Find and Replace cause Word to crash again and again

[kyuuta6]

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

I can usually use either find or replace once. The next time I try it, Word crashes. Frequently, the find and replace functions don't work, as they report nothing found, but when Word restarts after the crash, I find it.

My guess is that the tables have something to do with it.

Really frustrating. Is Microsoft working on a fix for this? (It would be nice if they allowed the search window to float while as well. Having to close it, fix the document, then open it again is really tedious.)

A possible work-around is to use the find function to find each instance of the target. Then close the search window, do the replace, and open the search window again. I have successfully used that technique.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello ________-

I doubt MS is working on a fix because it isn't broken... At least not here
in 2 separate installations of 12.1.0, and this is the only report of any
such problem (here, at least). I don't question what you're experiencing,
but it isn't a bug in the program. It must be something local to your system
causing the behavior. Once we find out what that is we can help you correct
it with no need for a workaround.

First thought - Are you using the OS X feature called Spaces? If so, turn it
off, restart your Mac & see if the problem continues. Office 2008 is
admittedly incompatible with Spaces at the present time. That's a known
issue that MS is working with Apple to resolve. If that isn't it...

Try the steps offered on the link below which pertain to "Unexpected quit
while in use". Try those steps in the order they're listed.

http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html

The one point that may seem like a PITA is that the F&R dialog doesn't stay
in the foreground if you click in the document. However, you should need
only key Command+` or Command+F or Shift+Command+H to bring it back to the
front. Or you can just click the up/dn Browse Objects button (at the bottom
of he vertical scroll bar) to resume Finding without having the box covering
any content at all.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

That sounds like a seriously corrupted document!

You are correct: if a document corrupts, it is most likely that the problem
will appear in or around the tables.

However, I can use Search/Replace all day without a crash. And the Search
window DOES float for me, so I can leave it open.

And the Browse function enables me to repeat a Find or Replace with a single
click, without having to open the Search window at all.

So I am sure we can solve your problems, but we need lots and lots of detail
about what is in that document, and what you are trying to do.

Right at the moment, "No" Microsoft is not working on any problems with
Search and Replace, because they are not aware that there are any.

If you work with us, we'll get this solved for you.

Cheers

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

I can usually use either find or replace once. The next time I try it, Word
crashes. Frequently, the find and replace functions don't work, as they report
nothing found, but when Word restarts after the crash, I find it.

My guess is that the tables have something to do with it.

Really frustrating. Is Microsoft working on a fix for this? (It would be nice
if they allowed the search window to float while as well. Having to close it,
fix the document, then open it again is really tedious.)

A possible work-around is to use the find function to find each instance of
the target. Then close the search window, do the replace, and open the search
window again. I have successfully used that technique.

--
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]

 

[kyuuta6]

Thank you both for the quick responses. It was a disk permissions issue. With any luck this will solve a number of other problems that I have not asked about. (Once again, I had to remember to uncheck that nasty "sounds like Japanese" box. I'm afraid it's going to really bite me one day when I completely forget.)

 

[kbrovey]

It's not just you--I have been having the same problem since I installed Office 2008. I contacted Microsoft and, after trying the whole routine with deleting the Preferences files, etc. (which did solve the problem of not being able to register Office), the problem persisted. When I called back, the Microsoft support representative was able to replicate the problem and passed it on to the "upper tier" technical support. They contacted me and said that a fix was in the works. I was hoping that it would have been resolved in the latest patch (May 13, I think) but the problem still occurs. In fact, I have three Macs (an older Intel iMac, an older Titanium PowerBook and an older Mini), and the same thing happens on all of them.
Besides crashing after a second search and replace, I also found that it only searches for the term to replace from the insertion point of the cursor, even if you have checked the box to search the entire document (as opposed to search down).

 

[CyberTaz]

No criticism, but if you do have the same problem it should be resolved by
the same solution. If not, your problem must be at least somewhat different
so please post as a NEW message.

Also, in order to be of any assistance we need to know the specific version
of Office & OS X as well as a complete & accurate description of what the
problem seems to be. Any other details about the situation will also enable
someone to help you resolve it most quickly.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, please do as Bob suggests and post a new question.

