microsoft 365 Word crash

Question

microsoft 365 Word crash

Dominika Margas 0

Good morning, I'm hereby reporting a serious technical issue that occurred while working in Microsoft Word, which resulted in the loss of a significant portion of my work on a document. A few days ago, while working on an important document, Microsoft Word completely froze and became unresponsive. The problem persisted for many hours – overnight and well into the next day. Due to concerns about losing unsaved data, I initially refrained from forcing the program to close or restarting the computer. Ultimately, because the program continued to be unresponsive, I had to seek professional help and restart the computer. After restarting the system, I discovered that a significant portion of the changes and materials I had created in the Word document had been lost. I request that you register this report regarding the program crash along with confirmation of receipt of the report, preferably with the case or report number, information on whether it is possible to recover lost changes, in particular from AutoRecover files, temporary files or other data created by Microsoft Word, indication of what technical information I should provide to enable a more thorough analysis of the problem.

Ragards
[Moderator note: Personally Identifiable Information removed]

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Answer 1

Good day Dominika and I am sorry to hear that Word stopped responding and that part of your work was lost after the computer was restarted.

Just to gently clarify before going any further, this forum is separate from Microsoft Support. I don’t have the ability to access or investigate individual accounts because this is a user‑to‑user support forum.

As a fellow community member, I cannot create support cases or investigate individual reports, but I can suggest the following options to help recover your document and prevent the issue from happening again.

Option 1: Check Document Recovery

Open Word.

If the Document Recovery pane appears, review the available versions and check the date and time shown for each file.

Open the most recent version and verify whether it contains the missing content.

Save the recovered file immediately using Save As and a new file name.

Please keep all recovered versions until you confirm you no longer need them.

Option 2: Recover Unsaved Documents

Open Word.

Select File > Info > Manage Document > Recover Unsaved Documents.

Open any available file and check whether it contains the missing work.

Save the file with a new name.

Option 3: Check Version History

If the document was stored in OneDrive or SharePoint:

Locate the document > Select More options > Open Version History.

Review the available versions and timestamps.

Open the most relevant version and restore it, or save a separate copy.

About the Word freeze, to help reduce the chance of this happening again, please try the steps below:

Make sure your operating system and Word app are fully updated to the latest version.

1/ Test Word without add-ins

Open File > Options > Add-ins.

Select COM Add-ins from the Manage list and choose Go.

Clear the selected add-ins, select OK, and restart Word.

Check whether Word continues to freeze.

2/ Review AutoRecover settings

Open File > Options > Save.

Ensure Save AutoRecover information every [X] minutes is enabled.

Ensure Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving is enabled.

3/ Use AutoSave

Save important documents in OneDrive or SharePoint.

Turn on AutoSave so your changes are saved continuously while you work.

4/ Repair Microsoft Office apps

Open Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features.

Locate Microsoft 365 apps, right-click it, and select Change > Online Repair.

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The repair process may take some time to complete, so please ensure you have a stable internet connection and keep the device powered on until the process finishes.

5/ Reinstall Office apps

You may consider uninstalling all Microsoft 365 apps and then reinstalling them by following these steps: Go to office.com > App Launcher > More apps > Install apps > Microsoft 365 apps > Apps & devices > Install Office.

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Additional information is available in the following resources:

Recover your Word files and documents | Microsoft Support

Recover an earlier version of a Word file | Microsoft Support

Word - Application hangs, crashes, or doesn't start | Microsoft Learn

If you have any questions or need further support, please don’t hesitate to reach out at any time.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

If you have any extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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