My Word keeps freezing (Word for Mac)

Anonymous
2024-05-16T05:16:27+00:00

Hello,

I have Word 16.85 provided through my university. I have noticed this consistently in the passed few days. Every time I select my text and then try to change the bullet, my whole software across all the Word Windows freezes, the 'Microsoft Error Reporting' background app pops up and appears in the applications dock, and the window says it is unresponsive. I then have to either force quit or restart my entire device.

I did my research and it says to reinstall the latest AutoUpdate which I did, but that did nothing. I then completely reinstalled the entire Microsoft suite which 2 days later it has returned. I can't keep reinstalling the suite because I have limited downloads through my educational institution. I have contacted IT support from my university and they are unable to help but provide temporary solutions that makes my desktop app useless.

For context I have the latest MacBook pro, the device software is up to date with the latest IOS and my word says it doesn't need updating.

Please help, I have exams in 2 weeks and every time it freezes it deletes all my recent work and takes a minimum of 4 hours to find a solution (normally reinstalling the entire Microsoft suite).

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For education | MacOS

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Anonymous
2024-08-06T19:24:03+00:00

THANK YOU!! I thought I was going crazy. Had done a bunch of A/B testing prior to finding this thread.

The 'without Teams' link didn't work for me, but the other link did, so again, thank you so much!!

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-08-04T15:54:36+00:00

    Just downgrade to version 16.86 and everything related with beech ball and hang issue will be gone. Just make sure not to update it.

    My issue on mac air m2 has been solved completely. https://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.86.24060916_BusinessPro_Installer.pkg

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-08-04T15:51:40+00:00

    Thank you Thank you Thank you so so very much!!

    You have no idea how frustrating this issue was, and I had no idea of what's causing that until I saw your comment.

    I am using mac air m2 and there was a point when I thought that it could be a hardware issue, and I even consider selling my brand-new machine.

    I tried reboot restart reinstallation of office suite even completely format my mac from recovery partition, but no solution worked!!

    Thank God!! the downgrade to version 16.86 worked wonders. Now all my word files are working smoothly and there is no beech ball or hang issue as it was there in 16.87 version. The issue was so severe that my mac literally hanged for 3-4 by simple typing in a word file, it was damn irritating.

    Shame on Microsoft for shipping such a **** version to the public.

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  3. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2024-08-02T17:34:55+00:00

    Then you didn't follow my advice of July 18. Install build 16.86 as instructed, please.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-07-31T23:08:59+00:00

    I did all the following steps and I am still having the same problem and my Microsoft 365 is with the University and they are getting a lot of complaints. After the Microsoft update the problem started for me and I cannot complete my assignments.

    Please advise.

    Vicki

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