Word 2007 Crashing?

Recently I cleaned up my development laptop and installed a fresh copy of Microsoft Vista Ultimate, fresh copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate, and everything was running fantastic!  Then I started with the third party applications I use on a regular basis (SnagIt, Camtasia, PhotoShop, Flash).

Next thing I knew, Word was crashing all the time.  And when I say crashing, I mean it.  Every time I would click the "x" and try and get out of Word 2007, it would hang and crash.  Worse yet, any document I opened, the scroll bar would not work, and the mouse would not be able to move  the cursor and highlight text.  Brutal!

I tried going to my Word Options, in hope I could disable some add-ins, however at this point I discovered that my mouse was rendered pretty much useless, and could not click on the add-on's section to do anything.  Tabbing also seemed futile.

After re-installing Office three times, I stumbled across an article on the Microsoft knowledge base to fix this very common problem.

1. Close Word 2007
2. Load the Registry Editor (Type: RegEdit in the run and search box).
3. Navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data
4. Rename the "Data" Key to "DataBackup".
5. Close Registry and Load Word 2007!
6. Do the happy dance!

This should resolve the problem!  This problem is due to a corrupted key.

Comments

[To1ne]

Whow, I didn't remember I saw Word closing properly.
Real big thx for this tip!!

[Tony]

Thanks! I've been having this issue for a long time! It was driving me insane! the fix you outline works perfectly!

[Chris]

Thanks - this saved me a lot of headaches!

[ConnMan]

I've been pulling my hair out with intermittent errors of Word 2007 freezing on me. Just tried this technique. Hope it works!

[Miguel Carrasco]

Glad this worked for all of you!

Miguel Carrasco

[April Smith]

Thank you SOOOO much! I had tried uninstalling and reinstalling to no avail. I use Word so often (my novel and for my business) that I thought I would have to format my computer! This has saved me so much time and works like a charm :)

[chilotech]

Outstanding solution. Thanks a lot

[Pam]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It worked! Thank you SOOOO much!

[Donna]

Thank you!!! I was just about to throw my laptop out the window.

[Ken]

I got back from Best Buy where I purchased my laptop and Office 2007. I explained to the Geek Squad that the scroll bar for Word 2007 freezes and that I reinstalled office (didn't do anything) and also did a system restore to bring the computer settings back to a former point in time, this worked temporarily and then I would have the same problem again. I was about to try another system restore when I came across your post and after implementing the suggestions my Word 2007 is working. The Geek Squad solution was to give me a new computer which would mean reinstalling all the programs from disk not to mention finding the programs again that I downloaded over the internet. Thanks a bunch!!! I'm still in awe of the time you saved me....

[lol Ken]

lol.
Ken, i have a story for you. The geek squad have MINIMAL qualifications for software troubleshooting. I know this because i used to WORK in a future shop repair depot. Around there the amount of false rumors and ill-educated guesses is absolutely hideous. I've heard stories from them about how "Limewire opens up holes in your computer so others can load viruses etc". That's a load of BULL. Those problems were FIXED TWO YEARS AGO and they STILL didn't know! Their only qualifications are following directions outlined in the manuals of your products, and then A+, which is basically another word for "i can install windows and hardware!" That's ALL. Seriously, your better off trusting this article! Anyways, my shouts for great ideas like this!

[Peter Knight]

Thanks Miguel. A frustrating problem is now fixed. Pity I couldn't find this simple solution on the Microsoft website!

[a]

thank you! this was driving me insane! installing updates...repairing word...nothing worked! this was super simple.

[UPSlifer]

Hours...then this page. Seconds....you da man!

[Cornell Pearcy]

Thanks so much for posting this solution. I spent hours trying to fix this problem including reinstalling, attempting to repair with the install disk, and downloading Office updates. Your solution fixed the problem and yes I am doing the "happy dance".

Upon reflection as to when this problem began, it did occur when I installed SnagIt a few weeks ago. Thanks again!

[Josh]

Wow, THANK YOU for posting this. My computer did an auto-update last night and restarted and suddenly Word was screwing up all over the place, even during a client presentation. This worked like a charm.

[Jayson]

Yes, thank you for this tip. I have been cussing at Microsoft for a few hours now and was thinking I was going to have to uninstall everything and reinstall all my email accounts, etc.

This saved me big time.

[Brian]

Thank you for posting this solution.
I too was getting this exact error for the past 2 days.
I am doing the Happy Dance now!!!

[Steven]

Thankyou so much after multiple uninstall and reinstalls, Dr Watson, etc etc.. you give me a 30 sec fix - awesome!!!!!!!! (insert happy dance here)

[Elaine Clayton]

This works perfectly- fixed in less than a minute. Tried installing updates, reading the microsoft articles etc- and nothing- all I got was that the crashes were somehow supposed to be a feature of Word???? Apparently to prevent viruses in corrupt documents spreading etc. How documents can become corrupt one day that you have created yourself, and used ok, and then suddenly crash Word when you open them after an automatic update I do not know.

[Adam Fox]

you are my hero! thanks you so much,
Adam

[Tim]

Wow!!! Thanks for this solution!!

[Clarence Chestnut]

this post redeemable for one MILLION Internets! Collect wherever Internets are sold. Thanks so much for this solution. All hail The Google!!!

I didn't even have to go to M$ and fill out the "No, this did not solve my problem" section.

[Anna]

Thanks so much....I'm doing the happy dance :)

[Greg Taylor]

Thank the lord for these forums. It is unfortunate that Microsoft with their Billions can't make it easy on the average operator. They have weekly updates and can't manage to fix simple registry errors like this.