Apr 01,2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
Oct 11, 2018 Open Microsoft Word on your Mac with any document and then follow these steps. 1) Click Word from your menu bar. 2) Select Preferences. 3) Choose Ribbon & Toolbar in the pop-up window. On the Ribbon & Toolbar screen, make sure the Ribbon button is selected, which should be blue. Use Microsoft Word for the best word processing and document creation. Find out how document collaboration and editing tools can help polish your Word docs. Apr 16, 2018 Start the Word for Mac application. On the File menu, click Open. In the Convert File window, scroll down and select Recover Text from any file. If you get a warning, click OK. Note Some formatting might change. On the File menu, click Save As. In the Format list, select Word Document (.docx), then click Save.
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.
- Open library and type Library in the Go to the Folder and hit the Go button.
- Look for a folder which says “Preferences”. This folder contains the preferences file you set for the MS Word program.
- 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.
- 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.
- Choose the File Locations option and select the “User templates”.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Inside the Go menu, choose the Utilities option and start the Disk Utility program.
- Make sure that you choose the Primary hard disk of your Mac and then click on the “First Aid” tab.
- 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.
What's Wrong with Mac
- Recover Your Mac
- Fix Your Mac
- Delete Your Mac
- Learn Mac Hacks
Note
Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.
For a Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition version of this article, see 211955.
Summary
This article answers the most frequently asked questions about creating and using hyperlinks in Microsoft Word 2002 and in later versions of Word.
More Information
When I type a file address with spaces in it, Word replaces the address with a hyperlink after I press SPACEBAR. How can I finish typing an address that includes spaces before Word converts it to a hyperlink?
To ensure that Word will recognize an address that includes spaces as a single hyperlink, enclose the address in quotation marks. If the address is not enclosed in quotation marks, Word creates the hyperlink when you press SPACEBAR.
How do I turn off automatic hyperlinks?
To turn off automatic hyperlinks, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of Word that you are running:
In Microsoft Office Word 2010 and 2013, follow these steps:
On the File menu, click Options.
Click Proofing, and then click AutoCorrect Options.
On the AutoFormat as you type tab and on the AutoFormat tab, click to clear the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks check box, and then click OK.
Click OK to close the Word Options dialog box.
In Microsoft Office Word 2007, follow these steps:
- Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options.
- Click Proofing, and then click AutoCorrect Options.
- On the AutoFormat as you type tab and on the AutoFormat tab, click to clear the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks check box, and then click OK.
- Click OK to close the Word Options dialog box.
In Microsoft Office Word 2003 and in Microsoft Word 2002, follow these steps:
- On the Tools menu, click AutoCorrect Options.
- On the AutoFormat as you type tab and on the AutoFormat tab, click to clear the Internet and network paths with hyperlinks check box.
- Click OK.
How do I change the display text or image of a hyperlink after it has been created?
You can change the display text or image for a hyperlink in the same way that you edit any text or image in your document.
To follow a hyperlink, press and hold CTRL, and then click the hyperlink.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
279090 Cannot click to activate hyperlink
How do I remove a hyperlink without losing the display text or image?
To remove a single hyperlink without losing the display text or image, right-click the hyperlink, and then click Remove Hyperlink.
To remove all hyperlinks in a document, press CTRL+A to select the entire document and then press CTRL+SHIFT+F9.
Note
Performing this operation converts all fields, not just hyperlinks, to plain text.
How do I change the underlying Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a hyperlink?
To change the underlying URL for a hyperlink, follow these steps:
- Right-click the hyperlink text or image, and then click Edit Hyperlink.
- In the Edit Hyperlink dialog box, type or select a URL from the Type the file or web page name box.
- Click OK.
How do I create hyperlinks to locations within the same document?
To create a hyperlink to a location within the same document, use one of the following methods:
- Use a drag-and-drop operation. To do this, follow these steps:
- Save the document.
- Select the word, phrase, or image that you want to use as the destination for the hyperlink.
- Right-click and hold down the mouse button while dragging the selection to the new location; then, release the mouse button.
- Click Create Hyperlink Here.
- Create a bookmark, and then create a link. To do this, follow these steps, as appropriate for the version of Word that you are running:
- In Word 2007 and in Word 2010 and 2013, follow these steps:
- Save the document.
- Select the text or the image that you want to use as the destination for the hyperlink.
- Click the Insert tab.
- In the Links group, click Bookmark.
- In the Bookmark name box, type a unique name for the bookmark, and then click Add.
- Move the insertion point to the location in the document where you want to create the hyperlink.
- Click Hyperlink in the Links group.
- Click Bookmark.
- In the Select Place in Document dialog box, select the bookmark that you want to use as the destination hyperlink, and then click OK.
- Click OK to close the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
- In Word 2003 and in Word 2002, follow these steps:
- Save the document.
- Select the text or the image that you want to use as the destination for the hyperlink.
- On the Insert menu, click Bookmark.
- In the Bookmark name box, type a unique name for the bookmark, and then click Add.
- Move the insertion point to the location in the document where you want to create the hyperlink.
- On the Insert menu, click Hyperlink.
- Click Bookmark.
- In the Select Place in Document dialog box, select the bookmark that you want to use as the destination hyperlink, and then click OK.
- Click OK again.
- In Word 2007 and in Word 2010 and 2013, follow these steps:
What is the difference between a relative hyperlink and an absolute hyperlink?
An absolute hyperlink uses the full address of the destination document. A relative hyperlink uses the address relative to the address of the containing document. This is also known as the hyperlink base.
For example, suppose that a document has the following address:
C:My Documents1999 report.doc
This document has absolute and relative hyperlinks to a document that has the following full address (and absolute hyperlink):
C:My DocumentsAprilSales.doc
The relative hyperlink contains only the relative address to Sales.doc. The relative address is as follows:
AprilSales.doc
Open Word In Microsoft 10
Use a relative link if you want to move or to copy your files to another location, such as a Web server.
When I click a hyperlink in Word, I receive a message that indicates that no program is registered to open the file. What do I do to open the file?
You receive this message when Windows is unable to find the program that is associated with the type of document that is specified in the hyperlink path. This information is encoded in the extension of the hyperlink address.
To view the hyperlink, turn on the Tool Tips option, and then position the mouse pointer over the hyperlink.
To locate the Tool Tips option, use one of the following procedures, as appropriate for the version of Word that you are running:
- In Word 2010 and 2013, click File, click Options, and then click Display.
- In Word 2007, click the Microsoft Office Button, click Word Options, and then click Display.
- In Word 2003 and in Word 2002, click Options on the Tools menu, and then click the View tab.
To correct this problem, install the program that is associated with the document type that is specified in the hyperlink.
The file name extension is the group of characters that follow the last period in the address. The following table lists some of the Office document types and their file name extensions.
Creating Links In Microsoft Word
Document type | File name extensions in Office 2003 and in earlier versions of Office | File name extensions in the 2007 Office programs |
---|---|---|
Microsoft Access database | .mdb | .accdb |
Microsoft Excel workbook | .xls | .xlsx, .xlsm, .xlsb |
Microsoft PowerPoint presentation | .pot | .potx, .potm |
Microsoft Publisher publication | .pub | .pub |
Microsoft Word document | .doc | .docx, .docm |