The Search/Replace mechanism does not do that here.

I suspect there is something else wrong: we need lots of detail so we can
help you sort it out.

I am not aware of any bug reports on Search/Replace issues, so I think the
support people might have been a little confused: I don't think there are
any fixes on the way for an issue like that. Not that I would necessarily
know if there are, but one of us would usually know.

Cheers

It's not just you--I have been having the same problem since I installed
Office 2008. I contacted Microsoft and, after trying the whole routine with
deleting the Preferences files, etc. (which did solve the problem of not being
able to register Office), the problem persisted. When I called back, the
Microsoft support representative was able to replicate the problem and passed
it on to the "upper tier" technical support. They contacted me and said that a
fix was in the works. I was hoping that it would have been resolved in the
latest patch (May 13, I think) but the problem still occurs. In fact, I have
three Macs (an older Intel iMac, an older Titanium PowerBook and an older
Mini), and the same thing happens on all of them.
Besides crashing after a second search and replace, I also found that it only
searches for the term to replace from the insertion point of the cursor, even
if you have checked the box to search the entire document (as opposed to
search down).

--
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]

 

[kbrovey]

Thanks for the input. I think that this latest patch must have resolved the problem, because I've tried to recreate it and have had no crashes.

 

[etcstgo]

Word 2008 12.1.1, PPC, Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger)

Well, as a heavy Find and Replace user over the course of many years,
I know that something *is* indeed the matter with the function in Word
2008. I've had a number of strange occurrences I'm currently keeping
an eye on in order to rule out particular files or formatting as the
cause, but so far, something that is definitely not file-dependent is
this: with the Replace window frontmost, the focus randomly passes to
the document window, so that pressing Command-A to Replace All does a
Select All in the document window instead- or crashes Word altogether.
A Command-W to close the Replace window -which remains frontmost-
closes the document instead.

Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile

 

[Slipface]

Word 2008 12.1.1, PPC, Mac OS X 10.4.11 (Tiger)

Well, as a heavy Find and Replace user over the course of many years,
I know that something *is* indeed the matter with the function in Word
2008. I've had a number of strange occurrences I'm currently keeping
an eye on in order to rule out particular files or formatting as the
cause, but so far, something that is definitely not file-dependent is
this: with the Replace window frontmost, the focus randomly passes to
the document window, so that pressing Command-A to Replace All does a
Select All in the document window instead- or crashes Word altogether.
A Command-W to close the Replace window -which remains frontmost-
closes the document instead.

Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile

I'm glad to see this. Word crashed about half a dozen times on me
while using Find (I wasn't replacing anything). I had the window
split--that's the most complex it got. I didn't observe the document
window jumping in front of the F/R window, but it did crash repeatedly.
And the Auto-save didn't work a single time. I got to the point that I
was cmd-S'ing after every modest change to the text that I made.

I'm using the exact same setup as you, except that I see I'm behind a
version on Word--I'm still on 12.1.0. Will grab the update soon,
although it's clear it won't solve this particular problem.

_dennis

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Dennis:

That's a classic sign of a corrupt document!

To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing wrong with Find/Replace (and I
am a very serious user of it... Large complex documents...)

But if the document is corrupt, it will indeed go bang if you are processing
it at such a speed that Word cannot catch up with itself: Find/Replace is
one mechanism that does this.

Cheers

I'm glad to see this. Word crashed about half a dozen times on me
while using Find (I wasn't replacing anything). I had the window
split--that's the most complex it got. I didn't observe the document
window jumping in front of the F/R window, but it did crash repeatedly.
And the Auto-save didn't work a single time. I got to the point that I
was cmd-S'ing after every modest change to the text that I made.

I'm using the exact same setup as you, except that I see I'm behind a
version on Word--I'm still on 12.1.0. Will grab the update soon,
although it's clear it won't solve this particular problem.

_dennis

--
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]

I have exactly the same issue as the original poster. Find and Replace works
fine once but the second time I use it Word crashes. There is something amiss
because in desperation I have now edited the document using Word for Windows
2003 and there is no issue at all, I can find/replace all day with no crash.
There are a number of tables etc in the document but really it is not that
large or complex. Every time it has crashed I have sent the debug output to
MS so hope that helps. I am running Word 12.1.1 and MacOS X 10.5.2.

