Word 2004 freezing

[TomX]

When I try to open a document from within Word (by typing "apple-O") I get the dreaded beach ball and Word freezes. If I double-click on the document I want to open from the Documents folder, everything is fine. The freezes started when I updated Word to 11.4.0 and OS X to 10.5.2. Did both updates the same day, so I'm not sure what is to blame if anything. I'm using an Intel iMac, btw. I tried trashing Word preferences and doing a dirty install of just Word 2004 -- the problem persists. Can anybody help? Appreciation in advance -- Tom

 

[CyberTaz]

Have you tried repairing permissions & restarting your Mac?

BTW: I'm not certain what you mean by "dirty install" but re-installing the
software rarely works to correct a problem - application files seldom get
damaged & the support files which *are* at fault don't get touched.

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

 

[TomX]

Thanks, Bob; yes, repairing permissions and restarting was one of the first things I retried. Did not help. It's got to be one of the support files, as you suggested. I find Word is also freezing when I try to change the "Saved Files" location in Preferences, even after trashing the old Preferences. It's not happy with something about retrieving those saved files.

BTW, what I meant by the "dirty install" was that, as opposed to a clean install, I just reinstalled Word from the CD. It was a last resort after preferences, permissions repair, etc., failed to work. Thanks again for trying to help me!

 

[CyberTaz]

With Word not running, move or rename the Normal template. Then launch Word
so it creates a new one & see if things behave any differently.

If not, have you tried installing Office to a new user account?

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Thanks, Bob; yes, repairing permissions and restarting was one of the first things I retried. Did not help. It's got to be one of the support files, as you suggested. I find Word is also freezing when I try to change the "Saved Files" location in Preferences, even after trashing the old Preferences. It's not happy with something about retrieving those saved files.

BTW, what I meant by the "dirty install" was that, as opposed to a clean install, I just reinstalled Word from the CD. It was a last resort after preferences, permissions repair, etc., failed to work. Thanks again for trying to help me!

Hi,

Actually, running the installer and doing a custom install of just Word
is an OK idea, but if you do that, you have to run the updates again.
Best way is to use Help > Check for Updates. All portions of Office have
to be together on the same update, otherwise all sorts of little
problems will happen.

-Jim

 

[TomX]

Yup, yup and yup -- tried re-creating the Normal template, tried reassigning to a new user profile, and of course ran all the updates again. The problem still persists. I still think it has something to do with a glitch in where Word looks for saved documents. It freezes when I try to open a saved document within Word, and it freezes when I go into Word Preferences and try to Modify where documents are saved. Well, I can still open things through the back door (so to speak) by getting them through the Finder and opening them up so I'll just have to keep on trucking. I'm just sorry I missed the free upgrade to Word 2008....