[Answered] Why Does Microsoft Word Keep Freezing When it Saves?

Why does Microsoft Word keep freezing when it saves?

Microsoft Word is one of the most widely used Microsoft Office suites across the world because MS Word enables users to do write-ups, create documents, resumes, contracts, etc.

Undoubtedly, Microsoft Word is essential to our careers and lives. But some users have complained that their Microsoft Word keeps freezing when it saves.

Are you also wondering about these questions? Let’s figure out its possible reasons first.

• The presence of third-party add-ins in the Microsoft Word program
• Corrupted MS Office settings or installation
• Damaged MS Word documents
• Windows software conflicts
• Malware invasion or viruses affects
• Improper use

Although we’ve found these relevant aspects, how can we tackle this problem? If you’re eager to get rid of this hot potato, please read further to get practical fixes.

How to fix Microsoft Word keeps freezing when it saves?

“How do I fix Microsoft Word not responding?” There’re seven practical fixes for your reference. After fixing it, refer to the next part to recover deleted & missing Word documents from hard drives if needed.

Fix 1. Run Microsoft Word in Safe Mode and disable COM Add-ins

If your Word crashes after saving multiple files, try to run your MS Word in Safe Mode because Safe Mode can start Word via a minimal state without add-ins and unnecessary extensions.

Step 1. Press “Win + R” and enter “winword /safe” in the Run box. Then click “OK” or hit “Enter” to open your MS Word file in Safe Mode.

Step 2. Then your opened Microsoft Word file is in Safe Mode.

Please refer to the steps below if you need to disable COM Add-ins in MS Word. When your Windows computer won’t open Excel files, this solution also can give you a hand.

Step 1. After opening your MS Word, click File on the top left. Then click Options to enter the interface of Word Options.

Step 2. Click Add-ins > select COM Add-ins beside the Manage section. Then click the “Go” button.

Step 3. Don’t select all the add-ins options and click “OK” to save these changes.  

Fix 2. Switch the Default Printer

An incompatible printer also can lead to Microsoft Word keeps freezing. If it happens to be your case, you could check and switch to another default printer to solve this issue.

Step 1. Press “Win + I” to open Windows Settings and select the “Devices” option.

Step 2. Under the Printers & scanners tab, click “Microsoft XPS Document Writer” and select the “Manage” option.

Step 3. Select “Set as default” to switch. Then you can see if your MS Word can work properly or not.

Fix 3. Reinstall the Microsoft Word program

If the above fixes are useless, you can try to uninstall and reinstall your Microsoft Word program using the following steps. This fix also applies to solving Excel keeps crashing on Windows 10/11.

Step 1. Type “Control Panel” in the search bar to open it. Then click Programs > Programs and Features > View installed updates.

Step 2. Locate the faulty Microsoft Office update file and “Uninstall” it.

Step 3. After the uninstallation, you’d better download and reinstall the Microsoft Word program from the Official website.

Fix 4. Reset the Microsoft Word program

If your Microsoft Word keeps freezing, you could reset it to its default settings. But this solution needs to remove all the customizations you’ve made on your MS Word utility.  

» Open your MS Word document, then click File > Options > Advanced > General > Reset > check the Reset Word dialogue box. Please remember to click “Yes” to keep these changes.

Fix 5. Repair Microsoft Office programs

Why does Microsoft Word keep freezing when it saves? As stated earlier, the corrupted or damaged Microsoft Office program is among the possible factors. Please refer to the following steps to repair it.

Step 1. Type “Control Panel” in the search bar and open it. Then go to Programs.

Step 2. Select the “Programs and Features” option and locate your malfunctioning Microsoft Office Word program. Then right-click on it > Change.

Step 3. Select “Quick Repair” and click the “Repair” button.

Fix 6. Repair corrupted Word files via in-built features

In some cases, if your Microsoft Word keeps freezing and not responding, it might be caused by its corrupted MS Word files.

“So how can I repair a corrupted Word document?” Please don’t worry because Microsoft Office has released several practical in-built features to fix corrupted MS documents.

» Use Recover Text from Any File to fix corrupted MS Word documents

Microsoft Word offers a text recovery converter for users to repair damaged Word files by salvaging recoverable text documents and converting them into a Word-compatible format.

Step 1. Open your MS Word file, then click File > Options > Open > Browse.

Step 2. Click “All Files (*.*)” and select “Recover Text from Any File (*.*)” from the dropdown list.

Step 3. Choose your needed Word document and click the “Open” button to check. Please wait patiently.

» Use Open and Repair to fix corrupted MS Word documents

Another way to repair corrupted Word files is to ask for help from the Open and Repair feature. This feature also can recover corrupted Excel files. Let’s show how it works.

Step 1. Open your MS Word document, then click File > Open > Browse.

Step 2. Locate the folder that contains your damaged Word files. Then select the Word file you want to repair.

Step 3. Click the “Open” button and select the “Open and Repair” option.

Fix 7. Repair the corrupted Normal.dot Global Template File

There’s another way for you to fix or replace the corrupted Normal.dot Global Template File.

Step 1. Press “Win + R” to open the Run window and type “%appdata%\microsoft\templates” in the window. Then hit “Enter” or click “OK” to open it.

Step 2. Browse and locate the Normal.dotm file and rename it as oldNormal.dotm. Then reload Word.   

Further reading: How to recover lost Word documents without backups?

Some users might be lucky to fix their Microsoft Word keeps freezing and retrieve their Word files without losing data. However, others might not be so unfortunate because of missing Word documents.

If it happens to be your case, can you recover lost Word documents from computer hard drives? Since few users take precautions against data loss, the most efficient and time-saving solution is to seek help from an excellent data recovery tool.

Released by AOMEI Tech, powerful MyRecover aims to help all users recover deleted & missing Microsoft Word documents from hard drives within three steps. Besides, its advanced scanning technology (Quick Scan & Deep Scan) will automatically scan and display all the recoverable files on your selected drive.   

★Other key features of MyRecover: 

All-inclusive: Apply to a variety of data loss scenarios such as deletion, disk formatting, system crashes, or virus attacks.

High-efficiency: Recover 200+ types of files such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PPT, and WPS files, folders, compressed files, photos, audio, songs, videos, and websites from HDDs, USB sticks, SD cards, etc.   

Advanced scanning method: MyRecover runs Quick Scan & Deep Scan automatically to search all the recoverable files. Specify the filename, saved path, date, or size to filter your needed files.

Convenience: Retain the original filename, path, and format for the deleted files.   

Excellent compatibility: Support NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS file systems.

How to recover lost Word documents without backups? Download MyRecover on your Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, or Server PC to retrieve them!

Step 1. Install and launch MyRecover. Hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.

Step 2. Filter your needed Word documents according to Document Type, Name, Date, or Path.

• Name: Type the filenames of your desired files to narrow the search area.
• Date modified: Set the date (today, yesterday, last 7/30 days, and so on).
• Size: Filter the file size (<128KB, 128KB~1MB, 1MB~ 512MB, etc).

Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Recycle Bin/Other Missing Files folder and select the Word files you want. Then click “Recover x files” to start the Word document recovery process.

Notes:✎...

After recovery, please remember to store your retrieved MS Word files in another drive instead of the original hard drive.

MyRecover can recover your 500MB of files for free. If you desire to recover a large number of deleted & missing files from local hard drives, upgrading MyRecover to the Professional or Technician edition is a more cost-effective choice.  

Relevant Q&A about Word document recovery tips

Why does Microsoft Word keep freezing when it saves? If you’re also bothered by this issue, you can get possible reasons and practical fixes in this passage. And there’re related Word document recovery tips for you.