Apr 01,2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

• Microsoft Word 2011 Will Not Open On My Mac
• Microsoft Word 2011 For Mac Wont Open Windows 10
• Microsoft Word 2011 For Mac Won't Open 2017
• Microsoft Word 2011 Won't Open On Mac

Feb 03, 2014 I have been running MS Office 2011 for Home and Student on my MacBookPro (OS 10.6.8 ) without any problems. Now all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, it crashes when I start, Excel, Word, or PowerPoint. I have uninstalled the program and reinstalled it three times using the following. 2018-4-16  The application Microsoft Excel quit unexpectedly. Mac OS X and other applications are not affected. Make sure that all Microsoft Office for Mac programs are closed. On the Go menu, open the root/hidden Library folder. Open the Microsoft Folder. Open the Office 2011 folder. Look for a file that is named Excel Toolbars (12)' or Microsoft. Oct 11, 2019 Want to update to macOS Catalina but can't justify losing access to all the outdated 32-bit apps I rely on (looking at you Microsoft Word for Mac 2011). Apr 12, 2018 Spell check does not work in Word for Mac 2011. Open Word for Mac. Open Preferences. Drag com.microsoft.word.plist and the Microsoft folder to the desktop.

Just like any other software program, MS Word is also susceptible to issues. You will find unlimited queries on forum sites asking “why won’t my Word document open on my Mac”. Most of the people have no idea why their Microsoft Word stopped working randomly. If you are also facing a similar situation, then you will have to look for an appropriate solution that can fix this issue.

In this article, we are going to discuss the potential fixes that can resolve the Microsoft Word not working issue.

Part 1. Why Won’t Microsoft Word Open on Mac Computer?

As the MS Word is a widely used program, a malfunction could get tragic real soon. Before you get to solutions, it is essential that you go through the reasons of this problem first. The common causes of these issues are.

• Inappropriate Shutdown or system crash
• Shift + Delete and the file is deleted permanently from the device.
• Formatted drives
• Damaged and corrupted files
• Virus or malware attack

Unless you have a brief idea about what caused the problem, you won’t be able to steer away from the common errors. The user's listed common symptoms that lead to the ”word won’t open on my Mac” issue are given below:

• The application keeps closing without any warning.
• MS Word encounters an unknown issue and needs to close.
• Erase, Install, or re-install factory version of OS X
• MS Word file can’t open due to an error.

When you face a situation like this, don’t pain and look for solutions on the internet. If you are lucky, then you’ll come across real fixes soon. Otherwise, you might have to struggle to find an ideal fix.

Part 2. How to Fix 'Microsoft Word Not Opening Mac'?

With so many versions and updates on MS Word, it can get hard to simplify the solutions that would work for all versions. But, here is a summarized list of solutions that can work when Microsoft Word is not opening on Mac. All these methods are useful and easy to carry out. So, give them a try one by one.

Solution 1. Remove Word Preferences to Open Frozen Word

Sometimes, it is the random words combination or special characters that lead to such issues. It can be resolved if you follow the steps below.

1. Open library and type Library in the Go to the Folder and hit the Go button.
2. Look for a folder which says “Preferences”. This folder contains the preferences file you set for the MS Word program.
3. Open the folder, search for a file named- 'com.microsoft.Word.plist' and move the file to the desktop. Now, try opening the Word file and see if the problem still persists. If it does, then move the file to its original location and move on to the next step.
4. Exit every Microsoft program running on your Mac and click on the Word option in the Apple Menu. Tap on the “Preferences” option from the list.
5. Choose the File Locations option and select the “User templates”.
6. Locate the file which saved as Normal and moves it to the desktop.

Solution 2. Open and Repair Microsoft Word

Everyone knows how to open Microsoft Word on Mac but we are not talking about just opening and closing the files. You can also repair the MS Word files with the following steps.

1. Start MS Word and click on the File menu. Choose the Open option and it will open up a dialog box where you can select the Word file which needs repair.
2. While you are selecting the file, at the right bottom side of the window, choose the Repair option and click on the Ok button.

The Mac utility will automatically repair the not opening Word file and you will be able to use it now.

Solution 3. Run Disk Utility to Repair Word

Besides the above methods fail, you can also run the Disk Utility to repair the Word file if the Microsoft Word is not opening on your Mac computer.

1. Inside the Go menu, choose the Utilities option and start the Disk Utility program.
2. Make sure that you choose the Primary hard disk of your Mac and then click on the “First Aid” tab.
3. You will get a pop-up option which asks you to run First Aid on the drive. Hit the Run option and the Disk Utility will repair the Disk volume errors and permissions issues.

When the process finishes, click on “Done” and check whether the problem is fixed or not. There are maximum chances that the problem will be resolved. But if MS Word is still not responding correctly to commands, then there is one 100% guaranteed solution left to recover your Word Documents.

Solution 4. Recover Not Opening Word Files on Mac

While you are trying to repair the drive and Word files, it is common that the solutions don’t work as expected and the files get deleted from Mac. Here is the perfect solution if getting stuck in such circumstances without any recovery option.

The best tool available for Word file recovery on the internet is Recoverit Word Recovery software. This software is capable of recovering various kinds of deleted or lost data. For example, Word documents, PowerPoint, Excel files, PDF, photos, videos, songs, audios, and many more. It is a faster, easier, and 100% secure data recovery tool with the highest recovery rate in the market.

