Word keeps freezing on iPad

Exactly the same for me with the find option too, very frustrating when it is a very regular part of my use for work

Consider me yet another unsatisfied customer. Same problem. Same start time for the issue to have arisen.

Already have rebooted 4 times this morning. word worked for a minute and then upon opening another filed - failed. I will continue to update the reboot count to exhibit how disruptive this is to workflow

I’m having the same issue with excel and word app. And I just can’t use it.

Try this temporary solution:

Disable wifi (or toggle on airplane mode) when it freezes and then enable it again.

After doing this the app works fine until I restart it (Excel application?) again.

Credit can be found in:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/answers/questions/5589186/excel-word-freezes-on-iphone-ios-26-and-ipad-ipado

I am also experiencing the same problem for the past two days now. I cannot seem to edit an existing Word document, I cannot print the document nor can I save convert it to pdf. I have contacted Apple and they have confirmed it is more than likely a complex bug that Microsoft need to resolve. The subscription is active and the latest iOS has been installed. I have carried out all the troubleshooting steps yet to no avail. Can this please be looked at as soon as possible?

Word, Excel and PowerPoint are all presenting problems on my iPad. They freeze, won’t open files, won’t save files and won’t allow edits. This is not every time - the apps work fine for a short while and then the problems start. I can’t identify any specific symptom as they are all variable. I have updated the iPad OS, deleted all the apps (including Onedrive) and re-installed them but to no avail. The only workaround is to select airport mode until you need to save a file and then turn off airport mode. Toggling Wi-Fi on and off sometimes frees up a non-functioning app. The issue has arisen only within the last few days.

In the 21st century with AI and all kinds of machine learning at their fingertips, it is shocking that MS cannot fix this issue - which seems to be a very common problem now.

It has literally rendered my word and office useless - and there is just no way to do any productive work with these two programs. I’ve tried all the suggestions mentioned here and more (such as doing a happy dog yoga pose and opening the file with the tip of my nose) - but nothing works.

The tragic thing is that they are literally the only options available to do the kind of work most professionals need to do - so, we’re stuck.

Unless, Open AI comes up with something useful. But, wait a minute, they’re part of the MS family as well - so, we’re stuck to complaining on such forums and hope that a miracle will get us back to doing our work.

PS: I’m going to try another approach now - which involves a combination of Capoeira, MMA, deep breathing and mind over matter to move digital data. Will let you guys know if it works. :)

BREAKING NEWS:

The applications work in offline mode. So, basically, get your iPad in airplane mode and the programs work perfectly fine. Edit and save a copy of the file and all will be fine. The edits and changes will be available in the “Saved as…” file.

Till things get fixed by MS - hopefully this helps.

You can simply just toggle your wifi off and on and MS programs will work fine until you close out of them and reopen program. Not a great fix but at least it works.

Same issue here. The new Word 2.102.2 update released yesterday did absolutely nothing to fix this. Of note this is happening on both iOS 18 and iOS 26. I use one on my phone and the other on my iPad and the issue is identical on both.

I found logging out of and signing back into the Word/Excel app has worked. I can’t work in offline mode as my files are automatically saving to Dropbox and I’d prefer not to change that setting.

Same problem going on the 6th day. Sure, there are temporary fixes, but they’re laborious and annoying.

Seems to be working fine today without any work around. Hoping something was resolved by Microsoft?

It wasn’t working early this morning but seems to be working now. Both Word and Excel.

Have been experiencing similar instances where Word app has continuously crashed, glitched when scrolling through documents, entire screen froze whilst trying to edit the documents, unable to edit or load documents, unable to save the documents nor access it from the homepage where saved documents should be visible and easily accessible.

It has been incredibly frustrating as I heavily depend on this app for work purposes!!! Microsoft Team, please do something about it, we’re paying subscription to use this and get work done swiftly. I thought I was the only one experiencing this!!!

Tried to:

• Reached out to Microsoft via email — explanation provided was that perhaps the new iOS update has interfered with the compatability of the Word app ( for some reason, only on iPad??? )
• Toggle wifi on and off — no changes
• Deleted / Offload and re-installed the app — nothing changed
• Logged out and logged back in — no changes
• Cleared iPad opened tabs — no changes

If anyone has found another way around this glitch please let me know!

Guys I have had this issue as well for a few days, very furstrating when cannot get done my work on time and have deadline to submit.

They patched it this afternoon and it seems to have fixed the problem. Update your apps and all should be well. Fingers crossed of course

I have the same exact problem on my iPad Pro M4 for several days now. I can open a doc in Word, but it crashes as soon as I attempt to make any edits. Using a resource app, I noticed memory usage spikes to 99/100% when I open Word.

Word on my much older iPhone works fine.

I have the iPad Pro M5 iOS26 Beta. Word is up to date. Word keeps crashing. In addition, the cursor gets offset and covers two rows many times. I was working on a short document last night and WORD crashed many many times. I had similar issues with the iPad Pro M4 iOS18 Beta but not this bad.

I have had ZERO issues on any of my devices since I did the simple workaround I wrote about last month. To repeat: go to Settings-Apps-Word and turn off access to Siri, Search, and Notifications. Word is working better than ever.

I noted your helpful comment but unfortunately when I tried this I still have the problem with ios 26 recently released and the latest Word app :-(

Oh, no! I see I have the option of upgrading to 26 but don’t want to yet. I’m going to keep following this here.

I have done this Open Settings > Word > Reset Word > enable Delete Sign-In Credentials and Reset Cloud Settings > force quit and relaunch Word > log in again to your account and, fingers crossed, this seems to have worked on the first couple of documents I tried with - no longer crashing whenever I try to do anything in the Word app.