Word shuts down when I click Tools

[g.lundgren]

When ever I click on the Tools tab to use Merge or make labels, I get a
message that Word has encountered a problem and needs to shut down. I had
been using Wood 2000 on this computer with WinXP for over a year before this
problem cropped up. Any ideas what the conflict may be?

I have tried Repair in Help but it did not repair the problem.

Thanks

 

[Beth Melton]

Chances are there is an add-in running a macro when you activate your
Tools menu. It's fairly common for developers to enable/disable a
command on a menu when the menu is clicked.

To determine if you are using any global templates go to
Tools/Templates and Add-Ins and see if there are any global templates
or add-ins listed. If so they are located in one of your Startup
folders. The location of the Word\Startup folder can be found under
Tools/Options/File Locations and the Office\Startup folder can be
found in the Office installation path..

Take a look in each folder and if you find more than one file move
them one at a time and try duplicating the error after each file is
moved out of the folder until you determine which one is causing the
problem.

As of Word 2000, Word can have COM add-ins. COM are added via the
Registry rather than the Startup folders. To determine whether or not
you are using COM Add-In you can add the "COM Add-in" command to your
toolbar:

- Right-click any toolbar and select Customize
- On the Commands tab, select the Tools category
- Locate COM Add-Ins on the right
- Drag/Drop to a location of your choice

For more information on COM Add-Ins, see this article:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[g.lundgren]

Chances are there is an add-in running a macro when you activate your
Tools menu. It's fairly common for developers to enable/disable a
command on a menu when the menu is clicked.

To determine if you are using any global templates go to
Tools/Templates and Add-Ins and see if there are any global templates
or add-ins listed. If so they are located in one of your Startup
folders. The location of the Word\Startup folder can be found under
Tools/Options/File Locations and the Office\Startup folder can be
found in the Office installation path..

Take a look in each folder and if you find more than one file move
them one at a time and try duplicating the error after each file is
moved out of the folder until you determine which one is causing the
problem.

As of Word 2000, Word can have COM add-ins. COM are added via the
Registry rather than the Startup folders. To determine whether or not
you are using COM Add-In you can add the "COM Add-in" command to your
toolbar:

- Right-click any toolbar and select Customize
- On the Commands tab, select the Tools category
- Locate COM Add-Ins on the right
- Drag/Drop to a location of your choice

For more information on COM Add-Ins, see this article:
http://www.mvps.org/word/FAQs/Customization/CheckIfAddinsInstalled.htm

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[g.lundgren]

Thank you Beth for your suggestions. I am unable to click on tools, so
cannot try some of them. That is the problem. I cannot click on tools
without the program shutting down.

In Windows Explorer, I looked under Office, startup and there was nothing.
Under add-ins, there were 23 entries. I moved them one at a time to a temp
file and opened Word. Each time I clicked on tools, Word shut down.

I don't know what else to try. Any ideas?

 

[garfield-n-odie]

If you're open to suggestions from people other than Beth, then
may I suggest that you rename the Word data key in the Windows
registry as described in
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/MissingMenusEtc.htm .

 

[Beth Melton]

I didn't add a bit of important info since you are unable to open the
Tools menu.My apologies!! Go to Start/Run and start Word using this
command:

winword /a

Note the space before the forward slash.

This will start Word in a troubleshooting mode using the factory
defaults and should enable you to open the Tools menu and check for
add-ins. They won't be loaded but if you have any global
templates/add-ins they should be listed.

I suspect an add-in is causing the error since many third-parties that
supply additional functionality to Word through an add-in typically
customize the Tools menu to add their menu items. Some of the add-ins
will either add the menu item programmatically or set an
enabled/disabled state for their command(s) each time you click the
Tools menu. In this scenario Word can crash if their macros contain an
error as soon as you click the Tools menu which is consistent with
your description of the issue.

Note the add-in could also be a COM add-in so make sure you look into
COM Add-ins too. You can access the Customize command under
View/Toolbars/Customize so you should be able to add the COM Add-ins
utility to a toolbar without the need to start Word using the /a
switch.

Also, the Add-ins folder you found under the Office installation is
for other Office applications. Word doesn't utilize this folder so if
you haven't done so you should probably move the files back.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[g.lundgren]

Sure, I am open it any suggestions. I tried renaming the Data folder as just
suggested, but that didn't solve the problem either.