Watch the Video for Mac DOC Files Recovery

Now, let's have a look at the simple steps on Word document recovery. You only need to launch the Word file recovery software and do a few clicks.

Step 1: Select a location storing the Word file

To recover the not opening document caused by accidental deletion, you need to select the drive where the data files are lost. Then, click the 'Start' button.

Step 2: Scan the Word location for files

Typically, the software will run an all-around scan and search for the lost and deleted files on the entire drive. If you perform an emptied trash recovery or HFS+ data rescue, you can even try the deep scan mode.

Step 3: Preview and recover Word documents

When the scan completes, the files will be listed on the screen. The software will sort out the files according to format to make the search easier. You can select multiple files at a time and have a preview at them.

Part 3. Tips Against 'Microsoft Word Won't Open on Mac'

If you don’t want to go through this problem, then you should have to take care of a few things. This way, you will be successful in avoiding the Microsoft Word won't open on Mac issue in the future. So, here are some tips that you need to follow:

• Avoid relying on automated tools to clean up the cache or redundant files on your Mac. These tools often end up deleting the important files on the device.
• In case you use the Command Line to delete a file, be careful as a single mistake can lead to bigger issues.
• Never format a drive before creating a backup otherwise you might end up losing important files.
• Stay focused while partitioning the drives on your Mac. Improper partitioning can lead to corruption of data files stored on the drive.
• Avoid rushing commands on the MS Word. If you pass on multiple commands at once, then Word might get confused and the file might become inaccessible due to some random mistake.

Even a little mishandling can lead to major working issues in MS Word. So, instead of worrying about how you can rescue the data, try keeping the data safe on the first hand.

Now you know how to open Word on Mac along with the process of repair. And if you are facing a dilemma and the want to recover Word files, then you can always think of using Recoverit Data recovery software.

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Note

Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.

Symptoms

While using Word for Mac one or more Toolbars are missing and cannot be added.

Cause

This behavior can be caused by one of these things:

• The oval button in the upper-right corner of the document was clicked. This button 'toggles' display of toolbars on and off.
• There is an issue with the Normal template in Word.
• The toolbars or menus are modified.

Resolution

To resolve this problem, try the following methods.

Method 1: Make sure that tool bar display is not turned off

1. In the upper-right corner of the window click the oval button.

   Note

   When this button is clicked, it hides all the toolbars. A second click causes the toolbars to be displayed.

2. If the toolbars reappear, quit, and then restart Word to make sure that the appropriate toolbars are displayed.

If Method 1 did not resolve the problem, try Method 2.

Method 2: Reset the toolbars and menus in Word

You can reset the toolbars and menus in the Customize Toolbars and Menus option, any saved customization is removed, and all settings are reverted to the original default settings.

1. Open Word.
2. Go to View in the menu.
3. Choose Toolbars.
4. Select Customize Toolbars and Menus.
5. Select Toolbars and Menus in the top of the Customize Toolbars and Menus window.
6. Select the item in the list you want to reset (Menu Bar, Standard, Formatting).
7. Click Reset.
8. Click OK when getting prompt: 'Are you sure you want to reset the changes made..'
9. Click OK.

Note

When View is missing from the menu, then you can also Control Click the Standard Toolbar and go to Customize Toolbars and Menus here.

If Method 2 did not resolve the problem, try Method 3.

Method 3: Create a new Normal template Note

Microsoft Word 2011 Will Not Open On My Mac

When a new Normal template is created, any saved customization is removed, and all settings are reverted to the original default settings.

Step 1: Quit all programs

To quit active applications, follow these steps:

1. On the Apple menu, click Force Quit.

2. Select an application in the 'Force Quit Applications' window.

3. Click Force Quit.

4. Repeat the previous steps until you quit all active applications.

Warning

When an application is force quit, any unsaved changes to open documents are not saved.

When you are finished, click the red button in the upper-left corner and proceed to Step 2.

Step 2: Word 2008 and 2011: Move the Normal.dotm template file to the Trash

1. Quit all Microsoft Office applications.
2. On the Go menu, click Home.
3. Open Library.

   Note

   The Library folder is hidden in MAC OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.

4. Select the Application Support folder.
5. Select the Microsoft folder.
6. Open the Office folder.
7. Open the User Templates folder.
8. Move Normal.dotm to the Trash.
9. Start Word, a new Normal.dotm template will be created when you choose Quit Word in the Word menu.

Note

Microsoft Word 2011 For Mac Wont Open Windows 10

When you had Word 2004 on your Mac previously and you now have Word 2008 or Word 2011, also check if the Word 2004 Normal file is present on the system, if so, trash this Normal template file as well.

Microsoft Word 2011 For Mac Won't Open 2017

Step 3: Word 2004: Move the Normal template file to the Trash

Microsoft Word 2011 Won't Open On Mac

1. Quit all Microsoft Office applications.
2. On the Go menu, click Home.
3. Select the Documents folder.
4. Select the **Microsoft User Data **folder.
5. Move Normal to the Trash.
6. Start Word, a new Normal template will be created when you choose Quit Word in the Word menu.