Print spooler breaks when opening Microsoft word

I've got a weird one that I can't solve and I'm hoping someone here has seen it before. On one Windows 11 PC, the Print Spooler service stops every single time Microsoft Word is opened. It doesn't matter if I open a document or just launch Word and leave it sitting there within about 10-15 seconds the spooler is gone. Excel, Adobe, Notepad and everything else work perfectly and print fine. Only Word breaks it.

It's not a crash in the normal sense. There's no Event 1000, no "faulting module name", nothing in the Application log, nothing in the System log from the Service Control Manager. The spoolsv.exe process just disappears cleanly. I set the service recovery to restart after 60 seconds and it does come back on its own, but the moment Word is opened again it dies again.

Things removed or cleaned up:

Removed the orphaned AnyDesk port (AD_Port) which was causing a pn64.dll missing module error

• Fixed the Brother MFC port that had the MAC address set as the hostname instead of the IP

Reverted the WSD Port monitor from BIXOLON's APMon.dll back to WSDMon.dll

Removed the Seagull V3 Network Monitor

Removed both BIXOLON printers, their drivers, their ports (USB001, USB002), and the bixolon.inf driver package

Removed the Brother PC-FAX printer

Removed the Brother MFC printer

• Removed all orphaned TCP/IP ports

Removed the BIXOLON registry entries under Print Monitors and Ports

Removed the Seagull driver folder from C:\Program Files\Seagull

• Renamed Seagull_V3_NetMonDispatcher.dll to .bak
• Cleared the spool folder (C:\Windows\System32\spool\PRINTERS) of any queued or stuck print jobs

Office-related things tried:

• winword /safe still broke
• winword /a still broke
• Renamed Normal.dotm still broke
• Renamed the Templates folder still broke
• Renamed the Word STARTUP folder still broke
• Quick Repair still broke
• Online Repair still broke
• Full uninstall and reinstall of Microsoft 365 still broke
• Cleared the Office auth cache (OneAuth, IdentityCache) still broke

Diagnostic things done:

• Enabled and checked the PrintService Operational log
• Ran a live spooler watchdog logging thread counts every 2 seconds
• Checked Event Viewer Application and System logs no spooler crash events
• Checked spoolsv.exe loaded modules all Microsoft DLLs
• Checked print providers only Microsoft's inetpp.dll and win32spl.dll
• Paused ESET real-time protection and Device Control for 10 minutes still broke
• Confirmed Excel, Adobe, and Notepad all work fine and print fine
• Set spooler recovery to restart after 60 seconds confirmed it does restart on its own
• Verified the spooler process terminates cleanly with no error, no faulting module, flat thread count (~16) right up to the moment it disappearsThings removed or cleaned up:
  • Removed the orphaned AnyDesk port (AD_Port) which was causing a pn64.dll missing module error
  • Fixed the Brother MFC port that had the MAC address (BRWD8B32F15C155) set as the hostname instead of the IP (192.168.0.16)
  • Reverted the WSD Port monitor from BIXOLON's APMon.dll back to WSDMon.dll
  • Removed the Seagull V3 Network Monitor
  • Removed both BIXOLON printers, their drivers, their ports (USB001, USB002), and the bixolon.inf driver package
  • Removed the Brother PC-FAX printer
  • Removed the Brother MFC printer
  • Removed all orphaned TCP/IP ports
  • Removed the BIXOLON registry entries under Print Monitors and Ports
  • Removed the Seagull driver folder from C:\Program Files\Seagull
  • Renamed Seagull_V3_NetMonDispatcher.dll to .bak

I've run out of things to try short of a full Windows reinstall. If anyone has seen this exact pattern particularly after a recent Office update where Word specifically breaks the spooler while other Office apps are fine I'd really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks in advance.