Crashes in Word 2008 (related to Comments feature?)

[amf]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

It's been a while since I've been on these forums but I received invaluable help several years ago, for which many thanks again (John, you are a saint!)

For current problem is:
I recently went up to Office 2008 (from 2004) and am having some sporadic crashes. Everything is up-to-date (Word 12.1.7 on OS10.5.7) and I've repaired permissions multiple times. Simple functionality is fine (certainly, none of the immediate crashes people were reporting a while back) and I can open, work on, save, print, etc. files fine, whether .docs or .docxs

On one of my own, more complicated files, created on this computer under Word 2004, though, I'm having sporadic crashes. The file is not large (250KB) as it has no pictures or the like, but it is 70 pages long and uses both Endnotes and a lot of my own Comments (though not Track Changes).

Sometimes when I'm reading through it, I get the spinning wheel of death and have to Force Quit. I suspect this is moving to or away from pages with several Comments displayed, but I can't be sure of that. (I also note, incidentally, that Comments appear slightly differently: those created under Word 2004 are anchored by a kind of fixed red cursor, those originating in Word 2008 seem to like to attach themselves to a whole word.)

When I moved up to 2008, I first found myself working on this .doc under Compatibility mode, then Saved as a .docx. I don't honestly remember if that was when the problems started. I've tried the old copy-all-except-last-paragraph-mark trick, but the same thing happens.

The problem is also inconsistent. I can work on the file for hours fine, then suddenly it'll crash (usually when reading through, moderately slowly, it seems, not when scrolling through fast, or editing a given page). I don't know whether it'll happen on other files -- this is the only one I've worked on intensely since moving up.

Any advice or ideas much appreciated. I'm on a silver iMac with bags of RAM, everything updated, as said, and no other problems I've found.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[hughgardens]

Hi all, I'm having similar problems with Word 2008. I have recently switched from Windows XP SP 3 to OS 10.5.7 on an aluminium Macbook. I've shifted a lot of files across to my new machine, most of which were created in Office 2003 on my old PC. Word 2008 allows me to open and edit some of these documents, and in some cases I've re-saved old rtf and .doc files as .docx but I get sudden crashes with files of all kinds. I have tried everything MS suggests here <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887298> but to no avail.

In desperation on one occasion I tried opening one of my files on the old PC which immediately gave me a message saying the document was corrupt and needed fixing. This didn't happen when I tried it with other files but I still wonder if the problem is just that my files are too complicated and possibly corrupted - I tend to have lots of tables, footnotes and comments. Still this never caused any problems on the PC!

If anyone has a magic fix (Office 2010?) I'd love to know what it is!

Thanks, HG.

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Hugh,

"Similar" problems in Word usually turn out to be quite different, and the
people who help you (and you yourself) often get tangled by a thread that
has two posters' problems running through it.

Could you please therefore post a new thread?

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Andy:

YOUR problem is Document Corruption, I suspect; and YOUR cure is a "Maggie".
There's two ways of achieving the same effect, a true Maggie and a Save As
Web Page.

The Maggie is simpler, but may not fix the issue. The Web Page is complex,
and you will lose the comments. If you have more time, you can try removing
suspect Comments until you find the bad one. But there may be more than one
bad one, and it takes a long time...

The Maggie:

1. Create a new blank document
2. Carefully select all of the text in the bad document EXCEPT the last
paragraph mark
3. Copy it.
4. Paste in the new document.
5. Save under a new file name and close all, then re-open.

This technique for de-corrupting is known as "Doing a 'Maggie'", after
Margaret Secara from the TECHWR-L mailing list, who first publicised the
technique.

Save as Web Page

1. Open the document
2. File>Save As... And choose Web Page
3. In the bottom of the dialog, make CERTAIN ³Save entire file² is checked.
4. Save the file and close the document
5. Quit Word and re-start it
6. Open the Web Page version of the file
7. File>Save as and this time choose ³Document²
8. Give the file a different name, so you have the old one to go back to.
9. Check the file for missing bits.

If you choose ³Save Display information only² you strip out the code in the
file that enables Word to re-create a document from it later. By forcing
Word to re-express the file in a different format, you cause it to discard
any code it cannot understand. That fixes the problem, but it can lead to
missing text.

Once you get that document fixed, decide which version of Word you want to
work in and save it in the native format for that version.

Comments create an extra level of complexity in the document and make it
fragile. Repeatedly switching from Word 2004 to Word 2008 causes a format
conversion each time, and makes the problem even more likely.

This remains true if the format is .doc because Word 2008 has to convert to
its internal format on the way in, and back again on the way out.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

It's been a while since I've been on these forums but I received invaluable
help several years ago, for which many thanks again (John, you are a saint!)

For current problem is:
I recently went up to Office 2008 (from 2004) and am having some sporadic
crashes. Everything is up-to-date (Word 12.1.7 on OS10.5.7) and I've repaired
permissions multiple times. Simple functionality is fine (certainly, none of
the immediate crashes people were reporting a while back) and I can open, work
on, save, print, etc. files fine, whether .docs or .docxs

On one of my own, more complicated files, created on this computer under Word
2004, though, I'm having sporadic crashes. The file is not large (250KB) as it
has no pictures or the like, but it is 70 pages long and uses both Endnotes
and a lot of my own Comments (though not Track Changes).

Sometimes when I'm reading through it, I get the spinning wheel of death and
have to Force Quit. I suspect this is moving to or away from pages with
several Comments displayed, but I can't be sure of that. (I also note,
incidentally, that Comments appear slightly differently: those created under
Word 2004 are anchored by a kind of fixed red cursor, those originating in
Word 2008 seem to like to attach themselves to a whole word.)

When I moved up to 2008, I first found myself working on this .doc under
Compatibility mode, then Saved as a .docx. I don't honestly remember if that
was when the problems started. I've tried the old
copy-all-except-last-paragraph-mark trick, but the same thing happens.

The problem is also inconsistent. I can work on the file for hours fine, then
suddenly it'll crash (usually when reading through, moderately slowly, it
seems, not when scrolling through fast, or editing a given page). I don't know
whether it'll happen on other files -- this is the only one I've worked on
intensely since moving up.

Any advice or ideas much appreciated. I'm on a silver iMac with bags of RAM,
everything updated, as said, and no other problems I've found.

Thanks,
Andy

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Hugh:

You didn't give your update version of Word 2008, so I can't answer.

If you are at 12.1.7, then please start your own thread: I am not sure that
the issue is document corruptions, it is more likely to be a missing update.

Cheers

Hi all, I'm having similar problems with Word 2008. I have recently switched
from Windows XP SP 3 to OS 10.5.7 on an aluminium Macbook. I've shifted a lot
of files across to my new machine, most of which were created in Office 2003
on my old PC. Word 2008 allows me to open and edit some of these documents,
and in some cases I've re-saved old rtf and .doc files as .docx but I get
sudden crashes with files of all kinds. I have tried everything MS suggests
here <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/887298> but to no avail.

In desperation on one occasion I tried opening one of my files on the old PC
which immediately gave me a message saying the document was corrupt and needed
fixing. This didn't happen when I tried it with other files but I still wonder
if the problem is just that my files are too complicated and possibly
corrupted - I tend to have lots of tables, footnotes and comments. Still this
never caused any problems on the PC!

If anyone has a magic fix (Office 2010?) I'd love to know what it is!

Thanks, HG.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]