How to Fix If Microsoft Office Not Opening in Windows 10?

Since Microsoft’s first official launch in the late ’90s, it has always been one of the essential services recognized by all PC users. Microsoft office is a family of software one use in their day to day life no matter for personal or professional usage.

Microsoft Office is highly useful and at the same time simple and easy to learn. Users generally expect no malware or error while using “Office”. However, some of the users have reportedly claimed that Microsoft Office is not opening in Windows 10. If you are also the one experiencing the same, then this article is specifically for you.

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Fixes for “Microsoft Office Not Opening in Windows 10”

Fixes for “Microsoft Office Not Opening in Windows 10”

Microsoft Office

Lately, a lot of Windows 10 users have come across an unusual Microsoft Office error. Within this, whenever they try to navigate through any of the Microsoft Office components like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or so, it simply does not process. As per claims the Microsoft Office components worked fine for some time and then suddenly stopped working together. And the downfall here is, users are not familiar with the reason behind such failure.

As said above, the reason behind Microsoft Office not opening in Windows 10 is not known; however, there are various possible fixes for the said issue. Below are some such fixes which have worked for a lot of suffered users.

FIX 1: Visit the Source:

When there is any communication issue between the Microsoft Office components and the actual executable source, it might trouble you during the launching process. In such cases, visiting the source might help in getting rid of the issue. Now, based on what Microsoft Office version you have in your system, navigate them through a suitable location:

C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft OfficeOffice14

C:Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOffice14

While launching the tools from any of these locations if it proceeds swiftly, then it means the problem lies with the shortcut. Hence, you would require to create a new shortcut (for the component that was not opening) and replace it with the faulty one.

Once done, now try to open the newly created shortcut and check whether the issue is solved or if it persists.

FIX 2: Install the latest Windows update:

Every Windows update play a very important role in enhancing both the performance and speed of a system. Also, regular such Windows updates improve the Microsoft Office features as well. Hence, if “Microsoft Office is not opening in Windows 10” then a regular Windows update might help in fixing it.

In addition to this, some other latest features installed in your PC may cause “Microsoft Office is not opening in Windows 10” issue. Here also the Window update will help to get rid of the issue. For installing the latest Windows updates, follow the steps explained below:

Go to the desktop search bar and type Settings.
From the search results open the appropriate option.
On the Settings window, go to Update & Security.
Here on the right-side menu, click on the Check for updates tab.
Now if there is any latest update available or pending, it will automatically proceed through. Make sure you follow the on-screen instructions when asked for.
The downloading and installing process for latest Windows update might take some time. Once done, restart your PC or Laptop and check whether now you are able to open Microsoft Office smoothly or not.

FIX 3: Uninstall the Windows update:

Reversing the above procedure (FIX 2) has helped a lot of users in getting rid of the “Microsoft Office Not Opening in Windows 10” issue. There could be possibly a chance that your last Windows update triggered some issues with Microsoft Office or its components. Hence, we recommend you to uninstall the latest updates and get rid of the said issue. For doing so,

Go to the desktop search bar and type Settings.
From the search results open the appropriate option.
On the Settings window, go to Update & Security.
Here click on the View Update History option and then navigate to Uninstall Updates.
Find out the latest Office update installed on your system. For that, you can apply a sort by date filter (from the Installed on the drop-down) or locate that manually.
Once you find the required option, right-click on it and select Uninstall.
Lastly, restart your system and check whether you are able to open Microsoft Office on Windows 10.

FIX 4: Open Task Manager (For Microsoft Word or Excel)

If you are struggling from the “Microsoft Office not opening in Windows 10” issue, then consider opening the task Manager. For opening Task Manager.

Go to the desktop search bar, type Task Manager and open the relevant search result.

Right-click on the desktop search bar and select Task Manager from the appeared list.

Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc altogether.
Now either under the Details tab or via opened apps take a look where you can locate it as WINWORD.EXE (for Word) or WINEXCEL.EXE (for Excel). If you can see these there, that indicates that Windows thinks the relevant program is opened and it will not do any interference.
With this, all that you can do is create a new document then right-click on it and select Edit.

FIX 5: Disable Add-Ins:

As claimed by some of the suffered users, the damaged Add-Ins at times might keep you away from accessing any of the Microsoft Office components. To find which particular add-in is causing the problem, it is essential to disable all of them and then enable each of them one after the other until you find the answer. For doing so,

Go to the trouble-causing Microsoft Office component.
Here click on File (top-left corner) and then click on Options.
On the Options prompt, select Add-ins and disable each of the add-ins one after another.
Now restart the program and try to launch it without any add-ins enabled.

FIX 6: Ensure that Microsoft Office is appropriately activated:

If in case your Microsoft Office is not genuine or is not activated correctly, then you would not be able to run any of its components/ programs. Hence, ensure that it is authentic software and is appropriately activated before you try to run a program.

FIX 7: Remove Word Registry Keys (For Microsoft Word):

If the program that is failing to open, is Microsoft Word, then try to remove any of the following registry keys. Removing these registry keys will help you in launching the Word document swiftly again. For doing so,

Go to the desktop search bar, type Regedit and open Registry editor.
Here navigate to any of the following paths:

Word 2002: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice10.0WordData

Microsoft Word 2003: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice11.0WordData

Word 2007: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice12.0WordData

Word 2010: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice14.0WordData

Microsoft Word 2013: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice15.0Word

Word 2016: HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMicrosoftOffice16.0Word

Now click on the Data key and delete/ remove it.

Lastly, restart your PC and then relaunch Microsoft Word, the problem might not persist now.

FIX 8: Launch the Office component in Safe Mode:

Opening any of the Microsoft Office component (Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.) in Safe mode would help you swiftly run the program without causing the said issue. For launching any of the Office components in Safe Mode follow the steps given below:

Press WINDOWS + R altogether and open the RUN prompt.
Now type the name of the Office component you want to open in Safe mode. Like Word/safe or excel/safe or PowerPoint/safe or Outlook/safe etc.
This will now launch any of the required programs in Safe mode.

FIX 9: Remove old printer drivers:

As per some of the suffered users, the old printer drivers might also stop Microsoft Office from opening in Windows 10. Hence deleting or removing your old printer drivers might help here. After doing so, the required program will launch without any intervention.

FIX 10: Repair or Reinstall Microsoft Office:

If none of the above solutions works for you, then consider either repairing or reinstalling Microsoft Office on your system.

For repairing Microsoft Office follow the steps given below:

Go to the desktop search bar type Control Panel and open it.
Now navigate to Programs and features.
Here locate Microsoft Office and then select the option Change from the top menu.
From the next window, click on Repair and follow the on-screen instructions.

For reinstalling Microsoft Office follow the steps given below:

Go to the desktop search bar type Control Panel and open it.
Now navigate to Programs and features & then locate Microsoft Office.
Right-click on it and select Uninstall.
Now for reinstalling Microsoft Office, visit the official website and download and install the package into your system.
Once done, you can now check whether the “Microsoft Office Not Opening in Windows 10” issue is resolved or not.

So, these were all the possible solutions that may help you if “Microsoft Office is Not Opening in Windows 10”. All of them are tried, tested and have worked successfully for a lot of users. However, the solutions are specifically for Windows 10 users only.

The “Microsoft Office is Not Opening in Windows 10” mainly occurs with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. However, the fixes mentioned in the article above are applicable to all of the office component. If you have any queries or feedback, please write down the comment in the below comment box.