 

[kyuuta6]

Bob Jones's suggestion of <http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html> worked for me. My problem was the disk permissions (http://word.mvps.org/mac/DiskIssues.html).

After running that utility, everything worked fine for a while, then I had trouble again. I ran the disk utility again, and again I was fine. After a few iterations, things seem to be normal, knock on wood.

 

[CyberTaz]

You claim to have the same problem but you don't clam to have tried the same
suggestion - which seems to have worked for the OP. If the solution doesn't
work for you your problem must be a *different* one, so post a NEW message
giving all particulars rather than tacking a "me too" onto another thread.

Someone may be able to offer an alternative approach based on your specific
situation, but they can't do so unless they know what that situation is
Be sure to include what does/doesn't happen as a result of following the
previous suggestions.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello again -

Repairing permissions is not a one time thing Every time you update or
install anything - especially updates from Apple or other complex software -
permissions are likely to change. Running the utility should be a follow-up
to any such update or install.

If permissions are repeatedly getting out of whack you might also run the
Verify Disk feature in the same utility. If you find any errors follow the
instructions in Disk Utility Help if you aren't familiar with it.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello Patricio -

I'm not *heavy* user of F&R nor do I mean to contradict your findings, but
just for additional information:

I've had the same positive experience as John McGhie reported - essentially
F&R works consistently as advertised. In fact, I just ran about 20
consecutive operations using the same keystrokes you're having the problem
with. Every occurrence went without a hitch. [Although I am currently in
10.5.3 on an Intel MBP, but I don't recall having any such issues on my G5
It's still running 10.4.11 & I'll try on it this evening.]

I can't help but wonder if the focus issue isn't OS related. The application
doesn't do anything but define the dialog window as modal & present it. I'm
not sure, but I tend to think it's the job of the OS to not allow the focus
to shift while such a dialog is displayed. Have you pursued it from that
direction?

Additionally, what happens if you use esc to close the dialog rather than
Command+W? What happens if you click in the document window while the F&R
dialog is displayed?

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[etcstgo]

Hello Patricio -

I'm not *heavy* user of F&R nor do I mean to contradict your findings, but

But you will anyway. :-D

I've had the same positive experience as John McGhie reported - essentially
F&R works consistently as advertised.

I said randomly. Random events are, well, random. ;-)

I can't help but wonder if the focus issue isn't OS related.

If it is, it involves both Tiger and Leopard (and only Word 2008).

not sure, but I tend to think it's the job of the OS to not allow the focus
to shift while such a dialog is displayed. Have you pursued it from that
direction?

Since out of the fairly wide array of applications I run I've only
seen this happen in Word 2008, that's not what my instincts would tell
me to pursue.

Additionally, what happens if you use esc to close the dialog rather than
Command+W?

I'll let you know next time I'm using Word 2008, which I can't afford
to do too often lest my work suffer.

What happens if you click in the document window while the F&R dialog is displayed?

The usual, that's not an issue.

Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile

 

[etcstgo]

Bob,

It's happened again -the funny Find & Replace window stuff- but this
time I took a snapshot. You can see it here: http://www.ics.cl/icsweb/movs/.
It also contains a snapshot I took yesterday of a Tools menu going
south, something else I'm keeping an eye on.

And no, it's not a put-on.

Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile

 

[kyuuta6]

I have also noticed infrequent occurrences where Word refuses to replace some or all of items in a document, yet when I shift from the replace screen to the find screen (without changing the fields), it finds the item.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Patricio:

Command + A? To Repeat Find?

I would be disappointed if it did NOT Select All. I must have missed
something, but Command + A is the default assignment for Select All.

Repeat Find is F4?

Cheers

Bob,

It's happened again -the funny Find & Replace window stuff- but this
time I took a snapshot. You can see it here: http://www.ics.cl/icsweb/movs/.
It also contains a snapshot I took yesterday of a Tools menu going
south, something else I'm keeping an eye on.

And no, it's not a put-on.

Patricio Mason
Santiago, Chile

--
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]