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Word Unstable
#61555 05/21/22 09:52 PM
Joined: Dec 2009
kevs Offline OP
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Anyone else notice Work become very unstable. I keep losing hours of work on it. Maybe just me? File lost, not save properly... Never seen this in 20 years.

Re: Word Unstable
kevs #61556 05/21/22 11:52 PM
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I haven't noticed this, but I don't use Word that extensively (certainly not for hours at a time). When I was learning how to use it (in Windows 95, of all things), I developed the habit of saving my changes every few seconds (Command-S is the easiest way). That's not answer to your problem, but it is a viable workaround.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Word Unstable
jchuzi #61559 05/22/22 01:09 AM
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kevs Offline OP
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Thanks I do the saves, ,not sure

I have this thread not helped yet, no stomach for uninstall / install. Yet

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...mac/f23acf25-09cf-453a-9615-3117aa9931ad

Today, I had doc, 1/2 pages gone, from changes made 3 days ago. and even in Time Machine could not find/ retrieve so stumped.

Re: Word Unstable
kevs #61564 05/22/22 05:47 PM
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Originally Posted by kevs
Thanks I do the saves, ,not sure

I have this thread not helped yet, no stomach for uninstall / install. Yet

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...mac/f23acf25-09cf-453a-9615-3117aa9931ad

How much time do you want to lose before you have the stomach for installing and reinstalling Word? Is an hour spent installing and reinstalling worth or less than a lost hour of productivity? Personally I would think the trouble shooting hour would be far more valuable as it could prevent several lost productivity hours. I have not had Word on my machines for many years but IIRC the uninstall does not remove your files, templates, or settings unless you want it to.

This Microsoft article gives version by version removal instructions, this article specifically addresses the uninstall / reinstall troubleshooting sequence, this WikiHow shows you how in Pictures, and this one covers uninstalling Word that was installed from the App Store.

Originally Posted by keys
oday, I had doc, 1/2 pages gone, from changes made 3 days ago. and even in Time Machine could not find/ retrieve so stumped.

Do you mean the document was all present and accounted for on your drive, but the changes had not been saved?

As to Time Machine, I can conceive of several possibilities, but I believe it would be better to treat it as a separate troubleshooting issue, and would need a lot more information to even have an idea of where to begin.

Try this and see what happens: (IT IS IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW EACH STEP IN THE SPECIFIED ORDER)
  1. Launch Word and create a file with some lorem ipsum content.
  2. Save the file on your desktop (⌘S or File > Save As...)
  3. Quit Word
  4. Double click on the file to launch Word
  5. IS THE FILE COMPLETE AND CORRECT AS YOU SAVED IT?
  6. edit the file being careful to add new content and change some existing content
  7. Save the file (⌘S or File > Save)
  8. Quit Word
  9. Double click on the file to launch Word
  10. IS THE EDITED FILE COMPLETE AND CORRECT AS YOU SAVED IT?
  11. edit the file being careful to add new content and change some existing content
  12. Save the file (⌘S or File > Save) rely on autosave to save the file.
  13. Quit Word
  14. Double click on the file to launch Word
  15. IS THE EDITED FILE COMPLETE AND CORRECT AS YOU SAVED IT?


POSSIBLE FOLLOWUP TESTS:
  1. If the answer to all three questions is YES then it would appear that Word is performing correctly and the problem is unlikely to be solved by uninstalling and reinstalling.
  2. Did you manually force saving the file (⌘S, File > save)
  3. If the answer to either question is NO repeat the procedure and instead of opening the file in Word after it is saved, open it in Pages and see if the results are different.
  4. If the answer to both questions is YES repeat the test using a copy of one of the files that previously lost changes.
  5. If you have not been able to re-create the data loss saving the files to your desktop, repeat the test but save the file to the location where your files with losses were saved.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Word Unstable
joemikeb #61566 05/22/22 06:59 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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Thanks Joe, well when I do save and that test everything is ok, so you say don't bother then with unistall? reinstall

But if I were to later do that, what do I reinstall from. can't remember now last Word, I think bought one last standalones. my guess office 2019, I have pass key, not sure I have install package.

BTW, version I have is in about, 16. 61 what is that?

For confusion for uninstall sakes Microsoft site refers to version in very different manner, like 10, or 11 or? confusing. Would not know what to choose.

And then your uninstalling Excel too? I think word styles would be gone right? and some other things.

But you say don't bother.. if open word doc and type, save, type save, type save and it look ok no need for uninstall, install?

