicate his method, but I'm using Office 365.  This is just for the fun of it (and to get ready for Next Time, I guess).

    I think the problem is in the sequence of my header and page and section definitions.  

    Open Office and Google Docs can both open the document without throwing the error message.  I find this reassuring.  I didn't try to fix the problem using either one of them, but it was the next avenue I was going to explore before Doug came to the rescue.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-01-24T09:53:17+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.

    I went back to the original problem document.

    Office 365.

    Inserted several blank lines at the end.

    Tried to copy everything except the last lines.

    Word hangs with a "Not responding" message.

    It may be that I should have tried to save the broken file first, then done the copy all but the last marker and paste.

    Don't have time to test this just now.  Gotta go help someone with a problem here in the house.  TTYL.

    ... 30 minutes later ...

    I left Word sitting here, helped my friend, and am back at the keyboard for a moment.  Word is still hung up.  Trying a different path now.

    Failed.  I saved the bad document, then tried fooling around with just copying part of it into a blank document.  Same result.

    I have more ideas.  Not more time at the moment.  New theory: search and replace every section break with a marker that means "a section break used to be here."  I have the feeling that this may solve the problem while, of course, causing a huge set of problems.

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  4. 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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