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Sep 06, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

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, you must 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 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 Utility 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 that 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

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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.

How to Fix Microsoft Word Won't Open on Mac

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

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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.

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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

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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'

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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 then want to recover Word files, then you can always think of using Recoverit Data recovery software.

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