Re: Word Unstable
kevs #61567 05/23/22 12:51 AM
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Originally Posted by kevs
Thanks Joe, well when I do save and that test everything is ok, so you say don't bother then with unistall? reinstall

If you pass all the tests, I would imply Word is working correctly and there is something else wrong. Although uninstall and reinstall cannot hurt.

Originally Posted by keys
But if I were to later do that, what do I reinstall from. can't remember now last Word, I think bought one last standalones. my guess office 2019, I have pass key, not sure I have install package.

Under the circumstances and given how much you depend on Word, it might be worth installing the latest version of Word, even if you have to pay for it. Alternatively you could try another word processor that can import and export .docx compatible files, and is considerably less expensive, such as Pages, Mellel 5, Nisus Writer Pro, or NeoOffice

Originally Posted by keys
BTW, version I have is in about, 16. 61 what is that?

I have no idea as I have not used word since the early '90s.

Originally Posted by keys
For confusion for uninstall sakes Microsoft site refers to version in very different manner, like 10, or 11 or? confusing. Would not know what to choose.

If you are referring to Microsoft's uninstall instructions, I believe that is referring to the version of macOS not the version of Word.

Originally Posted by keys
And then your uninstalling Excel too? I think word styles would be gone right? and some other things.

Any change from the default Styles are stored in your templates and document files, not in the executable code.
NEW IDEA: repeat the tests using different, preferably unmodified, starting templates as well as your normal document template to eliminate the template as a possible source of the problem.

Originally Posted by leys
But you say don't bother.. if open word doc and type, save, type save, type save and it look ok no need for uninstall, install?

Obviously there is something going on but it may, or may not, be in Word itself. The tests I suggested are intended to indicate whether or not Word is the source of the problem, and if not indicate a possible solution space. If you go to Microsoft per se. for help it is highly likely they will recommend uninstall and reinstall simply because it is a quick and easy fix that often works and gets their technician off the phone as quickly as possible thereby reducing Microsoft's support costs. If you have already performed the reinstal, and it didn't work, you are one step closer to a solution.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Word Unstable
joemikeb #61580 05/24/22 05:05 PM
Joined: Dec 2009
kevs Offline OP
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JOe another question, I have auto save at 5 min. Never notice it, maybe because I'm manually saving, and often done whole thing before 5 min. Would change that to one min? Any down side to that?

(not sure issue, but could it be you could exit a document without saving it?) who knows

This is what I just put it at, any incorrect settings?
https://imgur.com/a/ZRT463h

Last edited by kevs; 05/24/22 05:06 PM.
Re: Word Unstable
kevs #61583 05/24/22 05:27 PM
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Originally Posted by kevs
(not sure issue, but could it be you could exit a document without saving it?) who knows
Word won't let you do this. Whenever I try to close a document that I haven't saved, Word prompts me to either save it, not save it, or cancel.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: Word Unstable
kevs #61584 05/24/22 06:09 PM
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The rule of thumb for setting the autosave interval is how much of your time and work are you willing to repeat if there is a crash? The downside to setting a very short interval, like one minute, is the almost constant interruptions or pauses while the update takes place. I used to set autosave at ten-minute intervals.

NOTE: In older versions of Word, and other Word processors developed in the same era such as Word Perfect, as you edited a document, rather than reshuffling the file contents for every edit, Word inserted pointers to and from the changed text. Autosave left those pointers in place to speed the process up. Manual Saves (⌘S or File > Save) resolved those pointers and removed them from the saved copy and could therefore take significantly longer than an autosave. I have seen cases where a file that was always autosaved became so baroque and full of pointers that Word could no longer open it. I had a team member lose several months of hard work that way. The moral of this story is you should NEVER RELY COMPLETELY ON AUTOSAVE. It is a good practice to perform a Manual save periodically, say every time you take a break or pause in your work and at least once a day. (I don't know if this is still the case in the latest versions of Word or not, but the occasional manual save cannot hurt and could save a disaster. My personal practice was to automatically press ⌘S every time I paused to think.)


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: Word Unstable
joemikeb #61585 05/24/22 06:27 PM
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kevs Offline OP
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Joined: Dec 2009
Thanks Joe and Jon, ok well, mostly a manual save guy.. so yeah, that last one, not sure how lost work.. maybe 8 min of typing....

Previous losses due to something weird, which posted in Word forum.

Auto save had at 5min, never noticed it ever... Still debating the install/ reinstall, ..l...


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