 

[g.lundgren]

I am still trying to solve this. When I follow these instructions:
< run, winword.exe /a >
it fixes the problem and I can use the options under Tools. But when I
close Word and reopen it, I cannot. At least now I know that I can get to
mail merge, etc, but it doesn't seem like the whole solution.

I also did delete the data file in the registry and that did not solve it.

Anyone have any more ideas? Thanks. Gwen

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Please read Beth's entire message. The point of opening in Safe Mode is to
see what add-ins are loading when you start Word. One of these is almost
certainly causing your problem.

 

[Beth Melton]

The Data key, specifically the Toolbars value, in the Registry only
stores command bar position, protection, visible, enabled, etc. It
doesn't store customizations or the menu items/commands that appear on
the command bars. So it really isn't applicable to the problem you are
encountering.

Note by renaming the Data key you also reset the majority of your
options found under Tools/Options and Tools/AutoCorrect Options along
with a handful of other preferences. So if you have modified your
preferences either delete the newly created Data key and rename the
old one back or be sure to check your preferences once you have Word
up and running again.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[g.lundgren]

You have all been so helpful, but either I don't know what I am doing (very
likely) or we still haven't found the problem. After Beth's recent message I
have tried everything again and below is what I am finding. I suspect I
don't know what I am looking for.

I did use winword.exe /a to get into Word in safe mode. Here is what I
found in Tools, Templates and Add Ins. In the box under Document Templates
it says Normal. There is nothing in the box under Global Templates and
Add-Ins.

I added Com Add-Ins to the Tools list and opened it. It is empty.

Then I went to Tools, Option, File Locations. I will try to duplicate what
is there.

Documents: c:\...\Gwen\My Documents
User Templates: c:\Microsoft\Templates (when I click on this I get Office
97 Templates and there are some files in that. One is 1033 and it has four
files in it. The others are named and are all empty)
Auto Recover Files: c:\Microsoft\Word ( there is a Startup file under this,
but it is empty)
Tools: c:\progra~3\Office (when I click on this there are several files,
including Add-ins, but there is nothing under Add-ins)
Start up: c:\...Microsoft\Word\Startup (when I click on this it is empty)

I am sorry to drag this on and on, but I really appreciate the help.

Gwen

 

[g.lundgren]

Me again. I have been looking around some more and found an article about
Normal.dot. When i found that and changed it's name to abnormal, now Word
opens and Tools works. At least today it does. I have not rebooted the
computer yet. I hope this is the solution. Thank you everyone for the help.
I may be back again if this doesn't solve the problem permanently.

Gwen

 

[TF]

Gwen

That would indicate that normal.dot was corrupt. Please go and rename it as
abnormal.bad (it is important to change the extension so that Word doesn't
see it as a Word template any more). Word will probably have recreated a new
normal.dot and you should have any more problems - but I recommend that you
do a good clean up following this FAQ:
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm




: Me again. I have been looking around some more and found an article about
: Normal.dot. When i found that and changed it's name to abnormal, now Word
: opens and Tools works. At least today it does. I have not rebooted the
: computer yet. I hope this is the solution. Thank you everyone for the
help.
: I may be back again if this doesn't solve the problem permanently.
:
: Gwen

 

[g.lundgren]

I had renamed it abnormal and will change the extension. Can I just delete it?
And thank for for the link about cleaning up after a crash.
Gwen

 

[Beth Melton]

More than likely this should fix it and it shouldn't occur again after
you reboot. However it could happen again and if it does, rather than
continuing to recreate Normal.dot you may want to investigate it
further.

As I noted earlier in this thread, typically the error you encounter
occurs when a third-party add-in modifies your Tools menu - your
Normal.dot does not self-corrupt. Although you checked the common
sources for locating add-ins there are a few COM Add-ins, such as the
"Microsoft Works Suite Add-in for Word, that are not listed in the
COM Add-ins utility.

These can be found but occasionally they can be a little tricky to
find - especially since you are using Word 2000. But should the issue
arise again we can help you with it.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[TF]

If you have nothing stored in the old normal.dot (such as macros, autotext
or toolbars, etc), then go ahead and delete the old normal.dot. If you have
anything you need, copy it across using the organiser and then delete it.

Terry


:I had renamed it abnormal and will change the extension. Can I just delete
it?
: And thank for for the link about cleaning up after a crash.
: Gwen
:

 

[collar]

Hi,

Maybe, so files vital for correct work are erased by accident. You ca
try restoring it using data recovery tool such as Active@ undelete. I
once saved me in a sillmilar situation, so give it a try.

http://www.active-undelete.com