Word shuts down unexpectedly

[bdr122]

Recently I have been having this problem with microsoft word 2000. I'll
click on a document to navigate through it and all of the sudden the document
with start quickly and erratically scrolling. After this happens, word often
shuts down unexpectedly and I lose my unsaved data (sometimes, but not
always, it is able to recover the unsaved document). I am wondering if this
is a problem that anyone knows about and if anyone knows of a solution to the
problem. Thanks.

 

[garfield-n-odie]

If this only happens with one particular document, then that
document could be corrupt. Using a copy of the file (not the
original file), try the recovery procedures described at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/CorruptDoc.htm .

 

[bdr122]

Thank you for the reply. No, I don't think that this is the problem. The
problem does not seem to be related to a specific document. It usually
occurs when I have multiple documents open and am switching between them.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Ah, in that case, see “WD: Word Quits Unexpectedly When Selecting a Document
from the Windows Taskbarâ€
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=555169

 

[bdr122]

Thank you for your reply Suzanne. I am using word 2000--does this article
still apply. I don't see any "windows in taskbar" option in
(tools/options/view). It also does not appear that "handwriting recognition"
is installed in "language and regional settings." I wish this were the
problem, because it seems like a pretty straightforward one to fix.

If the problem is with a corrupt file, how do I know which file is corrupt?
I often times have four or five documents open at the same time and I don't
know how to narrow this problem down. Thanks again.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

No, sorry, this applies only to Word 2002 and 2003. It could be that
Normal.dot is corrupt. I would start with
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm and make sure you've
got all the abandoned temp files cleaned up before you start any further
troubleshooting. If the problem is intermittent, it will be difficult to
troubleshoot, but you could try the methods listed in
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/ProbsOpeningWord.htm

 

[bdr122]

Thank you again for your assistance. I have done what it says to do in "what
to do when word crashes." Perhaps this will solve the problem.

While doing this I found that there are also several hidden temporary files
that begin with a "~" but are not of the form ~$*.do?. For example in the
folder where the documents that I am working on are located there are "TMP"
files like "~WRL0005", "WRL1516", etc. Files like this are also located in
C:\Documents and Settings\Brian\Application Data\Microsoft\Word. Some of the
files are "TMP" files and some are called "microsoft word backup documents."
These files are not discussed in the "what to do when word crashes" document.
Should these be deleted as well?

 

[bdr122]

Sorry for all the questions, but as I'm sure you can all imagine, its quite
distressing to lose one's documents irretrievably. I'm wondering if it would
do any good to just reinstall word. I'm not worried about losing my settings
in the "normal" template because I haven't done much customization. Anyway,
thank you again for any adive you can give me.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Those files are indeed backups. Every time you save a document, Word creates
one of these files, which is a copy of the previous version (or two back if
you have "Always create backup copy" enabled, in which case you're getting
"Backup of <filename>.wbk" as the most recent backup). Ordinarily these are
deleted when you close the document, but when Word hangs, they are left. It
is quite safe to delete them, but if you have lost data in the crash, it's
worth a try to open the one with the most recent modified date to see if
it's more recent than your last real save (though I don't see how it could
be).